The selection of which skiers get to start certain races is always a hot topic in a sport like xc skiing, especially here in the US. Each country has their own selection process for picking teams but for the sake of this article I’m going to focus on US selection.
So why is selection such a hot topic? Frist of all, in a sport like skiing we don’t have the luxury of set time standards the way they do in sports like running and swimming. A runner wants to qualify for a championship marathon event, the need to achieve a pre-determined standard within that selection period. A sub 2:15 marathon for example, before they can qualify to run in that championship event.
In skiing things are a bit more complicated because of the ever-changing race conditions and the varying courses we compete on. We don’t have time standards which is why we use a points-based system within ski results to help give various levels of ski events some common ground to compare to one another. Is a SuperTour win the same as a top 30 on the World Cup? That’s a really tough question to answer but FIS points are supposed to help guide us.
Points:
In the US, if a skier has aspirations of skiing internationally they will need a US Ski and Snowboard license and a FIS license in order to obtain points. Big races in the US, like SuperTours, are US Ski and Snowboard sanctioned and FIS sanctioned which means a skier can earn points for their results. The lower the points the better.
Every level of race from World Cup to SuperTour has a set lowest possible points for winning the event. A World cup win is 0 FIS point race no matter what. For a continental cup, such as a Supertour the minimum FIS points for a win is 20 points but can vary depending on the competition. The FIS points for winning an event on that given day are determined by how low the average FIS points are of the individual skiers who finished in the top 5 that day. This is knows as the race "penalty".
So if a skier wins a FIS race without many fast skiers there, their points for winning will not be as good as a competition where there were several fast skiers in the results to help bring the point penalty down.
A skiers personal FIS points are determined by a rolling average of their best 5 results in the past 12 months.
Criteria and Team Selection
We could spend all day talking about team selections and criteria but it's always surprising to me that a lot of people are unfamiliar with the process of naming teams in the US. I think it's particularly important for developing athletes to know the basics so they are able to plan their season and set long term goals accordingly. Understanding the process is important and if an athlete has aspirations of competing for the US at Junior World or U23 World Championships they should understand the steps needed to get there.
The US Ski Team will use some type of selection criteria for determining who will start in international ski races such as World Cups, World Championships, Olympics, and Junior World Championships/ U23.
Below I will outline some important bullet points related to qualifying for each of these. For the real nitty gritty on selection click on the links which will take you to the US Ski and Snowboard website.
Junior World/ U23
- The main selection period is at US Nationals. Yes, if you are a junior or U23 and want to compete at Worlds you need to plan and structure your travel and training so you can compete at US Nationals. This year they are in Soldier Hollow.
- The US typically brings 6 men and 6 women Juniors and 6 men and 6 women U23 to these events. The US can only start 4 men and 4 women in each event at the championships.
- Being a Development team member of the US Ski Team does not pre-qualify you for these events. The only way to qualify outside of racing well at US Nationals is by scoring a sub 50 FIS point race for juniors (sub 40 for U230) or by having stand out results on the World Cup.
World Cups
- Each country is allowed to start a limited number of athletes at a World Cup. It is more complicaged than the straight forward 4 per gender quota given for Olympics and World Championships. A country's World Cup quota is determined by their world ranking by gender. So if your country has a lot of depth (like Norway or Russia) they get the maximum amount of start spots which is 6.
- For World Cup races in North America we get a nation's cup quota. This is an additional 10 spots per gender. A HUGE opportunity to expose World Cup racing to more domestic racers.
- Being on the US Ski Team does not automatically qualify you for a World Cup and racing a World Cup does not automatically qualify you for the US Ski Team. (more info on that below)
- The most straight forward way for a domestic skier to earn a spot on the World Cup is by being the SuperTour leader. This is the best all around skier, sprint and distance, on the super tour in each gender. The current SuperTour leader gets the option to start the next period of World Cup races.
CLICK HERE for the period breakdown .
- The second way a skier earns a spot on the World Cup is by continually scoring top 30 results 'scoring points". If a skier is able to finish in the top 30 and score World Cup points they are likely reach the US objective criteria that allows them to continue to race on the World Cup for the next period.
- Third, an athlete can be selected to race a non-domestic World Cup if they are selected by the World Cup Selection Working Group. This is a group made up of coaches from around the country from various clubs and teams. If an athlete is having stand out results on the SuperTour, OPA, or World Junior level they can be selected to fill remaining World Cup start spots by discretion.
- For our domestic Nations group quota these spots can be filled by achieving the standards above or by their overall SuperTour ranking at the time of team selection.
Selection for Olympics and World Championship teams is very similar to that of the general World Cup selection.
US Ski Team - A Team, B Team, D Team
As I travel around and speak to clubs around the US I am often asked how someone qualifies for the US Ski Team. All this info is outlined on the US Ski Team website
HERE.But here are some interesting bullet points:
- The team naming happens once per year. In the spring. You cannot be named or released from the US Ski Team mid-season
- The overarching goal of the US Ski Team is international success. This is why most objective criteria standard for making the team revolve around strong results on the World Cup, World Junior, or U23. If you want to make the US Ski Team you cannot do it by racing domestically. This is why I urge young skiers to focus on qualifying for International championship trips like we have outlined above.
