The Devon Kershaw Show by FasterSkier

We're back with a recap of Russian Alexander Bolshunov's dominating victory in the Olympic 30-kilometer skiathlon. We break down the dramatic start to the race, the Russians' epic performance, Iivo Niskanen's heroic effort to hang on to a bronze and the huge time gaps we saw to even some of the sport's biggest names. And we talk about doubts about Bolshunov's success. We'll be back periodically du...

Kicking off the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games with a look into the women's skiathlon. Co-host Nat Herz was on site during the race, braving the wind and cold to collect deeper insights into the scene, while Kershaw gives his hot take as a very-well-informed armchair quarterback. Note that Kershaw picked two of the top-three athletes correctly in his pre-Olympic podium picks: unsurprisingly, the favor...

This episode of the Devon Kershaw Show breaks down the lead-up to the Olympics with special guest star Alex Harvey, the Canadian World Championships gold medalist. Harv and Kersh make their podium predictions for the six Olympic events; we discuss the nightmare scenario with COVID cases inside Norway's national team; and Nat checks in from his quarantine in Los Angeles in advance of his flight to...

In this episode of the Devon Kershaw Show, we bring back Zach Caldwell, one of North America’s leading ski and wax experts. We get into the arcane and arguably misguided rules around the use of fluorocarbon waxes at high-level races, along with potential challenges for wax and ski technicians at the little-studied Beijing Olympic venue. You can find a host of resources from Zach on skis, wax, and...

You asked, now Devon is answering. We’re finally here with a long-promised mailbag episode for you this week. Devon takes us through questions from more than a dozen listeners; we cover World Cup competition formats, tactics, training, broadcasting and a bunch of other random fun stuff. We’ll be back soon with coverage of Olympic team selection and hopefully some more intel on the Olympic venue in...

We’ve got extra-special Alaska-based guest Kikkan Randall joining us for this episode to recap the 2021/22 Tour de Ski. We break down a rough finish for a head cold-afflicted Jessie Diggins, some sensational skiing by Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, and some lingering questions about Olympic preparation. We’re planning a mailbag episode in the next few days; send your questions to devon@fasterskier.com an...

Welcome back to the Devon Kershaw show for our Tour de Ski stage 3 and 4 recap. We get into Frida Karlsson’s withdrawal from the tour after her egregious take-out of Jessie Diggins in Saturday’s classic sprint. We also cover Calle Halfvarsson and Joanna Hagström delivering for Sweden, Johannes Klæbo giving a couple of beat-downs, and Diggins’ come-from-behind win Friday. We’ll be taping a mailbag...

Welcome back to the Devon Kershaw Show. This week we have an under-the-weather Rachel Perkins, filling in for Nat Herz, to breakdown the first two stages of the Tour de Ski in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. From winter storm conditions for the 10/15k classic that contrasted a clear and fast opening freestyle sprint, there was plenty to note in these first two stages. We also discuss translating top res...

We’ve got a special edition of the Devon Kershaw Show for you this week with star American cross-country skier Rosie Brennan. After more than a decade of international racing, Brennan had a breakout season last year with World Cup wins in Davos. She’s had more strong results this year, including a podium in Lillehammer and two near-misses in her return to Davos. Brennan hails from Utah; she’s a gr...

This week’s edition of the Devon Kershaw Show comes in hot with a recap of the city sprint in Dresden, Germany. The breakdown includes solid American results and a tragic crash for a Canadian sprinter, plus some Kremlinology about Alexander Bolshunov and the Russian Ski Federation, discussion about the internal dynamics of the Swedish sprinters and a reminder about how you’re lucky to live outside...

Davos brought another entertaining weekend of racing for American ski fans, with Rosie Brennan in the mix in both competitions, a podium from Jessie Diggins, and and breakout performances from Hailey Swirbul, Sophia Laukli, and Novie McCabe. Devon Kershaw and FasterSkier’s Nat Herz take us through the results with special guest Eirik Brandsdal, the longtime, now-retired Norwegian World Cup sprint...

It was a hot weekend of racing in Lillehammer, with another epic Johaug-Karlsson duel, some legit results from American racers and some breakout performances from some new names. Devon Kershaw and FasterSkier’s Nat Herz break it down, with the added bonus of Kershaw’s firsthand experience of waxing for the Canadian team on-scene. Come for the race breakdowns, stay for the monologues about TV produ...

