FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • No Updates Today

    So, our Inn’s Internet is giving me nothing but 105 Errors, and there doesn’t seem to be much anyone can do about it. Hence, I’m reduced to alerting you of this using my phone via 3G. (Definitely regretting not jailbreaking my phone right now.)

    On the other hand, the Statistical Wife and I are pleasantly tired from our race, hanging out on the stunningly scenic Orcas Island and both the cable and Internet are down and we have a fireplace. It took some hard bargaining with the Statistical Wife for her to let me stare at my phone this long as it is. So I’m going to take cue from her and call this lack of connectivity a good thing.

    Statistical Skier out.

    Related posts:

    1. <Merry Christmas!


  • Skate Sprint and Classic Prologue

    Quick recap over the last two days:

    Travel from Canmore to West Kelowna was good. Clear roads and an uneventful drive. Lots of snow up at Telemark Ski Club and some surprisingly fun race trails. I am a little shocked that this is the first time I have raced here. The facilities are great, and the race trails have some good variety, lots of climbing and some fun downhills. That being said, the sprint course needs to be revamped. It is quite flat, which makes it hard because there is zero rest, but it is always nice to have some hills and downhill corners to break things up a bit.

    Friday was the skate sprint. In qualifying I was lacking in the speed and “pop” department. It felt technically good, but my legs were slow to get going. I got into the heats, and things started to come around in the afternoon. I did more intensity in my warm up for the heats, and was feeling pretty good. Nish, Butler and myself were all in the same quarter final heat. Nish took the lead halfway through the heat and I moved into second. Heading into the finish Nish was still up front, and myself and another skier were battling it out for the second spot. After a super tight finish, I was told the other skier got me by millimeters. I thought all was not lost, as maybe I would get a lucky loser spot. No such luck as bib 112 took it (and I was 113). So after qualifying 13, loosing the sprint finish, the missing out on the lucky loser spot I ended the day right where I started, in lucky number 13!! But that’s how it goes, if I had the little bit of extra speed in my finishing kick, I might have been able to move on. Next time.

    Today was was the 3.5km classic prologue. One of my favorite events next to classic sprinting! Today actually went pretty well. The course was constantly transitioning between ups, downs and corners. There was plenty of time to gain or lose based on how smooth you could transition from one technique to the other. I started out with my usual bullet 10km pace, and tried to ski consistent and smooth through to the finish. I ended up doing just that, starting well off the pace of the leads but bringing back in some more time towards the finish. I ended the day in 8th, 27 seconds back. That’s still a HUGE time margin for 3.5km, but it felt better then last weekends classic prologue, so I think things are moving in the right direction.

    Tomorrow is the pursuit start 15km skate. It is a 3x5km loop that has some decent climbing and fun downhills. While I have lost time to the leaders in the skate sprint and classic prologue, I hope to reel back in some of that time tomorrow. I will be starting somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes behind the leaders (Drew, then Stef, then Nish). I only have 15km to bring in that time, but with a fairly hilly course, it is well suited to me.

    I will be sure to do a recap after tomorrows race. We head back to Canmore tomorrow night, then we are off to Ottawa on Wednesday with the full Academy team!

    Now we are off to a team bowling showdown in Kelowna followed by dinner.
    Chat ya later!

    Pate

  • Choose Your Language

    Hey, I added a language translator widget.

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  • Choose Your Language

    Hey, I added a language translator widget.

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  • Choose Your Language

    Hey, I added a language translator widget.

    In the upper right corner.

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  • Choose Your Language

    Hey, I added a language translator widget.

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    Try it!

  • USA J1 Nordic Team 2011-02-05 16:27:00






    Yo yo from Ornsköldsvik! Second day of racing here and lets be honest USA rocks. Black uniforms were flying out there on the course today eating up the track! The day started off with the women’s 5km freestyle followed by the men’s 10km freestyle race. It was a deceivingly challenging course with little rest, well suited for the skiers from the land of the free. Conditions were pristine with a side dish of ice and some speedy corduroy to top it off. American spirits were through the roof at the venue and the American flag evoked a strong feeling of patriotism and pride. Our boards were off the charts fast. We left large pools of water behind us on the course where our skis burned through the snow. Thank you to the coaches for their superb work on skis and cheering. Norwegian women were awed by the burly and handsome American men [editors note: this may be an exaggeration] and the Swedish boys stared endlessly at the beautiful American women. Without a doubt the most stunning team in existence. After the races we all came back to the Scandic hotel for an all team banquet and meeting. The food was phenomenal and everyone enjoyed themselves. We had a USA team meeting later and are all ready for the relays tomorrow. The races start early and will be killer. Its mullet time baby! Jack and Paddy. Out.

