SALT LAKE CITY- The NNF Announced today over $90K in funding for grassroots skiing support. “This is only possible through the support of our grassroots donors,” explained Dave Knoop, executive director for the NNF, “The NNF extends a hearty thanks to all that raised money through the Drive for 25 and our outreach programs.”
Below is the breakdown of funding as it will happens from the NNF and the contributions athletes can expect to make for the major championship events in the coming winter season. NNF allocations are made through the National Nordic Foundation Board of Directors and in no way manage team selection.
Trip
Total Cost
NNF Support
Athlete cost
U18
$33,758
$24,758
$750
Pre-U23/World Junior Camp
$13,555
$7,555
$500
U23/JWSC
$54,550
$38,050
$750
Scando Cup
$34,238
$19,838
$1,200
Total
$136,101
$90,201
Still more funds are scheduled to be allocated as the season progresses. Follow the NNF on this site and through our social media channels for athlete funding news and more.
Biathlon Alberta, the provincial governing body for the sport of biathlon, is hiring a Canmore‐based Events Coordinator for the 2014‐15 season. This contract position will involve working approximately 40 days between November 24th and March 24th, assisting with the production of Biathlon Alberta events around Alberta.
Duties of the position include:
Set‐up online race registrations
Prepare race files, biathlon race timing
Equipment hauling
Train and manage timing volunteers
Tabulation of series points, shooting percentages, and other data
Posting results, photos, race reports to website and other mediaRequirements of the position include:
Ability to lift heavy objects and work outside in winter conditions
Ability to work long hours in demanding conditions
Ability to train and work with volunteers
Willing to travel within Alberta and work weekends
Comfortable driving a large van in winter conditions
Familiarity with computers, Microsoft Excel
Some technical aptitude with computers, timing devices
To apply for this position please submit a resume by November 14th to:
NorAm action in Rossland, B.C., last winter: Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess of the Bend Endurance Academy (101) rounds a corner with Sun Valley’s Miles Havlik (110) and Graeme Killick (121) of the Alberta World Cup Academy/CNST in the Black Jack NorAm 1.6 k skate sprint semifinals on Dec. 15, 2013. (Photo: Shelley Peachell/Peachell Photography)
Note: This article has been updated to reflect the correct U.S. SuperTour schedule, notably West Yellowstone’s individual start.
Here’s what you have to look forward to this fall, domestically speaking. The Canadians are hosting a season-opening tuneup Oct. 24 in Canmore, Alberta, and it’s known as Frozen Thunder. After the classic sprint and freestyle-distance race (Oct. 31) at the Canmore Nordic Centre, North-American skiing attention will turn to Montana for the USSA SuperTour opener at its usual stop in West Yellowstone from Nov. 28-30.
The SuperTour circuit then heads north to Bozeman, Mont., for the second weekend of races Dec. 5-7. Canadians will have a chance to race at home again at Cross Country Canada’s NorAm opener Dec. 13-14 in Rossland, British Columbia, which also serves as its U23/Junior World Championships Trials. Another set of trials takes place the next weekend, Dec. 20-21, at Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley, British Columbia.
For the last two years, U.S. nationals has been held at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Olympic venue just outside of Park City, Utah. This winter from Jan. 4-10, they’ll be in Houghton on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The SuperTour circuit ventures to Vermont for back-to-back weekends in Craftsbury from Jan. 30-Feb. 8 before the ultimate American distance race (also part of the SuperTour schedule): the American Birkebeiner Feb. 21 in Hayward, Wis.
Another NorAm and the third-and-final set of Canadian U23/Junior World Trials is scheduled for Jan. 8-11 in Duntroon, Ontario. Western Canadian Championships in Canmore will follow from Jan.15-17, and Jan. 30-Feb. 1, Nakkertok will again host NorAm Easterns in Cantley, Quebec (just before U23 and Junior World Championships Feb. 2-8 in Almaty, Kazakhstan). The Gatineau Loppet will again double as Canadian Long Distance Championships with its 51 k classic mass start in mid-February.
The NorAm season wraps up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with Canadian Ski Nationals at Lappe Nordic, including the 50 k freestyle mass start.
