The title of the story provides a hint of Hannah Halvorsen's struggle with body satisfaction her entire life: I Don’t Have a Six Pack, but a Car Hit Me and I Survived.

Hannah is returning to cross country racing after being hit by a car last November in Anchorage, and in the story she goes into great detail the struggles she has faced with the images of having an "athletic body."

Read the full story at FasterSkier.com

The nature of a competitive athlete is to be on the road, traveling the globe to chase podiums, climb rankings, and secure a position at the top of one’s sport. For snowboarders, the “top of one’s sport” takes on a few different meanings. Does it mean landing a closing segment in a Teton Gravity Research annual film? Is it going viral with a street edit? Or is it earning a spot at the top of an Olympic podium?

There are many elements of snowboarding that riders would like to pursue but can’t find the time, energy, or funding to commit to a project outside of their particular specialization. Last season, seven-time FIS Crystal Globe winner Chris Corning and U.S. Snowboard Pro Team member Chase Blackwell made it a point to film alongside a grueling event schedule with the goal of producing their first-ever film, Teal. 

“I wanted to showcase our riding in a different light than what people are used to,” said Chris. “I wanted to bring the street riders into the eyes of competition fans and get the competition riders in front of the powder and street followers.“

Riders on the project included Windham Miller, Brett Moody, Sam Klein, Colton Carroll, Conor Carroll, TJ Holman, and Sam Anderson. Alex Harvey took on the responsibility of filming and editing with filming support from Calen Albert. It was all hands on deck with athletes also assisting in capturing secondary footage from different angles. 

Although the project isn’t complete, Chris and Chase both agree that like competition, producing a snowboard film is not easy with many unique challenges.

“I’d say competition and filming are both pretty difficult, but we are out of our element when producing a snowboard film,” said Chase. “In a contest, it’s very routined and we have a set schedule. That’s often not the case when filming. Plus, we don’t have to build the jumps or the pipe we’re competing on.”

Chris also noted a major difference related to the timeline in both worlds. 

“Doing well at a contest has such instant gratification compared to producing a movie,” he said. “I think it’ll take longer for the emotions around successfully completing the movie to set in.”

Whether filming or competing, it helps to enjoy spending time with your fellow athletes. While Chase and Chris are both friends and U.S. Snowboard Teammates, their schedules are very different as riders who compete in halfpipe and slopestyle. The two riders may not share an event schedule, but they do share the motivation and interest to get out and create. 

“Working on the Teal project with Chase was rewarding in the sense that it allowed us to become closer friends,” said Chris. “We compete in different disciplines, so we don’t always get to travel together, so this was a great opportunity for us to ride and have some fun.”

For Chase, riding with Chris offered up more than just comradery, it was a chance to feed off Chris’s experience and his eye for the backcountry. 

“I had so much fun working with Chris,” Chase reflected. “He’s done more backcountry filming and filming in general than I ever have. Chris was really helpful and knowledgeable about what we were hitting and what tricks/angles for shots were going to look the best. All in all, we’re just really good friends, so getting to shred backcountry with him was all time.”

The movie title Teal speaks to the riders in the film. Like the color, each rider is unique and has yet to truly find their place in the mainstream. Teal sets out to give these riders a home. They may not all belong to one crew, but they came together to embrace each other’s out of the box styles with out of the box features. 

In a world where content rules, filming has become a critical element in building any snowboarder’s personal brand. Last season, Chase and Chris managed to find the best of both worlds, successfully competing at an elite level while working on a collaborative film project. With riders usually having to be laser-focused and dedicated to one element of the sport to find any level of success, it’s a beautiful thing when athletes like Chris and Chase make time to pursue a passion project. 

As Chase and Chris pack their bags for U.S. Ski & Snowboard training camp at the Stomping Grounds Park in Saas Fee, Switzerland, they have more than just on-snow pursuits to look forward to this Fall. Stay tuned for the release of Teal coming soon!

FOLLOW

Instagram
@chriscorning
@chase_ing_snow
 

So what's new for this season? Read up on the COVID-19 guidance, the new FIS helmet requirement for Masters FIS races, the fluorocarbon wax ban, and check out the new Masters store! 

COVID-19 Guidance

• The latest updates for events from U.S. Ski & Snowboard will be posted on the COVID Return to Competition page.
• Find all COVID guidance from U.S. Ski & Snowboard by clicking on COVID-19 in the top menu bar on the webpage or at usskiandsnowboard.org/covid-19. 
• See the alpine specific guidance here: 2020-21 COVID-19 Alpine Policies and Procedures

FIS Masters Helmet Rule

• FIS Helmets will now be REQUIRED for all FIS Masters GS and SG events. 
• It is RECOMMENDED that Masters use helmets that meet the FIS standards for all U.S. Ski & Snowboard GS, SG and DH competitions.

Fluorocarbon Wax Ban Update 

• FIS and U.S. Ski & Snowboard have prohibited wax products containing fluorocarbons from use in all sanctioned competitions.
• Initial testing if any for Masters would be testing for a threshold, as it is understood that existing equipment may already have fluorocarbon wax exposure.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Masters Store

A few years ago there was a discussion on Facebook along the lines of "I would like a shirt that says that." So here it is... a t-shirt for the masters racer that just can't quit! We also have the beanie up in the shop and will be adding a few other things over the next year!

Up-and-comers in aerial skiing had the opportunity to participate in U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s inaugural Aerials Development Camp. The six athletes that qualified included Karenna Elliott, Tasia Tanner, Bobbi Vornheder, Derek Krueger, Finnean Mceneany and Connor Curren. All participating athletes already train together as members of Park City Ski & Snowboard (PCSS). This unique scenario made the camp possible during the current COVID-19 pandemic. 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Aerials World Cup Coach J.C. Andre and PCSS Head Aerial Team Coach Jack Bouczuk collaborated together to coach these athletes over the course of 4 weeks from early August to early September. Engaging with member clubs is important in creating a seamless transition to the Team and a strong development pipeline. 

