Lena Poduska

This Nordic phenom is in it for the friends.

// By Helen Olsson

A nine-year-old Lena Poduska, middle, crossedthe finish line of the 5k skate event during the 2016 Moose Chase Nordic ski race holding hands with teammates. Photo by Ryan Jones

Fierce competitiveness can serve as intrinsic motivation for elite athletes. But for Nordic ski racer Lena Poduska, a senior at Jackson Hole High School who’s consistently on the podium, competitiveness isn’t the main driver. Her motivation to succeed is more about her girl posse.

“Honestly, the reason I’m so dedicated [to the sport] is the team environment,” she says. “Our friend group is pretty tight. We hang out outside of practice. Team trips are super high energy.” While she often competes against her teammates, they score team points at races like Junior Nationals. She also competes in relays. “It’s more pressure because you don’t want to mess up for your team, but I love relay day!”

Poduska has been training with the Jackson Hole Ski & Snowboard Club since second grade. She had tried soccer, lacrosse, hockey—even alpine skiing, but nothing stuck like cross-country. “With a Nordic workout, I feel like I accomplished something,” she says. “I never got that same feeling from alpine skiing.” By the high school years, she was training and racing near-daily 11 months of the year. “It’s a big commitment.” She competes in multiple events, but the skate 10K is her bread and butter.

Each year, the U.S. Ski Team invites a small contingent of young Nordic racers to an international competition. In 2023, a seventh-place finish at the U.S. Cross-Country National Championships in Michigan earned Poduska that invitation, and she competed at the 2023 U18 Nordic Nations Cup in Jyvaskyla, Finland. “That finish put Lena on the map,” says Jackson Hole Ski & Snowboard Nordic coach Luna Wasson. Only six American girls under 18 were chosen to represent the U.S. at the race. Poduska was only 15 at the time. “It was a breakthrough moment for me,” Poduska says.

“Lena is a really hard worker who has fully committed to the training and racing process. I think her motivation comes from pure enjoyment of the sport.”

—Jackson Hole Ski & Snowboard Nordic coach Luna Wasson

“Lena is a really hard worker who has fully committed to the training and racing process,” Wasson says. “I think her motivation comes from pure enjoyment of the sport.” At a time when young racers can burn out, Poduska remains all in. “She just loves it.”

In March 2023 at the Junior National Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska, Poduska notched two championship titles (5K skate and 7.5K classic). In 2024, the U.S. Ski Team chose the Swedish National Championships in Falun, Sweden, for its annual international trip. Again, a seventh-place finish at U.S. Nationals in Utah qualified her to represent the U.S. at that race.

Poduska lives with her parents (Greg is a middle school teacher, and Tracy is the principal at Jackson Elementary) and trains at Trail Creek Ranch in Wilson, where the ski club maintains a training facility with around 20 kilometers of ski track. “I like Gut Flop. It’s this huge downhill with a long runout. You can go insanely fast down it,” she says. And if Poduska keeps skiing insanely fast, who knows? “Lena’s trajectory is on the up and up,” Wasson says. “She can take it wherever she wants.” We got Poduska to slow down just long enough to answer a few questions.

What are your goals?
LP: I’d like to be on the U.S. Ski Team one day. Right now, I’m looking to get on a prestigious college team. I’ve been talking to coaches and trying to make
connections. (Editor’s note: In November, Poduska signed to Nordic ski for the University of Vermont, which has a NCAA Division I program.)

Who are your role models?
LP: I really look up to my coaches: Luna Wasson, Will Wicherski, and Jon Filardo. And I’m inspired by Jessie Diggins—for her pure grit and willingness to get on the line and just go! She’s incredible.

What’s race day like?
LP: I get so nervous I get nauseous and shaky, which is challenging because you need to be able to perform. Applesauce helps. Once I’m in the race, I focus on what I can control versus what I can’t.

Do you have a lucky charm?
LP: I found this mermaid ring on the trail at a race a long time ago and put it in the back pocket of my race pants. No one knows it’s there but me. It’s sort of a comfort item.

Favorite race-day snacks?
LP: Fruit snacks for quick energy. Quaker makes a chewy s’mores-flavored granola bar dipped in chocolate. And I go through an insane amount of Razz-Cranberry LaCroix.

when not racing

When Poduska isn’t racing or training, she relishes the freedom of crust-cruising in Grand Teton National Park. The key to this springtime iteration of skate skiing is timing, Poduska says. You have to hit the sweet spot between slick and slush, when the sun warms the snow enough for smooth gliding over a firm surface but not so soft that you punch through. Poduska meets friends early, usually around 7 a.m. “We go in spring when we’re not racing,” she says. “You’re just skiing for pure joy. You can just go for miles.”

Must-Have Phone Apps

The night before a race, Poduska makes a checklist for her morning warm-up in Notes. “I screenshot the list and make it the wallpaper on my phone,” she says. “It calms my nerves on race morning.”

In the van on the way to races, Poduska and her teammates jam to tunes on Apple Musi “We listen to early 2000s hip-hop and pop music,” she says. But once she’s at the venue, the earbuds come out. “When I’m training and racing, I’m focusing on technique.” When she’s doing homework, she cranks house music, she admits