Ski Community News

The Executive Board (EB) of the International Biathlon Union today announced that four World Cup events will take place in the first trimester of the 2020/21 season as planned. However, in order to minimise travel and protect athlete and stakeholder safety they will be hosted in just two venues. The competition dates and disciplines remain unchanged. The EB also agreed that the 14th Ordinary IBU Congress will be held virtually and the adjusted IBU Cup...

The local organizing club for the first cross-country Word Cup of the season, Kuusamon Erä-Veikot, announced on it’s website rukanordic.com the show will go on as planned with no fans. As sure as the sun rises Nov. 27 on 9:36 AM and sets at 2:05 PM in Kuusamo, the classic sprint will kick off the 2020-2021 cross-country World Cup. Ruka plans to host a three day series of cross-country races from Nov. 27-Nov. 29 :...

The Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) announced on Thursday that Russian biathletes Ekaterina Glazyrina and Timofey Lapshin were provisionally suspended. According to the BIU, Lapshin has been competing for Korea since 2017. Both Lapshin and Glazyrina are accused of violating anti-doping rules (ADRV). The evidence used to hand down the provisional suspensions came from information included in the McLaren Report and data from the Moscow Lab’s data (LIMS) handed over to WADA in 2019. The BIU […]

The Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) announced Thursday that three Russian biathletes implicated for doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics had their lifetime bans overturned. The biathletes in question, Olga Vilukhina, Yana Romanova, and Olga Zaitseva were first handed lifetime bans in 2017 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  The McLaren Report included information tying the three athletes to doping. The IOC subsequently ruled the three Russians had committed an ADRV, or anti-doping […]

When the country began shutting down in March, sporting good retailers initially shuddered. It appeared many if not all sectors of the economy would bottom out. “Everything was dicey in February and starting early March,” said Boulder Nordic Sport (BNS) founder Nathan Schultz about the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. I was about to head off to Italy for the World Masters to wax there. Everybody in the Midwest was getting ready for the World...

With the cold air blowing and the leaves starting to change it’s time to think ahead about new products for this winter and what major changes have hit the nordic skiing industry. Some brands have done as little as changing graphics and others have completely reinvented their brands.  In the wax industry, we have seen the release of fully non-fluorinated wax lines; Rossignol released a brand new mold for their WCS ski; Rottefella released a new, easier-moving...

Madshus athlete Hailey Swirbul (USA) shares her strategies for getting the job done and preparing for the upcoming season amidst the corona pandemic that has hit the United States harder than any other Western country. “I’m trying not to stress out about it. The virus is out of my control. But of course, we are concerned. In our team, we no longer talk about what we will do if someone in the group gets infected...

It is with great disappointment that Boulder Nordic Sport (BNS) announces today the permanent closing of its BNS Midwest location in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Boulder Nordic Sport’s other two locations in Boulder, Colorado (BNS HQ) and Portland, Maine (BNS East) remain open. The Midwest store is closing due to our inability to ensure a safe environment for employees and customers under the constraints of COVID-19. BNS has no immediate plans to open a new location in...

ANCHORAGE — For the second time in four years, nordic skiing has been saved at the University of Alaska Anchorage, following a serious proposal to eliminate the ski team entirely. This time around, the victory is somewhat more of a pyrrhic one, as the University of Alaska Board of Regents voted Thursday to eliminate the alpine portion of the men’s and women’s ski team, unless supporters can raise over a half million dollars in advance...

Multiple schools in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association are experiencing flux with their nordic coaching staff going into the 2020/2021 ski season, according to representatives from each school. The schools in question are the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Utah, and Montana State University, all of which have well-established nordic programs that placed highly at last year’s NCAA Championships. Neither Anchorage nor Montana State currently has anyone filling […]

With the ever-evolving nature of the pandemic, two months out from our article titled “Covid-19 Trends and Early Season World Cups“, we thought it an appropriate time to review Covid-19 trends in Europe. If the International Ski Federation chooses not to modify Period 1 and Period II on the World Cup, Finland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy will host already calendared events. In early June, when we first examined Covid-19 in those countries, the overall...

Don’t Forget, this WEEKEND (Sept 11th to Sept 13th) Huge savings on this year’s and previous year’s XC ski gear and apparel, up to 60% off retail.  HOURS…  >Friday 10am-5pm >Saturday 10am-4pm >Sunday 11am-4pm XC Clothing: All last year apparel 40-50% off. 2020/2021 XC Service Sale: FREE hotbox with all ski and grind purchases this weekend. Also, check out our grinds XC Ski Poles: All ski poles are 20-60% off. Shop: HERE Save at least 10-20% on all new incoming...

The Crosscut Mountain Sports Center is now welcoming applications for an assistant coach. The purpose of this position is to assist current coaching staff in the workload associated with running an Elite Team with high-performing cross country, biathlon, and adaptive nordic athletes, while managing overall program responsibilities.   Crosscut Mountain Sports Center is a community non-profit dedicated to conserving the 500+ acres adjacent to Bridger Bowl Ski Area as a year-round recreation, […]

A clean slate cancelation of U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s cross-country national racing calendar. That’s a piece of the collateral damage in the niche world of domestic ski racing. The cancellation includes SuperTour, U.S. National Championships, SuperTour Finals, and the Junior National Championships. We’ll get to how these races may be replaced in a moment. First, U.S. Ski & Snowboard set forth a series of bullet points regarding the reasoning and considerations for the wholesale […]

It’s hard to believe that we are already looking ahead towards the next set of winter sports world cups. Opening stages of the FIS Cross-Country World Cup begin late this November in Ruka, Finland, and finally, in March, we’ll see the Finals over in Beijing, China. Martin Johnsrud Sundby At this point, the early favorite as the overall winner is Sundby at 24/13 or +185 at GTBets, read their review. The Norwegian is at the...

Reflections From a White Skier On The Spaces and Places We Ski, And How To Build Inclusivity By: Ben Theyerl The typical life story of a competitive nordic skier in the U.S. tends to resemble a character out of a Robert Frost poem. It’s an appropriate metaphor; the Rikert Nordic Center at Middlebury, VT doubles as the quarters of the renowned Bread Loaf School of English during its summer months, where the Bard of New...

ANCHORAGE — The U.S. women’s epochal third-place relay finish at the World Cup stop in Gällivare, Sweden, in November 2012 is justly hailed as an inflection point for American skiing: For the first time in American nordic history, this country had four athletes who were all strong enough on the same day to challenge the traditional Scandinavian powers at their own game. The race begins Peggy Shinn’s historical treatment, World Class: The Making of the...

It goes without saying or writing, but I’m writing it anyway with a nod to a certain beloved Bay Area band: What a long strange trip it’s been —  (at only six months).   Becca Rorabaugh (31), based in Anchorage and training with the APU Elite Team, has a creative tool set to assist with the grind we all find ourselves in. And she’s handled this trip with grace. Although art is associated with the...

When winter approaches and you live in the UK, the one outdoor sport that you should try out is skiing. The UK offers ample opportunities for prospective skiers and they have more than enough cross-country ski schools to choose from. However, as a student, budgets are tight, which makes it a bit more of a challenge to find a school. So how do you go about choosing a ski school when you are a student...

ANCHORAGE — It’s déjà vu all over again for alumni and supporters of the University of Alaska Anchorage ski team, following the recent announcement that, for the second time in four years, university administration wishes to cut the team for budgetary reasons. A common theme in their current responses is their concern that this time, the cut may stick. To start with, consider what Adam Verrier wrote on his blog four years ago, in November...