Nordic Nation

No longer the young guy on the U.S. Ski Team, at 26 years old, Erik Bjornsen often carries high expectations on his shoulders. And frankly, they are strong shoulders. After a summer and fall of solid training, the younger of the two Bjornsens on the U.S. Ski Team (his sister Sadie is a teammate) has high expectations for this Olympic year. Rather than a product of stats and results, Bjornsen is a believer in himself. He studies the sports’ stars, analyzing what makes them technically efficient. He makes the hard workouts count. It’s a method Bjornsen hopes will serve him well in a tightly packed World Cup men’s field.

Erik Bjornsen leads fellow U.S. Ski Team member Noah Hoffman during the men’s 15 k freestyle pursuit at Stage 4 of the 2015 Ski Tour Canada in Quebec City. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com/NNF)

Bjornsen jumps to Europe on Nov. 15. He won’t be dipping his toe into the race season — his first races of the season will be the World Cup’s Ruka Triple mini tour in Finland from Nov. 24-26.

Erik Bjornsen (Photo: Toko/NordicFocus)

Nordic Nation spoke to Bjornsen on Oct. 25 from his home in Anchorage, Alaska. The discussion covers sprinting and distance, his growth as a skier, and yes, how he’d like to see FasterSkier improved. Who would have thought the youngest Bjornsen would like to see a bit more nordic gossip on the FS site? With that in mind, old news we know, Bjornsen was engaged this summer.

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

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In this episode of Nordic Nation, we tread into the world of analytics with data-analysis guru Joran Elias. You might know him as the Statistical Skier. Elias runs two websites: statisticalskier.com (which is more of a blog that has not been updated in awhile) and statisticalskierdata.com … and that site — which offers data analysis apps using FIS data —  is currently updated seasonally during the World Cup. And if you need a more regular fix of stats and skiing during the race season, Elias is active on Twitter; his handle is @StatSkier.

Elias is 38 years old and has settled in Missoula, Montana. His Missoula day job is for the University of Montana, crunching numbers for the school’s administration. He’s also a lifelong nordic skier. Originally from Maine, Elias started skiing in the Bill Koch League and raced for Dartmouth, earning the Gebhardt sportsmanship award his senior year in 2001 (and most improved award in 2000). According to his website, he was, “at times, not entirely slow.”

With a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, master’s in algebra and doctorate in applied statistics, Elias noted on his blog that “Graduate school taught me many things, among them that I hate academia and that I love wrangling data. Given the choice between wrangling awesome data and making tons of money, I’ll choose the former.  Hence this website.”

Joran Elias is the Statistical Skier. He’s shown here with his son Ciaran, now 5 years old. (Courtesy photo)

Sport is rife with those trying to understand the winning, the losing, the fast and the slow — using numbers. Elias gives us insight into how useful data analysis can be in cross-country skiing as he highlights both its limitations and benefits. Below is a snapshot of Elias’ mind craft.

La Clusaz World Cup, Dec. 17, 2016 data snapshot: Women’s 10 k freestyle mass start. (Photo: @StatSkier screenshot)

Have a listen.

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

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In this episode, we speak with the president and CEO of the US Biathlon Association (USBA), Max Cobb. For nearly three decades, Cobb has been part of US Biathlon — first as an organizer of the domestic racing series and eventually as the executive director in March of 2006. Just over a year ago, he was elected Vice President for Sport of the International Biathlon Union (IBU), becoming the first American on the IBU Executive Board.

Lowell Bailey (USA) celebrates with Max Cobb after winning the gold in the 20 k individual at the 2017 IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria.. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Cobb, who lives with his family in Maine, likens USBA to a humming, quick-to-evolve startup. What that means is USBA can nimbly recruit and identify talent as well as shepherd along veterans like 2017 IBU World Championships medalists Lowell Bailey and Susan Dunklee.

Cobb’s budget is the mighty mouse of the biathlon world, and on many days, the high-performance team (both coaches and athletes) can slay the Goliaths of the sport. It’s a testament to Cobb’s leadership and his ability to hire and retain gurus like German native Bernd Eisenbichler, US Biathlon’s chief of sport.

A 2016 photo of Max Cobb, the president and CEO of U.S. Biathlon. (Photo: Nordic Focus)

Cobb, who spoke with us on Sept. 8, is also a leader when it comes to anti-doping — He’s unafraid to comment on systemic failings and he’s unabashed in calling for reforms.

Raking leaves? Scraping off the storage wax? Then it’s a great time to hear Cobb out.

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

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Team Gregg, consisting of two halves that constitute a podium-threat whole, is featured on the latest episode of Nordic Nation. Caitlin (formerly Compton) Gregg, 36, and husband Brian Gregg, 33, the two members of Team Gregg, are based along the border of Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yes, the two skiers are highly accomplished; both are former Winter Olympians and Caitlin earned a bronze medal in the 10-kilometer freestyle at the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. But their partnership has become a model of independent professional ski team viability.

