FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

  • Scenes from the Road: Engadin Valley, Swiss Edition


    In the Engadin the Bernina mountains rise to the sky from the valley floor. Beside the River Inn, a number of villages lie along its banks. The houses here are amazing, with thick stone and masonry walls, funnel-shaped windows and streets that wind whimsically around. The houses are large and often shared by more than one family, with many also have a floor underneath for livestock.


    The view from above, looking down on the uber-lux mountain town of St. Moritz. Having hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948, the towns of St. Moritz and Davos are bidding together for the rights to host the 2022 Winter Games. Since Lillehammer 1994, the Olympics have gone to big cities like Nagano, Salt Lake, Vancouver and Torino. Some people think it’s time for a smaller, more intimate Games. What do you think?


    As one of my friends says, “The mountains around here, they’re just a reason for Swiss engineers to show off.” Taking this cog train straight up a mountainside, first used in 1907, I certainly know what he means.


    A mountain resort with no road access, framed by the darkness of night.

  • Scenes from the Road: Engadin Valley, Swiss Edition


    In the Engadin the Bernina mountains rise to the sky from the valley floor. Beside the River Inn, a number of villages lie along its banks. The houses here are amazing, with thick stone and masonry walls, funnel-shaped windows and streets that wind whimsically around. The houses are large and often shared by more than one family, with many also have a floor underneath for livestock.


    The view from above, looking down on the uber-lux mountain town of St. Moritz. Having hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948, the towns of St. Moritz and Davos are bidding together for the rights to host the 2022 Winter Games. Since Lillehammer 1994, the Olympics have gone to big cities like Nagano, Salt Lake, Vancouver and Torino. Some people think it’s time for a smaller, more intimate Games. What do you think?


    As one of my friends says, “The mountains around here, they’re just a reason for Swiss engineers to show off.” Taking this cog train straight up a mountainside, first used in 1907, I certainly know what he means.


    A mountain resort with no road access, framed by the darkness of night.

  • Scenes from the Road: Engadin Valley, Swiss Edition


    In the Engadin the Bernina mountains rise to the sky from the valley floor. Beside the River Inn, a number of villages lie along its banks. The houses here are amazing, with thick stone and masonry walls, funnel-shaped windows and streets that wind whimsically around. The houses are large and often shared by more than one family, with many also have a floor underneath for livestock.


    The view from above, looking down on the uber-lux mountain town of St. Moritz. Having hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948, the towns of St. Moritz and Davos are bidding together for the rights to host the 2022 Winter Games. Since Lillehammer 1994, the Olympics have gone to big cities like Nagano, Salt Lake, Vancouver and Torino. Some people think it’s time for a smaller, more intimate Games. What do you think?


    As one of my friends says, “The mountains around here, they’re just a reason for Swiss engineers to show off.” Taking this cog train straight up a mountainside, first used in 1907, I certainly know what he means.


    A mountain resort with no road access, framed by the darkness of night.

  • Scenes from the Road: Engadin Valley, Swiss Edition


    In the Engadin the Bernina mountains rise to the sky from the valley floor. Beside the River Inn, a number of villages lie along its banks. The houses here are amazing, with thick stone and masonry walls, funnel-shaped windows and streets that wind whimsically around. The houses are large and often shared by more than one family, with many also have a floor underneath for livestock.


    The view from above, looking down on the uber-lux mountain town of St. Moritz. Having hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948, the towns of St. Moritz and Davos are bidding together for the rights to host the 2022 Winter Games. Since Lillehammer 1994, the Olympics have gone to big cities like Nagano, Salt Lake, Vancouver and Torino. Some people think it’s time for a smaller, more intimate Games. What do you think?


    As one of my friends says, “The mountains around here, they’re just a reason for Swiss engineers to show off.” Taking this cog train straight up a mountainside, first used in 1907, I certainly know what he means.


    A mountain resort with no road access, framed by the darkness of night.

