As the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team heads over to Europe, President and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, Tiger Shaw, and Alpine Director Jesse Hunt, caught up with Ski Racing Media's Karina Schwartznau about the effort it took to get athletes to Europe safely in the midst of COVID-19. 

In an article published on August 29, Karina wrote, 

While the U.S. Ski Team athletes were hard at work with on-snow training at Mount Hood in Oregon this summer, U.S. Ski & Snowboard staff were busy finding ways to get many of those athletes into Europe for training this fall. 

The European Union closed its borders to all travel when COVID struck. Those restrictions had prevented any travel into Europe, but in June, as the infection rate was deemed under control, restrictions for professional athletes and individuals with critical work were loosened in certain countries. While most travelers from the U.S. remain banned, the ski team jumped at the opportunity, and many of its athletes departed for Europe this week. 

“If you are a professional athlete and can make a compelling case to the border police right when you land in the EU, they have the ability to say you’re allowed in,” said Tiger Shaw, president and CEO of USSS. “Now if you catch the border police in a bad mood, they may say turn around, get back on the airplane and go back to the United States.“

National team athletes expect to be able to make a compelling case, especially those traveling to train before Soelden. If the ultimate goal is to have the best athletes in the world and the highest level of competition in Soelden, it’s certainly in Austria’s best interest  to allow the likes of Ted Ligety and Mikaela Shiffrin into the country to train and prepare for the race; however, each team member will make their own case when reaching border control in Europe. 

“We will try to alert the border patrol through the American consulate when they are landing,” said Shaw. “They may or may not be able to give a heads up to the board police to help them.” 

Upon entering the country, quarantine and COVID testing is guided by local health officials. Some countries require quarantine, whereas others allow a quick test, and if the results come back negative, quarantine ends after 24 hours.

Currently, the men's and women's speed teams, as well as the women's tech team and men's development team are in Europe. 

Read the full article at SkiRacing.com.

Dear Cross Country Skiing Community,

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country staff has been meeting frequently with many members of our community, including the various event organizing committees, regional leaders, members of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee, athlete representatives, etc. We have created solutions that work for our Cross Country community pertaining to competition this season amidst the ongoing pandemic. We are developing a robust calendar of racing that will continue to motivate, develop and provide qualifying opportunities for international competition for cross country athletes.  

Decisions for all other U.S. Ski & Snowboard domestic event calendars will be made independently and based on an assessment of each sport’s unique set of circumstances and variables.

Modification of 2020-21 XC National Events Calendar

 The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee has voted to formally restructure many of our national-level competitions for the 2020-21 season. This includes the SuperTour, U.S. National Championships, and the Junior National Championships. These events will be replaced with high-level regional and divisional competitions-including season ending Regional Junior Championship in each Region of the country, at the discretion of local organizing committees and regional governing bodies. 

As such, these event organizers are no longer obligated to pay prize money equal to national levels of competition, nor will they be sanctioned as National Championship-level or Continental Cup (COC) level events. This will alleviate these organizers of the financial restraints that are tied to hosting a national-level event, which in most cases include attracting a significant number of participants required to balance their event budgets.

This decision has no bearing on NCAA competitions, which are governed separately by the NCAA. We recognize that this comes as challenging news for everyone in our community, but we have been working hard to create strong regional calendars and practical solutions to selection criteria.  

Reasoning and Considerations:

• We recognize that the nature of the sport of the Cross Country ski racing in our nation has special considerations that are dissimilar to other U.S. Ski & Snowboard disciplines:
  • Race Format: Even in individual start racing, social distancing challenges exist in race formats where athletes are in close proximity (i.e. passing each other) and therefore, do not easily allow for combined fields of athletes from different geographical regions.
  • Lead Time: Some of our key Championships and selection events come early in the season, and likely too soon for a vaccine to be in place and widely available.  
  • Host Venue Regulations: A majority of existing cross country host venues have local regulations that create numerous challenges for hosting national level events. These venues cannot tolerate the financial risk in the event of a cancellation (see next point). 
  • Financial Model: The number of competitors required - sometimes in excess of 400 - for events to be financially viable.

·We have heard from multiple coaches and clubs that they don’t have the ability to currently travel to a given race location.  

·By restructuring our national events calendar now, before the race season, local organizing committees, divisions, and regions are better positioned to start planning an effective and motivational race calendar for their area, potentially sanctioning races via U.S. Ski & Snowboard and/or the FIS to attract quality competition. We also assist our SuperTour, U.S. Nationals, and Junior Nationals organizing committee partners by allowing them to suspend portions of their planning and potentially avoiding the commitment of further financial and time investments.  

