Category: XCFeeds

Again, not much commentary with these, just showing the results in some context. Starting with the top skiers:

And the lone American:

Related posts:

1. <WSC Pursuit Recap
2. <WSC Pursuit Recap: North Americans
3. <Race Snapshot: WBC Men/Women’s Pursuit

Awesome race from Leif Nordgren, and an ok one from Tim Burke.  The host country got a surprise performance it seems from Maxim Maksimov.

Related posts:

1. <Athlete Profile: Tim Burke
2. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 2 Sprint
3. <Race Snapshot: WBC Sprint

Not much commentary on this one, just the graphs for the top skiers and the Americans. First the leaders:

I don’t have much to add here except that Arnd Peiffer is having an excellent World Championships so far. As for the Americans:

Nothing spectacular, I suppose, but not terrible.

Related posts:

1. <WSC Pursuit Recap
2. <WSC Pursuit Recap: North Americans
3. <Race Snapshot: WBC Men/Women’s Pursuit

Another day, another impressive win for Petter Northug. I didn’t get to watch this race, but so far no one has figured out a way to break the race up prior to the final few kilometers. I’m not sure the pace was exactly slow, but there was certainly a ton of skiers packed close together. All my posts this week will be on the brief side, so here’s a graph for the top men (click through for full version):

The field stayed relatively compact it seems, as the leaders just barely touched the ‘Inhuman’ range.  I”m sure Alex Harvey was disappointed to not be on the podium today, but that was still an impressively good race for him, all things considered. It was interesting to see Tobias Angerer near the front as well, since his season has been a rough one. But if that’s largely been due to illness, he might be fairly strong for the final few weeks of the WC schedule.

And here’s a look at the other North Americans:

Babikov has not had a great season, but he seemed to find his old form in this race. Maybe he’ll be able to carry this forward for the rest of the season. Hoffman, while ‘only’ in 30th, had probably the best race of his career, by this measure at least.

Billy Demong’s presence in this race caused a bit of a stir. Again, I didn’t see the race, so all I have to go on is where he ended up at the moment. I might look a little more closely at the splits later in the week. He did have to work his way through a lot of skiers, but at the end of the day he’s still more than 7 minutes behind Hoffman. Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of that. Personally, I was never one of the folks who thought that the NoCo guys could just drop into a XC race and kick butt. At least, I doubted that they’d be noticeably faster than the non-Kris Freeman men. But it’s hard to tell when the race they do is a 50k, which isn’t really something they train for. I’d be more curious to see Demong do a 15km freestyle.

Related posts:

1. <WSC Freestyle Sprint Recap
2. <WSC Pursuit Recap
3. <WSC Pursuit Recap: North Americans

Birch trees. The native people here use birch bark to create many beautiful crafts.

After a strong relay performance, I was looking forward to the sprint and pursuit races this past weekend here in Khanty-Mansiysk. After missing 3 in my sprint race and crossing the line already 3:25 behind the leader, though, I thought my chances for even making the pursuit would be slim. Usually, around 2:00-2:30 behind is the normal top-60 margin. But apparently the course here in Khanty is anything but normal, and as the race wrapped up, I stayed 3:25 behind and landed in 48th place. Not where I was hoping to be, but to make the pursuit without having a great race was solid.

Unfortunately, I was not the only US woman to suffer from a less-than-stellar result. Only two of us made the pursuit, and the team had to work hard to look for the positives and re-group for the coming races. For me that meant right away. Sunday’s pursuit was much colder, and like Ostersund, I opted for some face tape to keep cold and frostbite at bay. Starting so far back was tough: while the sprint loops are 2.5km, the pursuit loops are only 2km, and markedly easier. The 2km cuts out one hill entirely and significantly shortens the climb into the range. In the relay, the loops were taking between 5 and 6 minutes. I knew shooting would be key with the short loops and the already large margin I would start behind. I skied solidly and with only 4 penalties, managed to keep from being lapped by the leaders and move up, finishing 38th and gaining a couple more World Cup points. In the end, 14 women were lapped, proving again what an strange pursuit this was. I was very glad to shoot better and finish within the points, and though it was not my best race, the result gave me some confidence as I look forward to the rest of the races here.

