NNF Trail to Gold Fellowship Back for 2023-24 World Cup Season, Application Open Now!

The National Nordic Foundation (NNF) is excited to announce that the application period for the Trail to Gold Fellowship (T2G Fellowship) is now open. The Trail to Gold Fellowship provides American women coaches and technicians the opportunity to gain international-level experience through an immersive internship with the US Ski Team.

The second class of T2G Fellows will build off our inaugural class’s success in adding a dynamic, impactful presence to the US Ski Team coaching and ski technician staff on the World Cup last season. This year’s T2G Fellowship, the first as an NNF Pillar Project, also represents the outgrowth of a successful partnership with the Women Ski Coaches Association (WSCA) and US Ski and Snowboard. And most importantly, the T2G Fellowship continues to celebrate the US Olympic Women’s Cross-Country Book Project’s efforts to tell the story of women in US Skiing, while writing that story’s next chapter. A recap of last year’s T2G Fellowship, authored by Book Project members Leslie Hall and Nancy Fiddler, can be found here.

T2G Fellows receive funding to travel and join the US Ski Team coach and wax technician staff for a 2-week competition period of the World Cup. The program is designed to introduce T2G Fellows to all aspects of coaching and wax teching at the sport’s highest level, while allowing them to serve as an integral part of the US Ski Team staff throughout their Fellowship. By applying their own coaching and ski service talents to World Cup preparation and competition, T2G Fellows further their coaching skills, and take back their experience to their own programs across US skiing.

Applications are open from now, Tuesday, August 22nd, until Tuesday, September 5th. Women coaches working at any competition level of US skiing are encouraged to apply. Previous T2G Fellows may also apply for this year’s program. Applications will be reviewed by a panel consisting of representatives from the Trail to Gold book committee and WSCA, US Ski Team coaches, and another retired woman US World Cup athlete.