Hunter Wonders, an athlete on the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team has formally announced his retirement from World Cup ski racing. 

Wonders grew up in Alaska, along with several other members of the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. He has always been a skier, whether that's on the skinny skis or on the wider planks in the Alaskan backcountry. When he isn’t training or representing his country on the international ski stage, Wonders loves to bike, hike, backcountry ski and fitting for his last name, hunt. He’s a competitive canoe racer, his nickname is ‘Wonderboy’ and one of his favorite memories was the feeling he had after finishing the first 50k at a spring series race. 

Wonders has been a fixture in the cross country community for years, joining the Alaska Pacific University program as a junior and making the move to the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team in 2020, making his World Cup debut on Jan. 23, 2021 in the 30k skiathlon in Lahti, Finland. He raced in countless races at various levels including National Championships, Nor-Am Cups, U23 World Ski Championships, Youth Olympic Winter Games, World Cups and World Championships. Throughout his years racing, he was no stranger to representing his country on the world's stage. 

His career highlights are endless. In 2018, Wonders was a member of the silver medal-winning 4x5k Junior World Championships men’s relay team and in 2020, was second at the U.S. National Championships in the classic sprint. On the World Cup level, the highest level of the sport, Wonders was in the top-30 consistently, had a career-best 11th place in the 2022-23 Tour de Ski and as the the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team Head Coach Matt Whitcomb said, “re-established men’s elite skiing in the U.S. as an international force.”

“While Hunter is retiring from the World Cup at a relatively young age, he made international noise with breakthrough World Cup races this past season,” said Whitcomb. “He is on an expanding, yet still limited list of male athletes who have hit the top-20 in a distance World Cup. This past season, Hunter posted an 11th and a 16th in 10k events. Beyond Hunter’s power value as a skier, I will miss his human side. He is consistently one of the most helpful people I’ve ever met, constantly volunteering for side jobs to help the coaches or his fellow athletes. He’s the guy logging extra hours doing dishes at a team camp, or helping coaches refuel a fleet of vehicles before a travel day. These little things say a lot about a person, and whomever lands him next will be lucky. I have nothing but huge respect and appreciation for Hunter.”

“Hunter burst on the scene as a junior and contributed a critical leg in the men’s silver relay medal at the World Junior Champs in 2018,” said the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team Program Director Chris Grover. “As a senior athlete, he steadily climbed the World Cup ranks, securing starts and representing the USA at two World Championships, Oberstdorf and Planica. In the 2022-23 season, Hunter broke through to another level with his first top-20 results, including an 11th place in the 10k classic in Oberstdorf. Hunter has been an incredible teammate and friend and he will be greatly missed in the program, but we are also excited to see where his next adventures take him!”

Off the snow, Wonders is successful in many other ways. Just days ago, he hit another milestone and successfully took his first solo flight in Alaska. Wonders was one of the athletes awarded the Take Flight Textron Aviation U.S. Ski & Snowboard Training Scholarship and is actively working towards his Private Pilot License. When on the road, you could find him studying to become a pilot in-between World Cup races. 

Even though he is taking a step back from World Cup ski racing, we can be sure to see him around the ski trails. Congratulations on your World Cup career, Hunter! 

Hailey Swirbul of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team is ready to say goodbye to World Cup ski racing. The 2022 Olympian has formally announced her retirement from the World Cup circuit hours after crossing the finish line at the 2022-23 World Cup Finals in Lahti, Finland. 

24-year-old Swirbul, an El Jebel, Colorado native, has been on the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team for years, represented her country at two World Championships and was a member of Team USA in Beijing at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. She’s had a consistent presence on the World Cup throughout the last several years, starting in 64 races, finding the top-10 in four and standing on the 2020 Davos World Cup individual 10k skate podium in third. Now, Hailey is taking a step away from the World Cup circuit and is excited to begin her next chapter. 

Swirbul was a mountain kid growing up. Her childhood in Aspen’s Roaring Fork Valley was filled with romping around the nearby peaks, riding around on a mountain bike with her family and skiing the resorts on alpine skis. Looking back, if you asked her when she was young if she would grow up to be a professional cross country skier, she may have brushed it aside. “My earlier memories of cross country skiing include me freezing and holding back tears, woefully slogging along the ski trail as my dad got in his workout,” she said. 

It wasn’t until later that cross country skiing became a part of her life, thanks in part to her brother Keegan Swirbul. Keegan, now a professional road bike rider, decided that to stay in shape for bike season, he needed some consistent cross training; cue cross country skiing. The tight duo took this new step together, and the rest is history. 

Hailey started with the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club until she left for college in 2016, skiing for the University of Alaska Anchorage Ski Team. Finding abundant success on the college circuit, Hailey then trained and competed with the Alaska Pacific University (APU) club team. There, she had breakout results, notably in the 2017 World Junior Championships in Solider Hollow, Utah where she, Katharine Ogden, Julia Kern and Hannah Halvorsen won the USA’s first-ever medal at Junior Worlds, and it only went up from there. 