·By developing strong regional calendars now, we take away some of the uncertainty surrounding the race season, providing athletes realistic targets to train for, while keeping them motivated for racing.  

·We have already modified our selection criteria for all international events to consider regional racing, rather than national-level racing. We have the ability to consider races happening across the country, assess performances from those regional events, and name teams for international trips via discretion. We have already created Discretionary Selection Review Committees for all of these selections, as well as mechanisms to solicit community feedback from the divisions prior to many selections. This system will allow for stand-out regional and divisional competition results to be recognized and considered for international team selection. The move to utilize much more discretion in these selection criteria is intended as a fix during the current pandemic only, and we will return to criteria that focus principally on objective selection when we can.  

Development of Regional, Divisional, and Local Competition Calendars

We have spent the past few months discussing the importance of developing robust regional, divisional and local race calendars with local organizing committees and regional leaders. In many cases, these regional leaders have been extremely proactive in calendaring races. Like all of us, they want to see local race calendars which motivate athletes and coaches, while providing a safe competition environment. I’d like to applaud all of the incredible foresight and creativity of our community in planning calendars. Many regions are in the process of sanctioning races with U.S. Ski & Snowboard and with the FIS to make sure there are high-quality events with point scoring opportunities within reach of every athlete. If you haven’t already, be sure to reach out to your coach or regional coordinator to find out what’s happening in your area. 

Some divisional contacts are:

Alaska                                      Anson Moxness                    anson.moxness@gmail.com

Far West                                   Gus Johnson                         gus@asctrainingcenter.org

Great Lakes                              Yuriy Gusev                         yuriy.gusev@cxcskiing.org

High Plains                              Joe Friere                              leeann.freire@yahoo.com

Intermountain                          Rick Kapala                          rick@svsef.org

Midwest                                   Joe Haggenmiller                 joe.h@cxcskiing.org

Mid-Atlantic                            Shane MacDowell                shanem@nysef.org

New England                          Amie Smith                           amie@nensa.net

Pacific                                     Zach Hill                                coachzachhill@gmail.com

Rocky Mountain                    Adam St. Pierre                       adam.stpierre@usskiandsnowboard.org

Similarly, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country staff, in conjunction with the Cross Country Sport Committee, have modified the selection criteria to every international competition to allow for selection from racing across the country, including regional and divisional events, and to make sure that we have contingencies built into each criterion that ensure that no athletes nor performances are overlooked.  Details are below.  

Selection to the 2021 Oberstdorf Nordic World Championships

The current draft of the 2021 WSC selection criterion can be found here: https://usskiandsnowboard.org/sport-programs/criteria/cross-country-world-championships-criteria

We are still waiting for the 2020-21 World Cup Calendar to be finalized in late September before this criterion can be completed. However, beyond the objective selections that will be made from World Cup competition, this criterion still includes the ability to select athletes via discretion from regional and divisional racing conducted across the country in the first half of this season. We will fill our starts at the World Championships selecting athletes via discretion from both World Cup and regional/divisional racing from across the United States during the selection period. This criterion also already includes the use of a Discretionary Selection Review Group to analyze and ratify all discretionary selections:

All discretionary selections will be documented and appropriate forms will be available for record keeping purposes. All discretionary selections will be reviewed by a discretionary selection review group comprised of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO, the Chair of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee, and the athlete representative from that sport who is a member of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Board of Directors. If the Chair of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee feels that he or she needs to be recused from the discretionary selection review group due to a conflict of interest surrounding the selection of an athlete or athletes, they may delegate their role to the Chair of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Coaches’ Subcommittee. If the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Board Athlete Representative is also a currently competing athlete then another athlete, who is not actively competing, will be selected by the Athletes’ Council to be the representative in this group.

Current members of the Discretionary Selection Review Group are:

U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO                                                       Tiger Shaw

Chair of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee              Cami Thompson-Graves

Athlete Representative appointed by the AAC                                                  Holly Brooks

Any athlete who feels that they may have had a performance overlooked, also has the ability to petition the Discretionary Selection Review Group directly for discretionary nomination consideration:

Athletes may also petition directly to the Selection Committee to be considered for discretionary selection by submitting, in writing, a petition including any rationale to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO (tiger.shaw@usskiandsnowboard.org)before 8:00 AM Mountain time on January 17, 2021. 

Selection to the 2020-21 World Cup

The current draft of the 2020-21 World Cup selection criterion can be found here:

https://usskiandsnowboard.org/sport-programs/criteria/cross-country-world-cup-criteria

Like the Oberstdorf WSC criterion, we are still waiting for the 2020-21 World Cup Calendar to be finalized in late September before this criterion can be completed. Our discretionary World Cup selection methods are already in place, understood by the community, and well-equipped to select a large number of athletes from regional and divisional racing across the country.  As you may know, we have created Working Group Guidelines for discretionary selection, and they can also be found at the link above. 