    Its worth noting that Paddy absolutely rocked the socks off of today’s race- 8th place and only 34.2 seconds off the podium! These are the fastest people in the world in this age range, so that is a pretty serious result. We have been really happy with how everyone has been racing overall, and how positive these kids have made this experience in general! Parents and coaches back home are owed a huge thanks from us over here, now its off to bed before a new round of wax testing begins bright and early tomorrow morning. -Matt


  • USA J1 Nordic Team 2011-02-05 16:27:00






    Yo yo from Ornsköldsvik! Second day of racing here and lets be honest USA rocks. Black uniforms were flying out there on the course today eating up the track! The day started off with the women’s 5km freestyle followed by the men’s 10km freestyle race. It was a deceivingly challenging course with little rest, well suited for the skiers from the land of the free. Conditions were pristine with a side dish of ice and some speedy corduroy to top it off. American spirits were through the roof at the venue and the American flag evoked a strong feeling of patriotism and pride. Our boards were off the charts fast. We left large pools of water behind us on the course where our skis burned through the snow. Thank you to the coaches for their superb work on skis and cheering. Norwegian women were awed by the burly and handsome American men [editors note: this may be an exaggeration] and the Swedish boys stared endlessly at the beautiful American women. Without a doubt the most stunning team in existence. After the races we all came back to the Scandic hotel for an all team banquet and meeting. The food was phenomenal and everyone enjoyed themselves. We had a USA team meeting later and are all ready for the relays tomorrow. The races start early and will be killer. Its mullet time baby! Jack and Paddy. Out.

    Its worth noting that Paddy absolutely rocked the socks off of today’s race- 8th place and only 34.2 seconds off the podium! These are the fastest people in the world in this age range, so that is a pretty serious result. We have been really happy with how everyone has been racing overall, and how positive these kids have made this experience in general! Parents and coaches back home are owed a huge thanks from us over here, now its off to bed before a new round of wax testing begins bright and early tomorrow morning. -Matt


  • Pictures from UVM Carnival…GMVS + Alums in Action

    Elena Lüthi:

    David Sinclair:

    Tim Reynolds:
    Noah Brautigam:


    Daniel Moore:

    Alec McGovern:

    Danny Kuzio:

    Ryan Kerrigan:

    Kaitlin Fitzgerald:

    Jackson Rich:

    Heidi Halvorsen:

    Hans Halvorsen:

    Dylan Grald:

    Devlin Shea:

    Doug DeBold:

  • GMVS Alumni in UVM Carnival

    Nice job to the GMVS boys skiing hard yesterday in the 20km mass-start:

    • Dylan Grald, 7th place
    • David Sinclair, 9th place
    • Doug DeBold, 16th place
    • Noah Brautigam, 32nd place

    More to come today as the Eastern Cup begins for the juniors, and the College Carnival continues with 5km/10km freestyle races.

  • Learning Trials in Canada

    On Wednesday Scott and I drove up to Kelowna, B.C. to race in Western Canadian Championships, a NorAm mini-tour. The weekend holds a 1.3km skate sprint, a 3.5km classic prologue, and a 15km skate pursuit. I’ve been getting a few really solid weeks of training in at home following US Nationals, in addition to a few local races. Despite the fact that most of the US SuperTour field is racing this weekend in the Boulder Mtn. Tour, I knew the points up here in Canada should be pretty good given that most of the Canadian National Team guys would be here.