  • Scenes from the Road: Engadin Valley, Swiss Edition

    In the Engadin the Bernina mountains rise to the sky from the valley floor. Beside the River Inn, a number of villages lie along its banks. The houses here are amazing, with thick stone and masonry walls, funnel-shaped windows and streets that wind whimsically around. The houses are large and often shared by more than one family, with many also have a floor underneath for livestock.

    As one of my friends says, “The mountains around here, they’re just a reason for Swiss engineers to show off.” Taking this cog train straight up a mountainside, first used in 1907, I certainly know what he means.

    The view from above, looking down on the uber-lux mountain town of St. Moritz. Having hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948, the towns of St. Moritz and Davos are bidding together for the rights to host the 2022 Winter Games. Since Lillehammer 1994, the Olympics have gone to big cities like Nagano, Salt Lake, Vancouver and Torino. Some people think it’s time for a smaller, more intimate Games. What do you think?

    A mountain resort with no road access, framed by the darkness of night.

  • Scenes from the Road: Engadin Valley, Swiss Edition

    In the Engadin the Bernina mountains rise to the sky from the valley floor. Beside the River Inn, a number of villages lie along its banks. The houses here are amazing, with thick stone and masonry walls, funnel-shaped windows and streets that wind whimsically around. The houses are large and often shared by more than one family, with many also have a floor underneath for livestock.

    As one of my friends says, “The mountains around here, they’re just a reason for Swiss engineers to show off.” Taking this cog train straight up a mountainside, first used in 1907, I certainly know what he means.

    The view from above, looking down on the uber-lux mountain town of St. Moritz. Having hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948, the towns of St. Moritz and Davos are bidding together for the rights to host the 2022 Winter Games. Since Lillehammer 1994, the Olympics have gone to big cities like Nagano, Salt Lake, Vancouver and Torino. Some people think it’s time for a smaller, more intimate Games. What do you think?

    A mountain resort with no road access, framed by the darkness of night.

  • Neuner Does It Again

    As far as I can tell, Magdalena Neuner leads all currently active female biathletes in victories in major international races. Granted, she’s been racing longer than many of the current top women, but still. (Update: As pointed out to me in the comments, that isn’t exactly the case. All I meant to say was that I hadn’t adjusted the counts for number of races or number of seasons. My bad.) By my count, Neuner has 25 24 wins, Andrea Henkel has 20 and then you have to go to Helena Ekholm with only 13 wins. And check out her standing shooting in the following graph:

    Yikes. She really doesn’t shoot well standing, although it’s dramatically improved over the last several years. Can you imagine what sort of crazy, Frankenstein-ish super biathlete you’d get if you could combine Neuner’s skiing with Helena Ekholm’s shooting?

    In any case, this race seemed fairly close, all things considered, in that the field wasn’t too spread out. How about the top few men:

    Birnbacher and Ferry gapped the field a bit, but not by a huge amount. Birnbacher’s typical race (blue line) has definitely improved over the past two seasons; Ferry’s has improved slightly this season, but is notable for how consistent he’s been for five seasons now. Alexander Wolf had a great race for a season that’s been another in a sequence of steadily slipping performances. It appears that his standing shooting has slipped as well. The other two folks in the top five are relative youngsters.

    Related posts:

    1. <Career Retrospective: Kati Wilhelm
    2. <WBC Men’s Sprint Recap
    3. <WBC Women’s Sprint Recap


  • Pursuit Practice

    This morning we practiced our pursuit exchanges for this weekends race in Craftsbury. We still have a solid two foot base and the skiing is great. With a nice warm sunny day, everyone was in good spirits and we had a fun workout.
    Everyone made clean exchanges, with Austin the fastest. ‘Kenzie found out that step in bindings are not necessarily fast to put on.
    Mac is loose and relaxed in the spring sun.
    Poppet and Matt discuss the finer points of a fast ski exchange.
    Yesterdays birthday girl says hi to mom and dad.

  • Race Snapshot: IBU World Cup Sprint

    Great races from Sara Studebaker and Haley Johnson today. A decent race from Tim Burke, probably undone by those two missing last time through the range. You’ll note that Tarjei Bø was back in 44th with 5 missed shots; that’s biathlon for you!

