In this episode, we talk with Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2), who is coming off of her fourth consecutive victory at the American Birkebeiner in Hayward, Wisconsin. But the path between these victories, especially over the last two seasons, has not been smooth or direct. 

Alayna has had standout results on the SuperTour, but that has not directly translated into consistent results on the World Cup, leaving her navigating the tricky waters of being what is often dubbed a “bubble athlete”. Last season, her reach goal was to make the Beijing Olympic Team, which would require putting all of her eggs into whichever race-pathway basket was most likely to get her there. Ultimately, she was not named to the team, and a positive COVID test shortly thereafter rubbed salt in the wound. She also ended the season one FIS point shy of making the objective criteria for National Team selection in 2022. 

Alayna has been open about all of these setbacks both on social media and her blog – in particular, how difficult they can be to process in the moment. However, on paper, she has translated this journey into a career-best season. She’s cracked into the heats of two World Cup freestyle sprints, finished 26th in a 20k skate in Davos, and clocked the 5th fastest time of day in the same event during Stage 4 of the Tour de Ski in Oberstdorf, GER. She even beat SMS T2 teammate Jessie Diggins on a downhill segment.  

Alayna talks through these experiences, where she’s at now, and of course, the Birkie during this episode. We also chat about her new podcast project, Extra Blue – which is well worth a listen – and who her dream guest and conversation would be. The answer is surprising.

Just a heads up – we did have a few connection issues which caused a few audio bumps. Thanks for listening!

In this episode, we chat with Hailey Swirbul, who – at just 24 years old – has been competing at the top end of the sport for quite some time. A bronze medal in the 4 x 3.3k relay at the 2017 Junior World Championships in Soldier Hollow put Hailey – and relay teammates Julia Kern, Hannah Halvorsen, and Katherine Ogden – on the map in a big way in US Skiing. Hailey has gone on to spend the better part of the last four years racing on the World Cup, earning 48 World Cup starts and one individual podium in the 10k skate in Davos in 2020. She’s currently preparing for the upcoming World Championships in Planica, Slovenia, which starts on February 22nd. 

Following last year’s Beijing Olympics, Hailey opened up about the contrast in expectation versus reality in the Olympic experience, and how the high stress, high pressure environment of life in Europe, particularly in the lead-up to the Olympics, negatively impacted her mental health and felt increasingly unsustainable. She questioned whether she wanted to keep skiing at all, but eventually decided to keep at it, with a new approach. She took a full time engineering job in the summer, and decided to forego period one and two on the World Cup, racing the SuperTour and US Nationals domestically instead. 

As we discuss, this approach has rejuvenated her love for the sport and her motivation for the training and sacrifices it requires. And, it’s contributed to an outstanding season of racing, both domestically and internationally. She remains the SuperTour Leader as of recording, having earned a spot on the podium in all but one event, and swept all four events at the National Championships in Houghton, MI in early January. She seamlessly transitioned back onto the World Cup in Les Rousses, FRA where she raced into the semifinal of the classic sprint, followed by a top-20 result the following day in the 20k mass start classic. She qualified for the sprint heats again the following weekend in Toblach, ITA, was 26th in the 10k free the next day, and capped off the long weekend by scrambling for the US women’s relay team, which ended the day in bronze medal standing.

Thanks for listening, and thanks to Concept2 for supporting this podcast. 

At 24-years-old, Julia Kern is quickly becoming a seasoned veteran in her 7th year on the U.S. Ski Team. However, her career trajectory has been stepwise, not exponential. 

After making breakthroughs during the 2019-20 season, including her first World Cup podium in a skate sprint in Planica, Slovenia, she faced injuries and setbacks heading into the following season in 2020-2021, leaving her walking away from that season feeling disappointed in both her World Cup and World Championship racing. Reflecting on her takeaways in an interview that summer, she said “Progress isn’t linear from season to season.”

Recently named the recipient of the US Nordic Olympic Women’s Gold Rush Award for her grit and grace as a professional skier, Julia has demonstrated what it takes to rebound, reframe, and move past these challenges. As she describes in this conversation, the start of Julia’s 2021-22 race season happened in fits and starts – some strong early-season results with promising body sensations followed by a series of untimely mild illnesses. After catching a cold midway through the Tour de Ski in early January, she suddenly was faced with the reality that she would not have any opportunities to race until arriving in Zhangjiakou for the Olympics over a month later – the longest race break of her career. 

Her first Olympic appearance took place in the opening event, the 15 k skiathlon, where Julia finished 53rd. The individual freestyle sprint three days later was her goal race; Julia qualified in 14th and raced a gutsy quarterfinal, ultimately finishing fourth in the heat and 18th overall on the day. A myriad of factors left her wanting more from this first Olympic experience, though she approached it without placing high expectations on herself. 

Rebounding once more after the Games, Julia began a tear of World Cup sprints in Period IV. She was 8th in the freestyle sprint in Lahti, 7th in the classic sprint the following week in Drammen, and finished just off the podium in fourth in the World Cup Finals in Falun. From there, she headed to Whistler to finish the season at the joint Canadian National Championships and U.S. SuperTour Finals, where she took second to Jessie Diggins in Jessie’s signature 5 k freestyle event, and won the remaining three races.

During this conversation, Julia discusses the highs and lows of the season, as well as how she has been able to compartmentalize and move past setbacks over the past few years of navigating the transition to the World Cup. We also discuss her start in the sport, why the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 Team has been a good fit for her, and how leaning into other creative outlets, passions and work helps energize her for the long haul.

Thanks for listening and thanks to New Moon Ski and Bike for supporting this podcast. 

To help fans get to know these new(er) faces, FasterSkier is doing a series of interviews, providing insights into the factors that have contributed to development, progress, and growth for these athletes last season. In this installment, we talk with 20-year-old Walker Hall, who was named to the D-Team this season. Hall grew up immersed in the Methow Valley cross-country ski community and is now entering his sophomore year at the University of Utah. 

While the Methow has produced a number of outstanding skiers, including Brian Gregg, Erik Bjornsen, and Sadie Bjornsen Maubet, Hall could find inspiration even closer to home. His mom, Leslie, skied in three Olympic Games between 1988 and 1994, and her best friend and training partner post-professional racing soon became two-time Olympian Laura McCabe, once both women relocated to Winthrop, WA. Still close friends, Walker and Novie McCabe are just six months apart in age, and began tagging along from their infancy on their moms’ training and outdoor endeavors. Both athletes, now U.S. Ski Teammates, developed on the Methow Valley Nordic Team, coached by their mothers.

In this interview, Walker reflects on some of the other influential experiences – and setbacks – that contributed to a breakout season in 2021-22. Hall won the junior men’s 10 k during the 2022 U.S. Cross-Country Championships in Soldier Hollow, and finished in the top-five in a third of his RMISA races, including a podium performance in Sun Valley. Earning his first spot on the World Junior team, Hall competed in both the 1.2 k freestyle sprint and the 30 k skate individually, and was a contributing member of the U20 bronze medal winning relay team.  

– Walker’s sister, FasterSkier assistant editor Ella Hall, contributed to these questions

FasterSkier / Rachel Perkins: You grew up in the Methow Valley, which has a strong legacy within its cross-country ski community and the number of athletes who grew up there and went on to ski professionally. But in your situation, you and Novie McCabe are only about six months apart, and your families are super close and it sounds like you both did a fair amount of tagging along for both of your moms’ training as kids. Can you talk a little bit about your introduction to skiing and what your relationship with the sport was like growing up? 

Walker Hall: From as early as I can remember, probably as soon as I was capable of going on skis, that’s when I started – me and Novie both. Regardless of what we were doing, it was mostly outdoor activities, whether that was hiking or climbing or just spending time outside. Our moms would take turns, like one would take care of us while the other went and did some training or a long run or something. So I felt like I got a good training base just from everything I did outside, and started off skiing really young, and it’s always been a big part of my life.

FS: I also noticed you also listed your mom as one of the most influential people in your life in your U.S. Ski Team bio, and I know she was one of your coaches with the Methow Valley Nordic Team (MVNT). Can you say more about that?

WH: She coached [MVNT] up until just this last year – she retired last season. Basically when she was done racing [professionally] and once my parents moved to the Methow in the late ’90s, she really developed the program there.

So she’s been coaching for a really long time, and she had a lot of experience. She coached when my sister was skiing, so I grew up doing what [Ella] did because she’s four years older. My mom was able to give me the support and advice and guidance that is crucial for being good at skiing, and she was not too overbearing or anything, so I think she was just a really good influence on my ski career.

FS: That type of relationship seems important – not being overbearing, but really sharing in a mutual love of the sport. Is that something that you have felt within the Methow community and within your own family?

WH: I’ve definitely felt a lot of support from different people in the Methow, whether it’s my mom or Laura [McCabe] or other people in the ski community there. I’ve always gotten the support that I’ve needed and been pushed when I needed to be, and never felt too much pressure or anything, so it’s been really good for my career in skiing.

FS: Fast-forwarding a bit, in high school, you spent six months in Meråker, Norway during your junior year, and it sounds like that was a pretty formative experience for you – you had a really positive experience with that program, and the coach, and made some good friends/training partners. Can you share more about how that came about and what your time was like there?

WH: It came about because Ella did a very similar [program] her junior year; she also went to Meråker, but she went for a shorter period of time. But as I got older and learned more about the sport and the people within the sport, it seemed like Norway was the place to be to really improve and learn. Our family had some connections in that area because Ella had been there. 

Once I was there, it was definitely a lot different. Coming from the Methow where there’s really not many – there’s a lot of skiers, but it’s such a small area that you’re sort of in your own little bubble. So going to Norway and just seeing the ski culture there and learning a lot about training and what the Norwegians like to do [was really beneficial], because they obviously have a really good method for juniors or whatever age you are in ski racing. I had good coaches, good training partners, and good support there as well. So I definitely learned a lot and sort of knew what I had to do when I got back to really take skiing to the next level.

FS: Was that at a sports academy? Were you going to school also?

WH: It’s actually a public high school, or it’s funded by the government, but it’s a sports school [called the Meråker videregående skole]. So we would train in the mornings until maybe 11, and then shower, eat lunch, go to class for three hours or so, and then maybe train in the afternoon. That was what it was like most days, then on the weekends, it was more on your own because it’s a school program, not  a club. When we would go to races – which I didn’t go to too many races – we would go with a local club.

FS: Your sister said that the experience also inspired you to take Norwegian lessons after returning home and that you’re “decent” now. Is this true?

WH: When I was there, I definitely didn’t know that much [Norwegian]. There were two other non-Norwegian students that I took some Norwegian lessons with, just what the school provided, but I definitely never really spoke that much while I was there. I wanted to keep learning and improving [after I got back], so I’ve studied on and off since then. I’m alright at it – I’m pretty conversational, I would definitely not say I’m fluent. But it’s a fun way to stay connected with my friends over there, and some of my teammates at the University of Utah are Norwegian too, so that’s been cool.

Hall also explained that his classes in Meråker were in Norwegian, but since the group size was small, and both his teachers and classmates were helpful, he was able to get by without being fluent in the language. 

FS: After graduating high school in 2020, you had planned to go back to Meråker for a gap year, but COVID got in the way of that, and plan-B ended up including a lot of time training on your own in the Methow. Can you talk about that experience and how you adjusted?

WH: I had been planning to go back to Norway, but everything was so strict with COVID [at that point], they were not letting anyone in, basically. So I was just at home and I kept trying to figure it out so that I’d be able to go over there, but it just kept not working. I kept trying, but eventually, I was just at home the whole time. 

I was going to races in the winter but it definitely was not an ideal situation for me because I was doing a lot of training on my own, which, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to train on your own, but for me personally, it’s a lot easier for me to train with other people. It’s a lot more motivating, and long term, it’s a lot better to train with other people so you don’t plateau. But I just focused on racing and kept working hard and it wasn’t the worst in the end. That year was alright, but it wasn’t ideal.

FS: Kind of on the other end of the training group spectrum, for collegiate racing, you originally committed to Dartmouth, but later were offered a spot that opened up at the University of Utah, and made the switch as Utah had been your first choice.

WH: Yeah. Basically, I had planned on going to Dartmouth, and then COVID hit, and it was looking like life at Dartmouth with COVID was going to be a lot different than before. I had been talking to Utah [during my senior year], and they had been saying ‘oh, you should take a gap year and then we’d probably like to take you.’ So there was also a chance that I was not going to take a gap year and just go to Dartmouth, but then when that gap year happened and I got offered a spot at Utah, I just knew that that was going to be the better choice for me.

Last summer before I went to Utah, I came up here to Anchorage for most of the summer, so I was training with a lot of my future teammates. There was a big group of people up here and a good amount of Utah skiers were here, so it was a good way to prepare and it was a really good experience. There’s just such good training up here during the summer. And the winter, I’m sure.

FS: And what does that look like? Are you working with a coach or under a certain program? And how have those experiences being in Anchorage for the summer been valuable for you?

WH: I train with APU when I’m up here. That’s a really solid group to train with, coached by Erik Flora, who I really like and I’ve learned a lot from. It was a really good experience coming up last summer, and I knew I wanted to come again this summer. There’s just a lot of really hardworking people that push me and help me hit big hours, so I think it’s a good place for me to be during the summer.

FS: Going back to University of Utah – what appealed to you about that program? And what was your experience like in that first season of collegiate racing?

WH: There’s a lot [that appealed to me about it.] I knew a lot of the people on the team, and I knew it was such a strong team. I had actually been down there a couple times – or I had been in Park City for ski camps and [races], and I visited Novie for a couple of weeks [during her freshman year at Utah] and really liked it. Me and Novie have always done similar training and whatnot, so I figured if she was liking it a lot down there, then it was a good place for me also. 

And I really liked the coaches. I talked a bit with Miles Havlick and Frederick [Landstedt], and I really liked what I’d seen from those guys. Since I’ve been there, it’s been a really good fit.

FS: World Juniors in Lygna was your first international trip, and it sounds like you had some bad luck with racing at US Nationals and/or been really close in prior years. What do you think came together for you this season to make that trip? And what were some of the highlights of that World Juniors experience in terms of how it supports your development and goals?

WH: Yeah. In previous years – maybe the past three years or so for this year – there were like two years where I was just coming off of sickness going into nationals, so I never really had the races that I wanted there, and I never ended up making any of those international trips. Which, honestly, I would have liked to go on the trips, but it never really bothered me too much – it wasn’t like demoralizing or anything – because I felt like I knew the level that I was at and that on a given day I could be as good or better than any of the trip. So it was never really too much of a bummer for me. But this year, I wanted to make it on the trip to World Juniors, and I had goals for the races at World Juniors too, it wasn’t just the trip there was the end goal. But just making it definitely felt good, and I had a really good Nationals this year, which was awesome since that’s pretty much the first time that’s happened for me. 

I was super happy that the races were in Norway because I just love spending time there, and we got to do our pre-camp in Hafjell, which is right near Sjusjøen, and I’ve spent some time there – it’s [some of] the best skiing in the world. So that was super fun. And I really liked a group of guys and the entire team and staff that was there, so it was a really good experience.

FS: From the outside, it seems like you took a pretty big step forward this past year, which maybe can be attributed to having such a strong group to train with at University of Utah, or some more direction after a tough gap year. In looking back over this year, what are some of the factors that you think allowed you to take those steps forward and what were some of your personal highlights from the season? And those personal highlights do not necessarily need to be a race result, just an experience that stands out to you.

WH: I think the main factor was really taking my training to the next level. Especially over the summer [in Anchorage] and then carrying that through the fall in Utah. I was just training with a really strong group, and really pushing myself, and doing [types of training] that I hadn’t really done in the past. So definitely, a good part is thanks to that. And then also, I’ve had a lot of different experiences over the years and learning from those helps to channel some better results.

As for my highlights – this last season, I was just proud of the way that I trained and was smart with my training, and I  didn’t overdo it. And it seems like it’s often hard to put together a good season like your freshman year of college because it’s such a big adjustment. So I was happy that I was able to have a solid season for the most part while going through such new experiences in my first year in college.

FS: What are your goals heading into next winter?

WH: It’s gonna be my first year not being a junior, so honestly, I don’t have too many specific goals. But I’d definitely love to race in my first World Cup this year, and just keep improving. On the college circuit, hopefully, get a bunch of podiums in RMISA. And just keep learning from my teammates and pushing with the team at Utah.

FS: Last question for you: with making the D-Team, can you share what that means to you and what you’re excited about in terms of the support and opportunity that opens up for you?

WH: It’s always seemed like probably the biggest step you can make in U.S. skiing is actually making the ski team, so it feels really good to have achieved that. I’m just now realizing the amount of support that means that I’m able to get, so I’m just taking advantage of that and learning from my other teammates on the team – taking advantage of the different opportunities that it grants me, and just enjoying the ride. But I’m definitely thrilled to have made the team.

The Olympic Dream. 

Perhaps the opportunity to compete at the highest level of sport would not be as sought-after and revered were it not for the inherent scarcity of opportunities to achieve it. This year, only eight women and six men were able to represent the United States in cross-country skiing in Zhangjiakou, down from a total of twenty – 11 women, 9 men – who were selected for PyeongChang in 2018. 

Among those who came up just shy was 30-year-old Rosie Frankowski, who has spent the last eight years training with APU under head coach Erik Flora. Frankowski is a 2018 Olympian and 2019 World Championship competitor, finishing inside the top-30 in both places – 21st in the 30 k classic in Korea and 24th in the 15 k skiathlon in Seefeld. 

After strong early season results that included two wins and three third place finishes in early season SuperTours, Frankowski lined up in Soldier Hollow for a two-week stretch of racing that felt like it was for all the marbles. As many women had already met the objective criteria for team selection via results on the World Cup, it was only the final few spots that remained open for domestic racers; in the hungry pool all fighting for these spots via some combination of U.S. Nationals, Sun Valley SuperTour, and Tour de Ski results were Frankowski, Caitlin Patterson, Alayna Sonnesyn, Katharine Ogden, Novie McCabe, and Sophia Laukli. 

As Frankowski describes in this episode, her opening races – the freestyle sprint and the 20-kilometer mass start skate – of U.S. Nationals went remarkably well; despite being known as a distance specialist, she won the sprint qualifier and finished sixth in the final, then won the race for second place in the 20 k skate, behind Rosie Brennan who had dropped the field from the start. From there, Frankowski faced a series of challenges – slick skis and variable klister conditions in the 10 k classic, a fall in the classic sprint, and a sublexed shoulder in the opening race in Sun Valley. 

The official team nominations for the 2022 Beijing Olympics were released the following week, and Frankowski was named as the second alternate for the women’s team. Five months later, Frankowski finds herself at a transition point in her career. It’s not a cut and dry retirement as she has earned Period I starts on the World Cup and has other race objectives next winter, but it’s a shift in focus as she and her partner prepare to relocate from Anchorage, AK to Durango, CO. 

In this conversation, Frankowski shares the highlights and challenges of the 2021-22 race season, and provides invaluable insights into the experience of spending her career as a “bubble athlete”, fighting for international race opportunities and team selection, while juggling the financial realities of supporting her professional ski racing career. She reflects on her time with APU, and discusses defining success when surrounded by “more-accomplished” teammates, and how she expects the ratio of mountain running to ski-specific training to shift after this transition.

Thanks for listening and thanks to Concept2 for supporting this podcast.

After growing up in Vermont and developing as a skier at the Stratton Mountain School, and later training with the SMS T2 elite team through most of his professional career, Newell moved to Bozeman, MT in 2018 with his wife and former SMS T2 teammate Erika Flowers, who had grown up in Bozeman and taken a job there. Both at a transitional point in their ski careers, Newell would continue to pursue World Cup skiing for another two seasons, while Flowers continued to train with her sights more focused on domestic racing.

