Austin Caldwell Named Assistant Nordic Coach

BOULDER — Austin Caldwell, a former team captain of the Dartmouth Nordic ski team and most recently the elite and post graduate coach for the Bridger Ski Foundation, has been named the Assistant Nordic Coach for the University of Colorado Ski Team, head coach Richard Rokos and Nordic coach Jana Weinberger announced Thursday.

Caldwell replaces Weinberger, who was promoted to head Nordic coach, a position left vacant by the retirement of Bruce Cranmer on July 1.

"I am excited to have Austin on our team," Weinberger said. "He is an experienced ski racer and coach. He comes from a big ski family in the east and skiing in his blood. He will fit right in with our team values and work ethic. Our athletes will benefit from his knowledge of skis, ski grinds, waxing and most importantly, his coaching."

Big ski family may be a bit of an understatement. Caldwell's grandfather, John Caldwell, is widely known as the "father" or "guru" of Nordic skiing in North America. He competed in the 1952 Winter Olympics and wrote a series of books that helped popularize and develop understanding of recreational cross country skiing in the United States.

Austin's father, Sverre Caldwell, is the Nordic program director at Stratton Mountain School and has been named the USSA Domestic Coach of the Year four times. The SMS program is known as one of the best in the country with seven former athletes currently on the US Cross Country Ski Team and six athletes that qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

One of those Olympians in 2018 was Austin's sister, Sophie Caldwell, who has two wins and five podiums at the World Cup level. Sophie earned five All-America honors at Dartmouth, including two podiums at the NCAA Championships her senior season in 2012.

After graduating from Dartmouth with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2015, Austin Caldwell went directly into coaching, working at the Putney Ski Club as the youth team coach in 2015-16. During that time, he also worked for Caldwell Sport, working as a wax technician and Nordic ski stone grinder. For the past two years, he has been the Elite and Post Graduate coach at the Bridger Ski Foundation in Bozeman, Mont.

At Bridger, on top of creating training plans, he was in charge of waxing and ski selection for both the elite and junior program skiers and he coached and waxed for national champions and Super Tour winners. He was also the waxing technician for the Ski Tour Canada World Cups in 2016.

He will join the program in September in time for dryland training. The Nordic squad returns eight skiers from last year's team, including four who earned All-America honors at the NCAA Championships.

Colorado University Athletics

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