    Related posts:

    1. <Race Snapshot: IBU World Cup 1 Women
    2. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 2 Sprint
    3. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 4 Men’s Sprint


  • WC Final Classic Sprint Recap

    There were loads of problems with the heat times for this race, so I only have partial data. The men’s times were totally messed up and unusable, so I’ll only have graphs for the women. Here are the women’s finalists:

    I actually made up a time for Visnar’s final round heat, since the live timing data had dropped it entirely. I actually don’t know how far back she was in the final, but I wanted to have a line for her and that was the quickest way to make it happen. I do feel a little dirty.

    Interestingly, it appeared that a lot of folks skied slower in the quarterfinals than in qualification, which isn’t normally the case for the women. However, the overall trend fit the pattern with the top women skiing generally faster as the day went on.

    And there wasn’t much of a difference in the semifinals in this one:

    Related posts:

    1. <Recap: Davos Sprint
    2. <TdS Classic Sprint Recap
    3. <Otepää Sprint Recap


  • Postcard from Lillehammer

    (Click the Picture to Enlarge)

  • Postcard from Lillehammer

    (Click the Picture to Enlarge)

  • Postcard from Lillehammer

    (Click the Picture to Enlarge)

  • Postcard from Lillehammer

    (Click the Picture to Enlarge)

  • Interview With Elite Skier Tom Krenz of Team Cyclova XC

    Tommy Krenz in action at the 2011 Seeley Hills Classic     

    Recently I caught up with Cyclova XC team member  & Elite Birkie skier Tommy Krenz and interviewed him about his Birkie experience this year.  Tom is as professional about his training as anyone I have ever met and in my opinion, athletes of any level could learn much from him – so here is your chance!  There is much fun stuff and

  • Interview With Elite Skier Tom Krenz of Team Cyclova XC

    Tommy Krenz in action at the 2011 Seeley Hills Classic     

    Recently I caught up with Cyclova XC team member  & Elite Birkie skier Tommy Krenz and interviewed him about his Birkie experience this year.  Tom is as professional about his training as anyone I have ever met and in my opinion, athletes of any level could learn much from him – so here is your chance!  There is much fun stuff and

  • Getting Stoked!

    World Champs have come and gone and I’m still having trouble finding the best words to describle the experience.  It was downright amazing and an event on a level above anything that I’ve ever seen.  Norway loves Nordic skiing.  The atmosphere at Holmenkollen was a testament to that devotion.  There were usually more spectators lining the trails and cheering on training days than one sees at your average race in the United States making it hard to not hammer around all the time.  The enthusiasm and energy was contagious!   Despite having horrible races, I left Oslo feeling more fired up and motivated than ever before!  Here are a few pictures from Holmenkollen and World Champs 2011!

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    Big thanks to my parents who came to Oslo (and took a lot of these pictures).  Here is a view of the stadium including the final steep climb of all of the courses.  The cheering in the stadium was deafening and turning onto the final homestretch took the noise to a level that has probably never before been associated with Nordic skiing.

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    Athletes warming up for the sprint

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    A few of the people who came out to cheer

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    And it wasn’t just Norwegians

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    A few of the days it was incredibly foggy and visibility was basically nonexistent but that didn’t deter any of the fans.

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    Jean Koons at the front of the pack with a New Zealand and an American flag.

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    The distance courses made big loops away from the packed stadium giving ample room for camping and partying.

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    There were flags everywhere but nobody cared where you were from and everyone cheered for everyone.  Lots of people had downloaded start lists and knew all the athletes’ names so HEIA IDA HEIA IDA followed me around the course.

    P2240039

    Here I am racing in the skate sprint.  It was a really frustrating day for me personally as it didn’t go as well as it could have or should have but I was psyched to be there and looking forward to doing it again two years from now!

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    Matt Whitcomb and I test skis before the classic race.  Our coaches worked incredibly hard throughout the championships with ten consecutive days of racing.  Huge thanks for all their efforts! We had a great team with lots of positive energy!

