PODCAST · news
Nordic Nation
by FasterSkier
The Nordic Nation podcast is a production of FasterSkier.com, the premier cross-country ski website in North America. The podcast features interviews, commentary, and news updates.
Episodes
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Four Birkies and the World Cup with Alayna Sonnesyn
In this episode, we talk with Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2), who is coming off of her fourth consecutive victory at the American Birkebeiner in Hayward, Wisconsin. But the path between these victories, especially over the last two seasons, has not been smooth or direct. Alayna has had standout results...
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Hailey Swirbul: Prioritizing mental health and rediscovering passion
In this episode, we chat with Hailey Swirbul, who took an alternate path to the World Cup this season, prioritizing her own mental health and aiming to rediscover her love for cross-country skiing along the way. Listen in to hear her discuss the challenges she's faced in transitioning into a...
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Ben Ogden Breaks Through
It’s been a minute! With the arrival of host Rachel Perkins’ second baby in July and a subsequent job shift, Nordic Nation has been on pause, but we are excited to relaunch now with the hope of producing these regularly over the coming months! Our first guest of 2023 is the one and only Ben…
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Rebounding From Setbacks and Gaining Momentum with Julia Kern
At 24-years-old, Julia Kern is quickly becoming a seasoned veteran in her 7th year on the U.S. Ski Team. However, her career trajectory has been stepwise, not exponential. After making breakthroughs during the 2019-20 season, including her first World Cup podium in a skate sprint in Planica,...
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2022 SuperTour Champion Rosie Frankowski in Transition
The Olympic Dream. Perhaps the pinnacle of sport would not be as valued and revered were it not for the inherent scarcity of opportunities to achieve it. This year, only eight women and six men were able to represent the United States in cross-country skiing in Zhangjiakou, down from a total of...
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Greta Anderson’s 2021-2022 U.S. Ski & Snowboard Development Program Year in Review
Last June, U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced the hiring of Greta Anderson as Development Team Coach, supporting Cross Country Program Manager Bryan Fish in “all aspects of leadership and logistics surrounding the U.S. Development Pathway, including National Training Group camps, U.S. Nationals and...
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Cross-Country Program Director Chris Grover: Looking Back and Planning Ahead
In this episode, we have U.S. Ski & Snowboard cross-country program director Chris Grover on to discuss the tumultuous last two years of navigating the pandemic, including the many ways in which it created strain for the team, particularly as Omicron variant surged during the months leading into...
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Jessie Diggins: Eating Disorder Awareness, Media, and Why What to Say Matters
Heading into the Olympics in February, Jessie Diggins received more media attention than ever before, landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated and having her profile featured on major news outlets like the New York Times. There was an entire category for her career highlights on the Olympic…
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A Backcountry Ski Race on Skinny Skis: Simi Hamilton and Ben Koons Take Second at the 2022 Montane Grand Traverse
Last weekend, roughly 200 intrepid skiers lined up at the base of the Mount Crested Butte ski resort, awaiting a midnight race start that would send them 40 miles north through the rugged Elk Mountains to Aspen, Colorado. Among the masses, most of whom were on lightweight ski mountaineering or...
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Body Comments: A Discussion on the Media’s Portrayal of Endurance Athletes with Rosie Brennan, Corrine Malcolm, Brian Metzler, and Nat Herz
Though the FasterSkier team would select other highlights from the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, one of the most read articles we produced featured the responses of members of the ski community to a story published on February 8th by the New York Times, which included the following quote: “In a…
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Inside the booth with Chad Salmela and Kikkan Randall, NBC Olympic cross country ski analysts
In this episode, we’ve got Chad Salmela and Kikkan Randall on to discuss the experience of calling the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, live from a booth in Stamford, CT. The duo worked as cross country analysts, alongside long-time NBC play-by-play announcer Steve Schlanger. While Chad is a...
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Getting to Know the Future of the U.S. Ski Team: A Conversation with Sophia Laukli, Novie McCabe, and Sydney Palmer-Leger
In this episode, we have Sydney Palmer-Leger, Sophia Laukli, and Novie McCabe. Each is a member of the U.S. Cross Country team, and they are also all teammates at the University of Utah (UU), where they are coached by Miles Havlick and Fredrik Landstedt. Laukli and McCabe were recently named to…
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Inside the Athlete-Guide Dynamic with Jake Adicoff and Sam Wood
In this episode, we have Jake Adicoff and Sam Wood, calling in from Lillehammer as the duo races as athlete and guide at the Para World Championships. Jake is a visually impaired athlete from Sun Valley who grew up racing with the SVSEF cross country program and now trains with the Gold Team. He...
