Team Birkie: Luci Anderson From College to Pro Skiing and Biathlon

Luci: From College to Pro Skiing and Biathlon

Written By Team Birkie

New Things! From College to Pro Skiing and Biathlon.

New things always take a bit of adjusting and my life has been full of it this summer! First of all, This is my first blog as a Team Birkie member, so I will give a brief introduction.

My name is Luci Anderson and I am from Golden Valley, MN. I learned to ski at Theodore Wirth Park with the Minnesota Youth Ski League. I started racing for the Armstrong High School Nordic team in 7th grade where I discovered my love for ski racing and being part of a team. I decided to start taking training more seriously and joined Loppet Nordic Racing, where I met so many young people like me that wanted to commit themselves to the sport. During my senior year of high school I was recruited to be on the University of New Hampshire Ski Team. I skied for the past 5 years at UNH, utilizing an extra year of eligibility because of covid to race for another year and get a masters degree. I moved back home this spring to join Team Birkie’s Continental team and so far have really enjoyed being on this team!

My fellow UNH skiing captains! Top row; Everett Olson, Luci Anderson (me), Jasmine Lyons; holding us up on Bottom row; Alice House, James Schneider, Seth Wyatt

My fellow UNH skiing captains! Top row; Everett Olson, Luci Anderson (me), Jasmine Lyons; holding us up on Bottom row; Alice House, James Schneider, Seth Wyatt

I am very excited to embark on this new journey of learning the world of professional skiing. Fall training will be looking a little different, with most of my time being devoted to training and recovery, and not towards going into the lab or studying for a final. I think this will be the biggest challenge for me since I will have to resist the feeling of training more with my new free time so I don’t overwhelm my body with a much larger training load than past years.

One thing that I have been using my new free time for is learning to become a biathlete. Last summer I had an opportunity to attend a US biathlon camp to train with some of the national team and get an introduction to shooting. I really enjoyed the people and the challenge of learning to shoot. This opened up a whole new world for me. I was lucky to be asked back this spring to become a Project X team member. Project X is a program that offers a way for high level cross country skiers to try out biathlon and see if it is a good fit for them. So far this summer, I have been to three camps with USBA, training out of the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY. My shooting abilities are improving and I am still able to train for skiing at the same rate that I would be without learning to shoot. Lake Placid has been a great place to train with easy access to the Adirondacks for mountain running and a rollerski loop at Mt Van Hoevenberg. I am so incredibly grateful to the USBA for the chance to try out a new sport. I look forward to seeing if I have what it takes to be a competitive biathlete.

Photo from my first biathlon rollerski race. My Team Birkie teammate Emma Stertz is with me in this pic!

Hiking in the Adirondacks.

Roller skiing in Lake Placid.

Summer training highlights back home in Minnesota!

Here I am with my Aunt and Uncle at the grand opening of Base Camp at Mt Telemark Village. They were the ones that brought me to race my first Korteloppet in 7th grade. They have always been some of my biggest supporters!

The Team Birkie gals at the Shoreline Sprints in Rice Lake. This was an awesome event put on by OutThere Nordic. I love my new teammates.

Performance running gym with Gretta

I went to a summer nordic practice with my high school team, Armstrong. I am looking forward to joining in on some of their practices this winter.

Thanks for reading my first blog post, I am excited to share more about this new adventure with you all as I get ready for my first season as a professional athlete. See you on the trails!