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    Team USA in our hotel.  Where’s Waldo?

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    The 10km classic was held on an extremely hard 10km loop.  I’ve seen a lot of very hilly courses this winter but Holmenkollen took it to a new level!

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    It was also very fun and inspiring to join the crowds as a spectator and watch the other races of the championships.  Our Athlete bibs and credentials gave us full access to the Holmenkollen venue.  Here Sweden, Norway, and Slovenia battle it out in the final of the women’s team sprint.

    P2270137The Men’s 30km pursuit

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    Even the Norwegians had labelled Kikkan as the favorite in the sprint and we were all pretty bummed when that day didn’t turn out for her as well as it should have.  But she’s an amazing competitor and teammateand was all smiles despite the huge disappointment and battled back skiing really well here in the team sprint.

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    By far the best day of cheering and watching occured when the Canadians won the team sprint over the Norwegians.  Later that day we joined the crowds,  which numbered close to 100,000 in downtown Oslo, to watch the medals ceremony.

    P3020299Cheers!

  • Congratulations to Andy and Looking Ahead

    Congratulations to Andy for placing 5th in the final World Cup Sprint held in Stockholm today. Great racing!!!!

    March is Championship month and we are going to end the season in style. This weekend we have most of the team traveling to Craftsbury for their mini tour. Cambria and Brooke will go to the EHSC’s in Rumford. It was a tough decision on where to go because both are great events, but since the PG’s and J3’s could not race at EHSC’s, we decided to send most of the team to Craftsbury.
    At the end of next week, we are taking the older kids out to the USSA Super Tour Finals in Sun Valley. Most of the USST, many of the Canadians and a bunch of Scandinavians will be racing so it will be a great way for us to be exposed to the next level up.

  • WBC North American Assessment

    So how did the North Americans do at World Biathlon Championships this year? There definitely some strong results, but here’s some context:

    These are the Canadian and American biathlon performances at WBCs and OWGs measured by standardized percent behind the median skier. The blue line tracks the median over time. The Canadian men had some very impressive performances on their home soil last year at the Olympics, but that was fairly unusual and things mostly returned to normal this year.

    The US men have sort of been up and down, at least judging by their median performance. However, we should note that they had 4 results better than 1 standard deviation away from the mean this year, the most they’ve ever had in a single championship.

    As for shooting, it occurred to me that since the conditions were so windy for some of these races that it might be more instructive to look at a relative measure of shooting:

    Zero here is the average shooting accuracy across all nations at that year’s championship. The first thing to note is that there weren’t a lot of Canadian women racing, so the sample size for them is quite small. A lot of the American women are quite young this year so that might explain the drop in shooting, although they may have just had some off days. The American men shot somewhat better, though, despite Tim Burke’s shooting struggles this season.

    Related posts:

    1. <Mid-Season Recap: North American Distance
    2. <WJC/U23 Assessment USA and CAN
    3. <WBC Men’s Sprint Recap


  • End of the season! Thank you everyone!

        Lahti, Finland marked the end of the season for Us Nordic Combined. It was a up and down year for some and a very positive year for others. For myself I can’t say anything other than satisfied with my season. Even though my cross country wasn’t where I was thinking it was going to be, I was able to get my jumping to a much better level. I was able to score points in a very hard world cup and that was one of my goals for the year.  Also I was when I was on Continental Cup, my goals was for me to be on the podiums as much as possible. I was able to get 3 podiums in the 3 COC races I started in (3,2,3).
        I am very happy to be a part of this team, everyone helps each other out and works to get better each day. I am looking forward to next year already as our team will be fired up to bring home world cup victories and COC victories more often. I will be fighting for more top 30’s to improve my world ranking list.
        For everyone that supported me this year, I can’t thank you enough as, your help brought me to be a better skier. From my Coaches to wax techs, sports psychologists to parents, and anyone else that have helped me along the way. I hope you continue to support and believe in me as I start my work towards 2014!

    Thank you so much,
    Taylor
    Stay tuned for updates about the summer and