SuperTour Finals and U.S. Distance Nationals are set for March 20-26 in Sun Valley, Idaho — and the mixed relay is back.
Emily Nishikawa (l) edges Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (c) and Heidi Widmer (r) in the women’s 1.4 k skate sprint final at the Black Jack NorAm on Dec. 14, 2013 in Rossland, B.C. (Photo: Shelley Peachell/Peachell Photography)
Dec. 13-14: Rossland NorAm opener (and U23/Junior World Trials 1): freestyle sprint & 10/15 k classic
Dec. 20-21: Whistler classic sprint & freestyle interval start at Callaghan Valley (U23/Junior World Trials 2)
Jan. 8-11: Duntroon 15/30 k skiathlon, classic sprint, 10/15 k freestyle (U23/Junior World Trials 3)
Jan. 15-18: Western Canadian Championships in Canmore: 10/10 k classic, freestyle sprint, classic mass start
Jan. 30-Feb. 1: Eastern Canadian Championships in Cantley: freestyle sprint/prologue, 10/15 k freestyle, 15/20 k classic mass start
Feb. 14-15: Gatineau Loppet/Canadian Long Distance Championships: 51 k classic mass start*
March 14-21: Canadian Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay: freestyle team sprint, 5/10 k freestyle, 10/15 k classic, 30/50 k freestyle mass start
*Separate from NorAm series
Tucker McCrerey (Utah) takes the outside corner at the top of Tele Hill. McCrerey went on to place 19th in the 15 k skate at the 2013/2014 West Yellowstone SuperTour opener.
The start of the women’s 15 k skiathlon at the 2014 World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. Falun will serve as the site of the 2015 Nordic World Championships in February. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)
Changes are coming to the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) World Cup schedule in the 2014/2015 season. The schedule was confirmed at the 2014 FIS Congress held in Barcelona, Spain, which concluded Friday June 6th. The upcoming season will include the esteemed Tour de Ski and the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. There were also some exciting new developments for North American skiers as the FIS Congress added the Tour du Canada to conclude the 2015/2016 season.
What’s the same:
The 9th edition of the Tour de Ski will be structured in the same manner as last year with a slight variation in venues. Like the 2013/2014 season, the seven-stage tour will begin in Germany with a 3 k and 4 k freestyle prologue followed by a 9 k and 15 km classic pursuit. Racers will then travel to Switzerland for a freestyle sprint. The final four stops of the Tour will take place in Italy beginning with a 5 k and 10 k classic and a point-to-point 15 k and 35 k freestyle pursuit in Cortina-Toblach. Val di Fiemme will feature a 10 k and 15 k classic and a 9 k and 15 k final climb to conclude the Tour.
What’s different:
This upcoming season will feature a change in venues and timing for the season’s three-day tour. Traditionally the tour has been held in Ruka, Finland during the last week of November to serve as an opener to the World Cup. In 2014/2015 the tour will instead be held in Lillehammer, Norway during the second week of World Cup skiing.
The 2014/2015 season will mark the return of several venues including La Clusaz, France, Otepää, Estonia, and Rybinsk, Russia.
There will be no World Cup Finals to conclude the season. The 2013/2014 season featured Falun, Sweden as the site of the Finals to prepare for the 2015 World Championships. The 2014/2015 season will instead finish in Oslo, Norway with 30 k and 50 k freestyle mass starts.
Other notes:
The 2015 U23/Junior World Championships will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from February 1st to the 8th.
The 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships will be held in Falun, Sweden from February 18th to March 1st.
2016 Tour du Canada – FIS Cross Country World Cup
The Canmore Nordic Center will host two stages of the 2016 Tour du Canada. The tour which was recently announced at the FIS Congress in Barcelona, Spain will serve as the finale for the 2015/2016 season.
FIS has made a provisional agreement with Cross Country Canada (CCC) to host a Canadian tour consisting of eight FIS World Cup races in March of 2016.
The tour will last from March 1st to March 12th and will travel from Gatineau, Québec to Canmore, Alberta.
Schedule:
Gatineau, Québec – March 1
Montréal, Québec – March 2
Québec – March 4 and 5
Canmore, Alberta – March 8, 9
Lake Louise, Alberta – March 11
Canmore, Alberta – March 12
Now that the host venues are confirmed CCC and FIS will continue to plan the details of the tour, which will likely include a variety of city sprints, pursuits, and mass starts.