The sum total of Team Gregg: Brian Gregg (left) and Caitlin Gregg (right). (Courtesy photo)

They are also a model of two hyper-driven people able to moderate their own personal goals for the collective greater good of the team. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to see the Greggs at a race venue, this much is clear: they have got each other’s back. Brian can be seen helping test skis, handing Caitlin feeds along the course and screaming encouragement. The same can be said of Caitlin. Neither is above doing the menial tasks to ensure the other has the best opportunity on race day.  

Nordic Nation caught up with Caitlin and Brian Gregg on Sept. 13, a few days after their return from an on-snow camp at New Zealand’s Snow Farm. Along with the usual “how’s the training going”, questions, you’ll hear about the unique way the Greggs financed their house and what the future holds.

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

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Not exactly a mystery man in nordic-ski circles, former U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Pete Vordenberg has been admittedly reclusive when it comes to staying in the XC ski game. In this two-part episode, Nordic Nation chats with Vordenberg in Bend, Oregon, and connects the dots in terms of what he’s been up to. Vordenberg raced in two Winter Olympics and was a forerunner in a third. (You’ll have to listen to Episode 1 to learn about that forerunning gig.) After skiing with the U.S. Ski Team (USST) for six years, he began coaching for the USST in 2002, retiring as the USST head coach in 2012.

Former U.S. Ski Team Head Coach and current dad, husband and photographer:Pete Vordenberg. (Photo: Pete Vordenberg)

This was a wide-ranging interview with numerous digressions: both the interviewer and Vordenberg were easily distracted. Serious attempts in the editing process were made to overcome the interviewer’s deficiencies. And make note, this interview was recorded outdoors at two local Bend breweries, with a brief intermission on bikes.

In Episode 1, Vordenberg speaks about his book Momentum: Chasing The Olympic Dream, how he started skiing in Boulder, Colorado, and how the USST began to turn it all around on the World Cup.

But in between all of that, good old type 1 fun.

Pete Vordenberg unwinding in Lahti, Finland 2017. Riding the saddle at an underground Lahti karaoke session. (Photo: FasterSkier)

Vordenberg is a keen and creative mind. When he’s not being a dad, he’s mastering his art as a photographer. His Instagram account is both stunning and eclectic. Have some time set aside before checking his account out, it can be a wormhole.

Enjoy the ride listening to The Pete Vordenberg Experience.

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

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Here it is … Episode 2 of Nordic Nation’s “The Pete Vordenberg Experience”.

If you missed Episode 1, you’ll want to start there for some context. Pete Vordenberg, a two-time U.S. Olympic cross-country skier and former U.S. Ski Team coach, talks about his transformation since leaving skiing to dedicate himself to the hardest job he’s ever had: a stay-at-home dad. In Episode 2, he continues to reflect on how skiing impacted his life and how he would like it to be a part of his daughters’ lives, as well as what he thinks needs to happen globally for the sport to continue.

Pete Vordenberg, former U.S. Ski Team head coach, as seen in 2012. (Photo: USSA)

You’ll also hear Vordenberg, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, discuss selection criteria, decompression from the full-immersion XC-ski life and how he began falling back in love with the sport. And yes, no joke, in Episode 2, you’ll hear how reggae star Matisyahu is — if the math is correct — only two degrees separated from the mythical cross-country deep state.

Enjoy the ride listening to “The Pete Vordenberg Experience, Episode 2”.

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

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It’s certainly not all glory on the World Cup. With rare exceptions, the fields are always stacked. Yeah, maybe the Norwegians miss the wax with the frequency of a total solar eclipse over your zip code, or a freak storm of molasses-like snow falls just as the top end of the Red Group tips the wand for the 10-kilometer interval start race. Statistically speaking, it’s a rare day when an outlier stands atop a World Cup podium.

Sweden’s Hanna Falk (r) races with U.S. Ski Team member Jessie Diggins (6) during a World Cup freestyle sprint in Davos, Switzerland, last December. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)

Swedish National Ski Team member Hanna Falk, 28, knows the top spots are tough to get and fleeting. In 2010, her first full year on the World Cup, she burst onto the scene and finished an astounding fifth overall in the final sprint rankings.

That early success was hindered by illness. By 2015, Falk rebounded, and this past season finished as the third-ranked sprinter on the World Cup and 20th overall. Falk stuck with it, even with a podium drought that lasted from Jan. 15, 2011 to Feb. 12, 2016.

World Cup rankings for Sweden’s Hanna Falk (Photo: FIS)

If you’ve ever had a doubt that the nosedive is terminal, give this episode of Nordic Nation a listen (found at the bottom of this article).

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

Hanna Falk is all grins on this run in Sweden. Yes, Liz Stephen (U.S. Ski Team), bombed the photo when she was recently in Sweden to train with the Swedish national team. (Photo: Hanna Falk/Instagram)

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John Caldwell with his three sons. (From left to right) Sverre Caldwell, Tim Caldwell, John Caldwell, and Peter Caldwell. (Photo: Sophie Caldwell)

Flashback to 1964. That’s six years after the mega-fad of hula hooping, and five years before the psychedelic haze of Woodstock. A time when the country teetered towards war protest and Tricky Dick … (as in, “I am not a crook.” — Richard Nixon).