Over the last four years, this transition has seen Newell race his final World Cup events and officially leave professional ski racing behind, only to launch and support the thriving BSF Pro Team, alongside his online coaching business, Nordic Team Solutions. In this interview, which took place on Friday, June 3rd, Newell provides insights into this transition from athlete to coach, while also adding behind-the-scenes details of getting the Pro Team off the ground. He also speaks to the challenges of elite training groups, their role in supporting the trajectory of U.S. skiing at the international level, and what’s in store for the BSF crew this summer. 

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

FasterSkier/Rachel Perkins: Starting with the timeline, in the spring of 2018, both you and Erika started to transition to ‘retirement-lite‘. And at that point, you were already talking about doing some coaching and working in athlete development. Is that when you guys moved to Bozeman? And from there, what was the evolution of your relationship with the BSF program?

Andy Newell: Well, I was actually still on the U.S. Ski Team in 2018, but we did move to Bozeman that year. I was still racing essentially full time, but at that time I started a business, Nordic Team Solutions, and with that, I launched a summer training program where I was coaching college kids, so summer of 2019 was my first year where I was kind of stepping more into a formal coaching role. Which for me felt natural because I’ve always kind of participated in and loved the whole training camp vibe.

Growing up at Stratton, Sverre [Caldwell] always had these amazing summer camps for juniors that I participated in my entire life. And then, as I became an older athlete and a U.S. Ski Team athlete, I would actually help with some of these training camps as well. And then in my years with the U.S. Ski Team, I had this program that I started calling “speed camps,” which a lot of people might remember. We would host these free clinics around the country that would coincide with the U.S. Ski Team training camp. Basically we would reach out and have a bunch of juniors come and join us for an afternoon of rollerskiing and agility courses and fun stuff like that.

So to me, it felt like a natural progression to take that a step further – once I launched the Nordic Team Solutions business, where I was running the website, to then pair that with a summer college training group. So my first year here in Bozeman, I actually ran that group independently from BSF… so I was actually not part of BSF in that first year of 2019. I was planning to race some World Cups, did race some World Cups in 2019-20, and then COVID put a quick end to our season when we were getting ready to race in Quebec and Minneapolis.

I had planned on those being my final World Cup races as a professional, to go out racing in Quebec and in Minneapolis and had spent all year preparing for those specific races. And sure enough, they were canceled. So it was like, ‘Surprise! You’re officially retired now.’ And at that point is when I signed on with Bridger Ski Foundation to be the elite team coach.

FS: The announcement of your hiring went out in April 2020 – which kind of feels like a lifetime ago, but it also seems like it would have been a somewhat challenging time to launch a new elite team. Was the foundation already there with the BSF program or was this the onset of the elite team program?

AN: There was an elite team in 2018, but it disbanded because the coach, Rogan Brown, went on to [coach at Denver University], and there were only a handful of athletes here in Bozeman at the time. So in 2019, there was no elite team tied in with BSF, and then in 2020 when I was hired, it was essentially my job to kind of relaunch this program, and to make it a successful program.

There’s no reason why BSF should not have a successful elite team. The Bridger Ski Foundation has been around for over 70 years. It’s very well established here in Bozeman; we have a great pool of young athletes that participate in the youth skiing program – hundreds of athletes.

Andrew Morehouse was signed on as the new nordic director in 2019, and then I came on in 2020. And we shared a vision that, in order [for BSF] to be a premier club, we should have an elite team. And then basically, I had free reign to kind of do what I wanted, which I’m super grateful for – that BSF has kind of given me the ability to choose the team makeup the way I see is best, and to choose how I run the program.

We work closely with the juniors and Andrew Morehouse and the youth programs in town, so I very much have taken the model that I learned growing up at Stratton and tried to implement that here in Bozeman.

At that point [in 2020], I basically just got on the phone and started calling some different athletes that I had met or worked with through NTG camps. The US Ski Team in 2018 and 2019 would hire me to come to NTG camps or development team camps – that was part of my business as well – so I started reaching out to different athletes and mentioning to them that we were going to start a new team here in Bozeman. So I was able to recruit nine athletes initially to come to the team, which was great.

Here’s a preview of the 2021-22 BSF Pro Team. Note that one of the original 2020-21 athletes, Leah Lange, stepped back from her racing career after the team’s first season to begin coaching in Big Sky, MT. 

FS: Can you say more about getting the team off the ground?

AN: So we launched [the Pro Team] in 2020 in the midst of COVID, which – there were so many unknowns and unique circumstances to try to convince these athletes to move to Bozeman and train here in the midst of all that was going on. And we essentially only had very unofficial racing our first season of 2020-21. Kind of a mismash of some official races, some non-official. But in hindsight, it was a nice opportunity for us to just build a team and spend a lot of time training with one another. 

When you name a team like this as a coach, you have no idea what type of team culture or team vibe there’s going to be – you’re bringing all these different athletes from different colleges or different programs around the country. You want to create a team that really acts and feels like a team and you have no idea what type of form that’s going to take. So in hindsight, to have that COVID year where we just spent a lot of time training with one another, building the team here in Bozeman, was nice to lay that foundation so that we could have what was a very successful season last year in 2021-22.

FS: You’ve still got Nordic Team Solutions going on also. Has your work there shifted in any way and how do you balance your time between both of those?

AN: It has shifted in that, my first few years with NTS, I would actually hire [myself] out and go to more training camps. As I mentioned, I would help the U.S. Ski Team out with some of their NTG camps, or I would be hired by a club to go do a two or three-day training camp with them. And that has pretty much stopped, because my priority time-wise is with the BSF Pro Team. So I don’t travel so much for any other coaching duties, I mostly just travel to training camps with the BSF Team and work with them here in Bozeman.

But I do still run the website, which is a great resource for training information for ski clubs, high school coaches, college coaches, or any individual that’s looking to learn more about training. I still run that [program] on a weekly basis and in published training plans and right strength plans for various individuals.

FS: In terms of Bozeman: you spent most of your career based in Vermont, though Erika has roots in Bozeman. How have you found that setting for leading this Pro Team and what are your thoughts on the training environment there?

AN: The environment for training is fantastic here in Bozeman; we have access to mountains, access to a long season of skiing. We’re just an hour and a half away from West Yellowstone where we often have early FIS races, or we’re within driving distance of Sun Valley, Canmore, all these other places that historically have early-season racing. The rollerskiing is quite good here and there’s already a great support network within the Bridger Ski Foundation community.

What is tough, with any elite team, is the fundraising aspect. I actually rebranded it as a Pro Team for a reason, because I want these athletes to be not scraping by, but to be actually making money while pursuing their dreams of being an Olympic-level racer. I think they deserve that, and I think that’s what all professional skiers deserve in the U.S.

But it’s taken us some time to get there, and we’re not there yet. Fundraising is a huge part of my job on a yearly basis; we essentially have to fundraise from scratch all the money that it’s going to cost to travel around the country, or travel to Europe with these athletes who are making World Cup or World Championships. All the wax, all the hotels, all the logistics – all of that falls on a single program budget, basically.

And I think there’s a huge potential for that in Bozeman. Bozeman is one of the fastest-growing towns in the U.S. and there are a lot of new businesses here, so I think our fundraising potential is huge. But given the fact that we started in COVID, and we’ve only been here for two years, we’re still trying to figure that piece out. And so that’s a place where we still have room to grow.

And I would encourage anyone out there who’s reading this to realize the importance of these pro teams that we have in the country… We have Stratton, we have Craftsbury, we now have the Birkie Team, we have Sun Valley. And these clubs are essentially responsible for the development of the US Ski Team. This is the club model that we have adopted. Now, you know, it’s now been 30 years since we’ve, more or less, adopted this model. And we’re not getting any money from the U.S. Ski Team to develop these athletes. These clubs are and are all self-funded. APU is a little different since it’s tied in with the university.

Unless you have a massive endowment or some other amazing bankroll that I am not familiar with, these pro teams and elite teams are fundraising their entire budgets on a yearly basis. Every single year, you have to raise the amount of money to send these [athletes] to these races. And that’s challenging, but it’s a hugely important piece of our development, because we wouldn’t have the U.S. Ski Team that we have now – we wouldn’t have the depth or the success on the U.S. Ski Team level – if we didn’t have these clubs as feeder programs. So I think it’s important that people help support these teams.

FS: Looking back over the last few years, what are some of the indicators of success that you look at in identifying what’s going well for the program? And what are some of your objectives in terms of heading into the next few seasons?

AN: That’s a great question. The goal we have here with the Pro Team is international success, and that means I don’t bring someone onto the BSF pro team [whose only] ambitions are racing SuperTour and winning the Birkie, although those are amazing achievements. Those are, for sure, stepping stones in our development. But my goal is to put people on the U.S. Ski Team, and to qualify people for World Championships and Olympics.

So international success is what we strive for, and that’s how we measure our season, and how folks are doing. Last year alone, we had three athletes achieve their first ever national podiums in Soldier Hollow. We actually qualified four different athletes for World Cup, although two of them – Finn O’Connell and Mariah Bredal – did not get to start there because they were canceled. But both Logan Diekmann and Lauren Jortberg started their first ever World Cups, which is great. We finished the year with Logan Diekmann as the overall sprint champion on the SuperTour. Finn O’Connell was the second best ranked distance skier on the SuperTour, and he also qualified for the U.S. Ski Team [as a B-Team member]. So for us, that was a solid year, and I was very proud of the way the team performed and much of the team, if not half the team, was able to have personal bests and be called up for some type of international racing, whether that was through World Cup or Opa Cup, and that’s exactly what you know I want to do. That’s my mission: to get these kids into those big international races and have them perform well.

FS: Can you speak a little bit about the depth of the team, too? Momentum seems like an important thing with elite or pro teams. Just having that critical mass of athletes that are on the same level, or have similar objectives. Is that something that you’re seeing with the BSF crew?

AN: Yeah, absolutely. I think the phrase ‘critical mass’ is for sure something that you see with these pro teams. I mean, it’s hard to deny the Jessie Diggins/Julia Kern effect that Stratton has right now. That’s a huge draw to their program.

I think, for us, considering we started with zero members of the U.S. Ski Team on our pro team, and now we have one B-Team member – I’ve just been really excited with our success so far and how the team has stayed driven and motivated and helps push one another. That’s why I do this job – I love the team environment. That’s what I lived in my entire life; I was on the U.S. Ski Team from when I was 18 years old until I was almost 36 years old. 

So the concept, the feeling of being part of a team, where people are genuinely supportive of one another you share in the training process and learning process, and you’re pushing one another, that’s the most valuable and successful scenario you can have. So I’ve been glad that we’ve somehow been able to find that nice mix of motivated individuals that genuinely get along and have fun with one another, and are able to travel the country and have put together successful race weekends.

FS: Last program question: what’s new and what’s on deck for this summer? You mentioned that you guys are heading to Norway. What other summer/fall camps or projects are you guys working?

AN: [Starting with the team roster:] so far this year, we’ve added Sarah Goble to our squad squad. She’ll be a new athlete with us next year. We also have her brother Reid Goble on the team, who has been great. I think those two have a ton of potential.

We did lose Lauren [Jortberg] to Stratton – and you know how these clubs work, it’s a very friendly exchange. I’m sure we’ll find ways to collaborate, and that’s honestly what I find a lot of value in is elite teams collaborating with one another. Last year, we did a bunch of training camps with Sun Valley [Gold Team]. We joined Stratton and Sun Valley in Lake Placid training camp. We did some camps in the Midwest where we’ve had overlap with some Birkie athletes. And so I’ll continue to do that this year.

We are scheduled to go to Norway next week for a two-week camp where we’ll be in Sjusjøen for five days, and then on Sognefjellet ski fields for five days. We’ll try to overlap with some fast foreign skiers while we’re there and try to learn from some folks over there, and we’re bringing a handful of college skiers with the Pro Team as well on that trip. After that, we’ll be back here in Bozeman for the main summer training block and that’s when we do our BSF college training group as well. That runs through the end of June and into the first week of August.

So we have a solid six-week block of training here in Bozeman, which has been the staple of the BSF program the last couple years – having this really competitive college training group. It’s been so fun to see that program grow and see the success of the college training group. The first year with BSF, we had folks like Sophia Laukli on the team, and so many talented individuals. It was great to see them develop here in Bozeman and then have such amazing seasons that winter. So we’ll continue that program where for six weeks we’ll have a team of 12 collegiate athletes that join the Pro Team on daily training all the way through August.

After the summer training group ends, we’re planning to head to the Midwest for another training camp, like we did last year. We try to get to low-altitude in August. Right now we’re looking at Marquette as our training destination, and we’ll try to collaborate with Team Birkie on some sessions out there. And then we’ll be going to Park City camp in October, like we always do, to join the many clubs from around the country and the U.S. Ski Team for their [fall] camp. And then we’ll probably get on snow early here in Montana or in BC as the snow flies.

FS: How much crossover is there between the collegiate group that you have joining in the summer and the Montana State University (MSU) program?

AN: Historically there are not many MSU kids that stay in town [over the summer]. This year I think we have two MSU kids in the college training group, so that’s great. If there are MSU athletes in town, we try to prioritize them to get them onto the team to keep them within the community. But a lot of college kids go home, whether it’s Alaska or back east or the Midwest. But we do have some good crossover and I have a good relationship with Adam St. Pierre and the university. We use their facilities all the time – we just did a round of testing on the rollerski treadmill at MSU – so it’s handy to have those types of resources nearby.

FS: I know you’ve also got the Jim Bridger Trail Run coming up this summer, and there is a new rollerski race component. Can you share more information on that?

AN: We’re doing our first ever Jim Bridger Rollerski Race at the end of July, which is paired with our annual trail run. I’ve been working with the town of Bozeman to shut down a city block behind where the MSU campus is, and we’re going to be hosting a crit-style rollerski race on the weekend in downtown Bozeman.

We have prize money for that, and we’re getting some great sponsors on board. So that’ll be a cool event.

FS: Can you also talk about how that event supports the BSF Pro Team?

Yeah, absolutely. Like I mentioned, we as a Pro Team essentially need to raise $150,000 each year just to get the [athletes] to all the races and try to cover their expenses. That is a travel budget, a wax budget, everything – and that needs to be raised on an annual basis. For us, the Jim Bridger Trail Run is one of our biggest fundraisers.

It’s an incredible amount of work. It’s a weird part of my job to be a coach, but also an event organizer. There’s a lot of weird things that go into being a ski coach. But, if we can make the Jim Bridger event big and successful, we can actually raise a lot of money for our budget. So that’s why we put so much attention and effort into it. It’s also a good chance for us to partner with local sponsors to raise money for the Pro Team, because all proceeds from these events go directly to the Pro Team.

So historically, it’s just been a trail run, but this year I wanted to add a rollerski event for a couple reasons. One: I think it’s a huge development tool for BSF. We have so many talented youth skiers in this town. I want them to kind of be exposed to this type of high-level rollerski racing that we see in Europe. We see it all over Norway and Sweden and Germany; we need to have high-level rollerski races here in the U.S. So my secondary goal is to have this be an annual thing, where people know there’s going to be a quality rollerski race that’s super exciting to watch, fun to participate in, there’s going to be prize money and sponsors, so we can make it an annual thing and have it tied in with all the different clubs throughout the West. I’m hoping teams from Sun Valley, Park City, and all over the West will bring their athletes here to compete in this rollerski race on July 30th in downtown Bozeman.

FS: And they’re staggered, right? So people could do both theoretically?

AN: Exactly. The rollerski race is on Saturday, running races are on Sunday. The running race is 10 miles, but we also have a 5k option for the younger kids. And we have U16, U18, U20 and open class for the rollerski race. Swix and Salomon are sponsors of the event, and we’ll be getting a race rollerski fleet from Swix, so these are going to be matched rollerskis for the open men and women, so it’s going to be a legit rollerski race.

We’re hoping to livestream it too. TBD on that, but check the BSF Facebook page for live streaming.

Leveling the Playing Field

In regard to the question of whether the policy widens the gap in equity because of equipment differences, coaches expressed that the opposite has been observed.

“It probably has a little bit to do with what level we’re talking about,” said Teague. “But certainly, club or high school wise, I’ve only seen it take down one of the barriers of entry to our sport, and decrease costs for both programs and individuals.”

Speaking on behalf of RMN, Teague added that this removal of barriers has opened up opportunities for smaller clubs, and the support expressed among coaches speaks for itself. 

“My opinion is – of everybody that’s gone to [a wax protocol], no one has said: ‘That’s a mistake. We’re gonna go back,’” said Teague. “Yes, there is some advantage that can be gained for an athlete or a program that has the capacity to go and invest in a quiver of skis to try and overcome the playing field, but more often than not, what we’re seeing is that small programs, or athletes without a program at all, [such as one of my former skiers who lived on Colorado’s Grand Mesa in the Southwest corner of the state], all of a sudden can be competitive.” 

This phenomenon could be attributed to the aforementioned power previously held by larger clubs; when glide testing is no longer a priority, perhaps smaller clubs can finally find a seat at the table. 

“We have 14 clubs in the division,” Kapala said of Intermountain. “Last year, 13 of them placed a kid on the Junior National team. Prior to that, we were running more like seven or eight [clubs]. So what was going on was Sun Valley, Bozeman, Jackson, and to some extent Park City – the bigger clubs – were rolling in, and to put it bluntly, we were steamrolling the small programs. It wasn’t a fair fight. And fortunately, the larger clubs in our division say, ‘Clearly, that’s not good for skiing.'” 

Kapala spoke specifically of an athlete who hailed from Whitefish, MT, which is “way at the far flung edges of the realm. They’ve gotta drive forever to get to races.”

This athlete raced for the Glacier Nordic Club under the guidance of head coach Jennie Bender, who he described as “a huge asset and we’re so fortunate to have her come to our division.” Clarifying that Bender is as skilled and capable as any other coach on a wax bench, he acknowledged that she was largely on her own at races with roughly 12 kids. This ratio is not equivalent to the SVSEF team which might have 35 kids with five to seven coaches at a JNQ. 

“It’s just not a fair fight.”

Despite less support on the waxing front, the athlete grew into the season and was regularly finishing between fourth and sixth at JNQs, which earned her a spot on the IMD team at Junior Nationals. 

“So what happens is: we go to JNs, we leverage all of the Intermountain resources on behalf of her and the other kids and what does she do? She’s on the podium. And so our policy afforded her the opportunity to at least be in the conversation to make sure she assuredly got through… she was good enough in that setting of fair and equitable ski service, that – what else was going on? She believed. ‘Oh wow. I’m actually not that far away.’”

Once this seed was planted, the athlete thrived. In Kapala’s mind, it’s an intangible, but nonetheless vital, component of the development process for that age group.

“None of this stuff happens in a vacuum, and athlete development is this really, really – I don’t want to say funky – but really nuanced process… This girl has gone from we didn’t even know who she was, to one of the best U16 girls in the country. And I contend that our wax policy, while it wasn’t more important than Jennie’s great coaching, certainly didn’t hurt. She was on a level playing field as level as we can make it in those formative JNQs where she started believing [in herself]. And that’s the whole game.”

Teague also acknowledged the apples-to-oranges capacity of programs, relating it to his experience with the Australian national team, whom he coached and supported through two World Championships surrounding the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. While Australia now typically partners with the U.S. team on the World Cup for waxing, the capacity of this small program pales in comparison to a robust and well-funded nation like Norway, which has been supported by technician Knut Nystad who was quoted in the first two parts of this series. While Teague emphasized his respect for Nystad’s expertise both as a coach and tech, he felt the understanding club level coaches have of the specific challenges of their leagues might offer a different lens with which to consider these issues. 

“Knut was my coach [when I was racing collegiately at Denver University], and worked on the Norwegian wax team when I was coaching in Australia. What they were able to do and the testing they were able to do, versus what I could do with Australia – it’s not even comparable. And sometimes we could be competitive with them, but often, they were able to test significantly more. Now, would a waxing protocol make it fair in that situation? Absolutely not. Because they could have every different grind, and a grinder going, and along the continuum.