    I dialed in a pretty decent condo on Ownerdirect.com for cheaper than the race accomodations and we settled in on Wednesday night. On Thursday, our team massage therapist Alison Hanks, and my dad drove up to meet us. It made me feel pretty pampered today, having three “support staffers” for one athlete. Scott was prepping and testing skis, Dad was getting bibs and running spare poles on the course, Alison was shuttling skis, food and keeping me company in between heats while I spun on the bike in the stadium.

    The sprint went pretty well – I qualified 5th, about 6 seconds behind winner Drew Goldsack. The qualifier felt great; the course was pretty flat and a simple out-and-back loop, and our skis were rocket-fast. The heats were a bit different. I regained a lot of confidence after a strong finish in Maine last month, and have been riding on that ever since. I knew I had the speed to ski well through today’s heats and into the finals, but through that process I made a few key errors in strategy, showing that I still have some lessons to learn. I ended up 2nd in the B Final, 8th overall.

    Leading things out in the quarterfinal

    Tomorrow’s a quick race on a twisty-turny up and down course. Should be fast and hard. More to come.

  • Learning Trials in Canada

    On Wednesday Scott and I drove up to Kelowna, B.C. to race in Western Canadian Championships, a NorAm mini-tour. The weekend holds a 1.3km skate sprint, a 3.5km classic prologue, and a 15km skate pursuit. I’ve been getting a few really solid weeks of training in at home following US Nationals, in addition to a few local races. Despite the fact that most of the US SuperTour field is racing this weekend in the Boulder Mtn. Tour, I knew the points up here in Canada should be pretty good given that most of the Canadian National Team guys would be here.

    I dialed in a pretty decent condo on Ownerdirect.com for cheaper than the race accomodations and we settled in on Wednesday night. On Thursday, our team massage therapist Alison Hanks, and my dad drove up to meet us. It made me feel pretty pampered today, having three “support staffers” for one athlete. Scott was prepping and testing skis, Dad was getting bibs and running spare poles on the course, Alison was shuttling skis, food and keeping me company in between heats while I spun on the bike in the stadium.

    The sprint went pretty well – I qualified 5th, about 6 seconds behind winner Drew Goldsack. The qualifier felt great; the course was pretty flat and a simple out-and-back loop, and our skis were rocket-fast. The heats were a bit different. I regained a lot of confidence after a strong finish in Maine last month, and have been riding on that ever since. I knew I had the speed to ski well through today’s heats and into the finals, but through that process I made a few key errors in strategy, showing that I still have some lessons to learn. I ended up 2nd in the B Final, 8th overall.

    Leading things out in the quarterfinal

    Tomorrow’s a quick race on a twisty-turny up and down course. Should be fast and hard. More to come.

  • Sun Valley- Boulder Mountain Tour

    Hey everyone!
    I am now in Sun Valley, Idaho. I am up here for a training race before we leave for World Championships later this month. The Boulder mountain tour is a very challenging race. It is 32 kilometers with a net loss of 1700 ft from start to finish. What makes this race hard is it is challenging to get away from the pack and ski to a win by yourself. I have a couple teammates with me here. Olympic Champion Billy Demong, is the easy favorite for the win, But my brother Bryan is in amazing form and will be a challenge as well. Then there are some of the nations best xc skiers here as well. Mike Sinnot, Matt Gelso, and Colin Rodgers, will for sure push the pace from the start of the race. I look forward to the results as it is a very fast race for the distance, and I feel like this could be a good distance race for me with the majority of the course being on the flat or gradual downhill.

    Last night there were some Coed sprints in downtown Ketchum/Sun Valley. I was paired up with Local Junior star Annie Pokorny! The format was very hard, with the men doing two laps of a 200 meter oval, before tagging off to the women. For the qualifiers each person would do the 2x300m twice, and in the finals we would do it three times. I was pumped to see Annie skiing so fast against some of the fastest ladies in the nation. I was stoked for myself to be with in podium range for Annie to work on. Annie and I got 4th just missing out on the podium by a couple inches. Maybe next year!

    Stay tuned for more updates and results from this weekend!!!!

  • Week In Review: Friday Feb 4th

    I’m heading off to ‘The Islands” for a race tomorrow, but I should still be able to get the race snapshot graphs up, albeit a bit later in the day than usual. Thanks again to Skaði Nordic for bringing you this week’s Week In Review…

    Have a great weekend!