Annelies Cook and I after a cold pursuit. Pleased with the effort but ready for a rest day!

Many times this season I’ve had the chance to reflect on how far I’ve come in just one year. One of the best examples is the first half of this World Championships. In the sprint, with three misses, I placed 48th and was not satisfied. Then, I shot 80% in the pursuit and moved up to 38th and felt it was simply a decent race for me and a good comeback considering how far back I had started. Last year at the Olympics, missing 1 target in the sprint race, I placed 45th and was ecstatic. And then, shooting 90% in the pursuit, I ended up in 46th place. It’s great for me to see the change in my expectations and ability, but every once in a while I must remind myself that just last year simply getting World Cup points was cause for celebration. Before this season my best result had been 34th in the Olympic Individual, and so far this year I’ve had 8 results better than that one. Things are certainly heading in the right direction!

Huge, brightly colored Matryoshka (nesting) dolls are positioned all around the town square.

Coach Jonne getting in his “Rocky” workout…the rest of us opted to walk up!

Tomorrow is the 15km individual race. I feel ready and confident, but without pressure. I know this year has been great for me, and to prove it again here at World Championships would be fantastic. But that’s not the focus. Tomorrow’s goal: have fun and enjoy the experience, whatever the outcome.

USA women with Coach Jonne Kahkonen, enjoying the sun on an off-day exploration of Khanty-Mansiysk.

Birch trees. The native people here use birch bark to create many beautiful crafts.

After a strong relay performance, I was looking forward to the sprint and pursuit races this past weekend here in Khanty-Mansiysk. After missing 3 in my sprint race and crossing the line already 3:25 behind the leader, though, I thought my chances for even making the pursuit would be slim. Usually, around 2:00-2:30 behind is the normal top-60 margin. But apparently the course here in Khanty is anything but normal, and as the race wrapped up, I stayed 3:25 behind and landed in 48th place. Not where I was hoping to be, but to make the pursuit without having a great race was solid.

Unfortunately, I was not the only US woman to suffer from a less-than-stellar result. Only two of us made the pursuit, and the team had to work hard to look for the positives and re-group for the coming races. For me that meant right away. Sunday’s pursuit was much colder, and like Ostersund, I opted for some face tape to keep cold and frostbite at bay. Starting so far back was tough: while the sprint loops are 2.5km, the pursuit loops are only 2km, and markedly easier. The 2km cuts out one hill entirely and significantly shortens the climb into the range. In the relay, the loops were taking between 5 and 6 minutes. I knew shooting would be key with the short loops and the already large margin I would start behind. I skied solidly and with only 4 penalties, managed to keep from being lapped by the leaders and move up, finishing 38th and gaining a couple more World Cup points. In the end, 14 women were lapped, proving again what an strange pursuit this was. I was very glad to shoot better and finish within the points, and though it was not my best race, the result gave me some confidence as I look forward to the rest of the races here.

Annelies Cook and I after a cold pursuit. Pleased with the effort but ready for a rest day!

Many times this season I’ve had the chance to reflect on how far I’ve come in just one year. One of the best examples is the first half of this World Championships. In the sprint, with three misses, I placed 48th and was not satisfied. Then, I shot 80% in the pursuit and moved up to 38th and felt it was simply a decent race for me and a good comeback considering how far back I had started. Last year at the Olympics, missing 1 target in the sprint race, I placed 45th and was ecstatic. And then, shooting 90% in the pursuit, I ended up in 46th place. It’s great for me to see the change in my expectations and ability, but every once in a while I must remind myself that just last year simply getting World Cup points was cause for celebration. Before this season my best result had been 34th in the Olympic Individual, and so far this year I’ve had 8 results better than that one. Things are certainly heading in the right direction!

Huge, brightly colored Matryoshka (nesting) dolls are positioned all around the town square.

Coach Jonne getting in his “Rocky” workout…the rest of us opted to walk up!

Tomorrow is the 15km individual race. I feel ready and confident, but without pressure. I know this year has been great for me, and to prove it again here at World Championships would be fantastic. But that’s not the focus. Tomorrow’s goal: have fun and enjoy the experience, whatever the outcome.

USA women with Coach Jonne Kahkonen, enjoying the sun on an off-day exploration of Khanty-Mansiysk.

