On the eve of the 2015-16 FIS World Cup season, our U.S. Cross Country Ski Team is poised and ready, coming off an outstanding summer and fall of preparation. During the past week in Gällivare, Sweden, we’ve had excellent training and a nice tune-up weekend with a pair of wins by Jessie Diggins, and podium finishes by Andy Newell, Sophie Caldwell and Caitlin Gregg in FIS races.

This season is that unique year in the quadrennial with no World Championships or Olympics with the Teams focusing solely on World Cup racing. Instead of medals, it’s about overall standings, crystal globes and tour titles. With 16 athletes spread between the A, B and D Teams, we have more athletes on the roster than we’ve carried in many years, which is reflective of the quality of American athletes rising from our development ranks.

Chris Grover, US XC Ski Team Head Coach © Lincoln Benedict/L.L. Bean

Four years ago, Kikkan Randall captured the first of her three crystal globes by winning the overall sprint World Cup for the season. This coming winter should be no less exciting, but Kikkan will be watching from the sidelines. A huge congratulations to Kikkan and husband Jeff Ellis on her pregnancy. The Team can’t wait to welcome a new Randall to the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team next April, and we’re guessing some pink baby gear might be in order!

Despite Kikkan taking the year off to start a family (yes, she’ll be back next year), the overall U.S. Cross Country Ski Team is stronger now than it was four years ago with more experienced veteran World Cup racers, more depth and a few more World Championship medals under our belts with Jessie Diggins and Caitlin Gregg joining Kikkan as medalists.

With 37 events, this season’s World Cup boasts more races than any other season in recent history. With 12 individual sprints on the calendar, the U.S. sprinters will be looking to fight for overall sprint World Cup finishes. Simi Hamilton, Andy Newell, Ida Sargent, Jessie Diggins, Sophie Caldwell, Sadie Bjornsen and others will be challenging to make their mark from the start of the season.

Look for comeback seasons from Noah Hoffman and Sophie, both of whom spent part of last season recovering from major injuries. Both are healthy, in great shape and will be looking to pick up where they left off in 2014. Noah led the U.S. men in the recent 15k skate in Gällivare while Sophie won the women’s classic sprint qualifier and finished second overall to Jessie.

For the first time ever, we’ll have two full major tours this season, including the Tour de Ski plus the new Ski Tour Canada to close the season. Both tours are eight-stage events with stops in multiple towns. Athletes must compete in each stage to advance to the next. The entire Tour de Ski across Germany, Switzerland and Italy will be televised daily in the USA on Universal HD.

Chris Grover coaches at the 2013 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy © USSA-Sarah Brunson

When combined with the opening World Cup mini-tour in Kuusamo, more than half of the World Cup events will be tour stages. This fact means that athletes, nations and media will be putting a lot of emphasis on winning tour stages and overall tour finishes. The exciting part about the tours is following the developing storylines day after day—who is getting stronger, who is getting sick and who can find the form to win at the end.

As a team, we began to focus more on tours several seasons ago with great success, most notably with the performances of Kikkan and Liz Stephen in the Tour de Ski.

After finishing a best-ever fifth for the USA in last season’s Tour, Liz has her eyes firmly focused on the podium for the penultimate day of racing on the rugged Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme. Very few skiers in the world—men or women—can climb the Cermis as fast as Liz has over the past seasons. If she can stay healthy, she will be a threat.

Also look for top USA tour finishes from Jessie Diggins (13th overall in the 2014 Tour de Ski) and Noah Hoffman, who has been busy staging a comeback after last season’s broken leg in Kuusamo. Another threat could be Sadie Bjornsen who stopped last season’s Tour de Ski in the top 10 after some brilliant stages in Oberstdorf and Toblach.

Another major season highlight will be the Ski Tour Canada 2016 with four eastern stages in Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City plus four western stages in Canmore. The eastern stages will include three races in urban settings that will effectively bring cross country ski races to the people.

We’re expecting big crowds and lots of American fans coming across the border to cheer on the USA. The last time we raced World Cup city sprints in Quebec City, there was a lot of red, white and blue in the crowd. In 2016, the USA will be able to race 24 athletes in the Ski Tour Canada, so there will be lots of reasons to follow the American contingent! The World Cup may not return to North American until 2020, so if you get a chance, be sure to come and see it for yourself.

How can you help? Our fans are vitally important to our success as a team. Know that our athletes love social media posts from fans and get energized from it. We’re on the road for four months straight. Knowing that the fans back home are following us makes a huge difference.

And this year you can watch us all season long, thanks to the new live streaming package from NBC Sports Live Extra. Please tune in and post up your encouragement to our athletes. It makes a difference.