The Devon Kershaw Show by FasterSkier

In this Sunday, World Championship team sprint episode of the Devon Kershaw Show, we have a special guest from Québec , the actual Prince of Québec ... Alex Harvey.  It has been ten short or long years since he and Kershaw won the classic team sprint at the 2011 Oslo World Championships. First off, before listening to the episode today...check out the videos posted below.  To set the scene, this w...

The most special of special guest on the podcast today, Kristin Størmer Steira. Størmer Steira, a retired Norwegian ski star, chats it up with Devon from Lillehammer, where the two are busy raising two young daughters. According to a 2014 FasterSkier article on the couple, evidently, Kershaw's "great smile", a legacy of his youth in Sudbury, won Størmer Steira over.  In her own right, Størmer Stei...

The storylines were many during Thursday's classic sprint at the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. As the backdrop for the racing -- the temps were high, the salted course began to breakdown in the final corner, and running uphill with skis on ... at lightning speed ... was mandatory.   Norway swept the men's podium with none other than classic kingpin Johannes Høsflot Klæbo taking...

The legend is set in stone: Kikkan Randall brought a new intensity and bottom-line results to the U.S. Ski Team. Three overall sprint globes to her name, five Olympics, a bronze at the 2017 Lahti World Champs in the skate sprint, a silver at the 2009 Liberec, Czech Republic World Champs skate sprint, a gold at the 2013 Val di Fiemme, Italy World Champs in the team sprint (with Diggins), and the 20...

In this episode, we chat about the weekend's racing from World Juniors and U23s. This is part two of our coverage of Worlds for the younger folks. This episode covers the relays and mass start classic races that concluded Sunday in Vuokatti, Finland.  On the show is longtime Kershaw friend Noah Hoffman, who it turns out, beyond his cross-country skiing endurance exploits, is an investment partner...

Devon jumps into the World Junior/U23 fray. This is part one of our coverage of Worlds for the younger folks. This episode covers the classic sprints and the individual skate races that concluded today in Vuokatti, Finland.  The racing began on February 9 with the junior classic sprint. The U23 classic sprints were postponed on Wednesday due to the severe cold in Finland. Those sprints were held T...

In this episode, Devon and former Canadian National Team member Jess Cockney discuss the intricacies of Saturday's skate sprint and Sunday's team sprint in Ulricehamn, Sweden.  The stage has been set, the first few acts are over, yet the curtain has not closed -- Jessie Diggins with a third place in Saturday's sprint brings her closer to securing the World Cup overall as the season enters it's las...

The second weekend with Norway back on the scene was a reveal. Therese Johaug, arguably the second greatest cross-country skier of all time, was bested by an in form and dialed in Jessie Diggins. Interval starts, for what its worth, most often do not command a television or streaming audience. This show is a must watch. It may just be Diggins' best career race.  So we chat a ton about Diggins. But...

We all thought the big news would be the return of Norway. And certainly, that was the news, just not the lead. Norway swept both the men's and women's skiathlon podiums on Saturday and won the 4 x 5 k and 4 x 7.5 k relays on Sunday. But...and this is a big but, Alexander Bolshunov made headlines with his violent behavior as he crossed the finish line in Lahti on Sunday.  Down the final straight,...

In the big global picture, much has transpired since Jessie Diggins won the Tour de Ski. On the macro side of things, that being on the World Cup, a break has transpired. On Saturday, the cross-country World Cup returns with a skiathlon. The more notable news is the Norwegian national team will spice up the skiing as they return from a self-imposed hiatus from the World Cup since early December. ...

The question is not where to start. That is with Jessie Diggins and her shining moment over eight stages at the Tour de Ski. Diggins secured the overall win in the Tour de Ski on Sunday, the first non-European skier, male or female to win the Tour. Ivan Babikov, former Candian National Ski Team member and master of the Alpe himself, joins Devon to discuss Diggins, the Russians, the Alpe, and the v...

The Tour de Ski's Stage 7 cliff notes: Diggins remains the overall Tour de Ski leader after being eliminated in today's semi-finals of the classic sprint. The news day on the micro-level belongs to Sweden with a sweep of the women's podium and Oskar Svensson, yes a Swede, won on the men's side. More macro: Diggins wears the yellow bib heading into Sunday's final stage, the Alpe Cermis hill climb....