Birch trees. The native people here use birch bark to create many beautiful crafts.

After a strong relay performance, I was looking forward to the sprint and pursuit races this past weekend here in Khanty-Mansiysk. After missing 3 in my sprint race and crossing the line already 3:25 behind the leader, though, I thought my chances for even making the pursuit would be slim. Usually, around 2:00-2:30 behind is the normal top-60 margin. But apparently the course here in Khanty is anything but normal, and as the race wrapped up, I stayed 3:25 behind and landed in 48th place. Not where I was hoping to be, but to make the pursuit without having a great race was solid.

Unfortunately, I was not the only US woman to suffer from a less-than-stellar result. Only two of us made the pursuit, and the team had to work hard to look for the positives and re-group for the coming races. For me that meant right away. Sunday’s pursuit was much colder, and like Ostersund, I opted for some face tape to keep cold and frostbite at bay. Starting so far back was tough: while the sprint loops are 2.5km, the pursuit loops are only 2km, and markedly easier. The 2km cuts out one hill entirely and significantly shortens the climb into the range. In the relay, the loops were taking between 5 and 6 minutes. I knew shooting would be key with the short loops and the already large margin I would start behind. I skied solidly and with only 4 penalties, managed to keep from being lapped by the leaders and move up, finishing 38th and gaining a couple more World Cup points. In the end, 14 women were lapped, proving again what an strange pursuit this was. I was very glad to shoot better and finish within the points, and though it was not my best race, the result gave me some confidence as I look forward to the rest of the races here.

Annelies Cook and I after a cold pursuit. Pleased with the effort but ready for a rest day!

Many times this season I’ve had the chance to reflect on how far I’ve come in just one year. One of the best examples is the first half of this World Championships. In the sprint, with three misses, I placed 48th and was not satisfied. Then, I shot 80% in the pursuit and moved up to 38th and felt it was simply a decent race for me and a good comeback considering how far back I had started. Last year at the Olympics, missing 1 target in the sprint race, I placed 45th and was ecstatic. And then, shooting 90% in the pursuit, I ended up in 46th place. It’s great for me to see the change in my expectations and ability, but every once in a while I must remind myself that just last year simply getting World Cup points was cause for celebration. Before this season my best result had been 34th in the Olympic Individual, and so far this year I’ve had 8 results better than that one. Things are certainly heading in the right direction!

Huge, brightly colored Matryoshka (nesting) dolls are positioned all around the town square.

Coach Jonne getting in his “Rocky” workout…the rest of us opted to walk up!

Tomorrow is the 15km individual race. I feel ready and confident, but without pressure. I know this year has been great for me, and to prove it again here at World Championships would be fantastic. But that’s not the focus. Tomorrow’s goal: have fun and enjoy the experience, whatever the outcome.

USA women with Coach Jonne Kahkonen, enjoying the sun on an off-day exploration of Khanty-Mansiysk.

We had a great day of sprinting at Jr Nationals. Good skiing and strong competitions made for an excellent event. Team New England had a very strong day with SMS skiers leading the way. Heather and Skyler each won, Brooke was 2nd, Cambria 3rd, Paddy and Rachel 5th, Bridger 8th, Tyler 11th, Charlie in the top 20, Austin and Hallie in the top 30 and Issy P 35th…For a team with only 14 kids in the Jr National age groups, that is quite impressive!
Here are some pictures of the podiums..races ended at 8pm so no big story today!
Hammish started the day with the fastest prelim time and finished the day with the gold.
In the J2 class Brooke was 2nd, with Heidi H. and Cate B in 3rd and 6th. Zoe, Halie and Hannah all placed in the top 11 too!
Paddy skied a great race and placed 5th in the J1 class.
The J1 girls rocked. Heather, Cambria and Rachel flexed SMS muscle and placed 1,3,5. With Corey Stock in 2nd and Tara G-M in 4th it was a NE 1-5 sweep!
Skyler won the prelim, the 1/4, the semi and the A final. Austin Cobb (SMS ’10) and Pete Hegman were 4th and 6th.

Jesse Diggins returned from the World Championships in Oslo and she didn’t disapoint as she won the OJ race easily. Annie Hart was 5th and Hilary Rich (SMS WT ’09) was 6th.