Mid-Summer Check In from Zak
Hey there everyone! Zak Ketterson checking in here. Summer training is in full swing, with July traditionally being one of my biggest volume months of the entire year. There have been a lot of fun stories and adventures so far this summer, and I want to update all of you on what I have been up to since the season ended.
The 2026 season wrapped up at Spring Series in Craftsbury, Vermont, where SNØ Racing won our first ever club relay national championship. I am still so proud of our accomplishment that day, and have been taking every available opportunity to remind my American buddies from other clubs. :)
Post Spring Series, I traveled back to Minneapolis for a really fun and relaxing April. I took some time to do a lot of the things that I set aside during the winter, like going out to restaurants, lots of coffee dates, shopping at the mall of America, going to Timberwolves games, and even visiting my brother in San Francisco. A relaxing April is a critical part of setting myself up for success next season.
Once we got to May, SNØ Racing practice started up again and I got to spend a lot of quality time with my teammates training in the cities. We did lots of roller skis on the downtown Minneapolis bike paths, some running intervals on the wood chip trails at Hyland, and even raced in the City Trail Loppet. I won the race, narrowly outsprinting our college team coach, Jake Brown. It was a super fun month, and it was also really cool to see the team’s rebranding from Team Birkie to SNØ Racing. A ton of work went on behind the scenes to make that change happen.
At the end of May, I traveled to Norway for Julie and I’s wedding. That was a really big highlight of this summer, and honestly even of my life thus far. We got married on June 20th and had a great celebration with lots of friends and family. Prior to that, I had a camp with the U.S. Ski Team in Sognefjellet, which is a snowfield in Norway that has 5+ kilometers of groomed skiing all the way until July. It was a really great opportunity for lots of technique work, and also to test a lot of skis in the wet spring conditions. This is really important for when we get to spring championships like the Olympics or World Champs, since the conditions there are usually wet and slushy. It also fits into a larger philosophy of mine lately which has been to try to get on snow more.
That brings us to July. I have been based out of Oslo, Norway, and been putting in a ton of good training. I recently partnered with Team Aker Daehlie, a professional team based in Norway. By aligning with them, I now have access to a training group whenever I am in Norway, which has been more and more as of late. I had a really successful season last year after spending more time over here and trying to learn as much as possible, and I am excited to build on that momentum into next season.
Up next, I am going to spend a few days in Torsby, Sweden at their indoor ski tunnel for an on snow camp with a bit more ski testing as well. After that, I will participate in Toppidrettsveka, a three day rollerski race series in Trondheim, Norway that will host many of the world’s best skiers. I am really motivated and excited about the work I have done so far, and can’t wait for what lies ahead.
Lastly, I want to give a huge thank you to SNØ Racing for their support as I chase my goal to become one of the best skiers in the world. My decision to join the team during its founding year in 2021 was the best decision I ever made in my career, and I am really excited about the momentum our team has now.
