MIDDLEBURY — In what could be considered perfect timing, author Peggy Shinn will read from, discuss and sign “World Class: The Making of the U.S. Women’s Cross-Country Ski Team,” her new book chronicling the dramatic rise of the now Olympic Gold Medal-winning team. Shinn will be at The Vermont Book Shop in Middlebury on Wednesday, March 28, at 6:30 p.m. If they’re not too exhausted by all the attention and accolades, some of the team members might make it as well.
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.
Peggy Shinn’s timely new book tells 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.
Shinn’s first book, “Deluge,” chronicled Tropical Storm Irene, flash floods in Vermont, and how the state saved itself. She is a senior contributor for TeamUSA.org — the U.S. Olympic Committee’s website — and has just returned from covering the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Her writing has also been published in “Ski Racing,” “Skiing,” “SKI, SNOW,” “Ski Press,” MSNBC.com, and “Vermont Life,” as well as the Boston Globe, Rutland Herald, and Burlington Free Press. For her work in ski writing, she is a four-time winner of the Harold Hirsch Award for best feature writing, presented annually by the North American Snowsports Journalists Association.