The Working Group for discretionary selections is:

Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess          U.S. Ski & Snowboard Athlete Rep

Tad Elliott                                       U.S. Ski & Snowboard Athlete Rep

Cami Thompson-Graves                 U.S. Ski & Snowboard XC Sport Committee Chair / Dartmouth College

Austin Caldwell                              CU

Dragan Danevski                            MEA

Erik Flora                                        APU

Joe Haggenmiller                            CXC

Chris Mallory                                  SVSEF

Pepa Miloucheva                             CGRP

Pat O’Brien                                      SMS

Dan Weiland                                     SSCV

Kate Barton                                      U.S. Ski Team

Jason Cork                                        U.S. Ski Team

Matt Whitcomb                                U.S. Ski Team

Chris Grover                                     U.S. Ski Team

Nominations are then reviewed by a discretionary selection review group comprised of:

Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess                     U.S. Ski & Snowboard Athlete Rep

Tiger Shaw                                                U.S. Ski & Snowboard CEO

Bryan Fish                                                 U.S. Ski & Snowboard XC Sport Development Manager

Modification of Development Competition Selection Criteria

Due to the restructuring of the national race calendar, the U.S. Ski Team Cross Country Staff and the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee have been modifying all of our development selection criteria, including the World Junior, U23 World Champs, U18 Nordic Nation’s Champs, and Europa Cup (OPA) criteria. As in the World Champs and World Cup criteria, our goal is to ensure that the development-level criteria are viable and effective in a regional and divisional racing model. As you may know, selection to three of these development trips is traditionally conducted almost exclusively at the National Championships. Please see the finalized criteria which have been approved by the Sport Committee: https://usskiandsnowboard.org/crosscountry

Some of the first changes you’ll see in these criteria are in the formatting or general language of the criteria, where we’ve added language that more clearly mirrors that of our World Championship and Olympic criteria. 

The main change is that we’ve removed language that limits our ability to use discretion to select the team (in some criterion previously no more than 25% of a team could be selected via discretion). We are now prepared for a regional racing model, and the need to use up to 100% discretion to nominate a team. We will be looking across the country to divisional and regional races to select top performers from different events, as well as potentially selecting several top-performing athletes based on results at WJC/U23s/World Cup, etc. the previous season. But in these scenarios, all or nearly all selections will need to be discretionary. To make this process fair, we’ve created a Discretionary Selection Review Committee, much like we have in place for the World Nordic Championships and the Olympic Winter Games. U.S. Ski Team coaches Bryan Fish and Kate Barton will nominate the different development-level teams as normal, and then send the nominations to the Discretionary Selection Review Committee, who will review the nominations and either approve them or reject them. 

Here’s the specific language:

All discretionary selections will be documented and appropriate forms will be available for record keeping purposes. All discretionary selections will be reviewed by a discretionary selection review group comprised of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Program Director, the Chair of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee, and the athlete representative from that sport who is a member of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Board of Directors. If the Chair of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee feels that he or she needs to be recused from the discretionary selection review group due to a conflict of interest surrounding the selection of an athlete or athletes, they may delegate their role to the Chair of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Coaches’ Subcommittee. If the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Board Athlete Representative is also a currently competing athlete then another athlete, who is not actively competing, will be selected by the Athletes’ Council to be the representative in this group.

We’ve also added language that allows an athlete to petition the Cross Country Program Director (me) directly if they feel that they have been overlooked by the coaches in the nomination process. I will then document that petition and correspondence and take it to the Discretionary Selection Review Committee for discussion and review. This will ensure that all athletes have a chance to have their results considered. That language is:

Athletes may also petition directly to the Selection Committee to be considered for discretionary selection by submitting, in writing, a petition including any rationale to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Program Director (chris.grover@usskiandsnowboard.org) before 4:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on January 6, 2021.  In the event that U.S. Nationals is cancelled, and the majority or all of the team must be selected via discretion, this petition period may be closed on December 20, 2020, to give nominated athletes time to procure necessary EU entrance visas. 

Note that there are differences in selection dates and petition deadlines depending on which criterion it is (i.e. WJC or U18 vs. U23). Also, at this time it is possible that athletes and staff traveling to Europe this winter may need additional time to procure any necessary travel arrangements or travel documents.