“But at the high school level, an AVSC can send four coaches over early to test [glide] wax and at least apply wax on site, rather than make a guess. Whereas [a small program like the Colorado Rocky Mountain School (for whom the author is a former head coach)], or even Battle Mountain where there’s two coaches and 70 or 80 kids, there’s no way they could do that.” 

An Arms Race for Skis and Grinds

But what about the arms race for equipment that was cited as a concern in the first two installments of this series? Have these policies induced higher demand to increase the size of an athlete’s fleet of skis? Across the board, the coaches with whom this topic was discussed expressed that this was not a trend that they had observed in the years that a policy has been enforced.

“There are probably exceptions, just like every rule,” said Teague. “But we really aren’t seeing people going out and investing in 30 pairs of skis. We’re still seeing athletes start off with a pair of skate and a pair of classic, and slowly expand upon that fleet.”

Leonard explained that PNSA coaches are not seeing an increase in ski purchasing either, nor does the level of competition at divisional events necessarily warrant that level of specificity in an athletes ski fleet. 

“The field density is such at our [JNQs] that the wax is not the deciding factor so much,” Leonard explained regarding clubs in the Pacific Northwest. “And having multiple pairs of skis – most of the kids, I’d say, have one pair of race skate and one pair of race classic and some of the higher-end kids who have been at it a little longer or are a little more involved or or whatever – have a little more means – maybe have a couple pairs of skis that they’re deciding between. But you know, they’re growing kids too, and skis are expensive, so a lot of times it’s sort of like, it’s one pair that fits and one pair that’s a little bit softer from when they were a little smaller a year or two ago. So it’s not such a huge factor.”

Shift in Focus Toward Structure and Ski Selection

While programs aren’t seeing athletes rapidly investing in equipment, coaches did observe a shift in focus toward the application and testing of structure on race day.

“My test fleet, instead of testing glide and structure, is now focused pretty much just on structure at, say, an RMN [race weekend],” Teague explained. “When I show up at Senior Nationals, then I’ve got to be able to test glide and structure and everything else as it unfolds. 

“So structure has become more and more important. That probably, again, depends a little bit on the level. If we’re talking about high school kids, there are high school kids that ski club and ski high school, who have the ability to get their skis ground every year and have the ability to have skis that are for specific conditions. But for the most part, we’re talking about kids that own one pair of skate skis, or even don’t own a pair of skate skis and rent or borrow them from the program. And they’re getting whatever [base] is on those and then we’re adjusting the structure by hand structures a little bit to try and improve them.”

Reception of Wax Protocol Among Teams

As far as how these policies might evolve with time, coaches expressed that the specific brand being used would always be open for discussion, provided that equivalent availability could be guaranteed and cost per gram remained comparable. With the increase in liquid waxes, which might offer versatility on race day without the encumberment of the full glide waxing setup, there may be an evolution that includes more liquid wax options as well. 

For the time being, coaches expressed that the addition of these protocols has been net-positive, with no member clubs looking to steer the trajectory back toward open waxing. 

“We’re at least two years through this experiment of running this policy,” said Kapala for IMD. “And I am 100% certain, because I’ve asked… we have 14 clubs that are saying, ‘No way are we going back.’ There is uniform agreement and acceptance of the policy.” 

In Leonard’s concluding statements, he acknowledged the inherent equipment-based inequity in the sport, while also offering ways to problem solve, and confirming that PNSA has also been well-served by the protocol.

“You might get beaten at some point by someone who has better skis than you or something like that,” he said. “And when that becomes a factor, you figure out a way to make it work. With the advent of zeros, for instance, suddenly those became a ski that was like – in those conditions, man, you needed to have that. When I was in Alaska, teams were starting to procure fleets of zeros that they could hand out to their kids and maybe rotate through a few kids on a given race day. [Now,] if we have a race coming up that we know is potentially a zero day, we’re working through our community [in the Methow Valley] to grab some zeros for our kids so hopefully, they have a decent option there. 

“So there are ways to make those things happen and work, and hopefully still remain competitive in the sport. There are a lot of trade-offs with all of it, but people are feeling like, for our division right now, it has been a good decision to go this direction.”

Before jumping into discussions for club level programs across the West, here are the links to view the details of each wax policy specifically: Intermountain Division (IMD); Rocky Mountain Nordic (RMN); Pacific Northwest Ski Association (PNSA)

Also note that these conversations took place in late-April, prior to further discussions at the U.S. Ski & Snowboard spring congress sessions in May where subsequent conversations among leadership may have occurred. Should significant changes occur, FasterSkier will continue to follow the story. 

Here are links to earlier installments in this five-part series. The first two parts (part one; part two) spoke to the perspectives of high level wax technicians and industry representatives, while part three focused on the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League. 

The Evolution of Western Club Wax-Protocols 

There’s a lot to unpack surrounding the impact of wax policies on the sport, and it is not reasonable to project that what makes sense for junior club programs can be extrapolated to the sport as a whole, which includes everything from the recreational level to masters racing to the World Cup. However, as a major player in the U.S. development pathway and a collective that encompasses a large volume of the nation’s athlete base, considering the evolution and impact of wax policies at the club level provides valuable insight into what the objectives and outcomes may be more broadly. 

Conversations on this subject began long before any official policies were accepted, and their initial aim was to uniformly address the use of fluorocarbons at Junior National Qualifiers (JNQs). With both the health of athletes and coaches, and the inequity of buying power among clubs, the goal was to reduce spending and expensive fluorinated top coats.

Timelines are now blurred, but long-time Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Program Director Rick Kapala indicated that Rocky Mountain had perhaps been the division who got the ball rolling. Though the policies have since converged on a single wax call made in advance by host coaches depending on forecasted conditions, Kapala explained that at the onset, Intermountain’s policy was only focused on the elimination of pure fluoros. 

“Initially, Intermountain had what we could call ‘wax policy-lite’… Our policy was: you can use any wax as long as it wasn’t pure-fluoro. You can use a high-fluoro, a low-flouro, or non-fluorinated version, and of course, in different brands, that meant different things. But basically, we went for a number of years with a no powder, no liquid and no rub-on policy. And that had some effect on trying to mitigate the arms race, if you will.”

Executive Director at Methow Valley Ski Education Foundation Pete Leonard explained that the Pacific Northwest Ski Association, for whom he is the Nordic Director, was developed with a similar progression.

“It initially started in the fluorocarbon era, moving away from powdering skis to just having blocks and liquids – the top coat type of applications – and then to a base paraffin application… I think we had a year of that and then [the policy] went to fluoro-free – the same basic, simple base paraffin called several days out.”

Further motivation to align policies stemmed from  “cross-pollination” between these three leagues, which with the addition of the California-Nevada Far West division and Alaska, encompass the Western region as defined by U.S. Ski & Snowboard. In particular, these divisions overlap during the Junior National Super Qualifier Event held in January at Soldier Hollow, hence landing on a very similar model.

“There’s a little bit of a cascade effect, and it’s just simpler for us to match what IMD has,” Leonard explained. 

Kapala felt strongly that it was important to emphasize that this slow progression happened organically, which he felt was in stark contrast to the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League, where a sponsorship proposal made by a corporate entity included stipulations on waxing at league events. 

“It’s a wholly different thing when a grassroots community, like a bunch of clubs in a division, promulgates a policy that they think results in the best athletic outcomes,” he said. “And it is very important to differentiate the genesis of a given policy… the order in which you arrive at a policy really informs a lot of the motivations about why you’re doing what you’re doing.” 

Kapala said IMD would have “given the Heisman” to a wax company that required a policy; however, Swix products have been selected based on trust in the availability for all programs.

“We settled on Swix without getting into the specifics of brand value,” he said. “I.e., Swix is better than Start, and Start is better than Toko, or whatever – it’s just simply because virtually everybody knew they had enough access to that wax.”  

Observed Program Benefits 

There’s a sizable jump between eliminating fluoros and further reducing a wax box to a small array of products, but Kapala emphasized that these “athletic outcomes” are the central tenet around which discussions regarding changes take place within Intermountain. How does the protocol impact the opportunity and capacity for athletes from clubs of all sizes to be successful on race day and have a positive experience in the sport?

We’ll start with the impact to a program’s budget, which on its own is a source of inequality among clubs in a given region. Speaking specifically for Intermountain, but also the West more broadly, Kapala pointed out that there are a number of “super clubs” whose financial means and staff power made it hard for smaller clubs to compete in an open wax environment. 

“They’re usually clubs that are in these mountain towns that are part of [larger] ski foundations or clubs that are multi-discipline, really big clubs. And so they have a lot of administrative function, a lot of underpinning financial security, and so on.”

He was quick to include SVSEF in that pool, saying cost was not a primary concern when it came to his wax purchasing or race staffing prior to the enactment of IMD’s policy. 

He went on to explain that within Intermountain, there are six JNQs which are subject to the wax policy, plus an Intermountain opener. However, what he called the “lion’s share” of races, including U.S. Nationals, SuperTours, and any Canadian-based races, remain open wax events where the policy does not apply. Still, with IMD’s policy in place, Kapala said SVSEF has been able to shave $5,000 dollars annually off its spending on wax, equating to a reduction of 30-40%. 

“The question then is: ‘What am I doing with that $5,000?’” posed Kapala. “Well, what I’m really doing with it now, in my particular case, we have put that money into our merit scholarship program. So instead of me spending money on just making sure I have every wax in the universe in my wax box, I’m actually leveraging those dollars to help kids get to training camps or to go to competitions they wouldn’t normally be able to afford. And that’s huge.” 

Rather than ignoring the impact this reduction in spending has on the landscape for suppliers, he acknowledged that this could be detrimental, as other clubs are likely reducing their spending by similar percentages. But bringing the focus back to the athletes, he said, “what we’re really spending less of is human capital on things other than coaching.”

For Kapala, this makes the cost-benefit analysis check out.

“We think being available to coach kids – that are especially young in their developmental process – at events like JNQs, is actually what the [coaching] game should be all about. So while it’s true that there can be impacts regarding the finances, it is also undoubtedly true that athletic outcomes – true athletic outcomes, the actual ones that we should be concerned about – are actually being serviced way more effectively. And if those two competing interests are both true, we have to pick one. And the one we’re picking is we’re making it more fair for athletes.”

Speaking for what he has observed within his own program and the Rocky Mountain Nordic division more broadly, August Teague – Cross-country Program Director at the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club (AVSC) – shared similar sentiments. 

“I guess the real question to me becomes: ‘What is the purpose of a waxing protocol and at what level and why? And I certainly believe that barriers to entry in sport are a real good reason to have a waxing protocol, and time allocation or time management.”

Adding specificity to the statement, he said, “The biggest thing that I see is that I can spend more time coaching instead of teching. And there certainly is an argument as to the need for better wax techs both from this country and elsewhere, but I think that’s a separate discussion than the coaching discussion and where my time is best served.”

While the AVSC nordic program is significantly smaller than that of SVSEF, Teague also noted differences in how his monetary budget is allocated. “We have started to explore structures more than we ever have. So money that was being spent on product is now being spent on different structure devices and/or ways to test that structure.”

Similarly, Steamboat Winter Sports Club U16/U18/U20 head coach Josh Smullin wrote to FasterSkier that the protocol has supported a safer environment for both coaches and athletes while on the road. In particular, he cited driving – there are roughly 3,200 serious injuries and 600 fatalities on average annually in Colorado – as a place where some relief in the toll on coaches during a race weekend has shown value.

“It used to be that we coaches were up late waxing,” he explained. “Waking up the next morning to go set up at the venue, and then would drive many hours home after the race. A waxing protocol has helped us to be safer drivers, less sleep deprived, and more present with the athletes.”

Smullin also commented on ventilation, which remains important for the health of waxers even without fluorinated products.

“At many of our home clubs we have some sort of ventilated wax facility. We do not have that on the road [while staying in hotels] unless the weather is nice and we are able to wax outside. Regardless of the fluoro ban, [proper] ventilation is healthier for coaches and athletes.”

“Everybody’s got their opinion…” said Leonard on behalf of PNSA. “There’s no overarching study on these things, and costs, and whether there’s a major difference [in ski speed], but I think what is clear to the coaches is that there’s less time spent testing glide products at races and there’s less of an incentive to do that, especially with the calling it [a few days] prior. There’s also more time that they can focus during that weekend on other things, like with the athletes and their preparation, instead of testing wax, waxing skis and leaving [coaching and direct athlete support] right up to the race time.”

For Leonard, the question of whether the policy widens the gap for skiers based on the quality or condition specificity of their skis was not a priority when it came to identifying how the policy has served PNSA teams. For a club based in the Methow Valley which travels to regional competitions across Oregon and Washington, as well as to the Super Qualifier in Utah, the policy has reduced the toll of travel. 

“I don’t know that it’s necessarily a parity – it’s really difficult to get that down.. but I think for us, calling the wax several days out just makes it simpler for people, and there is less [equipment and product] to travel with, one less thing to think about when you’re booking hotels, and all those details. It makes it simpler for teams.”

He said he has also found it quicker and easier to apply structure on race day without the variable of glide wax testing. And without the need to cart around as much product and equipment, getting his athletes’ skis race ready has been “way easier to manage”.

“Rather than bringing a wax box with several waxes in it, irons, enough benches that you can get your whole team through, scrapers, brushes, etc. – already, you’re packing the van to the ceiling and then, sometimes it’s driving eight hours, or for the Super Q for us, it’s driving four hours to the airport, [hauling our skis and gear through the airport on both ends], then driving another hour-plus to SoHo, and then doing it all again on the way back.”

Stay tuned for the final installment, where you can read more on leveling the playing field, the arms race (or lack thereof) for skis, and the reception among Western Division coaches.

In case you missed it, here’s part 1 and part 2 of this series, in which industry representatives and expert ski technicians discuss ski performance theory and what impact a single-wax policy may have on competitive skiing. 

What goes on inside the wax cabins and trucks at high-level competitions from the SuperTour to the World Cup seems, in equal parts, expertise, artistry, and alchemy. And, for those looking to understand to which conditions their pair of race skis might be best suited, the basic insights into ski performance provided in previous installments of this story provide ample fodder for consideration and experimentation on the ski track.

However, these insights may not fully resonate at a meet where coaches are furiously corking in kick wax on benches set in the snow for skiers who only recently took up the sport. Or a league which simultaneously supports competitive racers and participation-based programs, and ultimately just wishes to see the sport grow and thrive at all levels. 

In speaking with representatives from leagues that have implemented a single-wax protocol, it is clear that there are a myriad of factors involved in the decision making process beyond ski performance theory that might skew the cost-benefit analysis on any inequity in ski speed derived from putting all racers on Swix HS6. 

To unpack the counterpoints, we’ll begin again in Wisconsin, with a conversation with American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation Executive Director Ben Popp, who also sits as president of the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League (WNSL) and is a volunteer ski coach for the youth program in Spooner, 30 miles southeast of the Birkie finish line in Hayward. 

Before jumping into the conversation, a nuanced reminder to readers that will be revisited in subsequent stories: the WNSL wax policy is unique in that the policy was included in a sponsorship proposal from Swix, which offered the league $10,000 per year over a three year period. Under the policy, all athletes would race on Swix HS5, HS6, or HS7 hard wax in cold or moderate temperatures, with HS7 and HS8 liquids used in warmer conditions. In other leagues, there may be special pricing available through this manufacturer, but this was not the origin of the policy.

In what the single-wax policy implies: rather than spending money on a robust wax box, programs would only need to purchase the five aforementioned products for glide. The event hosts determine which wax is most appropriate for the conditions a few days prior to the race, allowing coaches and athletes to wax their skis accordingly before travel. 

While questions of the financial impact on other wax manufacturers and the loss of experience for developing high-level wax technicians remain present, it’s also worth noting that this policy only applies to events that are organized by the WNSL; this small list of events includes only the northern, central, and southern conference meets, and the Wisconsin state championship – two races per year for each club or school. Regional Junior National Qualifiers (JNQs) and other local events not organized by the league remain open. Simply put, the wax protocol only applies to what Popp described as “a sliver of all of Wisconsin skiing.”

According to Popp, in considering the proposal presented by Swix, there was one key word on the minds of WNSL board members: opportunity.

“The checkbook for the Wisconsin Nordic league, before this year, never had more than $2,000 in it,” he stated matter-of-factly in the call.

Another key distinction is that the state of Wisconsin is among the few remaining states in which high school and club level programming fall under the same umbrella, without financial support from the high schools that offer skiing. This means small participation-based programs with volunteer coaches compete against well-established clubs who can support kids whose goals extend to representing the Great Lakes Division at Junior Nationals; it’s a state of vastly different programs with vastly different budgets. And it stands in contrast to Wisconsin’s neighbor, Minnesota, with whom Wisconsin used to compete against for spots on the Midwest regional team for JNs. It’s a nuanced structure that Popp explained has constrained the potential of the league historically.

“Even though the league has been around for a while, I think it’s still in its real infancy. It’s completely volunteer run, but yet we’re in a climate that has metropolitan areas where there is snow, so we’ve got a ton of opportunity. But I think we have to look at, ‘How can we start to grow the league?’”

Under the constraints of the previous budget, the WNSL was limited in its ability to promote development in programming state-wide, and Popp explained that primarily, the board only planned the state meet and agreed upon its rules. That leaves little room for supporting new teams, planning summer camps, and other initiatives that might grow the league and the sport more broadly. A 500% increase in funds would allow the WNSL to hire a part-time administrator, who could improve inter-team communication, oversee a league schedule, and perhaps most importantly, continue fundraising initiatives to support broader development. 

“Our goal is to create opportunities for kids to cross country ski and race in the state of Wisconsin. So we have to look at, ‘What is the best way we can do that?’ And we’ve been doing the same thing for a long time, and we’ve gotten the same result. So if we now say, ‘We want to grow the sport in our state’, I think we have to look at a variety of options. We see what the results are in a couple years, and then we’ll readjust from there.” 

While the WNSL is interested in supporting the upper tiers of youth racing, Popp explained that the main objectives remain at the participation level: improving access to ski programming and helping get more kids on skis.

“I feel that we don’t necessarily have to focus on the high end of development. I think that happens organically and naturally rises… the bigger and broader a base that we can build, it’s just going to build that up much higher of a pyramid.”

In his mind, implementing a wax policy fits with this initiative by removing a potential hurdle for smaller teams and coaches with limited background knowledge. 

“In making it simple [to wax], it really makes a small team, the newer teams – it lowers the barrier to entry a little bit. Like, ‘Okay, now, me as a new coach, or as a new team, this waxing thing isn’t quite as overwhelming and doesn’t seem like such a heavy lift that I can actually now get into this without being completely overwhelmed.’ So I look at it as a tool for trying to create growth at the very basic level for newer teams.” 

As the Swix sponsorship proposal was accepted in November 2021, last season was the first in which the conference and state championships operated under the wax policy. Popp reflected on the impact of the sponsorship and protocol through the first year. 

“I personally think it was beneficial. Obviously, it helped from a sponsorship standpoint to help us grow our league and invest back in the skiers of Wisconsin. Again, personally, I think it helps sort of lower that barrier to entry for some of the newer and inexperienced teams. And whether it does or does not make it fair or unfair, if you will, to the skiers – I think you’re always going to have that in some way, shape or form. There’s a reason skiing is going to be different than track… there’s always going to be a set of variables.” 

Speaking to the reception of the policy more broadly by WNSL teams, Popp expressed it was “overwhelmingly supported”. He indicated that a of the larger programs who had already put together well-equipped wax boxes were reluctant initially, but ultimately, those teams were still taking athletes to JNQs and other events where those waxes were fair game, so they would not go to waste. 

