The Devon Kershaw Show by FasterSkier

March 31st is the last day we posted a new episode. Depending on where you stand in the COVID time machine, that might as well be a light year. Or a nano-second. From Oslo, Norway Devon chats about the time that was and the time that will be as we lurch into fall and then winter. In other words, it's about time we rebooted this project. On the list of topics discussed, staying put when the air qua...

Kershaw is free from quarantine and back at home in Lillehammer. As we all know, the race season has been shut down. That means it's time to discuss news items of note. Like...the "flexing" of some skiers as they ski an un-godly number of kilometers, Stina Nilsson's switch from cross-country to biathlon, the Norwegian Ski Federation's financial crisis, and, the retirement of Norway's Eirik Brandsd...

Canceled. The North American leg of the World Cup became a blip as the weight of a pandemic became too much to bear for organizers. Minneapolis canceled. Canmore canceled. And....finally...Québec canceled. We discuss what was a crazy week when, accordingly, the globe shut down pro and amateur sport. We spoke with Kershaw when he was six days into a 14-day quarantine. Kershaw had been in Germany fo...

A return to semi-normal: Devon is back from World Juniors and better for it. It was a big week in Germany for North America. This episode is a return to our discussion of the World Cup. The famed Holmenkollen hosted the weekend's 30 k / 50 k classic mass start races. Hindsight is 20/20, the Norwegian women should have swapped skis, and frankly, not much anybody can do about a steamrolling Bolshuno...

Straight up this is mostly about Junior Worlds -- specifically the junior women's 4 x 3.3 k relay and the 4x 5 k relay for the  junior men. A good day all around: U.S. men in first, Canada second. And in the women's race, U.S. junior women in second overall. We do discuss the World Cup sprints from this past Wednesday...but not a big discussion. In this episode, Kershaw also mentions a video inter...

It is Monday after all. A day late for the Lahti relay recap but right on time to discuss U.S. skier, Gus Schumacher's 10 k classic win at World Juniors. The 19-year-old Schumacher from Anchorage, Alaska can close - and he did that Monday with a burning fast final 3.3 k loop in taking the win.  And yeah, the women's 4 x 5 k  and the men's 4 x 7.5 k relays played out at Lahti's World Cup on Sunday....

Post Ski Tour 2020 it was back to the basics for the World Cup: Interval start classic races for the men and women. The local boy, Iivo Niskanen, still claims the 15 k classic as his race, especially when it goes down in Finland. For the women, Norway's Therese Johaug pipped out the win over Ebba Andersson of Sweden.  This was good solid racing in the 10 k and 15 k, respectively. Devon, by the way...

Stage 6 of the Ski Tour 2020 was, by any stretch of the imagination, a steamroller for Norway. A clean sweep on the men's and women's podium. On the men's side, that's not exactly what we expected. Russia's Alexander Bolshunov looked like a sure thing for the overall win. A 30 k classic for the twenty-three-year-old, I mean who would have predicted anything different?  The weather was all over the...

A full-on championship course in Trondheim, Norway where the World Championships will go down in the mid-2020s. That's a long way off. This much was true: the venue, like this tour, has been kind to Norway. Maiken Caspersen Falla and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo pleased the home fans. And yes, with all the fans, it seems this might be a venue to revisit in the near future.  One more day, a Stage 6 15 k/...

The race ended where it began: Stage 4 of the Ski Tour 2020. In between, it was 34 k mass start skate bliss through the Norwegian countryside for those watching from home. For those racing on course, it was not such a comfortable vibe. Pain cave anybody?  We discuss the unstoppable Johaug and an Alexander Bolshunov who sent it ... and stuck it, as he made a one-skier-show of the front of the race....

Åre, Sweden -- the site of the national (alpine) ski area in Sweden. Also the site of Stage 3 of the Ski Tour 2020's skate sprint. Short at 0.66 k, but oh so steep with a finishing climb with slopes at 28 percent. Yah! 28 percent. Maybe part sideshow, maybe not. Either way, athletes had to get themselves to the top. In what was a leg-burning affair, for a one-off event, it was sporting entertainme...

The Ski Tour 2020 show continued Sunday in Östersund, Sweden with the men's and women's classic pursuit races. Again, as we discuss in the podcast, it was Norway and Russia heavy on the men's side.  For the women, Johaug did her thing, but the racing was gritty. A chase pack of three and a speedy group from fifth through sixteenth made the 10 k affair a fun watch. Like usual we dig into the day. W...