What could possibly supplant hula hoops and pending cultural disruption? You guessed it, cross-country skiing.

In 1964, John Caldwell wrote the first edition, of eight editions in total, what’s now considered a classic, The Cross-Country Ski Book.

While not quite on the scale of hula hooping, Caldwell’s book spawned a cross-country ski boom. The book popularized the sport that offered skiing as a path to enjoying the outdoors in silent-sport mode.

John Caldwell and the art of flexing skis. Here, he’s helping his granddaughter Sophie Caldwell, a U.S. Ski Team member, pick skis. (Photo: Sophie Caldwell)

That’s not to say Caldwell doesn’t come with serious racing street cred. He was a 1952 Olympian and coached the U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team from 1965 to 1972 and was an Olympic coach in ’68, ’72, ’80, and ’84. He’s coached hallmark U.S. cross-country skiers like Martha Rockwell and Bill Koch.

At 88 years old, Caldwell lives in Putney, Vt., his hometown since 1941. He’s looked to for sage advice or a spicy quote on how the power brokers at the elite levels of U.S. skiing need to change and up their game.

One of Caldwell’s rules of engagement for the following “Nordic Nation” interview was no discussion of his grandkids. That brings us to the fact that his grandkids are still in the World Cup ski game. Granddaughter Sophie Caldwell and grandson Paddy Caldwell are current U.S. Ski Team members. (Note to listeners: Like any good grandparent, Caldwell did indeed mention his grandkids during the interview.)

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

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Way back it seems now, in 2012, an op-ed appeared in The New York Times. Titled “The ‘Busy’ Trap,” the op-ed is a serious and somewhat comical riff on how ‘busy’ we all are. If your day’s schedule is defined by overscheduled, then you too are ‘busy’.

In this episode of Nordic Nation, we interview Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen. At 30 years old, Jacobsen is a longtime member of the venerable Norwegian national ski team — and she’s truly busy. Her career on the World Cup has spanned a decade, bookended by her first World Championship medal in 2007 in Sapporo, Japan (a sprint), and three 2017 World Champ medals in Lahti, Finland. There, Jacobsen placed third in the 10-kilometer classic and 30 k skate and was part of the winning 4 x 5 k relay.

Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen on her way to bronze during the women’s 10 k classic at the 2017 Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/lazenbyphoto.com)

Jacobsen also hasn’t lost sight of her longer-term goal of becoming a doctor. She’s currently a medical student at the University of Oslo and a bit more than halfway through her six-year course of studies. Life, racing, and training at the highest levels, serious professional ambitions, along with placing her name in the pool of candidates to become an International Olympic Committee Athlete Representative, Jacobsen keeps a tight schedule.

If you’re too busy for this episode of Nordic Nation, hook up the headphones, go ahead and multitask — carve out 51 minutes and 51 seconds for the Astrid chronicles.

The all-Norwegian women’s 30 k freestyle mass start podium at 2017 World Championships in Lahti, Finland, with Marit Bjørgen (c) in first, Heidi Weng (l) in second, and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (r) in third.

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

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Let’s face it, nordic ski racing is about the most physically taxing of sports. Pre-race, mid-race, post-race, it’s easy to come up with excuses and to complain. My tech missed the wax, I’m overtrained, I’m undertrained, sore muscles, no muscles … there’s a lot to whine about.

But in this episode, we’re focusing on moxie.

A young Jesse Knori in the skating zone: no pole style = moxie too.  (Courtesy photo)

Mostly the sport is rife with teeth-grinding athletes seeking the sufferfest. One of those athletes is 23-year-old Jesse Knori, a 2017 University of Colorado-Boulder (CU) graduate and native of Jackson Hole, Wyo.

On the spectrum of sufferfesting skiers, Knori is an outlier. For a young adult, Knori has already dealt with more than her fair share of physical and emotional pain. (For all the details, you’ll have to listen to the podcast episode below.)

Jesse Knori (University of Colorado-Boulder) leading Estonia’s Anette Veerpalu during their quarterfinal of the women’s classic sprint at U23 World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Knori finished third in that heat (while Veerpalu was sixth). While she didn’t advance to the semifinals, Knori was the top U.S. woman in 15th on the day. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)

As a middle schooler, Knori was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis. Knori skied at CU and notched 15th in the classic sprint at this year’s U23 Nordic World Championships in Utah. Clearly, Knori didn’t let her autoimmune condition dictate her goal setting.

Bottom line, Knori  is as tough as they come. And she’s a sixth-generation Jackson Hole native and new coach at the Bend Endurance Academy in Oregon. She’s the guest on Nordic Nation’s first edition of its “Moxie Episode”.

Jesse Knori (University of Colorado-Boulder) representing the U.S. at 2017 U23 Worlds at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. (Photo: Bernie Nelson)

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Have a podcast idea? Please email [email protected].

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