On this episode of Extra Blue I welcome Jan Gunther and David Chamberlain. Jan is the owner of Gear West Ski and Bike shop located in Long Lake, MN, just west of the Twin Cities. Founded in 1992 by Jan and her husband, this little shop has grown to be the largest ski shop in North America! In this episode, we dive into how Jan built the shop, touch…

Kelsey Dickinson is a biathlete for Team USA and traveling the World Cup circuit all season. She grew up in Winthrop, WA, attending the College of St. Scholastica where she balanced both biathlon and cross country, and then joined the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. Kelsey just achieved her career best result in the 15k individual race in Ostersun…

Flora Dolci is a member of the French National Cross Country ski team. She has multiple top-20 results on the World Cup and is a fierce competitor, but I believe she is known more for how kind and sweet she is. Truly one of the nicest humans, always with a smile on her face and always looking to have fun. We talk about her path as a skier growing u…

Kristen Bourne has been the USST D-Team coach for over year now and has taken on some impressive roles. Not only is she coaching 8 athletes on the D team, plus two A and B team athletes, attending all of the team training camps, visiting and working with her athletes all over the country during the summer and fall... she is also a full-time World C…

Katie Feldman is an American skier who just wrapped up a successful racing career with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. After 5 years of Supertour racing, this past year was the cherry on top as she raced the Visma Ski Classic marathon circuit around Europe all winter. This collection of marathon races range anywhere between 40-90 kilometer…

David Norris raced in 58 World Cups as a professional skier. He competed in 3 World Championships and had many top-30 results on the World Cup, yet he was never named to the national team and never received funding from the national team for his racing. Instead, he had to find and build his own network to financially support his ski goals, despite …

Katherine Steward-Jones is a World Cup Skier for the Canadian National Ski Team. She has had a stand-out season this year with 3 top-13 finishes on the World Cup and is currently ranked 18th in the World Cup Distance points. Originally from Chelsea, Quebec, Katherine now skis for the Alberta World Cup team based in Canmore. On this episode, we disc…

Zak Ketterson is a member of the US Ski team and a fellow native to Minnesota. He was recently named to the World Championship team, but was not given starts to his goal races and decided to forgo attending the championship event and head home instead. In this episode we discuss this difficult decision and relate to each other on so many levels as …

Most foreigners come to the US for college as their last stop as a ‘pro skier.’ There have been a few exceptions over the year, including Jasmi Jonsuu, a Finnish skier who attended the University of Denver before she raced her way onto the Finland National Ski Team. In this episode we chat about her journey, traveling across the pond and emerging h…

This episode of Extra Blue takes a look at the behind-the-scenes of World Cup ski racing with the support staff. Anna Giguere is a physical therapist and Cada Fabian is a high performance chef. Both are veterans with the USST as they were with the team in the weeks leading up to the 2022 Winter Olympics last year. This season, they joined the team …

Ben Ogden is a member of the US Ski Team, University of Vermont Ski team, and the SMS T2 club team. Ben is coming off a 6th place finish in the 10k Classic World Cup during the 3rd stage of the Tour de Ski. He is also a regular in the World Cup sprint semi-finals and I am sure we will be seeing this man on a podium in the near future. When Ben isn’…

Jessie is a 3x Olympic medalist for team USA. She is an advocate for mental health, eating disorder awareness, equal rights, getting the community outside in the winter and so much more! She uses her platform for GOOD to promote the Emily Program, Protect Our Winters, ShareWinter, and many other impactful organizations in the outdoor community. Man…

Rosie is a member of the USST and a world cup podium skier. In this episode, we chat about the road to get there and how it wasn’t always smooth. Rosie has faced many obstacles in her career: knee surgery, her dad passing, mono, underperforming at the Olympics, all of which led to her being named on and off the national team. Despite this, Rosie ha…

Megan currently serves as the lead Sport Dietitian for the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, organizing nutrition provisions for the elite club programs of biathlon, rowing, running and XC skiing and supporting the Center’s seasonal dining hall menu development and execution. Megan continues to engage as a member of the USOPC Nutrition team, collaborating…

Gus Schumacher is a professional cross country skier for Team USA. Born in Madison, WI but raised in Anchorage, Gus shares a little bit about his life living in Alaska. Gus has been on the National team and racing on the World Cup for many years now, but this year he’s sharing a little more upfront about his goals for the season. He recently wrote …

On this Women Led Wednesday I welcome Abby Drach to the Extra Blue podcast. Women Led Wednesday occurs annually on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The campaign was launched in 2018 with the intent to bring more awareness to business women and female entrepreneurs through the holiday season. Women are only 25% of executive and senior-level offici…

Julia Kern is a professional cross country skier for Team USA, my own teammate on the SMS T2 Ski Team, and my friend. She has many podiums to her name, from eastern cups in New England, to Junior Nationals, to World Juniors, and even on the World Cup. Despite her many accomplishments in the sport, Julia’s love for sports doesn’t end with skiing - a…

Welcome to Extra Blue! Extra Blue is a podcast about cross country skiing; sharing stories, race results, training insight, innovation in the sport, and inspiration for the next generation. Whether you’re an experienced racer competing at the highest level or a beginner getting out on fish scales, I hope to share with you the passion and love for t…