Throughout the next several years, she racked up results; in 2018 she was back at the Junior World Championships and won an individual silver medal in the 5k classic and bronze in the skiathlon. Through the U.S. National Championships, SuperTours, Nor-Am Cups and FIS events, Hailey has over 15 wins to her name. 

Then, came the next step. In 2019, she was officially called up to the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team where she would now compete on the highest stage of the sport - the World Cup.

"Hailey has been a force of nature since she burst on the scene as a U20 and started making history for the USA with two individual medals at the World Junior Championships," said Chris Grover, the U.S. Cross Country Program Director. "Arriving on World Cup, she demonstrated that she is a force in every discipline and both techniques. She has an individual World Cup Podium and was key in securing a World Cup women’s relay podium this season in Toblach. She’s been a fixture of our World Championships and Olympic team over the past quad. Beyond the results, she’s been at the heart of the U.S. Team, an incredible teammate, and a caring and soulful friend to us all. We will all miss her but we also know she will be a big part of our community for life."

“Hailey’s positive influence goes far beyond the ski tracks. Her kindness and thoughtfulness impacts her teammates, coaches, competitors, and supporters everywhere,” said Kristen Bourne, Coach of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. “She follows her heart and shows us all the importance of doing so. There’s no doubt in my mind that Hailey will continue to push the sport of cross country skiing and impact the next generation and beyond.”

Outside of skiing, Hailey is active in the community that helped shape her. As a current board member for the Women's Ski Coaches Association, Hailey works day in and day out in helping create a collaborative network to encourage retention of women coaches in the industry. She also has a bachelors degree in civil engineering and this past summer, worked full time as an engineer. 

“Hailey will be immediately missed as an athlete who brought a lot of personality to our team,” said Matt Whitcomb, Head Coach of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. “While she was a very successful racer, she wasn’t simply motivated by winning, and needed to work hard to find purpose and meaning in each day. This style of motivation, and Hailey’s always-open way of sharing with her coaches and teammates, taught me how to become a better coach. She helped everyone around her improve, and I will miss that, and I’m eager to watch to her bring that wonderful personality to her next team. Thank you, Hailey!”

“With the end of my World Cup career on the horizon, it is so easy to see how much I appreciate this team,” said Swirbul. “It wouldn’t be possible for me to have been on the World Cup and chase some big dreams without the support of the U.S. Ski Team, and I will forever be grateful for that.”

Retirement doesn’t mean that Swirbul will never lace up her Madshus race boots and click in her skis again. She still plans on racing, competing at a high level within the states and training for a sport that has shaped “the core of my identity for the last 15 years.” She may be closing one chapter, but is excitedly opening the next. “I set out to find peace with skiing this season after a difficult few years between Covid and the Olympic cycle, and I can truly say that I love skiing more than I ever have now—I’m just ready to love skiing in a new way outside of World Cup racing,” said Swirbul. “After all, I’ve already been given the best gift: a lifelong love of sport.”

Congratulations on your World Cup career, Hailey! We are so excited to see what this next chapter brings. 

The 2022-23 World Cup season has come to an end in Lahti, Finland with the 20k classic. It was another historic day for the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, highlighted by Ben Ogden clinching the U23 Green Bib, Jessie Diggins placing second in the FIS Cross Country World Cup Overall and distance races, Rosie Brennan snagging fourth place in the overall and sixth in the distance and the team finishing in fourth place for the Nations Cup.

31 World Cup races later, the 20k classic wrapped up the 2022-23 season program. In mass start style, a large field for both the men and women took on the four-lap course with technical downhills and long, striding uphills. For the women, Diggins, Julia Kern, Brennan, Hailey Swirbul, Sammy Smith and Novie McCabe were on the start list, while Zak Ketterson, Gus Schumacher, Scott Patterson, Luke Jager and Ogden represented the U.S. men. Final results showed Diggins in 22nd, Brennan in 23rd, McCabe 25th, Swirbul 26th, Kern 38th, Smith 48th. For the men, Ogden was 18th, Ketterson 28th, Jager 33rd, Schumacher 40th and Patterson 50th. 

At the finish line, there was triumph: triumph for crossing the finish line and triumph for finishing the last race of the season. As athletes crossed the line, they did something atypical - they stayed around to hug each other, cheer on their teammates, take photos and of course spray champagne. The energy in the finish pen was electric - the season was over and there was so much to celebrate.

The day was highlighted by Diggins clinching second place in the FIS Cross Country Overall standings and second in the overall distance standings. This is Diggins' third year in a row in the top three overall. “I am really proud of that,” said Diggins. “It speaks to the really incredible support from the team - all of the amazing and consistent hard work from our coaches, wax techs and volunteers. I’m just really proud of the year.”

Ogden Makes History

Ogden won the U23 Green Bib for being the best skier under the age of 23 on the World Cup, joining an elite class of past winners and cementing himself as one of the most dominant young forces on the circuit. 