Mostly, Popp felt that the results seen at the WNSL championship events were as expected, indicating that the wax call likely had minimal impact on the race outcomes. 

“Because it was relatively benign in terms of the amount of races [where it was enforced], and then two: there weren’t some funky results at the state meet or the conference meets where [the policy was] used – the best kids still won, so there were no surprising results. And because the amount of wax that people had to buy and the cost level of it was really pretty low – I think the benefit of what this can bring in the future, ‘Let’s see.’ I would say the coaches that I’ve talked to certainly felt like, as a whole, it wasn’t detrimental. And if it leads to some growth and benefit for us in the league in the coming years then… we’ll just have to see.”

Stay tuned for the next aspect of the league-wide wax protocol story, where we consider the evolution and outcomes of policies enacted at the club level by the Rocky Mountain Nordic (RMN), Pacific Northwest Ski Association (PNSA), and Intermountain Division (IMD).

Last June, U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced the hiring of Greta Anderson as Development Team Coach, supporting Cross Country Program Manager Bryan Fish in “all aspects of leadership and logistics surrounding the U.S. Development Pathway, including National Training Group camps, U.S. Nationals and Junior/U23 World Championships, Europa Cup, select SuperTour and other national-level competitions, as well as working on Coaches’ Education and Certification.” (Read an in-depth interview with Anderson following the announcement here.)

As she described it, joining the U.S. Ski Team staff during an Olympic year while the COVID-19 pandemic raged on was a bit of “trial by fire.” Nonetheless, Anderson thrived in her new role, approaching the position with humility and open-mindedness as she learned the ropes. With a holistic view of athlete development, which emphasizes the importance of creating an environment where the athlete can be both happy and supported, Anderson had the opportunity to support athletes from the U16 to U23 level across the spectrum of international and domestic clubs and races. She played key roles during the 2022 FIS Junior/U23 World Ski Championships in Lygna, Norway, and had her first experience as the primary trip leader during the Opa Cup Finals pre-camp and competitions in Sappada, Italy. 

In this conversation, you’ll hear more about Anderson’s contributions to the development program thus far, and she shares insights into the philosophy, projects, and initiatives the U.S. Ski & Snowboard staff are working on to continue the growth and support of athletes ascending the pathways from junior to senior racing. We also discuss standout performances of the World U23/Junior Championships, and some of the athletes who have been recently named to the 2022-23 U.S. Cross Country Team.

Thanks for listening, and thanks to Boulder Nordic Sport for supporting this podcast. 

Note: One of the athletes whom Anderson discusses is Finn O’Connell, who skis for the Bridger Ski Foundation Pro Team in Bozeman, MT. While he was supported by development team coaches at the Opa Cup Finals, his nomination was to the B-Team, not the D-Team. 

Perhaps highlighting this transition and the sharing of responsibilities the two are in the process of navigating, FasterSkier connected with Thomas in mid-May while he was in his second week of supporting the SMS T2 athletes who had joined the U.S. Ski Team for their spring training camp in Bend, OR, and with O’Brien who was back in Stratton, having recently wrapped up with his participation in U.S. Ski & Snowboard spring congress sessions. 

A 2006 graduate of SMS himself, O’Brien raced collegiately for Dartmouth College, then spent four years training and racing professionally with the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. His move from Craftsbury back to Stratton was timed with his retirement following the 2014 Sochi Olympic Quad. Given his age and the proximity to his racing career at that time, many of the athletes on the T2 team were among what he called his “peer group”, having overlapped with many of them during either high school, college, on the race course, or all of the above. Jessie Diggins and Sophie Caldwell Hamilton were quickly becoming rising World Cup stars on the women’s team, while Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton headlined the men’s roster, and a young Julia Kern and Katharine Ogden were spending a PG year training with the T2 team.

Eager to stay connected with the sport after retirement, O’Brien seized the opportunity to take over in Stratton, stepping in as his predecessor Gus Kaeding departed.

“Ski coaching is the one thing that I’ve always known that I wanted to do, it was just kind of a natural progression for me. I knew that I was done with my athletic career – I didn’t really want to ski race anymore – but I knew that I still wanted to ski, I still wanted to be involved and to give back to the sport. I felt like, to some extent, when you spend basically your entire life skiing, you get pretty good at understanding the sport. But we never know as much as we think we do, and we always need to be students of the sport and have an open mind and learn.”

As he began his coaching career, he quickly realized that writing training plans and facilitating training was only a small subset of the responsibilities of an elite club coach.  

“Good coaching is being comfortable wearing a bunch of different hats. And I mean, I joke, but the actual coaching is such a small part of it. The nitty gritty of pulling an athlete on the side of the trail and looking at video and all of that is important, but you’re there as a friend, a drill sergeant at times, and as someone that is just really trying to be supportive.

“And that’s all-encompassing. So for me, it has been a pretty fun experience to see people figure stuff out and be there to support them when they needed a little extra help and to do it in a pretty collaborative, dynamic way.”

He described his experience transitioning to coaching primarily as a mindset shift from the inevitable self-centric focus required of professional athletes toward selflessness; but the work required and pace of life remained equally taxing. 

“When you coach at a club level – all coaching is a demanding job. I do think that you have to – I don’t want to use the word ‘sacrifice’, but when you transition from being an athlete yourself to being a coach, your job as an athlete is to be a little selfish. You’re trying to maximize your athletic performance. You need to have balance… but at the end of the day, you need to make sure that you’re training well and with purpose, you’re recovering well, you have goals and you’re going about achieving them. It shouldn’t be simply looked at as like what you have to give up to do that, but to be the most professional athletes and succeed against people who are trying to do the exact same thing, you just have to do a really, really good job with it. And coaching is the same thing. You have to be willing to approach everything that you do with the same degree of drive and focus that you would as an athlete…

“Basically, I just threw myself into it with the same approach that I had as an athlete which is, I’m just going to work, and work, and work, and learn all along the way. And then give it my best push and know that if I get to the point where that balance starts becoming harder and harder, or I can’t really do the job that I want, to be supportive of the athletes [to the level I want to be], that’s when you’ve got to know that you either double down and keep pushing or make a transition.”

While O’Brien is no less dedicated to the SMS T2 program or its athletes, a new endeavor has begun which will make achieving the balance he described significantly harder: he’s about to become a father. His wife, two-time Olympian and long-time U.S. Ski Team member Ida Sargent, is due in mid-August.

Since retirement, Sargent has been working for her high school alma mater, Burke Mountain Academy, in Northern Vermont, and is currently the Academic Director for the school while also teaching STEM classes. O’Brien has been splitting his time between Burke and Stratton, which lies roughly 150 miles southeast in the opposite corner of the state. His usual coaching schedule pulled him around the country for weeks at a time to support athletes at U.S. Nationals and SuperTour events, and sometimes around the globe for World Cup, U23s, and other international camps and races. 

While he acknowledged that there are many examples of coaches at all levels who have successfully juggled a demanding work and travel schedule with raising a family, what felt like the best fit given his and Ida’s vision and priorities for their own growing family was for O’Brien to decrease his level of responsibility with the T2 program, allowing greater flexibility and more time at home. 

“I just felt like there’s part of me that was like, ‘I’m not seeing a pathway that I feel like I can still commit [to coaching] at the level that I want and know that you need to in order to to do the best job with your job, while simultaneously trying to start a family.’ I felt like it was my time to reevaluate and maybe step back or be completely done with ski coaching, because I certainly didn’t want Ida to have to put her growing career on hold to be the [primary] caregiver…

“Eight years is a long time to do something and I am very proud of what the team has accomplished in that time… it’s really cool having spent this time seeing athletes grow, not just not just athletically and within their their ski careers, but as individuals from high schoolers to finishing up college to full blown ‘this is my job.’”

While his role will be smaller, O’Brien is certainly not stepping away from the T2 team altogether. “Starting a family does not necessarily mean that it means the end of being involved in the sport,” he said. “It just means trying to figure out what the right relationship is with it.” 

The exact balance and distribution of responsibilities remains a work in progress as Thomas moves into the head coach role and the new season of training begins, and both O’Brien and Thomas are excited to collaborate and support one another throughout the year. 

Explaining his philosophy as “under-commit so I can open perform”, O’Brien anticipates taking on many of the behind the scenes tasks that support the team, from collaboratively blocking out the season calendar, to managing travel logistics for camps and SuperTour races. As he put it, the little details of deciding “which flights to take to get from Canmore to Sun Valley” and where to stay are often made easier with several years of trial and error under your belt. 

While Thomas will spend more time with ski boots on the ground, both in Stratton during the summer and at races and camps throughout the year, O’Brien anticipates he’ll still be plugging in a fair amount too. Though his stay might be shortened to the period immediately surrounding races, he plans, at minimum, to be in Houghton, MI for U.S. Nationals in January, and also the SuperTour finals in Craftsbury in late March.

He’s also excited to reconnect with the team in Stratton early in the summer before Ida gets close to her due date, but also to take off a few of his usual coaching hats while doing so. 

“I think it’ll be really fun for me to actually be able to flow in and out get to see people, connect with them, but also not be like ‘Okay, now I don’t have to worry about making sure that the van’s filled up with gas, or water jugs have been filled, or that I’ve ordered all the lactate strips in advance so that we don’t run out.’”

As Thomas gets his feet under him in Stratton, he explained that he feels “very fortunate that Pat will still be involved.”

“As much as I can have him in the mix, the better,” Thomas said. “His knowledge with skis and wax is just unreal, so tapping into that resource is huge for me, for sure.” 

***

Prior to joining the UVM program, Thomas spent five years as the assistant coach at the University of Vermont, working alongside head coach Patrick Weaver. During his own collegiate racing career, Thomas spent four years racing for the University of New Hampshire, where he served as team captain during his senior year in ‘12-13. Departing briefly from the cross-country ski world, he spent a year teaching high school science to underprivileged youth in the Oakland area of California, before returning to the Northeast to begin his coaching career as the assistant coach at Williams College in Massachusetts. 

“Working at UVM was unreal – a great experience,” Thomas said emphatically. “I really loved working with Patrick Weaver and the athletes there and it seems like almost a seamless transition, in many ways. Four of the skiers on the T2 team I actually coached at UVM. So knowing a lot of athletes here already – what they’re working on with technique, and racing, and goals and all that – has been very seamless, and that’s been great.”

The UVM graduates who now ski for SMS T2 include Alayna Sonnesyn (‘18), Bill Harmeyer (‘20), Lina Sutro (‘21), and Ben Ogden (‘22). 

Given the caliber of these athletes and the success of the UVM team as a whole during his tenure, Thomas credits his time with the program to the acceleration of his development as a coach, preparing him to take his next steps forward with SMS T2.

“Patrick Weaver definitely gave me a lot of opportunities and ownership over different facets of coaching that team and I think that’s been instrumental in me being here now with T2. I was able to go to World Cup Finals with Ben Ogden in Quebec his first year in school [in 2019], and I was just able to do trips like that on my own with athletes. That was huge for my development as a coach and for my experience of waxing, ski testing, and [other responsibilities at that level of racing]. So working at UVM was a lot of fun – I’m gonna miss it for sure – but it set me up very well for this transition.” 

A theme of both Thomas and O’Brien’s comments on the difference between collegiate and elite club coaching is small in terms of the training and technique coaching itself, but vastly different in terms of the opportunities elite club coaches have to support their athletes. 

“I think the big differences are what we can and can’t do throughout the year from collegiate [racing] to the elite team,” Thomas explained. “Like, I wouldn’t be here [in Bend] and been doing an on-snow training camp if I were at a college team. And obviously the racing schedule is super different.

“The college schedule is pretty efficient, whereas the SuperTour calendar is quite a bit more spread out. And then, in addition to that, you have an athlete’s like Jesse Diggins, and Ben Ogden, and Julia Kern that are going to be on the World Cup, as well as athletes that are trying to make it to the World Cup. And at UVM, we had crazy talented athletes – Ben Ogden is one of them – so working with with high caliber athletes is nothing entirely new, but dealing with athletes where some are on the World Cup and some of them on the SuperTour is an interesting dynamic that you don’t often get with the college teams.”

In terms of what Thomas adds to the program as he steps in as head coach, he described his coaching philosophy and the environment he seeks to create within the training group, which keeps athletes motivated and happy through the arduous and long-term development process.

“[Cross-country] skiing is such a hard sport – it’s so much time that that we’re putting in, and so many sacrifices that we’re making, that I wholeheartedly believe in making that time that we’re together training and working hard fun and enjoyable,” Thomas said. “I think that’s a big part of what we do –  and it has to be a big part of what we do –  because like I said, it’s a hard sport. So I think making things light and having fun with all that is super important. And that’s definitely something I bring to the table in that regard.”

But Thomas will add more than just fun to the T2 program. While he may be, as phrased by his new colleague, “almost too humble”, O’Brien was quick to highlight Thomas’s preparedness to prescribe training, coach technique, and otherwise lead an elite team stacked with some of the nation’s best athletes. 

“If you have been at a D1 college program where you’re dealing with 15-20 athletes and that dynamic environment where student athletes are constantly balancing all these different commitments and time constraints… And really, what you learn there as an athlete and what you learn there as a coach is that working with a club – it just isn’t that different.”

O’Brien added that the shift to an elite club from college may, in fact, be easier than going in the other direction. When athletes no longer have to miss key workouts to take an exam or rush off to class halfway through a team meeting, barriers to consistent communication and training are removed, and consequently a coach has a greater capacity to build relationships with the athletes as they stack together the bricks of the training program. 

“You get an opportunity to really work one-on-one with the athletes and to really be there to facilitate and support their training and their racing. In that sense, I think coming from a college background – especially given his ties with many of the current athletes that are on the team – you’re just working with the same people and you’re doing the same stuff.

“I mean, there’s no magic formula,” O’Brien continued. “Someone can claim that they can write the best training plan in the world. And that’s all fine and dandy – there are definitely people who do an amazing job with it and they really enjoy that aspect of that aspect of the sport. But at the end of the day, it’s just really just working with people. You don’t need to make it more complicated than it is. The best athlete is not a robot. The best athlete is someone that is self aware, that can think critically, learn from mistakes, recognize when things go well, and the coach is there to support them along the way.”

Thomas identified building upon his relationships and experience with his former athletes, who account for half of the team’s eight athletes, as something he’s looking forward to in joining T2. 

“I am very appreciative of the continuity and being able to work with some athletes I’ve worked with in the past,” said Thomas. “I love all of them –  they’re incredible people, incredibly hard workers. So to be able to continue working with them is just awesome. With that, too, it’s like – I have been working with Ben for the last four years, I worked with Lina Sutro for four years, I worked with Alayna for a little bit. It’s just a matter of knowing how they operate and how they train and knowing what they’ve been working on too. It’s easy for me in training, [even] this morning, to see some of them and be like, ‘okay, like this is something we’ve been working on for the last however many years’ or maybe, ‘a couple years ago, this was something we’re working on’. So let’s continue this, let’s continue these cues that we’re working on, and have that continuity there. 

“It’s been awesome to be able to continue that work with them. It’s nice to see the progress – to see what they were doing in college a few years ago, and then to see where they are now, and then also to be able to help them through the transition to professional skiing.”

Simultaneously, these UVM-T2 athletes are excited to be working with their former UVM coach again. In an email to FasterSkier, Alayna Sonnesyn reflected on her time as a professional skier guided by O’Brien, while crediting Thomas’s contributions at UVM for her reaching the professional level in the first place. 

“Stepping into the professional ski world four years ago and onto the SMS T2 team was super intimidating to me,” wrote Sonnesyn. “The team has been home to some of the fastest skiers in the world and I was clueless when it came to racing at that high of a level. Pat O’Brien helped steer me in the right direction as I made this adjustment and took huge jumps in my skiing ability. He taught me when to train for fun and when it was time to buckle down and get serious. When Pat says it’s go time, you go! He helped develop me from a reasonable distance skier to a strong and powerful distance AND sprinter, a trait I never thought I would be capable of. Pat’s knowledge of the sport and ski waxing, as well as the mental and emotional obstacles that come along with it, is unparalleled. He was a coach that believed in me as a junior skier and saw potential. The only thing that can make a good ski race even better is when Pat gives you a proud hug at the finish line. Although I will miss these hugs and his direct coaching, I know that he will use these skills to care for his growing family and I am excited to see where life takes him next.

“Back when Pat was just seeing the potential in my college skiing, I was working with Perry Thomas when he was the assistant coach at UVM. I feel like my athletic career has come full circle as I get to transition back to a coach who helped put me in a place where I first believed skiing professionally was an option. Although I only had the pleasure of working with Perry for one year at UVM, it was a very special season! I instantly trusted him with my skis and could feel his enthusiasm for the sport radiate on the ski trails. I’ve witnessed just how hard Perry has worked over the years and how well-prepared he is to take over the position as head coach of the SMS team. Just in the first month of working with Perry again, I already know the team is heading down a path to continue its mission; local inspiration, international excellence.”

Likewise, Lina Sutro shared she is looking forward to the transition, applauding Thomas’s dedication to his athletes.

“I am truly so excited to be working with Perry again,” she wrote. “He is one of the most hard working and committed coaches I have worked with. He has a strong work ethic that I am excited for the Stratton community to experience. Pat and Perry both give so much back to the ski community and their athletes, I am excited to see the two of them work together.”

As for the broader questions of “what’s new?” and “what lies ahead for the SMS T2 team this summer?” Following Katharine Ogden’s retirement in March, Lauren Jortberg will join the team as the fifth athlete on the women’s side – five and five is what the team identifies as the sweet spot for numbers. Jortberg joins Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Alayna Sonnesyn, and Lina Sutro. The men’s team is light this season, as Ian Torchia moved on this spring also, leaving behind a three-man roster of Bill Harmeyer, Will Koch (who also competes for University of Colorado), and Ben Ogden. 

After Bend camp, the team will part ways with many attending “a big event in the Midwest” which happened over Memorial Day Weekend. The SMS T2 team will finally reconvene as a whole in Stratton in early June. Though regional and international camps are planned, particularly for athletes named to the national team, Thomas anticipates ample quality training based in Vermont and the surrounding region.

“We’ll be in the Stratton area for the majority of this summer,” he explained. “I think one of the cool things that we’re doing is: Sverre, and Pat and I have started working on doing a summer [training] program, so we have some awesome athletes joining our crew this summer.”

This list includes University of Utah and U.S. Ski Team skiers Sydney Palmer-Leger, Novie McCabe, and former SMS junior athletes Adam Witowski and Zander Martin, who now ski for Michigan Tech and Bates College, respectively. JC Schoonmaker and Gus Schumacher also plan to join the T2 team for some training in Vermont throughout the summer. 

“So a really stacked crew, for sure,” said Thomas. “It’s gonna be a really exciting summer to say the least.”

I think we can all agree that the last two years have been a wild ride.

For those at the helm of the cross-country program at U.S. Ski & Snowboard, added layers of COVID safety precautions and expensive testing have increased the otherwise mounting demands of preparing for an Olympic Games. There have been numerous domestic and international competitions canceled, including a full season of SuperTour racing in 2020/2021, numerous World Cups canceled, and three consecutive years where the World Cup finals were either rescheduled or canceled. Amidst ever-changing travel policies country to country, the U.S. Ski Team tested, masked, and problem solved their way through two race seasons.

Throw into the mix preparations for an Olympic Games at a brand new venue where teams would be arriving site unseen and COVID testing protocols were extreme, and cap the season with the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent ban of the Russian cross-country powerhouse – there’s simply been a lot of curveballs thrown. 

But as the 2022/2023 season approaches, we also sit at a transition point for World Cup racing that perhaps marks a few steps forward with gender parity. Namely, a move toward equal distance racing and the adoption of an initiative proposed by U.S. Ski & Snowboard to the FIS to incentivize supporting and developing more women to become ski technicians at the World Cup level. In this proposal, an additional set of course access bibs which could be used to test skis and product at World Cup events would be available only to women; therefore, a country could increase the size of its service staff by investing in the development of women techs and utilizing these women at World Cups.