    Related posts:

    1. <Week In Review: Friday Nov 26th
    2. <Week In Review: Friday Dec 3rd
    3. <Week In Review: Friday Dec 10th


  • SPRINT RACE

    HEY ALL

    A quick update from a tired crew! Today was awesome. We had 3 women and 3 men qualify for the rounds (big props to Big Logs qualifying in 4th) and a few within a second of making the heats. We re-dialed the skis for the rounds and off they went under the big lights. Dylan crushed his quarterfinal and was leading up and over the last hill before things shook up on the finishing stretch. Logan made his quarter look easy, and was fast in his semi-final despite losing a pole tip and his contact with the leaders just a few meters from the start. I didn’t get to see all of the girls heats because I had to take a quick trip to the Sjukhus with Jack Hegman who dislocated his shoulder in a fall 50 meters from the finish. Note that Jack not only finished the race with one arm after a big tumble, but he only missed qualifying by 6 seconds. One tough kid. The level of skiing here is ridiculous, and our kids fit right in. Its fun to watch the ‘men in black’ throw elbows with the Norwegians, Swedes and Estonians. I’m pumped for tomorrow. For now, off to sleep!
    -Kate

  • SPRINT RACE

    HEY ALL

    A quick update from a tired crew! Today was awesome. We had 3 women and 3 men qualify for the rounds (big props to Big Logs qualifying in 4th) and a few within a second of making the heats. We re-dialed the skis for the rounds and off they went under the big lights. Dylan crushed his quarterfinal and was leading up and over the last hill before things shook up on the finishing stretch. Logan made his quarter look easy, and was fast in his semi-final despite losing a pole tip and his contact with the leaders just a few meters from the start. I didn’t get to see all of the girls heats because I had to take a quick trip to the Sjukhus with Jack Hegman who dislocated his shoulder in a fall 50 meters from the finish. Note that Jack not only finished the race with one arm after a big tumble, but he only missed qualifying by 6 seconds. One tough kid. The level of skiing here is ridiculous, and our kids fit right in. Its fun to watch the ‘men in black’ throw elbows with the Norwegians, Swedes and Estonians. I’m pumped for tomorrow. For now, off to sleep!
    -Kate

  • U23 Championshipts- Otepaa, Estonia


    Apologies for this taking so long to get written. World Juniors/U23s is always a super busy week, with races every single day for a week straight. This year I was lucky enough to get to enter all the races- so nice busy schedule for me in Otepaa, Estonia this last week.

    The first race of the week was a 10k Skate, which I came away from not super pumped about the result. Between Nationals and U23’s there was a big 3 week break, so I needed a race to start waking the body up and reminding it how to race. Temperatures dropped super low the day of our skate race. When we arrived at the venue it was -20C (-8F), which is colder than the legal limit. Between when we arrived, and 2 hours later somehow it “warmed up enough” to have a legal race- though at points during the race, I was doubting it. Ironically enough, I don’t travel with long underwear. Not sure why- but I am just not used to skiing in it…. which means the night before the race I had to put the search on for some long underwear.!! Thanks to Heather Mooney for saving my legs!

    Warming up and warming down in our down jackets

    The sprint race was a bit better. The result may not have showed much, but I had a strong qualifier race earlier on in the morning before later entering into the heats. Unfortunately during many of my opportunities to make strong moves in the quarterfinal- I was blocked out, and didn’t get to ski to my full potential. The good news is I know that it is possible to ski with these top girls, so I am pumped for the many more opportunities I have in this next month of racing in Europe.

    Blowing kisses to the crowd- Jessie took this photo while she was watching me on TV at the hotel. All the races were broadcasted in Euro Sport!

