Category: XCFeeds

I made the trip over the pond to Liberec, Czech last monday to race the WC Skate sprint. I did not feel very good coming into this race. I was healthy, but the jet lag hit me hard this time. My legs had no snap. I could feel it all week and especially during the qualifier. I’ve had this happen to me in the past. Last year a week before U23’s I had “jet lag legs” in a race. I had one of the worst races of my life, and then just a week later my snap was back for the U23’s. I find that it takes my body between 7-10 days to fully recover from the travel from Canada. I qualified 42nd here in Liberec and I was around 1.5 seconds from the top 30.
In the future I have to try and arrive in Europe a little earlier than this time. I am really looking forward to the next World Cup next weekend in ESTONIA! my bus leaves in 15 minutes, I am on my way to Prague for the night and then a full travel day tomorrow. Prague-Munich-Helsinki-5 hour layover-Tallinn-3hour drive to Otepää. Its going to be a long day.

In Davos the ski trails ramble off in three distinct directions. Up the Fluela Valley is home to the old-school World Cup trails, the steepest of the bunch. The Dischma Valley has been renamed Sunny Valley by many and holds the hearts of more than a few skiers. By my favorite valley in Davos on a classic distance day is hands down up the Sertig. The trails twisty and turns at a steady, unrelenting, if entirely skiable grade for a good hour straight up from my trailside home.

The tracks today were fast and bulletproof hard, making a layer of green klister covered by viola absolutely necessary. The sun was out, too. Ahh, yes, the days are good and only looking up, up, up.

In Davos the ski trails ramble off in three distinct directions. Up the Fluela Valley is home to the old-school World Cup trails, the steepest of the bunch. The Dischma Valley has been renamed Sunny Valley by many and holds the hearts of more than a few skiers. By my favorite valley in Davos on a classic distance day is hands down up the Sertig. The trails twisty and turns at a steady, unrelenting, if entirely skiable grade for a good hour straight up from my trailside home.

The tracks today were fast and bulletproof hard, making a layer of green klister covered by viola absolutely necessary. The sun was out, too. Ahh, yes, the days are good and only looking up, up, up.

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMeQfh2_5I/AAAAAAAAGAo/Y3jdvUWABCM/s1600/Welcome_DSC9104.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMeQfh2_5I/AAAAAAAAGAo/Y3jdvUWABCM/s400/Welcome_DSC9104.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562823233422950290″ //aWe finished our “racing block” with two Super Tour races in Lake Placid over the weekend. The team skied well and we had some excellent results. But…now it is time to get back to basics. We have 4 kids leaving for USST trips and the rest of us are going to stay put… get in solid training and work on general fitness, technique and specific strength.br /For most of the kids, our goal is to ski well at Sr Nationals and at Jr Nationals. For Sr Nationals we do a “fake” peak (good solid training followed by a drop in hours and some fast stuff). If that works well, we do it again for Jr Nationals and then get into race and rest mode for the spring races. br /Everyone is a little different and our goal is to see what makes each person tick. Everything is practice until the World Championships and Olympics :)br /br /Here are some pictures that Herve Pelletier took yesterday (sorry, boys, you’ll get your chance).br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMdjyxonNI/AAAAAAAAGAg/tA-DQscYhaU/s1600/Cam_DSC8884.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 296px; height: 400px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMdjyxonNI/AAAAAAAAGAg/tA-DQscYhaU/s400/Cam_DSC8884.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562822465495276754″ //aCambria had another good race series. She was 3rd in the college race on Saturday (our girls would have been 2nd college team), and she held on for a solid skate race (winning for J1’s).br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMdFuQyx2I/AAAAAAAAGAY/WZR-3l6adYo/s1600/Rachel_DSC8878.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 327px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMdFuQyx2I/AAAAAAAAGAY/WZR-3l6adYo/s400/Rachel_DSC8878.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562821948887713634″ //aRachel looked tired last night, but skied a really nice skate race. It shows that you can ski well even when you do not feel great.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMcs7B-b7I/AAAAAAAAGAQ/2iGa2Q1grkc/s1600/Issy_DSC8919.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMcs7B-b7I/AAAAAAAAGAQ/2iGa2Q1grkc/s400/Issy_DSC8919.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562821522818494386″ //aIssy P had a good 10 km skate.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMceqH2iBI/AAAAAAAAGAI/TnUkReBUQ_s/s1600/Izzy_DSC8770.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMceqH2iBI/AAAAAAAAGAI/TnUkReBUQ_s/s400/Izzy_DSC8770.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562821277761570834″ //aIzzy skied well for the “big green”.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMcJD4MXSI/AAAAAAAAGAA/W9b_OAZ-ND4/s1600/Hallie_DSC9076.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 312px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMcJD4MXSI/AAAAAAAAGAA/W9b_OAZ-ND4/s400/Hallie_DSC9076.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562820906718092578″ //aHallie had another solid weekend, placing in the top 4 for J1’s in both races.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMb7NnOucI/AAAAAAAAF_4/TU46-_7d3Rk/s1600/Danielle_DSC8767.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 348px; height: 400px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMb7NnOucI/AAAAAAAAF_4/TU46-_7d3Rk/s400/Danielle_DSC8767.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562820668813130178″ //aDanielle, looking good and staying warm!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMbpt-ACNI/AAAAAAAAF_w/-2P5R9AN8_8/s1600/Meg_DSC8791.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMbpt-ACNI/AAAAAAAAF_w/-2P5R9AN8_8/s400/Meg_DSC8791.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562820368260925650″ //aMegan had a good solid race.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMbUOxlQXI/AAAAAAAAF_o/Gaf-zyxUzjo/s1600/Cam_DSC9044.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 249px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TTMbUOxlQXI/AAAAAAAAF_o/Gaf-zyxUzjo/s400/Cam_DSC9044.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562819999110087026″ //abr /Lots of racing during the past two weeks; now it’s time to get back to solid training.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-4678655840513562291?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