It was all Norway in both the men's and women's Stage 1 of the Ski Tour 2020 from Östersund, Sweden. Sjur Røthe on the men's side was pacing perfection while Therese Johaug simply steamrolled. This was clear, Norway had the best skis, and perhaps by default, the fastest skiers almost across the top-10 board. Yet, it is a long week ahead, and we are one stage into a six stage event.  Here's the deb...

Sometimes when the unexpected happens, it's a good thing. That's what went down today in Falun, Sweden. In the men's 15 k mass start skate, it was not a scrum of 20 to 30 skiers in a cluster at the finish. A fast and furious pace set by Hans Christer Holund turned that concept on its head. Although the race was won by Alexander Bolshunov, the wily Norwegian that is Holund, took it out hot and brok...

In this episode --  an analysis of a wonderful day of classic sprinting in Falun, Sweden. First off, hats off to the organizing committee: the fans were out in force, Sweden showed up to race, Johaug advanced to the semis, two Norwegians pounced in the men's race....inhale -- it was simply a fun day of skiing. And, Falun's course was for real. Stout climbs forced athletes to run hills and technica...

This week, we re-posted a great piece from the Statistical Skier (Joran Elias). Before jumping into this episode, it's worth taking some time to digest some of the findings. Elias wrote the piece in response to a podcast we posted after the classic sprint in Oberstdorf, Germany. In that sprint, Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo had an astounding qualifier. In the podcast following the race, we discu...

In this episode of of The Devon Kershaw Show from FasterSkier, it is all classic: a deep breakdown from Devon on the nature of Obertsdorf, Germany's classic sprint course. The course has some relevance for this basic reason: the 2021 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships will be held at this venue next season. And what a preview. With three steep climbs, a wee bit of recovery, this sprint course dema...

Next season the 2021 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships will be hosted by Oberstdorf, Germany. On Saturday, the women raced a 15 k skiathlon, the men 30 k on what is now a gut-punch of a course. It is championship-worthy. In today's episode, we cover all the striding, all the gliding, and the ski-exchanges in between. Bolshunov remains on form after the TdS, while two notable Norwegians, Johannes...

Nové Město, Czech Republic served up a traditional rock'em sock'em pursuit series on the World Cup. Saturday featured a 10 k/15 k interval start skate, followed by a 10 k/15 K classic pursuit. Bolshunov and Johaug were the clear fitness outliers but some great races within the race unfolded. And yes, how about those big baggy bibs? Part art-class smock part moo-moo, it was not a good race look. Bu...

In this episode, Devon answers questions ranging from how World Cup athletes maintain in season fitness to why in fact relays don't end with a classic leg. Fell free to send in questions regarding the World Cup to info@fasterskier.com or devon@fasterskier.com.  This week's post-racing recap will be posted on Monday following the weekend's racing in Nové Město.  

We are corrected in this episode: we try to be better Francophiles by improving our pronunciation of the weekend's stand out performer on the men's side, Lucas Chanavat. We also dig down and find the fun in Sunday's team sprint in Dresden. With a whirlwind 0.7 k loop, and each skier racing six legs, it was basic sprinting fun. Thanks for listening. 

Post-Tour de Ski, it is time to visit historic Dresden, Germany for a weekend of city sprints. With trucked in artificial snow, slick, fast, and icy conditions made for some spills on the Dresden oval. Stay on your feet, and stay out front: basic tactics that some mastered Saturday.  Chanavat took the men's win and Svahn the women's victory.  Dresden is calling.

Holy smokes. It concludes. First off, for those who have listened to this seven-episode post-TdS run, we appreciate it. And there was the racing. Johaug. Weng. Diggins and Brennan in form today on the Alpe, and Sadie Maubet Bjornsen in seventh overall. For the men .... Johannes Høsflot Klæbo faded on the Alpe while Alexander Bolshunov came into his own. We could digress. But we'll leave that for t...

A bit of moving day on the women's side today as Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski concluded. The biggest mover, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen eeks within three seconds of Therese Johaug for the overall. So much drama set to unfold tomorrow. And then there's Lampic and Diggins on the podium. For the men, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo ran away with the win. But the Alpe Cermis on Stage 7 could crush the young man -...

In this seven part mini-series, we are onto episode 5 in our Tour de Ski breakdown. Stage 5 offered close racing on a famed Val di Fiemme, Italy 2.5 k loop. Mass start classic races, 10 k for the women, 15 k for the men, made this a three horse race on the men's side and slightly more open field for the women. Have a listen. And...we get a bit sidetracked at the end. If you like climbing books, yo...