As we look to regional racing to make discretionary selections to the WJC, U23, and U18 trips, we recognize that it is important to have regional representatives review the possible nominations prior to sending them to the Discretionary Selection Review Committee. Our goal is to make sure that no athlete from any division is overlooked and no outstanding local or divisional performance is missed. To accomplish this, we will be sending potential nominations to the divisional representatives listed below for feedback before nominating those teams. Although these Working Group members are not voting, they will be able to share opinions, raise concerns, and bring athletes and performances to the attention of the U.S. Ski Team coaching staff and the Discretionary Selection Review Committee. 

Those divisional representatives are:

Joe Haggenmiller (MW)

Zach Hill (PNSA)

Gus Johnson (FW)

Ja Dorris (AK)

Josh Smullin (RM)

Becca Watson (HP)

Rick Kapala (IM)

Justin Beckwith (NE)

Shane McDowell (MA)

Tom Smith (GL)

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me directly.  

Sincerely,

Chris Grover

Cross Country Program Director

U.S. Ski & Snowboard

chris.grover@usskiandsnowboard.org

(435) 640-8545

The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee has approved a plan to restructure the cross country national racing calendar into a number of regional events for the 2020-21 season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This decision has no bearing on NCAA competitions, which are governed separately by the NCAA. Decisions for all other U.S. Ski & Snowboard domestic event calendars will be made independently and based on an assessment of each sport’s unique set of circumstances and variables. 

The events impacted include the SuperTour, U.S. National Championships, and the Junior National Championships. These events will be replaced with high-level regional and divisional competitions, at the discretion of local organizing committees and regional governing bodies. 

“We recognize that cross country skiing has unique challenges in hosting national-level events that are dissimilar to other disciplines,” said Davis U.S. Cross Country Team Program Director Chris Grover. “Together with the input of clubs and regional leaders, we have created solutions that work for our national cross country skiing community pertaining to competition for the 2020-21 season.

This restructuring allows athletes to remain in their respective regions to race while allowing organizers to offer high-level competitions. Additionally, this will help organizers reduce the financial demands that are tied to hosting a national-level event, which in most cases includes attracting a significant number of participants required to balance their event budgets.

National cross country events have unique challenges related to conducting competition in a COVID-19 environment that does not exist in other ski and snowboard sports such as race format (physical distancing), lead time (early season events), host venue regulations, as well as the financial model mentioned above. These event organizers will no longer be obligated to pay prize money equal to national levels of competition, nor will they be sanctioned as National Championship-level or Continental Cup (COC) level events.

“By restructuring our national cross country events calendar now, before the race season, local organizing committees, divisions, and regions are better positioned to start planning an effective and motivational race calendar for their area, potentially sanctioning races via U.S. Ski & Snowboard and/or the FIS to attract quality competition,” Grover added. “We will also assist our SuperTour, U.S. Nationals, and Junior Nationals organizing committee partners by allowing them to suspend portions of their planning and potentially avoiding the commitment of further financial and time investments.”

Selection criteria for all international events have been modified to consider regional racing, rather than national-level racing. In addition, athletes may be considered for international trips via discretion by assessing performances from regional events. Discretionary Selection Review Committees have been established for all of these selections, as well as mechanisms to solicit community feedback from the divisions prior to many selections. This system will allow for stand-out regional and divisional competition results to be recognized and considered for international team selection. The move to utilize discretion in these selection criteria is intended as a fix during the current pandemic only, and selection will return eventually to criteria that focus principally on objective selection. 

Two-time Olympic champion and Land Rover ambassador Mikaela Shiffrin recently joined American soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, and Olympic gold medalist Kelley O'Hara on the Just Women's Sports podcast to talk about her love of training, handling pressure, and overcoming heartbreak. 

In her recently launched podcast, Kelley has interviewed some of the world's best athletes, including teammate and soccer star Alex Morgan, Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Chloe Kim, and more. 

Record-breaking ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin sits down with Kelley to talk about the influence of her family on her ski career, how she built her foundation by focusing on training rather than competing (and why, if she could, she’d only train), why she never felt pressure as a teen prodigy but does so now, how she recovered from a near-crash to win Olympic gold, what made the 2018 Olympics such a complicated experience, her record-breaking 2019 season, and what she’s learned about herself in the wake of her father’s passing. 

