Good morning and welcome to another ‘WEEKLY WAX,’ the Seder-Skier’s little ski news bulletin.

The World Cup season is quickly approaching. In less than two weeks, the best skiers on the planet will dust off the rust in Muonio, Finland. After that, many will travel to Beitostoelen and Gaellivare for another tune-up before heading back to Ruka for the World Cup opener at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, in North America’s highest city, Team Seder-Skier is eagerly awaiting the arrival of its fifth member. Our baby boy is expected sometime between Thanksgiving and Dec. 5 — which is excellent timing, since I’ll be covering the Copper Cup (an Alpine World Cup) Nov. 26-30 and the Birds of Prey World Cup the following week. …in addition to tracking what’s happening in cross-country skiing, of course. …

To get you back in the skinny ski spirit, we’ve been releasing several fun shows this month. I’m really excited to share my recent conversation with Zak Ketterson.

The 28-year-old just missed the criteria for getting renamed to the U.S. Ski Team, which he made for the first time in the 2019-2020 season. He was off in 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 but rejoined it for the next three seasons.

Despite the rollercoaster, the Minnesota-native isn’t giving up on his dreams. The Team Birkie athlete chronicled his buildup to the season on a new Youtube channel, which is quite entertaining and has amassed over 1,000 subscribers in just 43 videos. There are a gazillion fun nuggets for everyone — from tips to making your cold skis faster to body image and training epiphanies to concerns regarding the Minnesota Timberwolves backcourt. We’re releasing that episode next week.

That gives you time to catch up with our other shows:

• Oct. 29: Hailey Swirbul chats about her World Cup comeback.
• Nov. 1: Erin Moening talks about her work supporting coaches of all levels and growing the elite domestic Nordic community.
• Nov. 4: The Seder-Skier Podcast solo show: Gripwax Nation returns with robust commentary on all the latest ski news.
• Nov. 8: 1966 MN co-state champion Doug Edmonson joins to discuss his new book “Norm Oakvik: The Inconspicuous Coach — Memories of a Beloved Coach and a history of Minnesota Nordic Skiing.” 
• Nov. 12: Zak Ketterson hops on to talk about his mindset coming into an Olympic year after his best World Cup season yet in 2024-2025.

Have you gotten on snow yet? Let me know how your training is going and what goals you have for the year in the comment section below!

Around the World Cup

• One big motivation for U.S. skiers to make this Olympics? How about $100K? “The $100,000 definitely motivates all of us to make that team,” cross-country skier Gus Schumacher told the AP. “Cross-country isn’t generally huge money, and $100,000, especially for the people that maybe are on the edge of the team, is going to be a lot.”
• Amundsen said the Swedes don’t compete enough (on the World Cup) … and now we have some spicy comments getting tossed back and forth….”It’s fun that Harald misses us at the competitions. It’s nice to hear that. He can enjoy it if he wants to,” William Poromaa told SVT.
• Speaking of Swedes, let’s keep an eye on Alvar Myhlback. How is that Sweden’s biggest young talent ever won’t be competing in the World Cup or the Olympics?
• Linn Svahn apparently is in good form after not being able to train properly until late September. “Linn looked good, technically she was there and it was fun to see her on the track and able to drive at full speed,” team manager Anders Byström told Langrenn. Bystrom also said he’s thinks the national team situation looks better this year compared to last, when they swept the women’s medals in Trondheim.
• Jim Galanes penned another good op-ed in FasterSkier, this one on the lack of accountability in youth sports abuse.
• I have to give FS some credit for pumping out profiles on US skiers lately … here’s one on Julia Kern, Joe Davies, Kate Oldham, Gus Schumacher and Tabor Greenberg.

Letters, we get your letters….we get your letters EVERYDAY

Email us at sederskier@gmail.com.

One thing I never hear anyone talk about re: Russians on WC/olympics, and I would guess this is a major factor among the decisions makers at FIS, is the example of the debacle of the vuelta de espana this year. Basically was shut down by anti Israel protests because of the Israeli team being allowed to participate. And obviously skiing has the history of climate protests so skiing is not immune to this stuff.

Seems pretty obvious if Russians are at the Olympics you’d have some major disturbances from protesters. If I were on the FIS council that would have weighed heavily in my decision making. Regardless of what you really think, practically speaking allowing them while the war is ongoing would be inviting some huge problems.

-Zach from Idaho

Zach: That’s a really good point. I wasn’t aware of the stuff going on at the Vuelta, but you’re right, there probably would be a high likelihood of protests if Russians were at the games. I’m not convinced that weighed heavily on the members of the FIS council, though….but it might have (again, that’s why I think there should be some transparency with those meetings, decisions, etc…..a two-sentence press release on an issue that big — with no follow up interviews, press conferences, etc. — is kind of pathetic…..). 

As always, thanks for the input!

Ryan – Enjoy listening to your podcast. Was listening to the latest episode today and tuning into the Russian/Olympic discussion.  I think my view as a non-insider (don’t know all the ins and out of drug testing protocols, etc..) regarding doping is not to punish the current Russian athletes for past doping mis-deeds but instead not give them an inch of leeway now given their past history.

State sponsored doping happened under the Putin regime and Putin is still is in power.  Has Putin fixed the Russian doping agency?  As far as I understand Russia is still not in compliance with WADA. Why not?, what are the outstanding issues for them to be certified again?

So my primary concern is that if Russian skiers are allowed in the Olympics would they be coming having been put through as rigorous of a drug testing protocol as the other nations competitors?  If they have tested clean for consecutive years by international agencies, then great put on your race bib.  If they have only been tested by RUSADA and then just starting being tested this fall/winter again by outside agencies I would be a lot more concerned.  Has Putin allowed/encouraged international testing agencies to come test inside Russia year round since Russia was banned by FIS so that if they were granted FIS/Olympic starts they would be ready? I would want clear answers to all those questions before allowing the athletes back in.

Some other tidbits I thought of when listening..

1) I think Bulshunov wouldn’t be able to meet Individual Neutral Athlete standard due to his ties to National Guard/Military so it would have to be the young gun or someone else.

2) I heard the claim from Mika about only one athlete per gender being possible for Russia but never heard specific confirmation or alternate sourcing backing up how that number was arrived at. I think 10 spots per gender were being held to be won in period 1 by other nations, but didn’t understand how they would be distributed. 

3) From my reading of FIS 25/26 competition rules if the vote had gone the Russian way and without FIS changing rules they would of only been allowed 2 start spots per gender for the weekends at Ruka+ Trondheim and 4 starts per gender for all the races in Davos because the team sprint that weekend would up their gender quota from 2 to 4.

Will be interesting to see what happens.  I probably personally lean towards not allowing Russian athletes due to the fact that their president invaded/continues to invade a sovereign country. I miss watching Ustiugov more than Bolshunov.

Thanks again for the podcast, pretty niche sport but a fun one to follow!

Cheers,

Anonymous

Anonymous – Glad you enjoy the podcast! These are great points — a lot there — I think I might have to bring up some of them on the next show! I like what you said regarding doping penalties more than my original take … and yes, I think your concerns are valid and shared by the rest of the pro peloton to some degree…or at least that’s what I’ve been reading/hearing. In regards to No. 2, check out this Nordic Insights story…Gavin really does a good job diving into the documents…..Thank you for adding to the discussion.