Though Grover explains this may best serve the nations with the biggest budgets – which does not include the United States – it’s greater purpose aligns with other grassroots initiatives at U.S. Ski & Snowboard to hire, develop, and support women in coaching and leadership to improve the balance of men and women representing all levels of the sport. 

There’s also a recently-released 2022-23 roster of U.S. Ski Team athletes, featuring a bloom of young talent on the men’s side whose trajectory may enable a full field of men and women to race at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milano Cortina. And, there’s momentum building for a Minneapolis World Cup in 2024, followed by a trip to the Northwoods of Wisconsin for a super-Birkie – i.e., a World Cup sprint and 50k on the Birkie trails. 

In short, there were no shortage of talking points for this insightful conversation with cross-country program manager Chris Grover, who joined us from his home in Hailey, ID upon returning from the U.S. Ski Team’s first training camp of the season at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center in Bend, OR. 

Thanks for listening.

Click here to read part 1 of this story.

In most states, youth skiing is divided between club and high school programming, where club programs support skiers looking to race competitively on a regional, national, or international level, perhaps with goals of NCAA skiing and beyond. High school ski programming is typically more participation focused, and comes with a much lower price tag for families, consequently with a much smaller program budget. It’s less about year-round training, and more about learning to ski, enjoying a low-cost introduction to the sport, and providing a healthy activity to get kids outside in the winter. In some places, athletes may fall into an overlapping Venn diagram of  categories, while in others, it may be a choice of club versus high school racing.

Within high school programs, it is much less common to have multiple pairs of skis, and conversations on grinds and structures are less likely to be overheard between coaches. Here in Colorado, it’s one of the only (maybe the only?) high school sport that does not have a uniform rule – kids can essentially race in whatever they want; no lycra required.

In this setting, a universal wax call might be a more reasonable proposition, according to Nystad. 

“Arguments can be made on both sides. If everyone just agrees: ‘We have one pair of skis and we wax with blue.’ Okay, it probably will be as fair as you can probably make it, but just be aware that still there will be huge individual differences on the quality of the skis and how they differ from different conditions… there will still be variations, it’s not like everyone will start on the starting line having identical skis. That’s not realistic.”  

With all of this in mind, is there a way to create equity via equipment or waxing at any level of the sport? 

“No,” said Caldwell frankly. “No, there isn’t.” Adding perspective from his business, Caldwell explained that the cost of equipment has been steady over time with respect to inflation. That said, among competitive programs, the demand for skis has increased with time, in particular, following the removal of a now-banned leveler that we haven’t yet mentioned: fluorocarbons.

“It’s a technical sport,” Caldwell said. “And the fact is that people have become more aware of the opportunity to get ahead with material. And I think what we’re seeing is a reaction to the reality of what the sport is. It’s not running. It’s just not. And yet people are doing the same thing in running with these carbon-plated shoes. Now you can only win if you have a high-tech shoe that goes 4% faster. Does that mean that those shoes shouldn’t have been invented? Or should they be banned? Possibly. I mean, whatever, we have to talk about this. 

“They banned fluorocarbons for a lot of very good reasons, or they’re in the process of it. When it’s health and safety that is the problem, then you have to take the necessary steps. And yet, we also have to acknowledge that removing fluorocarbons really takes a big, big leveling factor out of the equation. There’s no opportunity to take a universal cold grind ski and put it in a wet race. That kid’s screwed. Every single time we remove the opportunity to optimize the solution that’s at hand, you’re penalizing the kids who don’t have the perfect setup.”

Making it clear that his opinion is not clouded by the inability of a Colorado, Wisconsin, or Washington-based club skier to use a non-Swix wax purchased through Caldwell Sport, he added, “From a business perspective, with regard to my overall outlook, I probably should be applauding this model because it creates a massive incentive for kids to carry a lot more skis. And we’ve already seen this with the removal of fluoros from competition – you wouldn’t believe the uptick that we’ve seen in demand for warm weather skis, and grinds, and bases.”

In Caldwell’s opinion, the opportunity for athletes and coaches to optimize a ski through testing and the use of a product line they know well, regardless of brand, is a more viable option for “leveling the playing field” as it could bring any ski closer to what he called it’s “terminal velocity.” A wax protocol that puts every athlete on the same brand and hardness of wax, creates “a situation where that opportunity doesn’t exist and the only way to gain competition advantage is to buy another pair of $800 skis. So it very quickly becomes a sport that, really, is hard to succeed at without a lot of personal resources.” 

While the focus of these points might suggest that competitive youth skiing will trend toward an arms race, Nystad’s points included a reminder that a skier with limited access to equipment and race-day wax expertise may not be doomed. Other aspects of athlete development remain as important as ever in a skier’s trajectory and long term prospects. 

“Quite honestly, I don’t want kids to have ten pairs of skis,” Nystad said. “I have kids that ski, but I try to limit the amount of skis and I try to buy used skis and rather look at what properties do the skis have, so that they have okay skis for for each condition. And then we focus on other things that are far, far more important. And that is the mentality to learn to train, to have fun while you’re training, and then to work on technique and tactics. So it’s also a cultural thing.

“If you only focus on buying yourself time by buying equipment and buying wax and tweaking things and using resources — yes, you are probably going to gain some time, but you have to also say, ‘Are you investing as much time training and enhancing your technique and your tactic as the others are?’ So it’s definitely possible, even if you come from less resources, you can beat the guys with the most resources if you just train well and smart and develop good technique and good tactics.”

As a serviceman working at the highest level of sport, Nystad also offered a thought-prompt on the impact to athlete knowledge and the ability to develop a new generation of wax technicians under a protocol, regardless of brand. 

“If you want to educate athletes to also be able to become great service people at World Cup level races – if you take away that experience in club skiing or in high school skiing or in collegiate skiing, you will have no resources that are going to be able to serve your American athletes going to World Cups or World Championships or Olympics. Where are they going to get the knowledge? Because it’s like anything else, if you want to become good at something, you have to work at it.”

According to Caldwell, incorporating a wax protocol is “reductionist attempt to level the playing field” that creates more disparity than equity. And so, the goal of leveling the playing field in cross country skiing remains “laudable”, but out of reach, and perhaps unattainable. 

“I understand the discussion, but I think you have to cater to common sense,” Nystad concluded. “You can always tell people that we decide to [have] one pair skate, one pair classical. I think you can also try to have the waxes [matched]. But still be aware, it’s never going to be fair.” 

Stay tuned next week for follow-up series which highlights some of the leagues who have enacted a waxing protocol, namely, the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League (high school & club), and coaches from Rocky Mountain, Intermountain, and the Pacific Northwest. This discussion includes the evolution and reasoning behind the protocols, and what advantages/disadvantages have been identified by each league.

In November 2021, the Wisconsin Nordic Ski League (WNSL), which oversees both high school and club level youth programming state-wide, accepted a sponsorship proposal from Swix and Salomon, which would provide the league with $10,000 in funding per year for three years. The proposal also included stipulation that a standardized wax protocol using Swix waxes would be adopted by the league at all affiliated races, including the state championship. 

In practice, this would look like an email going out to all coaches a day or two prior to the event indicating which of a subset of Swix glide waxing products should be used by athletes that weekend. Equivalent temperature range and performance level waxes from other companies would be disallowed. In the sponsorship presentation given to the league by Swix, the proposal promoted the simplicity and affordability of a unified wax call, and a shift in focus for coaches away from time-consuming wax testing to race day support of their athletes. 

The concept is not new, and WNSL is not the first league to adopt such a protocol. An equivalent protocol has been used by the high school, club, and collegiate level ski programs in the Rocky Mountain region (RMN and RMISA) for the last six years, and has more recently been adopted by the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain Division junior club programs. On the whole, these policies have been seen as beneficial by these regions. 

While an additional $30,000 of funding has the potential to profoundly impact the reach of the WNSL, which will be discussed in a subsequent story, the adoption of the corresponding wax protocol also raised red flags, particularly among members of the Independent Nordic Distributors of America (INDA). The INDA includes distributors of wax products from other smaller companies like Start, Vauhti, Star, and more, and are primarily based in the Midwest. 

The two primary issues that were flagged were the restriction of trade should Swix monopolize the buyer market encompassed by the WNSL, and also whether limiting the available choices to a single option actually creates the equity and uniformity that one might anticipate from putting all skiers on the same wax. Instead, could it widen the opportunity gap between those who could afford high-end skis with condition specific grinds and those who could not?

In the fall, these issues were brought to FasterSkier by Andy Gerlach, director of Madison, WI based EnjoyWinter, which distributes Start, among other cross country related brands like Blitz Eyewear and Swenor rollerskis. With vested interests in the implications to his own business, but also as someone who offers brand-neutral education on wax theory for coaches, Gerlach actively opposed the decision by WNSL to accept the offer from Swix. 

“The biggest argument against these exclusive sales agreements and proof that they are bad for the sport, and in fact illegal, is that they decrease the incentive for any other brand to fight for any part of a team’s or consumer’s business,” Gerlach said in the fall. “Why should my business continue to do wax clinics for Madnorski (Madison Nordic Ski Club) members if we know we are no longer getting a large chunk of their business. Why should any brand even visit Colorado clubs if we know we do not have a chance at a large chunk of the business there? Legal marketing arrangements should increase competition in the market, not decrease it. Change the agreements to marketing rights and not sales rights and every other brand would increase their efforts to reach the individual teams.”

After discussions among the cross-country sport committee during the recent U.S. Ski & Snowboard annual spring congress meetings, Gerlach summarized his objections to wax protocols to the following four points.

1. “They perpetuate a misconception that waxing is so difficult and mysterious. Our clinics state just the opposite.
2. “They perpetuate a misconception that extensive testing is effective and needed to select a glide wax that an athlete can race up to their abilities with. Our clinics state just the opposite.
3. “They increase the likely hood that those skiers with a quiver of skis will have the fastest skis. Multivariable mathematical analysis, as well as ski industry testing and ski sales figures shows this.
4. “They endorse one brand ‘because it is the most available’ and in so doing extends this advantage.”

There is plenty more involved in the debate on the legality and consequences on the business end of the decision whether to accept the sponsorship offer from Swix, which will be revisited in subsequent parts of this story. This installment, however, will focus on the underlying principles of ski performance theory, with input from experts, like Gerlach, on what factors ultimately determine ski speed, and whether restricting the waxes available for a given race would level the playing field by reducing variables, or adversely affect the pre-existing disparity between ski performance, thus limiting the potential of the skier clipped into the binding.

Brimming with insights into ski performance, this thought-provoking conversation should provide fodder for discussion within race-leagues at all levels as they consider waxing protocols and avenues to improve equity within the sport. 

***

We’ll start with what Gerlach identified as the factors that affect the performance of a ski from most to least significant, and where in this process limiting a coach/athlete to a single wax from a single brand becomes significant. 

“In my hierarchy of ski speed deciding factors, it’s a flexible ski, the freshness of the base is the next important, the structure, then the hardness of the wax, and then the brand,” Gerlach explained in a call. “Now we’re going to take away the hardness of the wax as a differentiator between them. And now, all we have as the only differentiator is the ski model, the freshness of the base, and the structure.” 

The understanding of this theoretical model underscores the remainder of the question. When we hear “wax tech”, the name seems to imply the key player being adjusted and assessed is the wax. Gerlach explained that this reasoning is misguided.

“I, and scientific studies, will show you that 95% of this theoretical wax testing is not determining the fastest wax to apply that day. If it was, at US Nationals, or at any of these races, the line Saturday morning two hours before the race start would all be at one wax trailer. But you know, every coach comes up with their own thing… There is a different theoretical ideal wax for a Rossignol with an aggressive grind to the same Rossignol with a fine grind, and you would theoretically wax it differently. If you are testing on your Madshus cold skis and all your kids are on dried burnt out skis, or are on Fisher or on Salmon, theoretically, there’s a different wax [for each ski].”

It’s a counterintuitive concept to those, like myself, who prefer to focus on the technique and training aspects of the sport, versus the technical side. Why doesn’t putting everyone on Swix PS8 on a day forecasted to be in the right temperature range remove a factor that might create disparity between ski performance, thereby improving equity? Particularly in a larger state, like Colorado, where teams are driving long distances (through vastly different elevation zones) to race without knowing exactly what conditions will be like until arrival, I could see the appeal for coaches of removing a step in the planning process. 

To simplify the answer on why equity may not be achievable with wax, Gerlach offered an analogy most skiers can relate to, regardless of their background knowledge in waxing theory.

“If you’ve ever shaved your legs or your face with a razor,” he began. “A sharp, brand-new razor is like a fresh ski with a fresh base. You don’t need shaving cream and that razor works great. But a dull razor – a dried, crappy base – you need that shaving cream. And you need the best shaving cream you can get, and it’s going to help that razor and that shave a whole lot more.”

How does this affect youth level programming? Ultimately, it accentuates the ever-growing “pay to play” problem of competitive sports. A newer, higher-end ski with a fresh base, or perhaps a quiver of skis that are ideal for different conditions, becomes much more important without the ability of a skier or coach to add versatility and improve the performance of a single pair of skis ski by utilizing a range of products to optimize the wax job. 

“We have one ski with a great freshness of the base and a great structure, and one ski with a really dried up base. Had I applied wax to [the dry base], it does more to increase the ski speed than applying wax to a great ski… The more skis you can add to that quiver, all waxed the same, one of those is going to highly outperform the others. Versus when you had the ability to not only figure out which ski to go with, but which wax to go with. So by taking away variables that are easy to change, you make it more important to have a very good ski.”

To include additional knowledgeable voices in the discussion, FasterSkier also spoke with Zach Caldwell and Knut Nystad, two savants in the complex and nuanced world of wax and skis. Caldwell is a leading expert in ski selection, wax, and grinds in the US, and the co-owner of Caldwell Sport. As a distributor of Vauhti, Rode, Star, and other waxes, Caldwell is also a member of the INDA. 

Nystad is the former head of the Norwegian Wax Team, who still works as a ski serviceman for the Norwegian program at the World Cup, World Championship, and Olympic level. Prior to this work in his home country, Nystad spent twelve years as the head coach at the University of Denver. 

“The idea of having a fair competition and limiting variables in order to generate more fairness and equity in the racing and create equal opportunity and a lower barrier to entry is a really laudable goal, but it misses the point,” Caldwell said simply in a call. 

“The fact is that it’s a pretty complex system that we’re working with, with a lot of additive contributing variables that contribute to a whole solution, including ski flex, base material, base preparations, waxing, hand structure, all of it. When you have a lot of variables available to you, you have a lot of different pathways to success. The peak performance that might be available [on a particular ski] can be considered something along the lines of terminal velocity; you’re just not really going to go past a certain level of performance [on a day], the performance that the snow is going to yield. But there are a lot of ways to get there.” 

“As you begin to limit variables,” Caldwell explained, “you begin to place much more emphasis on other variables. They become proportionally much more important in determining how to get to the best performance possible [on the day]. And as you remove wax, which is a really inexpensive variable per application that can be put on specific to a day, you skew the emphasis toward skis base materials, grinds and hand structures.”

Individual variation among the skis and in the technique and strengths of the skier on those skis adds additional complexity to the scenario.

“Think about classic skis; this is a better way to imagine this,” Caldwell pitched. “Some athletes or some skis require different layering and build up of classic wax on a day. But if you’re saying, ‘Oh, you get two layers of extra blue. That’s it.’ That’s asinine. It means some people get to race and others basically have to herringbone.”

Nystad also questioned the premise of leveling the playing field by creating uniformity in the wax selection.

“Let’s start with the beginning,” Nystad said. “All of us that have done this for a long time, the only thing we know is that we don’t know. The only thing we know is that we need to test in order to get the answers. But what I can tell you from my experiences is that if you limit one factor, sometimes it just opens up another can of worms…

“There’s definitely good arguments for trying to make the sport as simple as possible. But I think that for the people that think that just by waxing with blue, that that’s going to make it more equitable. It is a sign to me that they don’t have that much in-depth knowledge.”

Without giving hierarchical ranking, Nystad also discussed the myriad of factors that contribute to the performance of a ski on a given day: the properties of the ski, including flex and splay, the quality of the base and its structure, the manual tools used, and the wax. “And then to top it all off, you have the method methodology that you use to apply the wax.”

He walked through various ways a particular wax could be applied to yield different results, before echoing Caldwell’s sentiments that equity and uniformity cannot be achieved by restricting the options for wax that can be applied to a ski. 

“When people say, ‘Well, can’t we just all wax with the same thing? It will make it easier.’ Clearly it will make it easier; you have one less factor to think about. But if the intention was to make it more of an even playing field, it’s not necessarily the truth. Because when you go to a race,  you’re only limited to try to test what you can afford from money, resources, and of course, time being one of those resources. So if you don’t have the test wax, what else can you test? Well, you can test many more skis, with many more properties with many more different bases, with many more structures, with many more manual tools. 

“So it just opens up other things that you can test to get an advantage. And everything that you’re going to test if you’re going to have more skis, of course, that’s going to cost more. If you’re going to have more structures, different kinds of structures, that will also cost more. If you’re going to add manual tools, that will also cost more.”

Stay tuned for more insights from Gerlach, Caldwell, and Nystad in Part 2 of this story.

FasterSkier recently shared a press release on behalf of the US Nordic Olympic Women (US NOW) announcing Julia Kern as the 2022 recipient of the fourth annual Gold Rush Award. The release included comments from 2021 winner Jessie Diggins on the qualities that she, along with the other past winners, recognized made Kern deserving of this year’s award, but it became clear that there was a gap in FasterSkier’s coverage on the history of US NOW and the evolution of the award. 

To learn more, FasterSkier connected with the spark that launched Gold Rush Award into existence: recent U.S. Ski & Snowboard hall of fame inductee and early groundbreaker for American women’s skiing, Alison Owen-Bradley. It was Owen-Bradley who planted the seeds to bring together the generations of women who have represented United States in cross-country skiing at an Olympic Games, bringing US NOW into fruition.

According to Owen-Bradley, US NOW filled a gaping hole in connection among the women who helped set the foundation for what is now one of the most successful women’s ski programs in the world. Though each of the 53 women Olympians had played a role in propelling the next generation forward, opportunity for connection between the generations had been lacking. With individual efforts, a network amongst these women slowly began to connect sooner, but when the World Cup swung through Quebec City in March 2019, it provided an ideal opportunity to reunite as a collective. 

“We ended up having quite a few Olympic women there,” recalled Owen-Bradley in a call. “And it was fun because we wore our vintage clothing to the race, so we had all kinds of different eras of Olympic clothes. It was so congruent because we were really cheering on the latest, greatest women racing but we were also together with our teammates from the past, and it kind of just kind of grew from there.”

Having been teammates long before the era of Facebook – in fact, some well before the internet – it had been hard for these women to feel connected and maintain ties after careers ended. Owen-Bradley said that before the reunion, she didn’t have contact information for many of these women, and consequently didn’t feel the relationships had been sufficiently developed among the various generations. 

With some word-smithing to nail a catchy acronym, the energy and camaraderie established at this reunion evolved into US NOW. But there’s much more to the name than meets the eye.

“US NOW – being retired from ski racing, who are we now? What have we learned? There’s so much gold in that for mining, in a metaphoric way. All these women, what have they learned? What have they gone on to do? How was it good and bad in their lives to devote their time to this? I don’t think we’ve even come close to exploring that and getting the nuggets [of wisdom] out of what women went through and and got from those experiences. But also, how hard was that? And was it worth it? And what would have made it more worth it? And then to just go forward in a way that uses that wisdom.” 

And so, the organization was built by Olympic women and for future generations of Olympic women. 