Mikaela’s creds: 

• 2x Olympic gold medalist (2018, 2014)
• Olympic silver medalist (2018)
• 5x World Champion (4 Slalom, 1 Super G)
• 3x Overall World Cup champion
• Most World Cup wins in a season (17)
• Most all-time World Cup slalom wins (43)
• 2nd most all-time World Cup wins by a female skier (66)
• Youngest slalom champion in Olympic history

Suggested:

• Skiing phenom Mikaela Shiffrin has found her voice (Los Angeles Times)
• Olympian Mikaela Shiffrin on dealing with performance anxiety (People)
• Raising ski great Mikaela Shiffrin, and finding balance (New York Times) 
• Who is Mikaela Shiffrin (Outside TV)

Listen to the podcast via SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS | STITCHER

Brothers Casey and Jesse Andringa of the U.S. Moguls Ski Team are not only known for their skill and talent on the snow, but also for their unique style and exuberant personalities. The two brothers are seeking to re-elevate freestyle skiing into mainstream snowsports culture, and will be showcasing their lives in their new web series “The Andringa Show.”

“The Andringa Show” will treat viewers to an inside look at what Casey and Jesse get up to in training, competing and beyond. “We do a lot of unusual things and have unusual methods to help accompany our training,” said Casey. “A lot of it is pretty funny and we wanted to share it with people. Life on the team is a lot different than most people would think, so we wanted to showcase how we live it.” 

“We already do a lot of filming, so why not make a little show about it?” said Jesse. 

The brothers look forward to sharing the “good times, and not so good times, and the hilarity of it all,” as each works towards competing on the 2020-21 FIS World Cup tour. Jesse recently returned from shoulder surgery to training-as-usual with the Team. Casey, who had just returned to water ramping after undergoing knee surgery last year, unfortunately sustained a wrist injury and will work through that rehab process before getting back to training again. Casey and Jesse hope to be back skiing the world together again soon, with their ultimate goal of making the 2022 Olympic team together. 

If you know Casey or Jesse, you know their show will be anything but ordinary. From demoing campers to building motorbikes, creating the world’s weirdest sandwiches to surfing, rock climbing and camping, and the blood, sweat and tears it requires to be a professional moguls skier, viewers will get to experience it all. 

“The Andringa Show” will air on YouTube and fans can expect at least an episode per month, more depending on content and schedules. For show updates and information, follow Casey and Jesse on Instagram, and be sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel.

In August, the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team is typically training in the Southern Hemisphere, whether it be in New Zealand or South America. Obviously this year, COVID impacted training outside of the U.S., so U.S. Ski & Snowboard staff worked hard with resort partners to ensure athletes didn't miss a beat. High Performance Director Troy Taylor recently caught up with SKI to talk about it all. 

August marks a time when the U.S. Ski Team usually sends athletes to South America for on-snow training to test new equipment and get ready for early season competitions. This year, things are different. In early March the FIS World Cup Tour came to an abrupt end due to COVID-19. April and May are normally off-months for the athletes, but this year the team worked tirelessly through those months to organize extensive protocols, including reworking their online athlete platform to check and monitor coronavirus symptoms.

Thanks to these efforts and the hospitality of domestic resorts, the athletes have not missed any days on snow this summer. Copper Mountain in Colorado, plus Mt. Bachelor and Mt. Hood in Oregon, are among the ski areas that have found ways to accommodate the U.S. Ski Team.

Troy shared details of the U.S. Ski & Snowboart COVID protocol, which has been stringent and enforced, as SKI reported. 

Due to the pandemic, Taylor and the team initially worked with the Olympic and Paralympic committee to work on testing facilities and protocols. The team’s USADA lab, usually reserved for drug testing, was converted into a COVID-19 testing facility capable of performing a saliva-based coronavirus test that provides results within hours. 

Taylor explained that although rapid testing is extremely beneficial for the team, it is a priority of the team to test in a responsible manner that does not affect the testing capabilities of local hospitals. The team is “respectful of mountain communities and works to avoid any burden on their healthcare,” says Taylor. Athletes are required to have two negative tests within 24 hours of each other after every travel day and before they can attend team events.

The protocols in place have been stringent and enforced. Athletes not only have to report symptoms twice a day, but the team must also complete surveys on a weekly basis for contact tracing purposes. The U.S. Ski Team has fostered a safe environment for athletes to train in, but “everything is ultimately up to the discretion of the athlete—if they don’t feel comfortable at the Center of Excellence or at a camp or joining a bubble, they are not required to,” says U.S. Ski Team athlete George Steffey...

Up next, the athletes will look to travel to Europe for final on-snow training prep camps prior to the much-anticipated FIS Ski World Cup kickoff in Soelden, Austria Oct. 17-18th. 

Read the full article on SKIMag.com.

The road to recovery can be a long, lonely road with many bumps along the way. But when an athlete sees the light at the end of the tunnel, and with the tremendous support from family, friends, and teammates, they know that the hard work will pay off.

Davis U.S. Cross Country Team member Hannah Halvorsen is finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as she recovers from the devastating injuries suffered when she was hit by a car while crossing a street in downtown Anchorage last November. In addition to head, back, and neck injuries, she also suffered a serious knee injury that required surgery. 