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A 2021/22 Tour de Ski Debrief With Matt Whitcomb
In this episode, we have Matt Whitcomb back to debrief the 2021/22 Tour de Ski, including highs and lows, overcoming setbacks, and managing a circulating head cold. We also discuss the cancellation of the Les Rousses World Cup, covid safety in a critical window before the Olympics, and the racing...
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Transitioning to the World Cup with Ben Ogden, JC Schoonmaker, and Gus Schumacher
In this episode, we have Ben Ogden, Gus Schumacher, and JC Schoonmaker, members of the new generation of American men who have found success at the junior level internationally, and are now transitioning onto the World Cup as athletes to follow. In this conversation, we explore this transition…
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Challenges of the Pro-Athlete Journey with Hannah Halvorsen, Hailey Swirbul, and Kate Barton
In this episode, we have U.S. Ski Team members Hannah Halvorsen and Hailey Swirbul along with development team coach Kate Barton. The original idea behind the conversation was to discuss a variety of challenges female athletes of all levels experience during their careers based on an infographic...
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From NoCo Crystal Globe to Biathlon: An Interview With Tara Geraghty-Moats
In this episode, we have Tara Geraghty-Moats, a trailblazer in women’s nordic combined who made the switch this season to biathlon. As we discuss in this conversation, women’s nordic combined could be put on display as an example of gender inequity in sport. Despite the fact that men have…
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Guiding Principles for Masters Athletes with Jim Galanes
In this episode, we have Jim Galanes to discuss some guiding training principles for masters athletes. If you enjoy the endurance athlete lifestyle, or are juggling a career and family, but still enjoy trying to get fitter and faster as in this fickle sport, this interview has plenty of exercise...
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Fall 2021 Pre-Season Chat with Matt Whitcomb
In this episode, we connect with US Ski Team Head Coach Matt Whitcomb following the US Ski Team and National Training Group camp in Park City. Whitcomb answers a variety of questions to provide insight into the upcoming season leading up to the 2022 Beijing Olympics. A couple of notes: Firstly,...
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Moms Matter Now with Holly Brooks and Calisa Kastning
In this episode, we discuss the topic of maternal mental health with Holly Brooks and Calisa Kastning. On Mother’s Day, the partners announced the launch of their passion project, Moms Matter Now with the aim of supporting and empowering women as they transition into motherhood. For those...
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Continuous Glucose Monitoring for Athletes: A Type-1 Diabetic's Take Featuring Kris Freeman
In this episode, we speak with Kris Freeman. For those unfamiliar with Freeman, he skied in four Olympics from 2002 to 2014, placed fourth on two occasions at the World Championships in the 15 k classic, and stayed at the sharp end of American distance skiing until retiring in 2018. After leaving...
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Caitlin Gregg Leads New “Team Birkie” Elite Group
In early July, the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation announced the launch of the Team Birkie professional racing team. The elite post-graduate training group would pull from the three primary midwestern clubs, the Loppet Foundation, Central Cross Country Skiing (or CXC), and the American...
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Coaching Great Britain Up - Hans Kristian Stadheim and Jostein Vinjerui
As far as teams go on the cross-country World Cup, Great Britain arrives at the show with perhaps the smallest team roster and staff. Somehow, they often roar when considering the results. We know British Nordic from the sharp end skiing of Andrew Musgrave, and sprinters Andrew Young and James...
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Intentional Versatility in the Masters Athlete Lifestyle with Elite Ski Mountaineering Athlete Cam Smith
If you have the good fortune to spend time in the Gunnison Valley of Colorado, perhaps on Crested Butte Nordic’s extensive trail system, exploring the Elk Mountain backcountry on mountain bike or skis, or taking laps on Mount Crested Butte, you may cross paths with a friendly red-haired resident...
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Diving Into Female Athlete Specific Fueling with Maddie Alm
This podcast is part of a series on female athlete specific physiology and sports nutrition. With the help of experts and novel research in this area, this series unpacks how the menstrual cycle might influence training adaptations and provides female athletes and coaches with the information to...