When the coach of the first women’s Olympic team, Marty Hall, was inducted into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in the spring of 2018, he invited Owen-Bradley to attend the ceremony, having been one of his original athletes. While traveling through Norway to race at World Masters, a print inspired by the Birkebeiner story caught her eye; instead of the image she was familiar with, which depicted two warriors valiantly carrying Prince Haakon to safety on their trek through the mountains, it was an image of Prince Haakon’s mother, Queen Inga. She too had made the arduous journey on skis to save her son, and yet, Owen-Bradley had never seen her included in the story’s artwork.

Finding it symbolic of the emergence of women’s cross-country skiing in the US over the last 50 years, Owen-Bradley purchased the print, and decided it would be a fitting gift to honor Hall at the ceremony. “He had been the first Olympic coach for women and had kind of gotten us on the map.”

However, the piece of artwork was large. She laughed as she recalled giving it to him, but also telling him it did not need to take up a wall in his home. 

“We decided that it would be a traveling picture, and we would pick someone every year to give it to, and so out of that came this idea [for the award].”

In 2019, following the World Cup, the Inga Award was presented to its first recipient: Rosie Brennan. Having rebounded from a season impaired by the effects of the mononucleosis virus, Brennan was selected based on the “courage, fortitude, grit, determination and raw talent [it took] to achieve an extremely high level of success on the international ski racing circuit [that] season.”

Over the next year, however, Owen-Bradley began to dwell on why the image of a Norwegian woman should be the symbol for the efforts of the women in the American cross-country program. She began looking for inspiration closer to home, eventually finding an equally strong, noteworthy, and under-recognized alternative.

“I changed it to the Gold Rush award because in the High Sierras during the Gold Rush era, women were nordic racing. Not on the same levels that we do it [now], but they had cross country races that that women raced in… So I thought, ‘Oh, what a cool thing — the Gold Rush.’”

She also noted the ties between racing for gold medals at the Olympics, which Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins achieved in 2018. Working with artist Andy Rogers, a new image was created, superimposing the image of a woman on skis in the High Sierra on the bust and profile of a determined and modern-looking woman in a race headband and sport sunglasses. In 2019, this image was presented to co-recipients Sadie Maubet Bjornsen and Sophie Caldwell Hamilton. 

While each of the women mentioned to this point have unquestionably racked up an impressive resume of results, the award is not meant to recognize what happens on the race course directly. Rather, Owen-Bradley explained a recipient is selected for the award by “exemplifying and showing the grit and the grace that it takes to be successful.” It’s what happened behind the scenes to get the result, not the result itself. 

“An example would be Sophie whose mother died [in 2019] and she still went on with such grace and was so successful through all of that. And Sadie because of all the injuries she worked through and kept going… So, to me, it’s been about the grit and the grace of what it takes to be a woman nordic ski racer at that level.”

Approaching the 50-year mark of her own Olympic debut and now focusing more of her time and energy on her small farm in Idaho rather than the cross-country ski world, Owen-Bradley explained that this year, she felt less directly connected to the potential recipients for the Gold Rush award. She decided the decision should be made collectively amongst the four previous winners, to which she would add a fifth vote. After some discussion, the group voted unanimously for Julia Kern. 

A member of the U.S. Ski Team since 2017, Kern’s progression on the international level has been steady, but non-linear. Alongside leaps forward, she’s faced her fair share of injuries and setbacks. Both the 2020/2021 season and her first Olympic appearances in 2022 left her wanting more, but interjecting these lows during the 2021/22 race season were a slew of career highlights. Her top results include two individual fourth-place sprint finishes on the World Cup, a team sprint podium in Dresden, a handful of other World Cup top tens, and finishing the year winning three out of four events at the joint U.S SuperTour Finals / Canadian National Championships in Whistler, BC. 

And in February 2023, she’s heading into a World Championship which will take place at the venue where she earned her first World Cup podium in December 2019: Planica, Slovenia. 

Smiles and hugs all-around to celebrate Julia Kern’s first World Cup podium in Planica, Slovenia in December 2019. Kern finished third in the freestyle sprint, with Sophie Caldwell Hamilton just behind in fourth. (Photos: NordicFocus)

According to the past award recipients on the selection committee, it was the juxtaposition of these celebrations and challenges over the last few seasons that highlighted Kern’s candidacy for the award this spring.  

“To me, what is special about this award, is first that it was voted on by this very incredible group of women who all share tenacity and drive to get through challenges and be better on the other side and second, that it awards just that and not results,” explained Brennan in an email. “Julia exemplifies this in her ability to be a strong teammate, no matter what the circumstances are. She holds her head high and goes out of her way to never bring people down when things are tough, aren’t going her way, or she’s faced with a challenge. When something doesn’t work out for her, she immediately jumps gears and does literally whatever she can to help her teammates have success. 

“On top of that, she doesn’t lose faith in herself, she continues to fight, look for opportunity and carry an optimistic outlook towards her future. She has shown this many times after coming off a slump, injury, or some other challenge to find herself notching career bests. I think these things aren’t mutually exclusive and that we all have a lot to learn from Julia’s ability to be an exceptional teammate and in turn have that give her energy to continue chasing her own goals.” 

Commenting on her nomination, Kern attributed her own success to the efforts of the women who came before her, including those who would present her with the award.

“​​I am incredibly honored to be given the Gold Rush Award by such an incredible group of women. US NOW is a group of women who have paved the way for U.S. skiing, many of whom have been personal role models and mentors to me in skiing and in life. I would not have had the opportunities, experience and knowledge without their hard work and passion for giving back to the younger generations. The past few years have been challenging for a variety of factors, and it was rewarding to come back stronger with my best season yet.”

As the list of award winners grows and US NOW builds momentum, Owen-Bradley hopes the award can be expanded to include a monetary prize in addition to the print and tribute. Acknowledging the increase in representation for women across various aspects of skiing, such as coaching and waxing, she would love to see new awards developed to recognize these important examples also. 

When Owen-Bradley began skiing as a child in the 1960’s, her only option was to join the boys program; Title IX did not pass until June 1972, at which point she was 19 and had already raced at a World Championship. As she reflected on the amount of opportunity for women in cross-country skiing now, and what the creation of US NOW and the Gold Rush Award means to Owen-Bradley personally, she expressed feelings of joy and optimism. 

“For me to go from not having a place, to having these strong women’s teams – it’s just so fun.” 

Believe it or not, it is mid-May. For those following a traditional cross-country calendar, this means the start of a new training year, building toward the 2022/2023 competition season. And, for many of the top American athletes, this means it’s time to make an annual pilgrimage to Bend, Oregon for the on-snow camp of the season at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center.

The weather gods were kind to the camp attendees, with nearly a foot of fresh snow falling on Mt. Bachelor last weekend, restoring it to mid-Winter conditions. April was also a fruitful month for snowfall, setting up for a base-depth of 92” currently reported on the trails – not bad for May!

To learn more about the camp and what has made Bend and Mt. Bachelor a staple of the U.S. Ski Team’s early season training, FasterSkier connected with head coach Matt Whitcomb, who shared that he has been coming to Bend almost-annually for the last 26 years. 

He first experienced the trails at Mt. Bachelor during the 1996 U.S. National Championships. 

“I was rooming with Justin Beckwith (current NENSA Competitive Program Director),” Whitcomb recalled fondly. “Amy Caldwell took us out and then Sverre [Caldwell] joined us, and we had our first experience racing Nationals. And it really jumped out as this town that had skiing at its center, not only alpine but cross country.” 

The following summer, Whitcomb, Beckwith, and a couple additional training partners hopped into a car and drove to Oregon to spend the summer of ‘97 in Bend. 

“But we weren’t, by any means, the first people to do this – we were following in the footsteps of Justin Wadsworth and Pat Weaver and a whole bunch of other people. And by our senior year [at Middlebury College], we had twenty-something people driving out from the east just to experience what Bend has in late May and June, and we’d be there through August until we had to go back to college.” 

What Bend has in late May and June, he said, is a vast array of diverse training opportunities, which most importantly includes snow. 

“That’s probably the first thing that really drew us in, particularly as people from the East.”

He shared that the snow report they had received from Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center manager Sue Foster was measuring the accumulation from April storms in feet, not inches. 

But it’s not just the access to snow on its own that makes Mt. Bachelor worth the trip.

“The trail system is world class. You’re skiing through Douglas fir — just these massive, old old trees on creative, windy, hard trails, and on a good year they’ll have close to 30 or 40 kilometers groomed for us still in May.” 

In addition to its geographical location and an accumulation of over 300” of snow annually, the elevation of the Nordic Center preserves the snowpack for late season skiing. The parking lot sits at roughly 6,000’ above sea level, while trails range from 5,750 to 6,400’. 

This puts Mt. Bachelor in a similar altitude zone to Soldier Hollow, UT, offering athletes both an early season bump in red blood cells and the opportunity to fine tune their altitude skiing strategies, “which is something that we really value. Because skiing at altitude is not just something for the aerobically gifted; it’s also something for people that develop the skill of how to actually ski at altitude. So that’s been great.”

Whitcomb also lauded the convenience of Mt. Bachelor relative to their lodging down in Bend, roughly a 25 minute drive down the mountain at a significantly lower elevation of roughly 3,300’. In addition to easy access to the trails, this gives the team the opportunity to train high and sleep low, as well as to enjoy non-ski training modalities in a totally different climate. 

“So recovery is complete. We can also go roller skiing in the afternoon, we can go mountain biking, we can run in shorts and tee shirts. It’s like you’re experiencing the summer and the winter on the same day for two weeks in a row.”

 Overall, Bend and Mt. Bachelor have become a special place for Whitcomb, and for the many athletes who have made their way there over the years. 

“It’s just such a wonderful environment. The way these cascade forests smell this time of the year when the new growth is coming up — you step out of the car when you first arrive and it’s like, ahh. I could be blindfolded and tell you exactly where I was.”

While Mt. Bachelor offers high quality grooming all season, Whitcomb also spoke to the relationships the US Ski Team have developed with the trail operations team, and their willingness to adapt their usual grooming patterns to best serve the visiting skiers. This year, Whitcomb is looking to replicate the track format of a World Cup stadium so the team can practice “switching lanes in the finish and figuring out how to develop more speed — a bit of a twist to our [usual] speed training.”

At the helm, and helping US Ski Team coaches interface with the grooming team, is the aforementioned Nordic Center Manager, Sue Foster, who Whitcomb says has been an invaluable resource over the years. 

“She meets us in the lodge every day, she helps us prepare the TV and the chairs so that we can do a little visualization before every session. And she’s just a delightful, inviting person that makes you want to come back and see [her.] It’s rare that every athlete on the team knows the names of the people working the lodge, but Mt. Bachelor is one of those places.”

Off the ski trails, Whitcomb shared that a highlight for many athletes is the lower elevation terrain in Bend, where the unique volcanic geology of Mt. Bachelor sets up for miles of tacky “hero dirt” for afternoon rides. 

“The mountain biking is some of the best in the US, particularly in May, before it’s gotten dusty.”

During the late spring, many trails along the Deschutes River are also beginning to open up, and often the team will be dropped off an hour and a half up-river to enjoy a point-to-point run  back to their cluster of rental houses. 

This year, the team is spread between three large rental homes in close proximity, with the staff house centrally located to host nightly team dinners catered by USOPC chef Megan Chacosky. To reduce COVID risks among the team and staff, masks are still worn during team meetings, allowing them to safely happen in-person. Though mask mandates and COVID safety precautions are largely being dropped, Whitcomb expressed the importance of keeping athletes and staff healthy, setting everyone up for success during the high-volume summer months of training. 

“I think the world has made a major shift to decide that the pandemic is over, but we’re pretty well aware that the COVID is not done yet.”

Finally, Whitcomb cited the greater ski community in Bend as a reason the camp has been such a valuable component of the annual training cycle. 

“As far back as I can remember, it didn’t matter whether we are registered with a local club or not, we were always being invited by [coach/director] John Downing to the XC Oregon sessions. He’s still a good friend of the team, and we have so many locals in town that are helping us out and welcome us every year to town.”

Acknowledging that he was only giving the short-list of names from the Bend skiing community who have supported and welcomed the team each year, he also noted former physiologist at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs Tim Gibbons, who builds excitement for the camp by giving Whitcomb snow reports all winter, indicating how the trails are shaping up for spring skiing. And lastly, he thanked the members of the Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation (MBSEF), including nordic director Dylan Watts. 

This community support allows the team to maximize their time training in Bend, while also creating opportunities for outreach via programs like Fast and Female or hosting workouts for the MBSEF junior athletes. This partnership helps the team feel connected, and also stoke the enthusiasm of the next generation of cross country skiers. 

“It just really feels like a family that we’re coming back to every year. So thanks to everybody that has always been welcoming. We try to be great ambassadors for the sport, and we need partners like this [to continue to move forward as a nation].

The Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center is known for it’s world class spring cross-country skiing. You can find more information about spring conditions at mtbachelor.com.

Part 1 of this story details Eliška’s experience coaching through pregnancy and the birth of her son. Keep reading to learn about the challenges she, like many women, experienced during the postpartum recovery process, and what it took to navigate year one of life on the road with baby Viggo.

Expectation versus reality. 

When preparing to interview Eliška Albrigtsen about her experience pairing NCAA coaching with new motherhood, I expected the challenges she faced during her transition to primarily be focused on the balancing act of managing a demanding job with frequent travel and a new baby. Maybe a few relatable stories of airport meltdowns, sleepless nights in hotels while on the road with the team, and inopportune timing of diaper blowouts. Or any number of other ways societal systems in the US seem to be structured in opposition to new moms in the workplace.  

But Eliška’s passion for her job and dedication to her athletes were abundantly clear throughout the conversation; coaching is where she thrived. Her grit and energy allowed her to problem solve bringing baby Viggo on the road with the team – perhaps paired with the added fortune of a husband whose skill set includes waxing and ski testing and a well placed mother-in-law eager to help care for her grandson. And the team embraced its new member without hesitation.

In reality, the biggest challenges Eliška faced in returning to coaching postpartum were connected to the physiological impacts pregnancy and delivery had on her body. In short, it was a discussion on the shortcomings of our healthcare system and the myriad of ways the current standard of postpartum care falls short of what many women require to restore their body to full function.

Her story highlights a few key takeaways for programs looking to support women coaches surrounding pregnancy; in particular, there’s much more to the return to coaching than navigating who will care for your child while you’re out training with athletes and traveling to races. Respecting the timeline of a slow return, and perhaps offsetting the costs of postpartum physical therapy, may be an essential component of an improved and holistic support system.  

Postpartum Recovery

A theme of Eliška’s narrative of her perinatal experience was the ways in which her “athlete mindset” served and hindered her ability to roll with the punches. 

While women like Kikkan Randall, Marit Bjørgen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen paved the way for women looking to begin their family before retiring from professional skiing in many ways, Eliška said that the ease with which they outwardly seemed to rebound beyond their previous levels of fitness was, in some ways, a disservice to women like herself who did not experience as smooth a return. In her mind, she had expected a comparable experience given her athleticism and good health, but quickly learned that women might be better served using caution when extrapolating from outliers. 

“You see these professional skiers having babies and then coming back and winning gold medals at [the] Olympics,” she said. “And you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s gonna be me.’ But no one really sees the giant support team they have behind them.

“They have professional doctors, physical therapists, and strength and conditioning [specialists] to go through their pregnancy with them, monitoring everything, having them at the birth, and then jumping right into the recovery. As a coach, you don’t get that. You probably have the same amount of on-ski hours as professional skiers – not the same quality of course, but you can’t do your job without being there. So I think that’s how most of our ski community sees pregnancy – so easy and you are an even better athlete afterwards, because all these women did it…

“For me, it was the opposite. It was hell. I can’t wear the clothes that I wore when I was pregnant because I have extreme PTSD from that… it was such a, not just physically but painfully, impacting experience.” 

Though expectation and reality could not have been more different, her drive to recover from the injuries sustained from pregnancy and birth, and the creativity required to adapt during the recovery process, mirrored her general approach as an athlete more broadly. 

“I think the athlete mindset in me was, ‘Okay, I had this baby. Now I put myself through physical therapy, and I’m gonna recover’… Just like after having a shoulder dislocation or having a torn iliopsoas, all those pretty crazy injuries – I knew that eventually you get better, and you get back to yourself.”

What Eliška identified as the biggest physical challenge she faced after the birth of her son was the repair of a condition called diastasis recti (DR), which is a separation and consequential loss of function and strength of the rectus abdominis muscles. 

During pregnancy, as a woman’s belly expands to accommodate the growing baby, the muscles of the abdomen are forced to stretch. The deeper muscle layers, known as the transverse abdominis, are structured like a corset wrapping around the belly, giving them a greater capacity to expand. However, the rectus abdominis muscles, better known as the “six pack” muscles, run vertically while connected by fascia, and have significantly less ability to adapt to the expansion. 

Instead, the outward pressure and growth of the belly causes the rectus abdominis muscles to separate, thinning and weakening the fascia as it stretches, or in extreme cases, tearing it.

“When I was the most pregnant, my six pack was under my armpits.” 

This connective tissue cannot simply snap back to its original state after delivery. As fascia lacks the blood flow of muscle tissue, it is slow to heal, leaving many women with a gap between muscles known as a diastasis. All women experience some amount of ab separation during pregnancy, but if the gap of two or more finger widths between the muscles persists postpartum, she is diagnosed with DR. 

Because of the combination of her stature, a short torso, and the size of her baby, Eliška found herself with an extreme separation. 

“Basically, you could stick your whole fist into my stomach. That was the biggest problem for me because I basically lost my core. And my core was a big part of me as an athlete – not just as a skier, but as an athlete. So that was really hard.” 

As she hopes for a second child down the road, any surgical repair options were contraindicated, and instead, Eliška dedicated herself to a physical therapy regimen. She felt lucky to have access to a Fairbanks-based Osteopathic medicine expert, Dr. Todd Capistrant, who specializes in the Fascial Distortion Model and was therefore primed to help Eliška improve her diastasis. 

“I saw him basically on a weekly basis.”

She also met regularly with a pelvic floor physical therapist, both to work on the diastasis, and to restore appropriate function to the muscles of her pelvic floor. Her PT identified that her pelvic floor was hypertonic, meaning the muscles carried tension chronically, rather than contracting and relaxing in functional patterns. Like holding a flexed arm hang and then being asked to knock out a set of chin-ups, this chronic low-level tension leads to fatigue in the pelvic floor muscles, preventing them from outputting the strength and tension required to support the organs sitting inside the pelvic girdle and interact appropriately with surrounding musculature when recruited during activity.

With the guidance of the PT and a set of progressive exercises to relax and engage her muscles appropriately, Eliška saw progress, but it took time for her muscles to function in coordination subconsciously.

“It took me probably around eight months to incorporate the mental [and neuromuscular] connections back. I was able to [engage the muscles] when I wanted to, but all the muscles of the pelvic floor, everything that’s sitting in the pelvis, they were not working with the rest of my body.”

She expressed feeling lucky to have access to high level care in Fairbanks, including her therapist who could incorporate a variety of techniques to help her recover, including deep tissue massage, cupping, electrical muscle stimulation, and biofeedback.

“I think biofeedback for athletes just works the best. Because we’re such strong willed people. Like, if we see it happening, we can really focus on making it happen more.” 

An unexpected benefit of time and resources being placed into learning how to strengthen and reintegrate her deeper core musculature trickled down to her athletes. She recognized that several of her athletes, who had complained of back pain surrounding core workouts, were not sufficiently engaging their transverse abdominis muscles, instead relying too heavily on the outer rectus abdominis or other smaller core muscles. Teaching the techniques she learned through PT helped improve the form of her athletes, relieving the back pain they had experienced previously. 

“It definitely deepened my understanding of how the core should work, and how we use it when we ski.”

