By Gavin Kentch
It feels fair to say that there are more questions than normal surrounding the American team as the World Cup circuit resumes tomorrow in Holmenkollen. Athletes will race a 20km classic on Saturday and a 10km skate on Sunday, both interval-start competitions, before the 2024/2025 World Cup season wraps up next week with one race in Tallinn, Estonia, and three in Lahti.
Depending upon who you ask or what Instagram accounts you follow, the U.S. team’s performance at last week’s world championships was either an abject failure in which nearly every athlete performed far below their potential, a solid performance in which generally capable athletes were simply undone by a string of subpar ski prep days, or something in between.
(My personal working theory is that it was a little of a lot of things… one part the team as a whole probably not peaking quite as well for this week as other nations did, one part different training plans for different athletes manifesting as different levels of performance, one part illness or lingering effects of same, one part bad luck, then probably one part a lot of other small-margin things that can make the difference in elite sport also inuring to the Americans’ detriment. That is, I personally think that there was something suboptimal going on there, which issue was then promptly exacerbated by a series of ski service days that fell below the team’s customarily high standards.
Let me be very clear that the above paragraph is speculation, not sourced reporting. Maybe, like, “theorizing” rather than speculation, but I don’t have cites or quotes for much of that, is my point.)
But enough about me. Here’s Matt Whitcomb’s take. I asked the USST head coach on Sunday if he could speak to the athletes’ skis in the women’s 50km that had just wrapped up, as well as to the service side of things more generally throughout the championships. Here’s what he had to say about the week, in 500 words graciously penned from the Trondheim airport the following morning:
“We stayed healthy as a team, less for one case of the flu. We invested a lot in renting a block of apartments as a way of establishing a sort of bubble for this championships, and given the rain and the chill we all experienced over the last two weeks, it seems to have largely worked. After all, we understand via hearsay that this was the region’s rainiest five-day stretch in 126 years. So, let that…soak in? We had two wonderful chefs in Megan Chacosky and Becky Ludvig, who prepared lunch and dinner for the past two weeks. We lived well, and in many ways, our team had a great championships together.
“Regarding skis for [the women’s 50km] and for some of the various races during the championships, it’s no secret that we struggled. We are better as a team than our results in Trondheim demonstrated.
“And when I say ‘we struggled,’ I mean the wax techs and coaches who are involved in the waxing and ski testing, the ski companies who are very invested in many of our athletes, and also the athletes who are involved in testing and choosing the right skis. We are a team, and we win and lose together, and we did both in Trondheim.
“Regarding the entire championships, we simply don’t have enough experience in this transformed, corn snow condition yet. We are trying to catch up with a grinding program, and you’ll begin to see that pay dividends in the years to come, but not yet. We are catching up by investing in spring and summer testing camps for our techs, but that is a developing project. These things cost a lot of money.
“As an example of where we are headed, Switzerland, who had great skis in Trondheim — and three medals — found a team-developed grind that worked for them. The added advantage of that is when a whole team has one grind on their skis, the structure fleet can also be ground to match, and hand structure testing becomes more accurate. We have a lot to debrief about as a staff.
“At the same time, we have a lot to be grateful for. We did our best, and we did it while supporting each other through some very hard days. We did not stop fighting. And amidst all of the talk about what could’ve been better, we still had some results we are proud of. And on the day when we nailed the skis, Jessie, Julia, Gus, and JC were able to showcase how strong we are. We are so proud of our athletes.
“A heartfelt thanks goes out to our fans. There were so many of you in the stands, out on the trails, waiting for us outside of our wax truck, Yolanda, after the races. You made this week unforgettable, and we feel very proud to have done our best in front of you.”
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American skiing. We started with nothing and now we’re going to the Olympics. You can read more about our first three years here, and donate to the Olympics fund here. Thank you for consideration, and, especially, for reading.
