Sports journalist/author Peggy Shinn
Thursday, March 1, 6:30 p.m.—RUTLAND—On Thursday, March 1 at 6:30 p.m., Phoenix Books Rutland will host Peggy Shinn to celebrate the launch of her new
Sports journalist Peggy Shinn will talk about her new book, “World Class: The Making of the U.S. Women’s Cross-Country Ski Team,” in Rutland, Thursday.
book, “World Class: The Making of the U.S. Women’s Cross-Country Ski Team.”
What makes a great team? Sports journalist Peggy Shinn answers this question in her enthralling account of the dramatic rise of the U.S. women’s cross-country ski team, winners of eight medals at three world championships over the past five years. Shinn’s story — based on dozens of interviews with athletes, coaches, parents, spouses, and friends — paints a vivid picture of the obstacles that America’s female athletes must overcome not just to ski with the world’s best, but to beat them. In a sport where U.S. women have toiled for decades, mostly in the middle or the back of the pack, the development of a world-class team attests to the heady combination of a transformational leader, a coach who connects with his athletes, the super-fast individual skiers who are also conscientious teammates — and a bit of good luck. This is the story of Kikkan Randall, Liz Stephen, Holly Brooks, Jessie Diggins, Ida Sargent, Sadie Bjornsen, Sophie Caldwell, Rosie Brennan, and coach Matt Whitcomb — and how they created the perfect team.
Peggy Shinn is a senior contributor to the U.S. Olympic Committee’s website, TeamUSA.org, and a former contributing editor to Ski Racing magazine. She is the author of “Deluge: Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont’s Flash Floods, and How One Small State Saved Itself.”
This event is free and open to all. Phoenix Books Rutland is located at 2 Center St., Rutland. Copies of the book will be available for attendees to purchase and have signed. For more information, call 802-855-8078 or visit phoenixbooks.biz.