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First-Timers on the Dachstein with Marty Hall
A lack of on-snow opportunities. Although a major first-world problem, that's been on the mind of some this offseason. Here and there, we've published stories about a strict dryland diet for elite skiers this season. Meaning, no on-snow training. Mostly, that strict diet has applied to North...
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On Lhotse with Filmmakers Dutch Simpson and Nick Kalisz
Something a bit different on the podcast today. In the spirit of high mountains and the autumn season which is often the time many seek any iteration of mountain film. During normal times, we flock to touring mountain film festivals to celebrate. You know, solid storytelling and vibrant images to...
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A Midlife Crisis in Biathlon with Craig Wiggers
A few weeks back, we featured an excerpt from a new book titled Nordic Warrior? A Midlife Crisis in Biathlon. Written by Ithaca, New York, based biathlete, Craig Wiggers, the book explores his love affair with biathlon which began midlife. Wiggers' path to biathlon is as circuitous as they come....
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Building Equity in Sport with Dr. Edwin Moses
In this episode, we hear from a familiar voice - someone, in fact, we’ve heard from recently on the podcast, former elite cross-country skier Noah Hoffman. Post-race career, Hoffman has been deeply involved in the anti-doping movement as an educator, lobbyist, and content creator. This…
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Nordic Nation: Jordan Fields Snags the Triple Crown of White Mountain FKTs
Last fall, FasterSkier spoke with former Williams Ski Team member Jordan Fields after his impressive effort on the Presidential Traverse in the White Mountains of Northern New Hampshire. This classic point-to-point route leads travelers over eight summits in roughly 18 miles, including Mt...
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Nordic Nation: Zach Caldwell and Noah Hoffman Talk Anti-Doping Reform
With a kowtow to Zach Caldwell and Noah Hoffman, we are repurposing their recent video conversation about anti-doping reform. On Nordic Nation, you'll find just the audio. If you are more visual by nature, you can find the video here. In this conversation, you'll get solid details about…
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Nordic Nation: Clare Egan and Navigating the Pandemic
Thirty two years old and wise as wise can be. Clare Egan brings a calm intellect to the sport of biathlon. Speaker of many languages and head of the International Biathlon Union's athlete committee, Egan is respected by her peers for on-snow performances as well as her leadership in the IBU board...
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The Ups and Downs of Trail Design with John Morton
In this episode of Nordic Nation, we speak all things trail design with John Morton. Based in Vermont, and global in perspective, Morton provides insights into the literal ups and downs of trail design and how full-blown nordic centers and small scale trails can bring a modern vibe to an…
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Post Surgery and Pre-New Start it's Andrew Musgrave
Mid-Summer and mid-fishing session, we connected with Great Britain's Andrew Musgrave near his home in Trondheim, Norway. Musgrave underwent surgery on both Achilles tendons recently and is on the mend. In this episode, we discuss his comparatively down season last year, his plans to remain...
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Clean Sport, Testing Gaps, and Virtual Sample Collection with Noah Hoffman
As we all know, the COVID-19 global pandemic has left the world scrambling to adapt to the many challenges of slowing the spread of the virus. In the world of Olympic sports, the ripple effect has disrupted the efforts of anti-doping agencies worldwide to conduct the athlete testing normally…
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U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Matt Whitcomb Fields Questions from Right and Left Field
A slight reshuffling of positions at U.S. Ski and Snowboard and longtime coach Matt Whitcomb has a new title: Head Coach. Whitcomb held the title of World Cup Coach last season. As the pandemic took hold in mid-March here in the U.S., Whitcomb holed up at his cabin in rural Vermont for a two-week...
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Nordic Nation: Running to the Edge with Author and NYT Deputy Sports Editor Matt Futterman
If you're an avid reader of The New York Times sports section, you've most likely read the work of writer-journalist Matt Futterman (50). Futterman is the Deputy Sports Editor at the NYT, a fan of nordic sports, and an avid runner who was slated to run the Boston Marathon this past Monday....