As she navigated her own challenges, she became aware through talking with friends of how common these experiences are amongst mothers. Describing herself as “someone who says everything”, she felt it was important to both be open regarding the challenges she’s faced, and the resources and options available for women to make progress toward recovery, rather than accept the conditions as permanent. 

Most women only receive one postpartum checkup, approximately six weeks after delivery. As my own pelvic floor PT described it, these visits typically only check to see that the tissues have healed and that there are no visible pelvic organ prolapses, but most midwives and OB/GYN practitioners do not have the depth of knowledge to assess muscle function, hence the need for an evaluation from a pelvic floor PT. However, quality pelvic floor physical therapy is not universally available, and as it is not always covered by insurance, making it cost-prohibitive for many women to continue care long enough to make sufficient progress.  

“I think the most tragic experience post-pregnancy that I had was the realization that women are left being damaged from bringing life to the world.”

As she discussed her own experience with the women in her community, in turn, many of them shared that they continued to suffer from the impacts of ab separation or pelvic floor dysfunction from pregnancies, including friends who were more than ten years postpartum. Some of these women had given up activities they had enjoyed previously, like running, because they felt as though they were “spilling their guts” out of their bellies due to a lack of core function. 

“How is this okay for women to live this way? That was just mind blowing to me.”

Imparting the knowledge she gained in the process, and advocating for women to find their own ways to make it work, she offered up suggestions.

“I was just like, ‘Hey, if you can’t go to physical therapy, this is how you tape your belly, so at least you can start hiking fast.”

At roughly 13 months postpartum at the time of the call, Eliška recognized the improvements she’s made, while still acknowledging she has not fully recovered. 

“It’s [been] more than a year, and I feel functional. I still have pains and I would not go and enter a race, because my brain can push much harder than my body can, so I know I would hurt myself. But I’m so much better than most of my friends that, you know, [had to] just give it up…”

As she worked with athletes through the fall and winter, Eliška found ways to adapt her ski technique to avoid putting unnecessary strain on the musculature she was working to rehab, and work instead with the muscles that already had the necessary strength. In particular, she needed to change her doublepole technique.

By returning to the older style of doublepoling, which involved less of a crunch through the abdomen than modern technique, instead increasing the bend at the waist and relying more heavily on the arm and shoulder muscles. 

“I don’t have the strength there anymore [to crunch]. My muscles are two three packs, they’re not connected. So I go into doublepole and I tighten my  lower belly, but then I pull my butt up kind of like into downward dog instead, and work with my arms again.”

Another lingering problem she has experienced is a result of the endocrinological changes experienced surrounding pregnancy. To allow the body to grow during pregnancy and a widening of the hips for delivery, the body releases an aptly-named hormone called relaxin, which acts on cartilage and other soft tissues to allow expansion and increased joint mobility to occur. The production of relaxin typically declines after delivery, but remains higher than normal for the duration of breastfeeding.

While beneficial for pregnancy, it also puts perinatal women at a higher risk of joint instability and consequently injury. 

Eliška shared that she seems to produce an above average amount of relaxin, which has continued to affect her postpartum as a nursing mom. She experienced joint pain, particularly in her pubic symphysis joint at the front of the pelvis, with unexpected movements – like slipping on ice or mud. “And it’s always slippery here. Like 10 months out of the year.”

“On skis, I don’t have a problem. Because everything’s gliding and I already have the natural anticipation of gliding. But walking and slipping – I try to catch myself and my muscles, my joints, my tendons are just too loose.” 

Reflecting on her journey through the first year postpartum, the lack of care available to most women remained at the forefront of her mind. The impact of these types of conditions, which linger if left untreated, affects more than just the level of activity a woman can enjoy. As those who have experienced it (waves hand) can attest, the emotional toll affects quality of life more broadly. 

“I would absolutely fight for every woman to be able to have a year of free PT [after pregnancy]. You just need your life back.”

Life on the Road

There’s a commonly used phrase when it comes to raising children: “It takes a village.” This resonated as Eliška shared insights into what support was necessary to allow baby Viggo to travel with the team through the competition season.

While children under two-years-old are typically able to fly for free on their parents’ laps, the travel of the person who would care for Viggo while Eliška was working is not. Fortunately, her husband Tobias was already incorporated as a volunteer assistant coach, and had both the skillset and the NCAA certifications to play a variety of roles during travel, which also got him on the payroll to offset travel costs.

“I’m lucky that my husband’s quite good tester and waxer as well. And traveling with a full team this year, six [women] and six [men], I knew that we will need more than two coaches to wax.”

And, conveniently, Tobias’ mother is based in Boulder, CO. “She was able to actually drive to all the races and babysit when we were ski waxing and racing.”

For US Nationals, UAF collaborated with other Alaskan clubs to wax, but it was still useful to have an extra driver to bring athletes back and forth to the venue. Consequently, they paid out of pocket for the flight, but Tobias was able to get a per-diem salary as a driver. “So we got at least the food covered,” she laughed.

For other RMISA and SuperTour races where UAF was only waxing for their own athletes, Tobias could have his travel expenses fully covered in exchange for his work. It’s perhaps a model that’s hard to replicate for other mom-coaches, but still demonstrates that with some creativity and determination, bringing the family along for the ride is possible. 

“We call it the primary. He’s the primary on the baby when we have training days, where me and my assistant go with athletes and train. And then when we were testing and race waxing, grandma was the primary. And oh my God, bless her heart — she paid for all of her gas and her accommodation and food. She would just come to the house where we were staying when we had to leave and just babysat for us… So that’s the way that we made it work, but it’s a very, I think, exceptional situation.”

Was traveling back and forth from Fairbanks to Colorado and Utah challenging with a toddler? Yes. But Eliška knew it was something they would need to navigate as a family regardless of her career. 

“I know living in Alaska, he’s gonna fly anywhere he goes. That’s just what it is. So that was just like one thing that we were like, ‘Yeah, there’s no way around it.’ We did have to travel with more things. Because you have to have the car seat, we have to have the crib, we had to have a bunch of diapers with us.”

The system worked for the first year, but it will need to be modified for next season. The full RMISA calendar has not yet been set, however, the regional championships will be held in Anchorage, which will make at least one competition easier to travel to. 

From there, it will be running the calculus on what makes sense financially. She laughed that Viggo is already a squirmy baby to keep on their laps on the plane and will need his own seat next year, but she is also not sure whether he will still be nursing, which may make it easier for her to leave him behind with Tobias.

In terms of the impact to the team, better worded as the lack thereof, Eliška felt Viggo’s presence on the road improved the atmosphere. Rather than lamenting their littlest teammate, they found humor and joy in his presence. 

“When you’re stressed before the race, and you’re having breakfast and you’re barely putting the oatmeal into your mouth [because of nerves], and the baby in front of you is just like throwing the food and laughing… I think that it helped with the team atmosphere, for sure.”

In addition to helping distribute the weight of ski, wax, and baby gear when navigating through the airport, the athletes also served as an extra set of eyes in the team house. 

“The team, in general, was super helpful as well. When we would be waxing in the garage, they were playing with Viggo, and he believes they’re all his brothers and sisters, I’m pretty sure.”

Reflections on the Experience Thus Far

Praising the community in Fairbanks, Eliška was grateful for the help and support she received through her perinatal journey, which allowed her to not only continue as head coach, but help the team to new heights this season. Rather than holding her back, becoming a mother enhanced her ability to lead the Nanooks program. 

“I also feel like my season was so much more successful this year because I really wanted to go home to my baby. So I was really trying to work smarter and more efficiently, and I think the athletes probably had that push too.”

While some might fault a woman who shares that her priorities have shifted since having a child, Eliška explained the number of ways this desire to optimize practice time served her team. 

“I was always driven for success – I love being successful. But now it’s more like, ‘Yes, I will be successful so then I can spend more time with my child.’”  

As to whether there was anything she would have done differently, Eliška’s answer was more focused on reducing barriers to mom-coaches as a group surrounding pregnancy. 

“I think the side that no one ever talks about is: how fit coaches should actually be able to do their job well.”

Because her insurance cycle was aligned with the school calendar, her deductible reset in July. Having maximized her out of pocket expenses with prenatal care and delivery, this meant the physical therapy treatments she needed were essentially free for the first four months. However, after the plan turned over for the new year, each pelvic floor PT visit cost $60–70, and she was looking to go twice per week to continue to make steady progress. This adds up quickly, particularly for a family relying on one salary, which happens to be a ski coaching salary. 

While nationwide free postpartum PT for all women would be the ideal, Eliška proposed that these costs should, at minimum, be offset by the school or program.

“That is something I would definitely fight for women coaches. Talk to your boss, or whoever, and tell them, ‘If you want me to come back to the same level of coaching, you need to pay for occupational therapy for me to recover.”

While skimming through the extensive photo albums shared by Tobias Albrigtsen during the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships in Soldier Hollow this past January, one head coach caught my attention. University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) head coach Eliška Albrigtsen (Tobias’ wife) had an extra member of the team in tow: her then 11-month-old son, Viggo. 

As most ski coaches know all too well, the demands of the job are multifactorial, and can make it challenging for women coaches who are looking to start a family. It’s a physically demanding job with frequent travel butting up against a physically demanding biological process that results in a tiny being that is, at least in the short term, still very dependent on its mother. 

Yes, some women have a fairly smooth perinatal experience and (somehow?) enjoy the experience of pregnancy. And yes, a woman’s ability to grow a new life inside her body is a wonderful and sometimes mind-blowing feat, but the experience of pregnancy and childbirth can also undeniably leave behind a lasting impact. A woman’s uterus grows to be the size of a watermelon over the course of roughly 40 weeks, forcing supporting musculature to stretch well beyond its normal capacity, while other internal organs are forced to relocate elsewhere. And that’s just a small subset of what’s happening throughout the body.

The process of repairing this damage after birth is often nonlinear, leaving those who rely on their bodies for work, recreation, or both, in need of extensive postpartum physical therapy while making a careful progression back to activity. 

And everyone’s experience is unique. 

It’s the miracle of life, but it’s also a little bit like donating your body to science for at least 15 months. I can attest; as I write this, the daughter I’ve been growing for the last 30 weeks feels like she’s trying to claw her way out of my belly button, which remains herniated from growing her sister.

And, if you live in Fairbanks and spend weeks at a time traveling to races 3000 miles away (or more), it creates a logistical challenge. How do you bring the baby, who you continue to nurse, along with you while coaching your athletes to an historic seventh place at the NCAA Championships? In addition to benches, wax boxes, and heavy ski bags, you’ll need, at minimum, a cumbersome car seat, and plenty of spare clothes and diapers. And you’ll need someone to care for the child while you’re on the wax bench, testing skis, and otherwise supporting your athletes. 

It turns out that the experience has been as challenging and rewarding as it sounds. Let’s start at the beginning. 

Preparing for Baby

Though baby Albrigsten was conceived in the spring of 2020, he was not simply a “COVID baby”. The urge to begin a family came out of feelings of being “stupidly comfortable”. 

“Our life started to be kind of plain, so we thought, ‘Okay, this is the time to do it’ – to go into another hardship, I guess,” Eliška said with a laugh.  

With a few years under her belt, she felt efficient and dialed in her role with the UAF team, and she knew she could leave the program in good hands in her absence given the capability and coaching talents of her assistant coach, Jennie Bender. After her own NCAA racing career at the University of Vermont, where she became an All-American, Bender trained and raced professionally through 2017 in cross country, earning four national championship sprints, and standing on over 25 SuperTour podiums. 

(Bender has since moved to Whitefish, MT where she is the executive director and head comp coach for the Glacier Nordic Club.)  

While women coaches in the NCAA are already a minority, there are even fewer examples of women who have started families while in the head coaching role. However, Eliška was not without footsteps to follow. She explained that her friend, former UAF coach Christina Turman, had given birth to her first child while actively coaching, so she knew it was “somewhat possible”, and while racing at University of Colorado Boulder (CU) during her own collegiate career, then assistant coach Jana Weinberger had begun her family. 

Looking to be informed and prepared, Eliška applauded the time and energy she and Tobias put into learning about the process in terms of what would be available to her for maternity leave, the amount of perinatal care her insurance would cover, and more. As her job included benefits and had flexible hours, she and Tobias agreed in advance that it made more sense for him to leave his job and become the full-time caregiver for their child, keeping her in a coaching role she loved. And then, they began trying to conceive. 

Nailing the timing, Eliška knew that her baby’s predicted arrival in February would allow her to take three months of maternity leave, with an additional month of leave per her usual 11-month contract. This would bring her to June, when athletes are typically away for summer, allowing her to ease back in while writing summer training plans and handling the many other non-coaching aspects of leading an NCAA program. 

Coaching Through Pregnancy

As winter approached and the 2020-2021 race season loomed, Eliška began to step back from her usual involvement with team training, “which for me, is not standing on the side of the trail and watching the athletes. It’s to be there with them when they’re struggling, to see where they can improve in the highest point of their performance.” 

Her knowledge and expertise as a coach are rooted in both her academic studies in physiology and her own accomplishments as an athlete. Growing up in the Czech Republic, she was named to the national team at 14. During her junior career, she earned a silver medal at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Switzerland in 2005, then went on to place in the top ten at three World Junior ski championships, and helped her relay team to a bronze medal. 

Heading to CU for college with World Cup starts under her belt, she went on to become one of the most accomplished skiers in the school’s history, if not the NCAA more broadly. Of the 48 races she entered, she missed the top-10 only three times, and stood on 33 podiums. Eliška (then Hájková) was NCAA champion in classic in 2011, and contributed to two NCAA team titles for the Buffaloes. 

In short, she is an incredible athlete and skier. And yet, perhaps both in spite of and because of that strength and athleticism, she was significantly challenged by the toll pregnancy took on her body. 

Eliška identified that she has a very short torso relative to her height at roughly 5’5”. In the context of growing a human, this means that there is nowhere for the baby to go but out. 

“It literally looked like I swallowed basketball,” she laughed as she described her body toward the end of pregnancy.

Even earlier in the process, she found herself regularly adjusting to her rapidly growing belly, and she had to be creative in ways to remain active for the sake of her health and maintaining her usual active lifestyle. She abandoned running early, and had to stop biking halfway through pregnancy “because my belly was just so big.” Because of the risk to the baby of a crash, she did not feel comfortable rollerskiing. “I did an insane amount of hiking with poles.” And, she enjoyed prenatal yoga throughout pregnancy.  

***

Returning to the impacts on coaching, as she entered into the third trimester, the physical demands of pregnancy began to significantly impede her ability to work with athletes as she was accustomed. 

“I was at the practices, but not really skiing. I skied until the end of the year, and then, my feet were so swollen, I couldn’t fit into my boots. But I was still walking to the practices, and [timed] some time trials until halfway through January. And then I was just too pregnant to move.”

Outgrowing her ski clothes long before winter, she also had to be creative to stay warm for practices. She began wearing spare team jackets in a men’s extra-large to accommodate her belly, and could be sometimes found sporting a large fleecy Chewbacca onesie. 

As the competition season began, team leadership responsibilities began shifting to Bender, who would assume the role of interim head coach, giving her the authority to call the shots on the road while Eliška remained in Fairbanks. 

Still shrouded in COVID precautions, the 2021 RMISA calendar was contained to Utah and Colorado, with most races happening in Soldier Hollow. This worked out well for Bender, who was able to rely on contacts from her racing career to fill in for wax support, primarily Josh Korn, who is the events coordinator in SoHo. 

Had Bender not been available and able to fill in so seamlessly as head coach, the program might have been compromised during the season. While the skillset of a high level coach already narrows the pool able to cover a maternity leave, Eliška explained that the clearance process to become an NCAA coach adds another barrier. 

“With all the college or university regulations, it’s quite hard to just hire a coach as an independent contractor… it’s so much easier to actually hire someone as a wax tech because they don’t have to [go through the whole process].”

Ever problem solving and adapting, with Bender at the helm, the race season rolled by. And on February 25th, midway through the RMISA championships, Eliška gave birth to her son. 

Delivery Day: The Baby is Born

With her aforementioned background as an athlete, combined with participating in training with her athletes and fueling her own passion for outdoor recreation, Eliška explained that she came into pregnancy “quite fit”, which she believes was helpful as she adapted to the load of a growing and changing body. “Honestly, sometimes I was thinking ‘how do women who are not in [good] physical shape do this?’ Because when I was eight, nine months [along], I could barely walk and I was quite strong.”

However, it proved to be a double-edged sword that she felt complicated her delivery. “I had a lot of tightness in muscles, which we want for sport, but not for giving birth.” In particular, this applied to the muscles of her pelvic floor.

Like an extension of the core that line the pelvis, these muscles have a myriad of important roles. They’re responsible for the support and stability of the joints and organs surrounding the pelvis, including regulating the function of the bladder, bowels, and reproductive organs, and they interact with larger muscle groups of the hips, legs, and abdomen used for movement. 

For Eliška, her pelvic floor was so strong and rigid that they were unable to sufficiently relax and stretch to allow the baby to pass through her birth canal. 

Her due date had come and gone, and time began to run out for her to deliver at the local hospital.

“I was 41 weeks already. And in Fairbanks, they don’t have the NICU specialty, so they don’t let you go over 41 weeks because if something happens, they have to fly you to Anchorage.”

With no signs of the onset of labor happening naturally, she awaited an induction, but Alaska was experiencing a surge in COVID cases in February 2021 and beds in the hospital were at a premium.

“I was just sitting at home with my cup on my belly just waiting for them to call me that they have a space, because the hospital was overwhelmed. They had so many emergency cases coming in that week.”

When she was finally called to come in, she and Tobias headed to the hospital, but her body was reluctant to respond to the Pitocin used to kickstart labor. 

“For three days, they kept inducing. The second day, my water broke, and then suddenly, it was happening. Then I was in contractions for like 18 hours, every two and a half minutes a contraction, and it was just so painful that I started to throw up.”

Worn out from the previous 18 hours of labor, her body began to tighten in response to the pain, rather than relax to allow the baby to make progress. Her doctors recommended an epidural in hopes that pain relief would improve her ability to relax and allow her pelvic floor muscles to release. 

“After the epidural, I was like, ‘Oh, this is hilarious. I don’t feel anything.’ But then the baby’s oxygen started to drop with every contraction. They put me on oxygen, and that helped, but when they took me off, [his oxygen] was dropping. And the heartbeats were dropping as well.”

The doctors felt it was no longer safe for her to continue trying for a vaginal birth, and instead prepared her for an emergency C-section. 

“That was like 11:30 p.m. on the 25th. And he was born at 11:57. It was just so cool.”

Returning to the concept of “donating your body to science”, Eliška recounted a strange experience resulting from the inability to eat during the induction process. Most hospitals do not allow women to eat in case they need to be put under anesthesia for an emergency procedure.

“At that point, I was three days without food… they were giving me sugars through IV, but I was shaking like this,” she said as she demonstrated full body tremors. “They had to have extra nurses to hold me down during the C-section because my body was just trying to shake all the glycogen from my muscles out into the bloodstream… physiologically, I literally shook all the sugar that I had in my whole body out into the bloodstream to make this baby happen.”

Despite the complications, both Eliška and baby Viggo were fully healthy, and the remainder of their hospital stay went by without a hitch. She fondly remembered his perfectly round head, a mark of a baby delivered via C-section, and proudly showed a picture of her sweet newborn. 

Reflecting on the unexpected hurdles she faced, she voiced the opinion that, like her athletic body had been “detrimental to the birth” process, her athlete mindset stood in her way of entering the labor and delivery room with open-minded acceptance. 

“I had a ‘perfect’ birth plan. I knew that I’m going to go there and I’m not going to push until I’m [dilated to] 10. And then I’m going to have the baby. But it does not work that way. No one told me that.”