Ogden is becoming a household name in the cross country world. As each race passes, there are always stories about how "Benny-O" took it one level higher, pushed the pace that much more or tried something new in the sprints. Winning the U23 Green Bib is a testament to one's consistency and speed in distance, sprint and stage races throughout the entire season. Ogden started dawning the green in Drammen, Norway. Since then, it's been part of his uniform and today, he took it for good. 

Ogden walks away from the circuit with one of the finest seasons on record by an American male cross country skier in over 30 years, winning not only the green bib, but taking home eighth place overall in the FIS World Cup overall standings. 

Rosie Brennan also had an incredible season, scoring many top-10's and performing consistently in nearly all of the races on the World Cup to be fourth overall. "It's of course bittersweet to be fourth place (overall) but hopefully it can be a reflection of what to do better and come back stronger next year!" said Brennan. "It's been really good to find consistency this year and build off that. Mostly though, I am super psyched to see Ben win the green bib! That's been amazing to watch. We definitely have a strong group of men and women coming up and is so cool to see. It has also been a big motivator to make these good results stick and make it a thing where the U.S. is always competitive!" 

As the 2022-23 season ends, it was a year of many highs for the U.S. Cross Country Team. With countless top-10s, several podiums, two World Championships medals, World Cup starts by some of the U.S.'s young stars and skiing in venues across the world. Now, the team will spend one last night in Europe before going home for the first time since November. 

RESULTS
Men's
Women's

OVERALL
Men's
Women's
Nations Cup

It was quite the day to wrap up the final sprint of the 2022-23 season in Lahti, Finland. The U.S. Cross Country Ski Team sent five athletes to the top-30, with Julia Kern and Ben Ogden leading the team in 15th and 13th, respectively. 

The conditions were anything but easy, with many athletes struggling to find the best line with the snow getting worse through the afternoon. Lahti is known for its sprint course - the steep uphill to the infamous right hand 180 degree turn into the long, working downhill. It's not easy and even the best in the world struggled, with many falls and broken poles as the day went on. 

With the overall sprint crystal globes on the line, the tensions were high across the board with highly contested races between athletes of several nations.

For the men, Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo ended the season right where he started it, in first. Crossing the sprint line for the last time this season ahead of the entire field, Klaebo clinched another sprint globe. For the women, Sweden's Maja Dahlqvist secured the overall sprint globe in dramatic fashion. In the quarterfinal heat, she needed to get first or second to secure a spot in the semifinals and this was made possible by a move from her teammate Moa Ilar. In the finishing stretch, Dahlqvist broke a pole and her sites of the crystal globe were diminishing right before her eyes, that was until her teammate completely stopped her momentum and let Dahlqvist pass so she could move onto the semis by crossing the line in second. "Teammate of the year" was heard throughout the stadium. With that move, Dahlqvist moved on to the semis, then advanced to the finals and finished the sprint in fourth, enough to clinch the 2023 FIS Overall Sprint crystal globe. 

Kern, Diggins and Brennan all advanced easily to the heats, with Diggins qualifying in 10th, Kern in 21st and Brennan in 23rd. In the heats, no U.S. women advanced to the semifinals, with Kern missing the lucky loser spot by less than a second. Diggins was fourth and Brennan was sixth in their heats.

"For me personally, I knew I had a lot in me," said Kern. "In the quarterfinal, I gave it what I had and was getting stuck in places and not quite finding the gears or windows I needed to find. But, I was proud with how I finished. I gave it what I had out there today and I am looking forward to tomorrow, the last race of the season!"

In the end, Diggins was 15th, Kern 16th and Brennan 29th. The winner of the day was Kristine Skistad of Norway who again shocked the cross country world again and won the classic sprint. 

"It was an exciting day! I was really happy with my qualifier," said Diggins. "It's fun to feel that I have decent energy at the end of the year because when it comes down to the end of the season, what you have is what you have! I went for it today and proud of how I skied on this course with tricky conditions. Huge thanks for the techs for working so hard and for everyone working on this course, the staff and the support team. I am really grateful for all the work they put in and am super excited to finish this season with one last race and give it my all."

On the men's side, Ogden and Ketterson advanced to the heats with their fast qualifying times, Ogden was 7th and Ketterson was 27th. Ogden once again dawned the U23 green bib, an indicator that he is currently the fastest U23 athlete on the World Cup circuit; Ogden has been wearing the bib the majority of the season. Through the heats, Ketterson did not advance after an unfortunate broken pole and Ogden was in a similar situation. He narrowly avoided a massive crash, catapulting him to the front of the heat, yet he finished fourth in his heat, not moving on to the semifinals. Ogden finished the day in 13th, Ketterson was 28th. 

For the season overall, Kern finished within the top-10 in the overall sprint rankings, marking herself as one of the fastest and most consistent sprinters in the world, in seventh. Along with Kern, Ogden showed his consistency by finishing the sprinting season in tenth - a jump from last season where he finished 30th. 

Tomorrow the team will compete in the last World Cup race of the season, the 20k classic. 

RESULTS
Women's
Men's

SPRINT OVERALL
Women's
Men's