Former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail Nordic skier set for World Cup opener in Finland

Nearing the end of his second decade with the U.S. ski team, head cross-country coach Matt Whitcomb said he doesn’t get as nervous when generational talents retire from his squad.

“People fill in,” Whitcomb said in a phone call two weeks ago, days before America’s period 1 starters flew to Muonio, Finland, for an eight-day preseason camp. After being pressed about the inevitable departures of stalwarts Rosie Brennan and Jessie Diggins — the two-time overall crystal globe champion and winningest American skier of all time — Whitcomb said, “I feel great about the future.”

As the Americans prepare to open their season in Finland on Friday, young talent rising through the pipeline gives him good reason for confidence. One athlete he and the rest of the U.S. coaching staff is particularly excited about is Haley Brewster.

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“Last season, Haley got her first taste of the World Cup scene in impressive style,” said fellow U.S. ski team coach Kristin Bourne. “I’m excited for her to start the year off on the World Cup and see what she can throw down.”

The former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail skier — who will compete in all three races this weekend — is coming off a breakout 2023-24 campaign that saw her win a U.S. senior national title, claim a historic U23 World Championship silver medal, and snag a pair of NCAA runner-up finishes in Steamboat Springs. Oh yeah — she also made her World Cup debut in Minneapolis, the first World Cup on U.S. soil in more than two decades.

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“All the highs kind of blend together,” Brewster said of her first season as a U.S. ski team athlete. “It felt like it went by very quickly.”

Brewster believes her progression has been the result of consistent training and time spent under the tutelage of University of Vermont head coach Patrick Weaver, who competed at the 1998 and 2002 Olympics.

“She’s just a super hard-working, dedicated athlete with a great attitude,” Weaver said of Brewster, who is a senior at UVM this season. “When you have that to start with, you have a lot to work with.”

Weaver said Brewster came off a fantastic summer and fall training block last year.

“So, I knew she was going to make a big jump in the racing,” he added. Still, he didn’t know it would be that good.

“We’re talking nationals, U23, World Cup and NCAA — she basically performed almost to the top level for her at all those events,” the coach continued. “Every event she went to she just did her best. Pretty amazing season.”

Weaver said Brewster has made little improvements throughout her collegiate career, to the point where now she is fluent in classic and skate — sprint and distance. Weaver’s tactics for teaching technique aren’t the only things which resonate with the former Ski Club Vail star, though.

“His approach to skiing and his approach to racing has been kind of a huge help to me,” Brewster explained. “He’s very much ‘you get to do all these things’ instead of ‘you have to.’ And I think that’s really important to remember as you’re training and racing throughout the year.”

Especially when the size of the stage gets bigger and the lights get brighter.

Brewster has found herself progressively stepping into the spotlight, especially on a team which is looking to lean on young blood like Julia Kern and dual-sport trail star Sophia Laukli. The age range of the notoriously close women’s squad includes prodigy Sammy Smith — also a member of the U.S. women’s soccer team — who is entering her third year on the national team at just 19 years old, and Brennan, who is 35.

Whitcomb said he’s had to “be much more deliberate” in fostering unity with this group than in the past.

“We have this really exciting, full expression of the development pipeline on the women’s team,” he said.

Brewster, who benefits from her teammates’ World Cup wisdom, loves it.

“I think the age difference is pretty cool,” she said. “They have a lot of helpful tips to share.”

One common piece of advice: don’t put too much stock into the season-opener, with its cold temperatures, big hills, and fit Norwegian — all of whom are typically fighting for their World Cup futures this time of year.

“Unless you lose a glove and a pole and get punched in the face, no one is going to remember what happens in Ruka,” Diggins said in a press conference on Tuesday. “I think in the moment it feels bigger than big, and it’s OK to work your way into the season. And I would especially tell young Jessie that.”

Bourne said Brewster’s objectives for the weekend are to “start relaxed and fast.”

“But most importantly, having fun and enjoying every step of process that gets her to the finish line,” she added.

Brewster said she’s chatted with Kern and fellow Catamount graduate Ben Ogden about the upcoming races.

“They were both kind of like, yeah this place has just destroyed us for a couple years,” Brewster said. “But they have this attitude about it where they’re just going to come back and try and win it over. I think that’s been pretty inspiring.”

Weaver said making her season debut on the World Cup is a learning experience in and of itself. In his eyes, her path is similar to Ogden — who also spent his senior year “transitioning” from being a college athlete to a full-time pro.

“I would say the next three weeks are not about the next three weeks,” he said. “The next three weeks are about the years to come — getting over there, getting used to it.”

The U.S. team has bonded over excessive saunas, long Bananagram games — mostly dominated by Kern — and a “Gladiator II” viewing during their training camp in Finland. On Tuesday, they took a five-hour bus ride to Ruka, where, unsurprisingly, it’s still cold and dark.

“I’m taking Vitamin D,” Brewster joked in regards to her tactic for warding off seasonal depression.

This season, she is targeting a similarly full-plate as last year. After the three World Cup weekends, which constitute period 1, she’ll likely fly to Alaska to defend her U.S. senior national title. Then the hectic Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association carnival circuit picks up. If everything goes well, she hopes to race at the U23 World Championships in Schilpario, Italy, from Feb. 3-9.

“And then, a little up in the air, but I want to return for NCAAs, hopefully,” said Brewster before adding that any late-season World Cup starts are still TBD at the moment. Weaver said her situation makes it hard to neatly map out the whole season.

“(You) just kind of work off of each period and see what opportunities she has,” he said.

Brewster’s big objective goal is to help her team do well at the national championships, which will be in New Hampshire in March. Individually, she has a different view of what a successful race looks like.

“Being able to finish it and be like, ‘That was a good one,’ before looking at the results and knowing how you actually did,” she said.

While there’s obviously grit involved, the Edwards native comes from a place where toughness is built in. In fact, she reflects on her hometown particularly when the going gets tough.

“Because I feel like I’ve had some pretty hard days in Minturn,” she said. Her SSCV coaches hold a special place in her heart, too.

“Dan (Weiland), Eric (Pepper) and Lenka (Sterling) — I can’t separate them from skiing,” she said. “They’ll always be what I think about.”

Behind her sparkling smile and cheerful attitude is a fierce competitor, Weaver said.

“You would never see that just looking at Haley, but deep down, she has a real sense of what it takes to be competitive,” he said. “Of course, all the top athletes have that in some way.”

Coming off consecutive fourth-place finishes in the combined Nation’s Cup standings, Whitcomb said the main U.S. team goal is to be in the top three. He also wants at least three medals at the world championships in Trondheim. But that’s not what the national team head coach is looking forward to the most when it comes to the season.

“I’m excited to see who steps up to the plate and confirms how good they are,” he said.

Brewster is a good bet.

Visit Seder-Skier.com or the Seder-Skier Podcast to hear an extended interview with Haley Brewster and more thoughts from Patrick Weaver and Matt Whitcomb.