FasterSkier

FasterSkier Check us out: http://fasterskier.com/ and follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fasterskier and Instagram: http://instagram.com/faster_skier

North America's leading news source on All Things Nordic across the continent and abroad.

What a finale in Ruka — Sundling wins, Diggins fights for the lineSweden’s Jonna Sundling broke away and held on for a g...
30/11/2025

What a finale in Ruka — Sundling wins, Diggins fights for the line

Sweden’s Jonna Sundling broke away and held on for a gutsy 20 km win — but the story for the U.S. fans belongs to Jessie Diggins, who dug deep and battled through a brutal mass-start to grab second.

Sundling — blazing fast from start to finish.

Diggins — strength, heart, and a sprint that proved she still belongs among the best.

Relive every twist, turn, and final 100-meter push in our full race recap: link in comments.

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency

Ruka Madness — How Amundsen Took the Win, Ketterson Cracked Top-10 & Schumacher’s Ski BrokeThe first men’s World Cup 20 ...
30/11/2025

Ruka Madness — How Amundsen Took the Win, Ketterson Cracked Top-10 & Schumacher’s Ski Broke

The first men’s World Cup 20 km free mass-start of the season didn’t disappoint: a gutsy early break, a snapped pole, a broken ski, and a last-lap climb that ended in a Norwegian hammer-blow.

Harald Østberg Amundsen punched through the chaos to win.

Einar Hedegart — a former biathlete — proved he belongs with a stunning 2nd.

Zach Ketterson made history for U.S. Nordic: first career World Cup top-10 in a mass start (9th), showing smart racing and composure when it mattered most.

Meanwhile, Gus Schumacher was skiing near the front until bad luck struck in the final kilometers. But his form before the crash? Dangerous.

Read the full race story — raw, real, and unfiltered — now: link in comments

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency

Warm snow, slow tracks, and a field still settling into the rhythm of an Olympic winter.Our latest women’s race report f...
29/11/2025

Warm snow, slow tracks, and a field still settling into the rhythm of an Olympic winter.

Our latest women’s race report from Ruka looks at how the classic sprint played out under challenging conditions, what Jessie Diggins took from her final Ruka sprint, how Rosie Brennan opened her season, and why the Americans are comfortable building form rather than forcing it in late November.

We also examine the Scandinavian strength up front, the implications of Linn Svahn’s absence, and the early-season signals that matter in an Olympic year.

Read the full story: link in comments.

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency

The World Cup season is officially underway in Ruka, and today’s classic sprints delivered a masterclass.On the men’s si...
29/11/2025

The World Cup season is officially underway in Ruka, and today’s classic sprints delivered a masterclass.

On the men’s side, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo reminded the field exactly what his ceiling looks like when the snow gets soft and the stakes get high. Our full race breakdown examines how he controlled the rounds, where the field tried to challenge him, and what his early-season form means in this Olympic year.

We also look at the conditions, the tactics, the tech work, and the athletes who signaled they’ll be major factors in the weeks ahead.

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency

Read the full race report: link in comments.

Ruka 10 km Classic Wrap-UpMartin Løwstrøm Nyenget took the win in a hard-fought 10 km classic today — but the real story...
28/11/2025

Ruka 10 km Classic Wrap-Up

Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget took the win in a hard-fought 10 km classic today — but the real story from Ruka isn’t just a Norwegian sweep. It’s the emerging depth across the field, surprise podium finishes, and early-season form that’s already shifting expectations.

Read the full recap: Nyenget claims Ruka 10 k, but it’s not only Norway on the podium: Link in Comments

Inside the article:
• How the race unfolded
• Who pushed the Norwegians hardest
• What these results mean for the early World Cup landscape

Let us know what stood out to you from today’s race.

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency

The World Cup season is officially underway in Ruka, and it delivered everything we hoped for on opening day.Frida Karls...
28/11/2025

The World Cup season is officially underway in Ruka, and it delivered everything we hoped for on opening day.

Frida Karlsson set the tone for the Olympic year with a commanding win in the women’s 10km classic, followed closely by Norway’s Heidi Weng and Sweden’s Moa Ilar. Jessie Diggins opened the final season of her career with one of her best classic performances ever in Ruka, finishing 5th on a day of tricky waxing and glazing tracks.