Hannah’s road to recovery, which she has documented on her Instagram feed, began with a trip to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah in January where she was able to focus 100% of her attention on recovery and specifically building core and leg strength. All the while, she was following her teammates on the World Cup and Super Tour circuits and taking inspiration from them, knowing that with continued progress, she would be able to rejoin them later in the season. 

 

 

 

 

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Look out huge gains over here.

A post shared by Hannah Halvorsen (@hannah.g.halvorsen) on Jan 15, 2020 at 1:59pm PST

Hannah was excited to cheer her team on at the 2020 Coop FIS Cross Country World Cup in Minneapolis, which would have been the first time cross country skiing World Cup competition took place on U.S. snow in 19 years. However, COVID-19 threw everyone a curveball and forced the cancelation of those plans for Hannah, as well as  the annual spring team training camp in May in Bend, Oregon. Regardless of the pandemic setbacks, Hannah has kept her eye on the prize of returning to 100% health. Earlier this summer, she returned to Anchorage to train with her Alaska Pacific University (APU) teammates, and while she has had to hold herself back at times, she continues to make tremendous progress.

“The biggest mood booster of late has been rejoining team training. I have done countless hours of training and physical therapy on my own over the past months and I have an even bigger appreciation for what it means to be surrounded by a team.”
 – Hannah Halvorsen, Davis U.S. Cross Country Team

But those countless hours of training alone are paying big dividends.

“Hannah has made an amazing return to training,’ said APU coach Erik Flora. “Her incredible hard work and perseverance have brought her back months earlier than I would have projected. The thing that has impressed me the most is that while she is making this impressive return she is coming back with more focus and positively inspiring her teammates to step up their level as well. I see her returning stronger than ever.”

 

 

 

 

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Virtual @alaskarunforwomen up the mountain in honor of all those who are fighting or have fought breast cancer. 💕 #alaskarunforwomen

A post shared by Hannah Halvorsen (@hannah.g.halvorsen) on Jun 23, 2020 at 12:53pm PDT

“I have seen some really positive progress and I am in a much better place than I expected to be at this time of the training season,” Hannah said. “If you asked me two months ago I would’ve said I wouldn’t be able to roller-ski until the fall, but I am able to ski with my teammates and even do low-level threshold.

“I can’t do the high-intensity training...but I can do the warm-up and cool down, and I do a pulled back version that is more focused on technique while my team is doing intervals,” she continued. “That said, having a lot of unexpected improvement has made it hard to stay the course. I am constantly tempted to try to jump into speed or go faster in threshold [workouts]. I have done that a few times now and sometimes I think I get away with it. But after a few times the inflammation in my spine and neck will flare up and then I am set back again with pain.”

Building toward intensity training is the near-term goal for Hannah, but it is a learning process between managing the pain while building strength and speed. 

 

 

 

 

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I want to be the skier who races fast, but drives the speed limit. #thatsthedream #workinonit

A post shared by Hannah Halvorsen (@hannah.g.halvorsen) on Aug 5, 2020 at 12:05pm PDT

“It is a long road,” Erik said. “She is progressing faster than projected. She is getting back to normal training with dry-land including roller skiing, running, and strength. Every week she is improving.”

While there are a number of uncertainties in regard to events as the 2020-21 competition season nears, one thing that is certain is that when Hannah is ready to race, she will return stronger, faster, and mentally tougher. 

“I am on the right end of that curve and starting to get in a productive groove and prioritizing things in the right order so that I can maintain my health for the short and long term,” she said. “Being asked to find more patience when I feel like I have been patient for nine months is hard, but the progress I have made has been motivating and I am excited to see where I can take this if I do it the right way.”

Follow Hannah’s journey on Instagram at @hannah.g.halvorsen

Jesse Andringa returned to snow ahead of schedule after undergoing surgery to correct a shoulder injury he sustained earlier this year. Due to the impacts of COVID-19, Jesse’s return was less conventional than he had planned for, progressing from rehab to stay-at-home mandates, and then straight to snow during moguls’ sanctioned on-snow training camp at Official Training Site Timberline Lodge & Ski Area, Ore. in July. 

“The camp went really well,” Jesse said. “I basically started really easy, just doing flats. I progressed with straight airs and backflips and easier tricks, made sure that it was feeling good. I tipped in on back X and ate it pretty hard and was totally fine, [it was a] relief to know that I could crash on it.”