As skiers, we’re accustomed to the notion that diligently following a training plan and putting in the work during the build up to a key race will lead to a somewhat predictable outcome: ideally, an optimal performance, or at minimum, an improvement from previous cycles. But for Eliška, this expectation proved to be crippling as she was faced with the realities of her birth experience, which differed greatly from her “plan”.

“That’s how I raced. I trained hard and I did a lot of technique, and then I was the best skier out there because I prepared… If I went there without any plan, I would be so much happier. When they came and said, ‘You have to get the epidural’, I cried. But at that point, I was throwing up every two and a half minutes with pain. When they came and said, ‘He has to come out, we have to do a C-section,’ I totally lost it.

“So that’s kind of what I would do differently next time. Now knowing that, you know, birth really messes people up. It’s not this perfect thing that just happens.”

Stay tuned for part 2, discussing Eliška’s postpartum recovery, return to coaching, and year one on the road to competitions with baby in tow. 

On April 27th, Gus Schumacher and Jessie Diggins headed to Washington, D.C. with six other winter Olympians and Paralympians as members of the Protect Our Winters (POW) athlete alliance to advocate for progressive changes in climate policy. While Diggins has been partnered with POW for several years, Schumacher only recently came on board, making the trip his first experience lobbying for climate activism; it was also his first trip to the nation’s capital.  

While in D.C., the POW team met with members of the conservative climate caucus, led by Utah Congressman John Curtis, to advocate for the support of the following five “asks” in climate package negotiations:

• Funding programs that focus on reducing emissions, like the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and Climate Pollution Reduction Grants/
• Investment in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.
• Upgrade the grid to power a renewable energy future by funding projects that upgrade transmission lines and intertie incentives.
• Assist communities in worker transitions with programs like energy community reinvestment financing.
• Stop drilling in the Arctic, specifically stopping the Willow Project from moving forward in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska. 

Following a dinner with the Republican caucus where athletes shared the ways in which their sports and home communities have been affected by climate change, the group spent the day lobbying in congressional offices, discussing the importance of the asks with senators, congresspeople, and members of their staff. 

Not knowing what to expect from his first lobbying experience, Schumacher noted he was happy to hear the agreement among the Republican and Democratic politicians with whom they spoke surrounding the need to reduce emissions and address the “big problem” of climate change head on.

“To a degree, everyone agrees we should reduce emissions and it’s figuring out how to do it where everyone is in a different place,” Schumacher said in a call. “So I learned a bit about how [different politicians are] approaching it, and how people generally care [about the issues], but I think it’s just hard for a lot of people to agree on a methodology.”

The conversation most engaging for Schumacher personally took place with Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski. In addition to discussing topics that were close to home, the conversation felt significant in that Murkowski is “on the fence” when it comes to supporting each of the asks. 

Alaska’s economic dependence on oil is juxtaposed with the grave reality that the Arctic is warming at a faster rate than other parts of the world. Murkowski had just returned from a visit to the small city of Kotzebue in rural Northwest Alaska, roughly 30 miles above the Arctic circle. Despite its size and location, the city has adopted infrastructure, specifically wind and solar, that allows it to depend heavily on renewable energy sources when possible. 

“They have one solar panel that works on both sides, so [it also captures energy as] the sun reflects off the snow, plus they have a couple of windmills. They were running 80% renewable that week, which is really big for those communities… So that was really cool that she’s at least interested in those kinds of advancements. She also mentioned electrifying our ferry system using hydropower in the area, which seems pretty sweet if you can make it work.”

At the same time, Murkowski recognizes Alaska’s dependence on oil, and therefore was unwilling to support the ask to stop drilling in the Arctic.

“That’s a huge source of income for Alaska and is going to positively impact in the short term Alaskans and rural Alaskan,” said of the complicated issue. “[Because of the impacts of climate change on the Arctic], rural Alaskans need carbon to not be emitted anymore, but they also need to be able to pay for the gas currently to heat their homes and for food that they can’t get from subsistence hunting. So you’re kind of falling on your own sword a little bit, and that’s something that I can appreciate as being a political problem. It’s hard to deal with because you can’t just like immediately switch to renewables – or in the contiguous United States – and then have all these people that don’t have any source of income.”

Settled back in Alaska at the time of the call, Schumacher remained energized by the experience and expressed interest in continuing to participate in climate advocacy in the future.

“The advocacy really was cool because it makes it feel like [my voice has] more power than just voting, which is cool. And it’s exciting to realize that by skiing, I’ve gotten myself to that position. And yeah, I’m really proud of it and excited and hopeful to do some more and hopefully those asks can change and get stronger and stronger.”

Schumacher also enjoyed the opportunity to engage with the other members of POW’s athlete alliance and to learn more about the various experiences that led them to engage with climate advocacy. 

“It was cool to hear everyone’s story and hear that they care about climate change, but come at it from a different way. Like [Olympic halfpipe skier] David Wise in Nevada where, obviously, it looks a lot different [than Alaska], but he has a creek that dries up near his house and he’s a farmer… so that was [interesting] to hear about. The POW organizers were really dialed and made it easy for us. Just getting involved with the whole scene of lobbying was eye opening. Definitely like nothing I could have learned from middle school history. I sort of knew how it all worked, but being able to actually go inside of those offices and just see the whole lobbying system was really neat.”

Schumacher’s interest in these topics extends beyond his partnership with POW into his academic studies. In choosing to major in civil engineering, Schumacher was interested in furthering technological innovation to support a more sustainable future. 

“Especially civil engineering, which deals with large scale infrastructure – the more that can be dialed in and efficient, I think that’s a big source of moving towards the future of how we function as a society.”

While there is plenty of action needed to make significant progress in fighting climate change, Schumacher expressed that he left the experience feeling optimistic. 

“Some people, I’m sure, will say that it’s naive. They’re politicians and they want to make you happy and, obviously, we come in with a big sign that says ‘we care about climate’, so know what to say to make us happy… but the Democratic members were leaning far forward on climate protection, which I was a little surprised with… And then the Republican senators that were plainly like, ‘Yeah, we need to reduce emissions and we didn’t need to do it quickly…’ And I think maybe they want to do it more in a natural gas route, which seems like a step to the side. But to at least have people saying, ‘yeah, we need to do this quickly,’ hopefully, that can be converted to action.”

He continued that he believed that the representatives with whom POW spoke genuinely listened to what they had to say, and expressed belief that the more individuals and groups who lean on those politicians to make those changes, the more likely they will be to take action.

“The message here would be to call your representatives and because I think they do listen to that. These offices aren’t that big, so if they get a ton of calls about updating the electric grid and developing renewable energy, I think that’s going to have some weight.”

Recognizing that it can be challenging to stay informed when a new bill is on the table, which may be an impactful time to call, Schumacher recommended following the news tab on the Protect Our Winters website or through their social media platforms. 

Schumacher concluded by emphasizing the collective power that individuals in the “Outdoor State”, which includes the cross-country ski community, have in advocating for change. According to POW, outdoor recreation unifies 50 million people across the US, resulting in an nearly $670 billion dollar industry.

“That’s bigger than pharmaceuticals and oil and gas combined, which I don’t think people necessarily realize. And I think part of it is that’s a group that has a lot of little voices, generally, but it’s a powerful group and it’s bipartisan – POW itself is represented by roughly 40% Democrat, 30% Republican and 30% Independent. So it’s something that everyone cares about, and I think that’s a confidence boost.”

At 24-years-old, Hannah Halvorsen recently announced that she is ending the pro-skier chapter of her life, but it’s not the only transition she has on deck. This past weekend, Halvorsen also graduated from Alaska Pacific University (APU) with degrees in cognitive psychology and business administration. As a senior capstone project, focused on the psychology side of her studies, Halvorsen chose to research a topic she has been invested in throughout her time as a student-athlete: eating disorders in sport. 

Given the size and scope of the topic, she began to explore ways to narrow the lens. She chose to focus on cross-country skiing to leverage her extensive experience as an athlete, but was still initially unsure of where to begin. 

“I didn’t want to look at just, ‘how do we get them to go away?’ because I just don’t think that is feasible with the resources and education we have right now,” Halvorsen explained in a call.

Ultimately, she chose to consider the topic from a perspective she had not encountered previously: that of the coach.

“Not every nordic athlete has access to a dietician or to a counselor, depending on their insurance, depending on their family culture, their family support… But the majority of athletes have a coach and that’s a frequent person that they’re interfacing with. So I thought, ‘This is a really unique link that a lot of people have. How do we utilize that?’”

Rather than trying to identify a “solution” to a nuanced and multifaceted mental health condition, Halvorsen looked to collect a “broad perspective on what coaches think, what coaches feel, [and] what coaches see… I wondered what it looks like for them because they see athletes come and go all the time, and they see all different types of athletes.” Utilizing connections in the sport both internationally and domestically, she contacted coaches from the junior level through the World Cup.

Looking to avoid factual answers that may just be regurgitated onto a survey from a basic Google search, Halvorsen sent coaches a list of four prompts, and asked them to submit their response as a video. “I wanted to see their mannerisms and their body language and the inflection in their voice when they were responding. Essentially, where they were at with [the topic].”

Specifically, the questions were as follows:

1. How do you see issues with eating disorders manifest in athletes who may or may not be struggling? What types of behaviors do you see that you associate with this problem? 
2. What are some of the pressures or contributing factors that you either notice or athletes tell you are the reasons that an athlete starts down the path of an eating disorder?
3. What do you see as the challenges with reducing the amount of eating disorders in sport? What types of obstacles make it hard for an athlete with an eating disorder to recover?
4. Do you see a difference with eating disorders between male and female skiers? Such as prevalence, the root cause, how it manifests, or anything else.

Setting her expectations low on what she would receive in return, Halvorsen was amazed as videos rolled in, and suddenly found herself with over three hours of thoughtful and in-depth responses. Some of the participants included: US National Team coaches Matt Whitcomb, Kate Barton, and Jason Cork; the Italian and Finish National Team coaches and Norwegian Women’s Team coach; current and former NCAA coaches like Cami Thompson Graves (Dartmouth), Maria Stuber (College of St. Scholastica), Marine Dusser (Univ. of AK Anchorage); elite post-graduate coaches Erik Flora (APU) and Andy Newell (BSF Pro); and junior level coaches Anna Schultz (Craftsbury), Molly Susla (Crested Butte), and Kris Hanson (Stillwater, MN).  

The challenge then became condensing this footage into a concise and effective 15-minute montage, fit to a “script” that would connect the perspectives without redundancy or losing the attention of viewers. “I wanted to have this artistic effect of being [shorter] sound bites, so people would stay engaged.”

The final project: Hannah Halvorsen’s senior project video.

As she reflected on what she heard from coaches, Halvorsen identified some of the important themes that resonated with her and aligned with what she had learned through her studies on the subject.

“There were some very noticeable overlaps. A lot of [coaches] said, ‘I’m not a medical professional, I’m not qualified in eating disorder rehab or therapy or treatment. I am not the person for that. It’s not appropriate for me, it’s not something I have the skills to do, and it’s unethical for me to be doing it.’ And it was honestly really nice to hear that at all different levels, coaches do know that this isn’t their job or role…

“I also noticed that a lot of them talked about how eating disorders weren’t just about sports performance, or wanting to perform in sport. A lot of the coaches pointed out how it often came at a time where the athlete has a lot of other stress in their life, and this is just something that they have found control over, which is also something that I’ve researched and learned about in preparing for this video.”

Halvorsen pointed out that this is a key distinction. While negative body image and a preoccupation with one’s physical appearance can be symptoms of eating disorders, the root cause is typically much deeper. In the endurance sport realm, an unhealthy need for control can run parallel to the type-A, perfectionistic mindset that may also contribute to athletic development and progress in sport.

In her advocacy work in the eating disorder space, Jessie Diggins has often used the phrase “Genetics loads the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger.” Or, as Andy Newell put it in Halvorsen’s video, eating disorders are “stressful habits that manifest themselves as eating habits.”

“Another big takeaway that I would describe more as a tangible lesson from this,” Halvorsen continued. “And the coaches kind of led to it – is that the right role for a coach is to be in touch with athletes and be aware and there for them, so that if they do notice a change in behavior, they can be that link that helps the athlete get connected with the help that they need as soon as possible. They’re not the one to fix that problem, but they might be the first person who sees it. The first person who checks in with [the athlete] and says, ‘Hey, you should see someone about this.’ That, I think, is where I stand on the issue right now.”   

Reflecting on her experience as a World Cup athlete and the responses of international coaches she received, Halvorsen indicated that she did not notice any significant differences in trends compared to the US, though this was an aspect she was looking to investigate. 

“‘Does it vary culturally in how we see it, how it manifests, how we talk about it?’ Overall, I would say, the problems seem to come from the same issues. They seem to be similar in the way that athletes want to hide it. It’s kind of taboo to talk about it. It’s largely more taboo to talk about an eating disorder if you’re a male athlete. Those trends seem to hold very similar.”

While the pervasiveness of eating disorders and disordered eating across genders in sport is a challenging project to take on, Halvorsen indicated that she left feeling positive about the direction progress is heading.   

“Something that surprised me is that I didn’t give coaches enough credit for how in tune they are and how much they care and their capacity to communicate about this. There’s so much talk about how eating disorders are uncomfortable, they’re very secretive, no one wants to talk about them. And that was why I thought, ‘I’m gonna have to send this to 200 coaches because I’m going to maybe get five who are willing to talk.’ And that wasn’t the case at all. They talked in depth about it and I think that surprised me, and made me feel really optimistic, too, because coaches are willing to have this conversation and to be very authentic and real about it. And I left feeling a little bit more optimistic that people can get in touch with the help that they need, if they’re ready or wanting that help.”  

Another aspect that Halvorsen pointed out was the development that has happened surrounding eating disorder research over the last decade. She noted a shift away from pigeon-holing the disease as a women’s issue – for example, the change from Female Athlete Triad to Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) – and stated that there are notable differences in studies that were conducted within the last two years, in comparison to those published five or ten years ago.

“It needs to be acknowledged that there has been progress. There’s a lot more conversation about it. There’s a lot more training, there’s a lot more education and understanding of it. That needs to continually be part [of the solution].

“We need people, particularly coaches and older teammates and people in the nordic community, to identify as lifelong learners… because it’s gonna keep changing and we’re gonna get better and better at knowing how to support athletes and how to make the environment better. And so I think committing to having an open mind and staying that way is really important.”

While it was not a focus of the questions posed to coaches, Halvorsen discussed her perspective from her experiences and research on what still needs to change in cross country skiing. 

“I think that there is a subconscious cultural emphasis put on being lightweight, and that was being affirmed and validated and encouraged in subtle ways. Even if we’re saying the right things, athletes and kids and everyone is still aware of what is validated and when is affirmed and when is celebrated.”

She discussed the overt messages a coach could give to athletes, such as an instruction to lose weight for performance or complementing a leaner aesthetic, however, she felt that more covert messaging is pervasive and perhaps more harmful. In particular, she identified aspects of traditional ski training that may skew focus and praise toward athletes with smaller body-types.

“Every time I went to a summer training camp growing up, there was an uphill run test that, I think, held a lot of weight.”

Halvorsen called the test “iconic” and expressed how the test felt like a measuring stick, both for one’s merit as a skier and as a basis for a social hierarchy among the athletes attending the camp. “There’s just a lot of, ‘That’s the cool athlete who can run uphill.’ And it holds for men and women.”

Simultaneously, there are the challenges of a sport whose athletes race in lycra body suits throughout the winter, put in the most training hours during the heat of the summer.

“That means a lot of shirtless time, a lot of shirtless social media, and a lot of emphasis put on doing things uphill. Uphill rollerski time trials, bounding intervals, uphill running time trials, mountain running races. I think all of that plays [into developing good fitness for ski racing], and I’m not saying ‘let’s get rid of it all, don’t do it.’ It just gets validated in a way that a doublepole time trial does not… There’s never quite as much emphasis being put on someone who’s really good on their skis, or really powerful, or really tactically gifted.”

This leaves coaches in a catch-22; should they abandon a measuring stick that has served programs at all levels, both in the US and internationally, or are there alternatives?

“[The uphill run test] is a good marker of fitness, and if there was a way that you only compared to yourself and didn’t use weight loss as a way of improving your times, you would be able to track your fitness. But there’s just no comparison. You could be a better skier than someone and if they’re a lot smaller than you, they probably are going to beat you in that. And no matter what your age is, it’s hard to not see that.”

Denying the inextricable connection between size and uphill performance is not the answer in Halvorsen’s mind, as athletes will “see right through it.” Rather, she believes that an intentional shift in culture toward placing equal value on the myriad of athletic qualities that are less correlated with body size. 

“How do you shift the weight to ‘it can still be valued, it should just be valued the right amount’? Like, ‘It’s one marker that we use, but we also want to see you improving on the doublepole tests. And if you lose a bunch of weight, you’re not going to. We also want to see you improving in speeds, and if you lose weight, you’re not going to improve in speeds.’ I think just giving it a little more balance is the only realistic, well-rounded solution that I see.” 

Halvorsen described herself as “a little bit blunt” and “pessimistic” as she continued to discuss systemic changes she’d like to see in the future, namely, whether athletes at U16 and U18 training camps should be allowed to go shirtless. 

“The kids who go to [U16 and U18] camp are the kids who are really cool and fast on their local teams. So every kid who’s on the local team is looking up to them, and looking at the pictures that they post, and I think that they help set the trend for their local teams. They bring home that culture.” 

She proposed that instead organizers ensure that tee shirts and tanks that athletes receive at those camps be made of light weight, breathable material that remains comfortable even when training in heat and humidity. 

These ideas are rooted in her own experiences as a junior. Attending her first U18 camp was Halvorsen’s first exposure to the unhealthy culture permeating sport, which interrupted the otherwise healthy and unencumbered relationship she had with food and her body, developed through her family culture. Diggins has also acknowledged the disordered eating she witnessed at junior camps as a triggering example she later followed once her eating disorder took hold.

For Halvorsen, this led to a year of fixation on shrinking her body, with an aftermath of self-image and body dissatisfaction highs and lows that have persisted to the present.

“People were talking about what they eat and their weight, and I put it all together and kind of became obsessed with it… I just spent all my energy and time obsessing over what I could eat and when, that I couldn’t see anything else. Making sure to time it so that people would see me eating so that they would hopefully not know that I was doing this. It made me so miserable. It wasn’t sustainable.”

While plenty of change and education remains necessary to improve the climate surrounding athlete health, eating disorders, and RED-S, Halvorsen expressed optimism in the trends across sport culture and the outlook for future generations of athletes.

“It’s such a difficult issue and I don’t know that it’s ever going to totally go away… We’re at a point right now where it’s becoming common knowledge this is an issue and a lot of people are open to having that conversation and learning about it and it’s not as secretive. And that’s huge, because now we have enough people on board that we can start to think, ‘So what are we gonna do about it? I don’t think that we only know. I think we’re flailing a little bit. I think we’re looking, we’re asking the right people, we are trying to figure it out, and we care and we want to make this better. But I don’t think that we’ve figured out exactly what to do and put that into action yet… 

“But I feel optimistic because I think I see a lot of energy being put into, ‘We can’t just ignore this. This issue is huge. And we’re willing to spend the money and the time and energy even if it makes us uncomfortable to figure out what what that is that we need to be doing.'”

Halvorsen is soon headed back to her home state of California for an internship in Berkeley that she described as “more on the business side” of her academic experience. However, she remains passionate about advocating for better education, support, and resources for coaches and athletes, and hopes to return to this type of work in the future. 

“I just think there’s something so central about it, because it’s your body. It’s you. It’s so important. And I think everyone deserves the right to feel good in who they are. I don’t really care if people are good, medium, or slow at skiing, I just want them to feel good in their bodies. Skiing should be a way to feel good, not something that makes you feel bad about your body.”