We also checked in with Rosie Brennan and Julia Kern, who shared honest reflections on their races, their health, and where they’re building toward as the season unfolds. Brennan called this “uncharted territory” as she continues her steady return, while Kern notched a personal best in this event and said she leaves the opener encouraged and ready for the sprint.

Catch the full story, athlete quotes, and complete race breakdown on FasterSkier: link in comments.

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency

The light is low. The bus is humming with excitement. The season begins.Tuesday morning the U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team ...
27/11/2025

The light is low. The bus is humming with excitement. The season begins.

Tuesday morning the U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team rolled into Ruka, Finland for the first time this winter — the finish of their Muonio prep camp, and the official start of World Cup season.

In our latest piece for FasterSkier we talk with Head Coach Matt Whitcomb after the team's six-hour bus ride across Arctic twilight, catch the team’s first glimpse of the course’s biggest climb, and watch the northern lights flicker over a “snow-globe” village where Olympic aspirations begin.

Read how coach Matt Whitcomb and the squad carry weeks of cold-weather training, camaraderie, and Olympic pressure into the first starts. Link in Comments

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency

What if the fastest way to the World Cup didn’t run through a ski academy — but a high-school football field, a D3 colle...
27/11/2025

What if the fastest way to the World Cup didn’t run through a ski academy — but a high-school football field, a D3 college, and a homemade sprint program?

Jack Young: a former quarterback-outfielder from Vermont who skipped the standard Nordic pipeline — and still earned a spot at Ruka. In our newest feature, “Against the Template,” we trace how he rebuilt his career from scratch and rewrote the rules of American skiing.

Read "Jack Young: Against the Template" : link in comments

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency and Jack Young

When you lose the race you thought meant everything — you might just win something bigger. In The Hilltop Lesson, we fol...
26/11/2025

When you lose the race you thought meant everything — you might just win something bigger.

In The Hilltop Lesson, we follow John Steel Hagenbuch from the final climb at the NCAA Championships, where a second-place finish taught him more about gratitude, community, and purpose than a gold ever could — to a quiet season-opening camp in Muonio, Finland, where he’s preparing for a breakthrough World Cup year.

Read how a missed victory became the guiding philosophy that could carry him to the Olympics: link in comments

pc: John Steel Hagenbuch, Nordic Focus Photo Agency , Tryg Solberg and Tobias Albrigtsen

What makes a great skier tick?For Ben Ogden, it's part engineering mind, part mental discipline, and part Vermont heart....
24/11/2025

What makes a great skier tick?

For Ben Ogden, it's part engineering mind, part mental discipline, and part Vermont heart.

In our newest long-form profile, Ben opens up about everything:
• The CAD-designed mini timber-frame sauna he’s building on the road
• The mental strategies he uses when the pain hits mid-race
• The “Gus Workout” he does before every major championship
• Why an Olympic team sprint medal is his north star
• And how Vermont — and his late father’s legacy — continue to ground him

This is one of the most revealing looks yet at an athlete who blends creativity, intelligence, and toughness into a uniquely compelling career.

Read the full feature now at FasterSkier - link in comments.

pc: Ben Ogden

Three photographs. Three stories. One unforgettable legacy.In her final season, Jessie Diggins reflects on the moments s...
22/11/2025

Three photographs. Three stories. One unforgettable legacy.

In her final season, Jessie Diggins reflects on the moments she says matter most—not the gold medals, but the impact, the grit, and the community. From mental-health advocacy to a gut-wrenching 30 km in Beijing, to one tear-filled warm-up lap in Minneapolis, she shows us how sport becomes more than a finish line.

Dive into “Three Frames: Jessie Diggins and the Art of What Endures.” Link in comments.

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency and Gretchen Powers, U.S. Ski & Snowboard

In his latest piece, Jim Galanes dives into the sometimes-misunderstood role of volume in distance ski training in “Long...
20/11/2025

In his latest piece, Jim Galanes dives into the sometimes-misunderstood role of volume in distance ski training in “Long Drive, Good Thinking”. He argues that while how much you train still matters, it’s the how smart that makes the difference—especially when it comes to blending endurance with well-timed intensity.

For coaches, athletes, and serious ski-fans: this one’s worth your read.

Head over to FasterSkier to check it out - link in comments.

Tag a training partner, share your thoughts below, and let’s get the discussion going.

pc: Nordic Focus Photo Agency

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when FasterSkier posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Share