The Tour de Ski's Stage 6 cliff notes: Diggins lands 9th on the stage but retains the overall lead, Brennan falls out of overall contention, Bolshunov wins, and Schumacher pops a top-10 for 8th place. (We are joined by guest Zach Caldwell.)

The Tour de Ski's Stage 5 cliff notes: A feisty race from both Diggins and Brennan. Diggins places third, Brennan fourth. In the men's race, Schumacher paces to 15th, and a wall of red as Bolshunov is simply peerless. Gus Schumacher arrives with a career-best 14th. 

The 5 k loop in Toblach, Italy was a Diggins course - according to Kershaw - and she took charge. With Diggins and Brennan going 1-2, again, the Tour de Ski has a decidedly American look on the women's side.  And with most of Russia's men's roster in the top-8, the boys in red Lycra control the standings. A bright note for men's U.S. skiing, Gus Schumacher put together a top-15 worthy effort on th...

The show notes are short. Three long days of race coverage and we end stages 1-3 on a high note for U.S. women's skiing. Jessie Diggins, in a gritty race performance on Sunday, secured the Tour de Ski's overall lead while Rosie Brennan raced to second overall. If you have not taken the time to watch the race, please take the time. It is worthy.  Here to discuss a late arriving email regarding the...

A big note upfront, in this episode we review a video when Devon was relegated for obstruction during a World Cup sprint. So, if you have a phone or other device handy, here's the link to the video .  Take a look, because we'll get into this pretty deep in the episode. And .... we'll chat the racing of the day, Stage 2 of the 2021 Tour de ski - all mass start classic racing.  The Race on the men's...

Let's cut to the chase ... this will be a long long 10 days of race coverage here at FasterSkier. Those 10 days include eight stages and two rest days. Phew. Today, Friday, January 1, saw Val Müstair, Switzerland host a stout skate sprint. Two laps of curves and whoops and hills at some altitude.  Kershaw brings us into the action and susses out the trends. One major trend coming into the day, Ros...

Full disclosure, we do get to the Dresden sprints, we swear, but it takes a few minutes in this episode. On a day when Devon's began his 39th trip around the sun -  it was his birthday on December 20th - the discourse shimmied to a full spectrum of topics - most of which directly tie into sliding on snow. (For the most part.) There's the chat about backcountry skiing and the lovely video edits fro...

Davos is many things and brings to mind fine high-mountain living, deep mountain valleys, and an old-school vibe stop on the World Cup. The weekend began with a zippy skate sprint that at least for the moment brought a familiar feel to sprinting when Italy's Federico Pellegrino took the win. However, on the women's side, a persistent and tenacious athlete, Rosie Brennan, took her first career Worl...

Not two weeks ago, despite the pandemic, it appeared the FIS World Cup had dodged the proverbial positive-test bullet. The Ruka, Finland round of the World Cup went down with fantastic racing, and, as far as we know at the time of dropping this episode, no positive Covid-19 cases among the athletes in Ruka. The cracks began to appear shortly after the racing in Finland concluded. Several of Norway...

So much to break down. Ruka, Finland presented a challenge on several fronts. Athletes contested a classic sprint, a 10 k / 15 k interval start classic, and a 10 k / 15 k skate pursuit over a three day period. A great way to exhaust some of the fastest skiers and a great way to entice us back into the verbal throws on the podcast discussing who is on form, and who maybe missed the kick.  The racin...

Beitostølen, Norway and Bruksvallarna, Sweden hosted FIS Cup racing over the weekend. The news from Norway tells of a Johannes Høsflot Klæbo who might be back on form when it comes to his distance racing chops. He's also keyed in for the sprints. In his two races this weekend, he won the classic sprint and placed second in the 15 k classic. Therese Johaug, unsurprisingly, swept the women's distanc...

Like so many organizations, FIS, the governing body for international skiing, is a slow-to-change entity. Doping reforms, for example, have evolved but at a yawn-worthy rate. So in rather atypical fashion, like a finger snap, FIS voted to oust its Secretary General, Sarah Lewis, on October 9th . Lewis had been considered a lifer at FIS. She'd been on staff for two decades. News on the "why" of her...

We mix things up in the episode. We deviate from the norm and jump into a discussion about the science of sport with journalist and author Alex Hutchinson . Some of you may know his work from Outside Magazine where he pens the Sweat Science column . Hutchinson is also the author of Endure:   Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, published in 2018.  His Sweat Science pi...