We’re back with this week’s episode of the Devon Kershaw Show! Devon and FasterSkier’s Nat Herz break down the World Cup’s exciting season-opening weekend of racing in Finland, along with a special guest: U.S. Olympian Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, who retired in the spring. The trio breaks down Ruka’s frigid temperatures, legit results from North American racers, Frida Karlsson’s surprising victory over...

The Devon Kershaw is back from summer hibernation! This week, Devon takes a break from medical school to break down the first big tune-up races of the season in Muonio, Finland. Joining him are the show’s new co-host, former FasterSkier reporter Nat Herz, along with Canadian athlete Russell Kennedy, who popped a huge result in one of the races in Finland. Russell catches us up on the European circ...

With wildfire smoke obscuring mountain views and compromising easy breathing in much of the West, it’s safe to say it is summer. In this episode of the Devon Kershaw Show, we mostly chat with Zach Caldwell of Vermont’s Caldwell Sport.  Last season, during one of our conversations with Zach, we discussed some ideas we’d like to see in terms of an enhanced broadcast from FIS for their cross-country...

When it comes to the leading research regarding nordic sport, we often associate Dr Øyvind B. Sandbakk with publishing keen information regarding high performance. Sandbakk is the managing director at the Centre for Elite Sports Research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. Beyond just simply chit-chatting about the current state of affairs regarding c...

There was a time when the Canadian National Cross-Country Ski Team was the North American team to watch. As skiers like Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins found their footing, Becky Scott, Chandra Crawford, and Sara Renner were medaling at the Olympics. Alex Harvey and Kershaw won team sprint gold at the 2011 World Championships. And Harvey continued to romp - winning the 2017 World Championship go...

The main point of the weekend was the coronation of Jessie Diggins as the overall winner of the cross-country World Cup. She becomes the first American woman to do so. Historic? Yes. Adding to the crystal collection, she'll haul across the Atlantic on her trip home the distance globe too.  We discuss the racing in Engadin, Switzerland which consisted of mass start classic races on Saturday and fun...

We are catching our breath here with Alex Harvey with the 50 k classic rundown on the podcast. On another planet where the perceived forces of good and evil do not wear Lycra, this race is simply catalogued as another classic, not a mega-classic. Such is life and such is racing. This 50 k classic monster came down to the wire as Russia's Alexander Bolshunov and Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo flow...

Here's Therese Johaug after her dominant 30 k classic performance at the 2021 World Championship: “I never have been in such good shape. I am so happy. I’m 33 years and I know I’m getting older and older and I know that this time ends soon, so I am just so happy.” What the World Cup field has historically known is a Johaug in shape. Outright, she's likely the best distance skier of all-time. What...

One can expect some tactics during a 4 x 10 k relay in heavy snowfall for world championship glory. To summarize nearly two hours of racing in three sentences there was this: Russia off the front, then in the middle. Norway in the middle, then off the front. Then Klæbo becoming the king of coy as he tempts Bolshunov and pounces for the win.  This 4 x 10 k relay provided a wealth of storyline threa...

The facts are this: with Johaug in the 4 x 5 k relay mix Norway remains a force late in the race when the skate legs ensue. Today in Oberstdorf, Johaug took over the race and made it a relative yawner up front. The real action was for third place where the U.S. and Finland threw down.  Over 20 k of racing came down to the final straight when Krista Pärmäkoski and Jessie Diggins drag raced. Pärmäko...

For what it is worth, and it is worth something, the 15 k interval start skate at the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany lived up to the hype as the race of truth. Coming in, we would have expected Russia's Alexander Bolshunov to search, seek, and destroy every centimeter of this salted and then melting course. It was a grind for all. And throughout the laps on a brutal course, the Ru...

In today's 10 k story on FasterSkier , here's how it began: "The high pressure continued at the 2021 World Championships on Tuesday in more ways than one. Oberstdorf, Germany’s temps hovered around 50 degrees Fahrenheit for the start of the women’s 10-kilometer individual freestyle, and a rarefied number of skiers poised to step on the podium. The pressure cooker that is the individual start, with...

In this episode, we speak with Zach Caldwell -- Putney, Vermont ski whisperer and wax nerd at Caldwell Sport. We’ve received questions from listeners asking about the difficulty of waxing (for both skate and classic) as well as ski selection when the temperatures spike beyond the melting point for snow. That has been the case in Oberstdorf, Germany the last week, site of the 2021 Nordic Ski World...