I rely mostly upon these sources while shaping my opinions: watching races in their entirety, via the service with USA rights per event (or EU coverage posted on YouTube shortly after, though my VPN savvy is expanding); fis-ski.com, which is indispensable—astoundingly detailed “live”archive of FIS-sanctioned winter sport; athletes’ Instagram accounts for personal insights on competition, friendship, training/rehab, travel, animals, food. And I recently discovered ski-db.com (Ski Database), for individual and event statistics in a variety of lists/cross-references.
From what I’ve found, skiracing.com is the primary US source of journalistic coverage.
Canada/US and European sites abound, I imagine; Google away.
Nathaniel Vinton's The Fall Line (W.W. Norton, 2015) is an excellent account of the 2010 World Cup season, climaxing with the US Alpine Team's Olympic triumphs. Better still, IMO, Vinton illuminates ski racing's history, engaging personalities, politics, and especially the sport's technical nuances. Highly recommended.
Bromides dominate most athletes’—of any sport—interviews. Though thankfully this is
changing, especially re personal struggles of the heart/mind/body. Articles within popular ski racing media are informative, but understandably rarely very critical. (Journalists don’t want to alienate people whom they may need as story sources.) There are notable exceptions. An excellent example.
Edie Thys Morgan – Ski Racing, April 2023
Generally, I keep distance for the sake of originality. I employ no one else's subjective work, and link articles relevant to WAWC which have broadened my knowledge. I'll Google search to, for example, find an athlete's injury history, coaching/team info, equipment suppliers, sponsors--objective information.
So you’ll read my impressions, as I use the word: Opinions formed by watching races, competitors' statistics and developmental histories studied and analyzed, then unified by intuition or by decision.
These impressions may inspire/require your respectful disagreement. That’s good. Engaging folks to widen this terrific sport’s popularity is Success. And IMO much more is learned by critically parsing difference than by harmonizing to a banjo beside a campfire. Mostly, I’m hoping for your contribution—your own impressions and knowledge.
Who are you? I reckon most of this site’s visitors are skiers, many of whom race or once did, and others curious about WC. Not all people who drive cars follow motor sport. A simple analogy, but I’m surprised at how few recreational skiers follow the World Cup circuits, even casually. I base this upon my skier friends knowing nothing specific about WC; on-lift inquiries of strangers usually draw similar blanks. (I can be annoyingly chatty on a chairlift.) Wide coverage in American media happens only after an Olympic triumph or a keen disappointment, or for an extraordinary World Cup achievement, such as Mikaela Shiffrin’s this year. Ideally, WAWC will draw not only skiers but also civilians who discover the sport and dig it.
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