    The final race was the 15k pursuit race. I like this race because it takes all my strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes and mixes it into a racing stew- which could go any direction. One thing continues to hold true for every pursuit I have entered. More times than not I have a strong classic leg, skiing it like its the only section of the race- and then during the skate leg I hold on for dear life. This year, I held 14th place for the entire race before the final climb, when a train of europeans came charging from behind. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the juice left in the tank to hold onto these girls as I sprinted all the way to the finish, coming in only 2 seconds off the pack- with a final place of 17th. Finally I was pleased with one of my races- as I felt like I skid that race as well as I could that day.

    skate leg


    classic leg

    As usual, I came away from U23’s not quite reaching my expectations- but in the many years I have raced over here in Europe, I have figured something out. You can’t expect to come to Europe, and enter three races, and have the best races of the year. Quality comes with quantity over here. In order to race among these girls- it is important to have persistence. Each race I enter, the more comfortable I feel, and the stronger I get. Just as my season started on the domestic circuit- the best way for me to reach my potential is to race into the races.
    From here I take a week altitude training block in France before I head to Beitistolin for some FIS races, then Drammen for my first World Cup starts, and then soon after World Champs will begin. Lots more racing and lots more fun ahead of me.!
    Thanks to the coaches and wax techs for making it possible to have a great week of racing. You guys rock!!

    Ski Room

    Ski testing on the non-race days with the coaches

    Thanks to Nat Hertz for many of these skiing photos- and for keeping the US updated so well on fasterskier!!!

  • Race Snapshot: IBU WC 7 Men/Women’s Sprint

    Strong race for Sara Studebaker today and some good races from Lowell Bailey and Jay Hakkinen as well.

    Related posts:

    1. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 3 Men’s/Women’s Sprint
    2. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 5 Women’s Sprint
    3. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 6 Men’s Sprint


  • Race Snapshot: Rybinsk 10/20km Pursuit

    I care about the Rybinsk races, even if lots of other people don’t. Not surprisingly, a Russian guy won the men’s race, but I’m not sure it was the Russian most people were expecting. Also, exercise some caution with the FIS points; it appeared to be a very tactical race so everyone is pretty close together.

    Related posts:

    1. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 1 Men/Women’s Pursuit
    2. <Race Snapshot: TdS Pursuit
    3. <Race Snapshot: TdS Continuous Pursuit


  • Rybinsk: Does Anyone Care?

    I don’t mean any disrespect by the title, there, it’s just that the Rybinsk World Cups haven’t been very well attended. I was told by a friend recently that the Canadians included as part of their WSC selection criteria the standard of “finishing in the top 20 and the top half of a World Cup event”. The number of WC individual events where you could potentially be in the top twenty but also in the bottom half of the results is a fairly short list.

    Rybinsk, obviously. The China World Cups from several years ago are another option, as are some of the later Tour de Ski stages. Some of the WCs held in the US or Canada might have had some very small fields as well on occasion.

    I’ve heard that travelling there is inconvenient for various reasons, and I think they might also just be located in a tough part of the winter schedule, falling very near many nation’s national championships. Who knows. What I can do is to show you just how poorly attended the Rybinsk events have been:

    This shows the minimum, median and maximum number of racers (who finished) in any single race in the given country over the past 4 seasons or so (which is about how long they’ve been doing the Rybinsk WCs). For the most part, the men’s fields tend to be in the 60-70 range while the women’s fields tend to be in the 50-60 range.

    The Russian WCs do stand out (along with the smaller number of China WCs) as often having very small fields. They have, on occasion dropped down below 30 in distance events. The median field size for the men’s distance race in Russia doesn’t seem dramatically lower than several others, but it still is lower.

    Another way we can look at this is by counting the number of nations that are represented in a given event:

    Once again, this shows the min, median and max number of nations represented in a single WC event in the given location over the past four seasons. The huge range for the Canadian distance races is largely a result of the Olympics and some poorly attended pre-Olympic WCs. The similarly huge range for the Czech Republic is the result of one or two races at World Championships back in 2009. But once again, the Russian WCs stand out as one of the more poorly attended events. Since the China WCs aren’t a regular thing on the schedule, they are certainly the worst attended regular event.

    I’m not saying they should change the schedule, or move the races elsewhere or whatever. Honestly, I don’t really care. I suppose it might say something about how unwieldy and fragmented the FIS World Cup schedule has become, though, that they can hold a World Cup race and so few racers will consider it worth their time.

    Related posts:

    1. <How Well Prepared Are World Cup Rookies? (Part 1a: Distance)
    2. <Introducing: Biathlete Rankings
    3. <Japan’s Junior Skiers