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Shooting World Cups with Federico Modica from NordicFocus
Many of the World Cup race photos featured on FasterSkier come from NordicFocus, a European bases photo agency. NordicFocus, as the name suggests, features images from the world of nordic sport: cross-country, biathlon, nordic combined, and ski jumping. If you have buzzed around the media center…
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Holly Brooks on Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic
We’ve all heard the phrase: “These are unprecedented times.” And it is true. What the world is facing during the Covid-19 pandemic is something that none of us have experienced before. We are all feeling it. Uncertainty is ubiquitous and caused by a myriad of factors. We may be concerned about…
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Ollie Burruss and Shades of Green at Craftsbury
This past fall, the Craftsbury Outdoor Center (COC) updates its wax use policy. The New England institution was one of the first and among the largest cross-country ski centers to implement a policy curbing the use of per-fluorinated wax on its premises. The Craftsbury Outdoor Center supports...
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Going the Distance with Ben Lustgarten
Live, from Vermont, it was Ben Lustgarten of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project -- we spoke to Ben about his recent retirement announcement from full-time training and racing at the elite level. Lustgarten's name is synonymous with the SuperTour's sharp end. He's also known to throw down burly...
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Brian Gregg and Matt Liebsch-Faster Together
Independent of one another, Brian Gregg and Matt Liebsch are always to be feared as they line up for a ski race. Now in their mid-thirties, their lives have transitioned to other responsibilities that include partners, children, and full-time work. Yet, in the highly competitive world of elite...
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Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) and the Climate in High Performance Skiing
In this episode, hosted by FasterSkier contributor Rachel Perkins, we dive into the issue of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). This condition was formerly known as the female athlete triad, which was described as inadequate energy intake, the loss of menstruation (amenorrhea), and...
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Bringing the World Cup to Minneapolis
In this episode, we connect with John Munger, Executive Director of the Loppet Foundation in Minneapolis and Garrott Kuzzy, former U.S. Ski Team member who grew up near Wirth Park. From impressions of Wirth back-in-the-day to exploring how the World Cup ended up in Minneapolis, we drill down on...
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Reporting on the Reporting of Fluoro Use in Norway
If you’ve been following along with the global ski scene and wax, you know this: perfluorinated waxes have been a hot button topic. From issues with importing into the U.S., stories on potential health and environmental risk, and new “green” wax products coming on-line...it’s been hard to keep up...
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Nordic Nation: World Cup Preview with Devon Kershaw
Devon Kershaw, for many years, was a go-to on the World Cup for Canada. He won a gold medal at the 2011 World Championship in the team sprint with Alex Harvey and finished second in the World Cup overall in 2012. He is accomplished. Devon Kershaw. Vintage 2016 in Lillehammer. (Photo…
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Nordic Nation: The New Coach Episode with Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter
In this episode, we speak with now-retired Swedish skier Ida Ingemarsdotter. The thirty-four-year-old Ingemarsdotter became the head coach for the Swedish national development team this fall. She’ll be leading a crew of U23 and U20 skiers as they hope to transition to the senior national team....
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Nordic Nation: The Hard Work Pays off Episode with Rosie Brennan
Back in 2015, prior to her first go at a World Championships, Rosie Brennan was asked this: What’s your biggest motivation while racing?. “I am most motivated by wanting to show that my hard work was worth it, that I did everything I could to go as fast as I could,” Brennan replied at the time.…
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Nordic Nation Audio Short: Max Cobb and the Extraordinary IBU Congress
In this episode, we connect with Max Cobb, the CEO of U.S. Biathlon. He also sits on the International Biathlon Union’s (IBU) Executive Board. When we spoke, he had just returned from the IBU’s “historic” Extraordinary Congress which took place from October 18th-20th, in Munich. A 2016 photo of…
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Nordic Nation: Vegard Ulvang and the Will to Lead
Vegard Ulvang at fifty six years old remains an icon in Norway. With Olympic and Championship medals, a World Cup Overall title in 1990, he’s in the lineage of Norwegian skiing royalty. Away from the tracks, Ulvang began and then sold a profitable clothing company. He fills his time making...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Nordic Nation have?
Nordic Nation currently has 118 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Nordic Nation about?
The Nordic Nation podcast is a production of FasterSkier.com, the premier cross-country ski website in North America. The podcast features interviews, commentary, and news updates.
How often does Nordic Nation release new episodes?
Nordic Nation publishes regularly with 118 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Nordic Nation?
You can listen to Nordic Nation on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Nordic Nation?
Nordic Nation is created and hosted by FasterSkier.
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