 

 

 

 

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everyone is posting all their dub 10s.. so heres mine... jk lol i cant be doing that yet with my shoulder @idoneusa

A post shared by Jesse Andringa (@jesse_bare) on Jul 30, 2020 at 11:36am PDT

In March, Jesse underwent surgery for his right shoulder, which he dislocated twice during World Cup competition in the 2019-20 season. During the quarantine period, which coincided with his recovery timeline, Jesse focused solely on the rehab process. “I spent so much time rehabbing, I gained my mobility and strength back quickly, doing two PT sessions a day. Fortunately, my mom is a physical therapist so I was able to do work when I couldn’t get into a clinic [due to COVID-19].”

Most people may think of knees when the words “moguls” and “injury” are put together. However, a moguls skier’s shoulders are crucial. “Every bump jolts your shoulder when you pole plant; you need a lot of strength there. You need 100% mobility to stretch, or to tuck it in, or un-tilt, and if you don’t have that then you’re probably going to eat it. Getting my shoulder fixed is definitely going to be a big confidence boost. I have a nice perspective on the sport now [since being away] and what I need to focus on in order to succeed in the future.”

Jesse is hard at work with the rest of the moguls team on the water ramps at Official Training Site Utah Olympic Park, where the team makes their summer home. Jesse looks forward to continuing to build on his gains this spring, so he’s ready to face whatever comes his way this 2020-21 season. 

Jesse’s brother, 2018 Olympian Casey, is also making a comeback from a year off due to injury. The two are stoked to be back training together. “Casey and I are both coming back from injuries. I’m excited to compete with him [again]. I have World Championships in my sights and we’re hoping that by the end of it this season, we’ll both be stepping onto [World Cup] podiums together.”

Follow Jesse and his shoulder all season long on Instagram.

Learn more about how to support the U.S. Moguls Team.

The U.S. Moguls Ski Team brought the heat and raised some serious funds August 18 via “Moguls and Muffins,” a live virtual fundraising event hosted by freestyle legends and fan favorites Trace Worthington and Sean Smith. To date, the team has raised $120,000, exceeding their annual goal of $100,000, and ensuring they are fully funded for the 2020-21 season. 

Broadcast via Facebook Live on the U.S. Ski & Snowboard page, Trace and Sean hosted a virtual breakfast, including muffins, that took fans behind the scenes of the team’s summer training at the Spence Eccles Olympic Freestyle Pool at Official Training Site Utah Olympic Park. They caught up with several athletes, reminisced about the good ol’ days of freestyle skiing and speculated on what the future holds. Viewers heard from Jesse Andringa, Kai Owens and Nick Page, with walk-by appearances from the rest of the team. Olympic moguls champion and U.S. Ski & Snowboard Athlete Gift Officer Hannah Kearney made a special guest appearance as well. 

 

 

 

 

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Sean stepped away and Smitty came on the set for the @usskiteam “Moguls and Muffins” virtual fundraiser. Fun to get back on air with this guy. Happy to report that we helped raise over $110K for the U.S. Mogul Team. Big props to the donors, athletes and staff who rallied for an incredibly successful event. @seanmsmith94 @utaholympicpark @idoneusa #mogulskiing #fundraiser #usskiteam @hannahkearneysflatstanley

A post shared by Trace Worthington (@trace.worthington) on Aug 18, 2020 at 1:02pm PDT

Being fully funded allows the moguls athletes of the U.S. Ski Team to laser-focus on their training, prep work, and competition. Trace, Sean and Hannah, all U.S. Ski Team alumni, know first-hand what a difference that can make.

“It’s night and day,” said Sean after Trace asked what the impact of being funded as an athlete really means. “The money we’re raising today, and the really throughout the year, [these athletes] don’t have to worry about [whether or not they are funded], they don’t have to worry about money because they get to go and just train, lift, eat properly (like these muffins Chef Steve is making) and really just put forth what they have to do to be Best in the World.”

“The funding is absolutely crucial,” Hannah explained. “Every single one of these athletes’ competitors has government funding from their countries…We’re up against that hurdle. The only way these athletes can train to that level and compete against their peers is through donations from the public. ”

This year would have marked the Third Annual U.S. Moguls Team Fundraiser, graciously hosted by moguls superfans Jim and Jeffy Benedict at their home in Colorado. However, due to the impacts of COVID-19 on travel and gathering, and with the health and safety of its athletes and supporters top of mind, U.S. Ski & Snowboard has moved its fundraising efforts to virtual experiences. “Moguls and Muffins” was created to cap off the team’s annual fundraising season as a way to engage with their supporters and fans, and have a little fun along the way. 