“It’s a way for us to connect the next up-and-coming aerials athletes with the Team, and to connect those club coaches with ours,” explained U.S. Ski & Snowboard Sport Development Senior Manager Ashley Diebold. “We are trying to develop a common language amongst National Team coaches, club coaches and development athletes so that we’re all working from the same foundation. The goal is that by creating this opportunity for collaboration between the U.S. Ski Team coaches, club coaches and development athletes we will strengthen our development pipeline and thereby improve athletic experience and outcomes.”

Although the goal is to work towards coaches speaking the same language, a unique perspective is always welcomed by athletes.

“Things can get repetitive in aerials, Jana [Johnson] and I have been coaching these specific athletes for two years,” explained Jack. “So having another coach come in, with a different voice, mixes things up and helps keep these athletes motivated. When development athletes hear “U.S. Ski Team,” [attached to the camp] it gives them hope and courage in pursuing that ultimate goal of making the Team.”

Athletes were asked to set individual goals at the beginning of camp and work with JC on making noticeable improvements throughout the month. “The number one focus was good technical skills, making sure they were all square coming out of the jump and coming into the landing,” explained JC. “Most thought we would be doing more DD (degree of difficulty tricks), but I think the basics are most important. We want the basics to be as close to 100% as possible so that once we move on to DD, there aren’t as many mistakes. I think a lot of them thought they’d be hucking off things, so there was a reality check there. But [towards the end of camp] we’re back to DD, and they see their tricks are better.”

“The main thing that I worked on was making my lay-in on my lay tucks, lay lays, and lay fulls straighter,” said Tasia. “I didn’t really succeed with this until the last couple days of the camp but it’s something that’s really going to make me a better aerialist and I’m really excited to do it on snow.”

“Overall the camp was very productive,” said Derek. “JC helped me perfect all of my skills by starting with the basics and slowly adding on flips and twists until we eventually got to double full full (double backflip with three twists). This past camp I learned that perfecting the small details will make me a better jumper in the long run.”

Opportunities for club coaches and athletes to work with U.S. Ski Team staff creates a more collaborative process in putting athletes on podiums, and facilitates identifying and growing young talent. With such a successful first iteration of the program, both JC and Jack look forward to expanding the camp next year. “Coaching together, hopefully we can create more of a relationship for next summer and in the future,” said JC. 

September 10 marks World Suicide Prevention Day, an opportunity to remember those affected by suicide, create awareness, remove stigma, and to focus efforts on directing treatment to those who need it most.

Mental health and suicide prevention are more than just topics to focus on for one day or one month a year. Findings from a national survey involving over 2,000 U.S. adults (conducted by The Harris Poll) released Sept. 1 found the overwhelming majority (81%) believe, as a result of COVID-19, suicide prevention needs to be a national priority.

As the Olympic National Governing Body of skiing and snowboarding in the United States, U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s mission is to empower athletes to achieve excellence, including providing the resources and tools necessary to ensure mental well being. Through a partnership with The Speedy Foundation, U.S. Ski & Snowboard will provide mandatory QPR Institute training for all staff. QPR Training will also be free and highly encouraged for U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes, members, and board members. 

QPR Training is based on three steps anyone can learn to help prevent suicide: Question, Persuade, and Refer. The QPR Institute’s mission is to reduce suicidal behaviors and save lives by providing innovative, practical and proven suicide prevention training. Those trained in QPR learn how to recognize suicide warning signs and are better equipped to question, persuade and refer someone in potential danger to help. QPR can be learned in as little as one hour. 

To register for complimentary (normally $29.95), online & on-demand QPR training via The Speedy Foundation, follow the steps below:

1. Click here: qprtraining.com/setup
2. Enter this code: SPEEDYFOUND
3. Select Create Account
4. Complete and submit your registration form
5. QPR will display (and email you) the newly created Username and Password
6. You can then log-in to begin training at qprtraining.com
7. Learn to save a life.

Mandatory staff QPR training is an important step in U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s recently revamped internal mental health committee’s plan and oversight of the organization’s mental health resources. This internal committee is led by USOPC Sr. Sport Psychologist Alexander Cohen and U.S. Ski & Snowboard Sports Medicine Director and Lead Physical Therapist Gillian Bower, with participation from key staff members and coach and athlete representation. U.S. Ski & Snowboard has also made an annual commitment to complete the NCAA Mental Health Best Practices Self Assessment. Results and recommendations are reported directly to the mental health committee for review and implementation.

More detail on the newly structured committee will be posted on the organization’s mental health and wellness section of usskiandsnowboard.org prior to the start of the 2020-21 competition season.

If you or someone you know is experiencing an urgent mental health issue, we encourage you to text HOME to 741741, or call (800) 273-8255 to speak to a mental health professional. In the process of helping yourself, you may be inspiring courage in others to seek help as well.

If you are a U.S. Ski & Snowboard athlete, member, or staff, and feel you need support or would like to talk, don’t hesitate to reach out to USOPC Sr. Sport Psychologist Alexander Cohen as a resource.

Alexander Cohen, Ph.D., CMPC
Sr. Sport Psychologist
United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee
alexander.cohen@usoc.org
(O) +1 719-866-3180 (M) +1 719-216-6376

QPR Institute
QPRInstitute.com
QPR For Sports
QPR Quiz

Mental Health Resources
USOPC/Team USA
The Speedy Foundation
Michael Phelps Foundation
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Crisis Text Line
Mental Health First Aid
 

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.