After a successful year in which she finished 3rd in the overall sprint rankings and notched a victory on next year’s World Championships track, American star Sophie Caldwell has decided to place her trust in Salomon for the next two seasons. The Salomon Nordic team is excited to welcome Sophie to the family. Below, in her own words, she explains her decision to join Salomon.
Communication between athletes and the brand
Salomon has always seemed like a fun brand to be a part of. The service guys on the World Cup are always friendly and smiling and I've been impressed with how they're constantly communicating with their athletes.
Furthering innovation and development
My passion and specialty is obviously cross-country skiing, but I think it's cool that Salomon is a much bigger company than just cross-country skiing. Running and backcountry skiing are two of my favorite activities outside of cross-country skiing and I've enjoyed following Salomon's stories and athletes who are involved in those areas of the company as well as their XC athletes. I also think Salomon has made huge strides in their product and they seem to always be working hard to further that innovation and development, so I'm really looking forward to joining the brand!
The combination of the great service and products
There were several reasons I chose to switch to Salomon, but the one that stands out to me the most is the service they offer on the World Cup. I've seen what a positive and productive relationship (U.S. teammate and Olympic gold medalist) Jessie (Diggins) has with the World Cup service team and that constant communication and feedback was really appealing to me. We have a strong, but relatively small service team that travels with our U.S. Team, and I think having a close and active relationship with a brand can strengthen the numbers and ideas to really help boost the process of learning about what is working, what isn't, and how to make things better on both ends. Their product is also clearly top of the line, so the combination of the great service and product was a huge draw. I will be going over to France at the end of June, so I'm excited to see the Salomon headquarters and touch base with the service team in person!
What excited me the most was the softness of the classic boot and the stability of the skate ski
I am looking forward to using all the boots and skis, but what excited me the most was the softness of the classic boot and the stability of the skate ski. I think the softness of the classic boot will give me a good feel of the snow and help to find kick in tricky situations, and the stability of the skate ski will make it easier to ride a ski and be easier on the stabilizing muscles in my legs.
Pleasantly surprised by how quickly all my Salomon equipment felt “normal”
The product testing has been great. We had a two-week camp in Bend, Oregon where I was able to ski on snow every day. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly all my Salomon equipment felt "normal" to me and I'm looking forward to being on snow for another few weeks at the end of the summer in New Zealand.