The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Foundation works to raise $12 million annually for U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s athletic programs. U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes receive no direct government funding and rely on the generous support of fans, donors, trustees and corporations to fund their Olympic dreams. The Moguls fundraiser is one fundraising program that enables the freestyle community of donors to support the sport they are most passionate about. Since implementing sport specific fundraisers, the Foundation has seen an increase in revenue to be able to fully fund specific teams. All funds raised directly impact the Moguls Team and anything raised in excess of the goal will either help fill in unforseen gaps this season, or roll over to the 2021-22 season.

To support the U.S. Moguls Ski Team, please click here for more information. 

The 2020-21 FIS Alpine World Cup men’s and women’s calendars will adopt a different structure due to impacts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

After extended discussions among FIS, the national ski associations and the local organizing committees in Canada and the USA, together with their stakeholders, all parties have come to the joint decision that the Alpine Skiing World Cup tour will remain in Europe in late November. Traditionally, the tour comes to North America during this time of year.

For the women, this schedule shift impacts the HomeLight Killington Cup in Killington, Vt. (USA) giant slalom and slalom events on Nov. 28-29 and the speed week in Lake Louise, Alberta (CAN) on Dec. 1-6. For the men, this impacts the speed weekend in Lake Louise, Nov. 25-29 and both speed and tech events at the Xfinity Birds of Prey in Beaver Creek, Colo. (USA)  Dec. 1-6. The FIS Alpine World Cup will return to these sites for the 2021-22 season.

The objective of FIS is to carry out a full World Cup competition program, protecting the health and welfare of all participants to the best extent possible. The temporary realignment of the FIS Alpine World Cup Calendar in 2020-21 caters to this goal by focusing on athlete safety, reducing travel, and providing competitors with a detailed competition calendar. All parties jointly agreed to make this decision early to aid in developing the adjusted calendars during the next month before the FIS Technical Committee Meetings in late September.

Decisions for all other FIS World Cup events will be made independently and based on an assessment of each unique set of circumstances, including the risks and travel requirements related to each event and host country, as well as time needed between competitions to accommodate for COVID-19 protocols. 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Canadian Snowsports Association, and the Killington, Lake Louise and Vail Valley Foundation local organizing committees would like to express their gratitude to everyone for their dedication, planning, and collaboration in recent months. Attention to detail and thoughtfulness provided a pathway to hold their events this season, but all agreed to make this very difficult, but necessary decision, in order to prioritize the best interest of the alpine world cup athletes, coaches, technicians, volunteers, media, staff, all of the world cup fans and the Alpine World Cup tour, as a whole. The extensive preparation work provides a roadmap to move forward with planning other potential North American domestic events. Although the North American alpine venues and fans will be missed this season, all parties look forward to the Alpine World Cup’s return to the USA and Canada for the 2021-22 season.

The adapted calendars, to be approved in late September, involve the rescheduling of the alpine North American competitions at European sites. 

These will include events in December, with Val d’Isere (FRA) adding two events for the men. The planned giant slalom races will be moved up one weekend to Dec. 5-6, making room for an added downhill and super-G on Dec. 12-13. 

The women’s tour will add a downhill to its traditional weekend in St. Moritz (SUI) on Dec. 5-7. Additionally, Courchevel (FRA) will host a two-race technical weekend in December. 

“The North American races are always a very special two weeks for the entire FIS World Cup tour and we are very disappointed that we could not find a way to have them on this year’s Alpine calendar,” said FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis. “But if there is a silver lining, it is seeing how all of our stakeholders involved with the FIS World Cup are working together. The willingness of several National Ski Associations, Organizers and resorts to step up, alter their schedules and plans, shows that we truly are a united ski family that is working toward the common goal of carrying out a full and successful season. The engagement and commitment shown by the North American organizers and National Associations throughout the past months continues with both USA and Canada already turning to preparations for their central roles with FIS Freestyle, Freeski and Snowboard events that take place later in the season.”

The Audi FIS Alpine World Cup season will kick off in Soelden (AUT) on Oct. 17-18 for the traditional giant slaloms on the Rettenbach Glacier. The next stop on the tour will be the debut of host resort Lech/Zürs (AUT) on Nov. 14-15, which will feature a men’s and a women’s parallel race.

The revised calendars with the latest adaptations will be approved following the FIS Technical Meetings from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 for ratification by the FIS Council on Oct. 3, and will be published on the FIS website at that time.

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About U.S. Ski & Snowboard
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, based in Park City, Utah. Tracing its roots directly back to 1905, the organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders in 2020, competing in seven teams; alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle, snowboard, nordic combined and ski jumping. In addition to the elite teams, U.S. Ski & Snowboard also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the USA, encouraging and supporting them in achieving excellence. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. For more information, visit www.usskiandsnowboard.org.