The Canadian tour will be the last stop of the World Cup in 2015/2016. Without the World Championships or World Cup Finals, the series of stage races will serve as a finale to the season with the FIS crystal globes awarded at the end of the tour. The decision to place the Canadian tour at the end of the season was made in order to increase participation, build excitement, and ease the already tight schedule of the World Cup.
Justyna Kowalczyk with her gold from the 10 k classic at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It was her second gold medal and fifth at the Olympics. Kowalczyk recently announced she plans to continue ski racing, but with modifications to her training. (Photo: FIS/NordicFocus)
It’s not over ’til it’s over, and as Justyna Kowalczyk announced at a recent Polish press conference, she’s not hanging up the skis yet.
Her potential retirement at the end of the 2013/2014 season became more plausible when the 31-year-old Polish gold medalist said the Sochi Olympics would likely be her last. She did not finish the final race of the Games, the 30-kilometer freestyle mass start, because of a broken foot she raced on throughout the Games — with pain-numbing injections — and won a gold medal with in the 10 k classic individual start in Sochi.
“The foot comes up, but she still needs a lot of painkillers to train and compete,” Kowalczyk’s Facebook post stated. “It’s time to stop with all these chemicals. Winter time is over.”
And while she recently told reporters in Krakow that she’s going to continue into next season, Kowalczyk noted she’s going to be more restrained in her training.
“I decided that I will continue to compete, but on a different basis,” she said, according to FIS. “Sixteen years of training left marks on my body and I need a rest. The training will be aimed for the World Championships in Falun.”
Her first training camp is scheduled for early August — four months from now — and she plans to train alone or with her club in the meantime.
“World Cup will not be the main goal next year but training for the World Championships,” she added. “I will be aiming for competitions in classical technique in Falun.”
Kowalczyk is a two-time gold medalist in classic distance events, and a two-time world champion in skate races: the 15 k and 30 k at the 2009 World Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic. She has five Olympic medals and seven world-championships medals — all in individual events.
![NNF U.S. Nordic Funding Distribution](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/NNFpuzzle.jpg")
![NorAm action in Rossland, B.C., last winter: with Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess of the Bend Endurance Academy (101) rounding a corner with Sun Valley's Miles Havlik (110) and Graeme Killick (121) of the Alberta World Cup Academy/CNST in the Black Jack NorAm 1.6 k skate sprint semifinals on Dec. 15. Blackhorse-von Jess won the semifinal and went on to place fifth in the A-final. Fourth in the semi, Havlick ended up second overall, and Killick placed 12th. (Photo: Shelley Peachell/Peachell Photography, http://peachellphotography.com/)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/12/110-101-121_NorAm_peachell_photography1.jpg")
![Emily Nishikawa (l) edges Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (c) and Heidi Widmer (r) in the women's 1.4 k skate sprint final at the Black Jack NorAm on Dec. 14 in Rossland, B.C. Widmer was second and Bouffard-Nesbitt placed third. (Photo: Shelley Peachell/Peachell Photography, http://peachellphotography.com/)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/12/313Nishikawa-301Bouffard-LeadBibWidmer-SrWmAFinal_NorAM20_peachell_photography.jpg")
![Tucker McCrerey (Utah) takes the outside corner at the top of Tele Hill. McCrerey went on to place 19th in the 15 k skate at the 2013/2014 West Yellowstone SuperTour opener.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/12/IMG_1145.jpg")
![The start of the women's 15 k skiathlon on Saturday at World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Feature150314mf002.jpg")
![The Canmore Nordic Center will host two stages of the 2016 Tour du Canada. The Tour which was recently announced at the FIS Congress in Barcelona, Spain will serve as the finale for the 2015/2016 season.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2009/12/Canmore-nordic-center.jpg")
![Justyna Kowalczyk with her gold from the 10 k classic at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It was her second gold medal and fifth at the Olympics. Kowalczyk recently announced she plans to continue ski racing, but with modifications to her training. (Photo: FIS/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/04/BkOOCTRIIAAO6C2.jpg")