Click

Wow, it has been way too long since my last post! My apologies! It has been a busy few weeks of traveling, racing and more traveling! As you probably recall from my last post, we had U.S. Nationals in Rumford, Maine the beginning of the month. It was a crazy and somewhat challenging week given the very little amount of snow! We arrived to 32 degrees with brown grass, dirt and twigs everywhere! “Hhmmm, maybe it is somehow just magically snowy up at the race venue” I thought to myself. That was not the case however.

The first training day was a bare…dirt, rocks, twigs everywhere! Disappointingly I ruined my skis. The forecast called for warmer temperatures and rain on race day. Ug! That turned out to be true, but the race was still a go! We raced the classic sprint in probably the worst conditions I have ever skied in. Despite the conditions, racers still had their game face on…it was time to put uncontrollable variables aside and just race as hard as you could. I skied a strong qualifier but missed advancing to the semis by less than a hair in a photo finish. My day ended short, but I immediately put that performance aside and focused on preparing for the races in the days to come.

As a result of the lack of snow, organizers decided to postpone the distance classic race by a day to give organizers more time to create a 2.5k loop with man-made snow. Luckly temperatures dropped into the 20’s and they were able to make snow. The organizers and volunteers did a good job of preparing a 2.5k loop. Thanks for all your hard work!

The classic race resumed on Wednesday. I unfortunately woke up with a bit of a cold and very low energy. I completed my warm-up and decided to give the race a go…four times around the 2.5k loop. I managed to ski the first lap in control, but going into the second lap my entire body felt like lead…I had no energy whatsoever. What do I do? Fight the fatigue? drop out of the race? I expressed how i was feeling to my coach and he recommended that I save my energy for the 20k race the following day. And that is what I did…half way through the race, I decided to drop out. Definitely not an easy thing to do. I’ve only dropped out once in my entire ski career and it is not a good feeling! I quickly put that disappointing performance behind me and once again started preparing for the next race.

Dropping out of the Wednesday’s classic race definitely fueled the fire for Thursday’s 20k skate race. Still not feeling 100% I went into the race with a completely focused attitude. My plan was to ski the first couple laps controlled and work into it each additional lap (7 laps total). I kept a consistent pace throughout the race and skied almost the entire race with another skier, exchanging leads. I ended up 9th overall, just 4 seconds out of 7th! Overall I was pleased with the effort but bummed to miss 7th by such a small margin.

Giving it everything in the 20k skate

Three races down, one to go! The last race was the skate sprint. I skied a solid prelim, qualifying in 8th place. I went into the quarterfinal 100% determined to advance to the semis, which I hadn’t done yet this season. I charged off the start in the lead. I managed to maintain my lead as I hammered up the hill and down into the final 200 meters. I won my quarterfinal, finally making it into the semis! I was feeling strong and once again went into the semis ready to charge. All was well until the final 100 meters…I was fighting for third place when it came down to a lunge to the finish! Yet again, it was a photo finish. I ended up getting the short end of the stick and missed qualifying for the A-final. Instead I was in the B-final. I had lost a bit of steam from the previous efforts but managed to finish 9th.

Leading the charge in the quarterfinals

The conditions in Maine were definitely challenging! We can only hope for better next year! Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers for making it possible!

Once again, I had the privilege of helping with Fast and Female in Bethel, Maine. It was a very successful event with over 130 girls attending! It was a day filled with skiing, lunch, dance and yoga! I had fun with a group of 30 girls, ages 9-10. Our group name was “The Green Goblins.”

Great group of girls out to have some fun! Thanks to all the supporters and organizers

The Green Goblin Girls!

I am currently back in Ketchum, recovering, training and getting ready for the second half of the season.

Thanks for checking in!
More later!

Wow, it has been way too long since my last post! My apologies! It has been a busy few weeks of traveling, racing and more traveling! As you probably recall from my last post, we had U.S. Nationals in Rumford, Maine the beginning of the month. It was a crazy and somewhat challenging week given the very little amount of snow! We arrived to 32 degrees with brown grass, dirt and twigs everywhere! “Hhmmm, maybe it is somehow just magically snowy up at the race venue” I thought to myself. That was not the case however.

The first training day was a bare…dirt, rocks, twigs everywhere! Disappointingly I ruined my skis. The forecast called for warmer temperatures and rain on race day. Ug! That turned out to be true, but the race was still a go! We raced the classic sprint in probably the worst conditions I have ever skied in. Despite the conditions, racers still had their game face on…it was time to put uncontrollable variables aside and just race as hard as you could. I skied a strong qualifier but missed advancing to the semis by less than a hair in a photo finish. My day ended short, but I immediately put that performance aside and focused on preparing for the races in the days to come.

As a result of the lack of snow, organizers decided to postpone the distance classic race by a day to give organizers more time to create a 2.5k loop with man-made snow. Luckly temperatures dropped into the 20’s and they were able to make snow. The organizers and volunteers did a good job of preparing a 2.5k loop. Thanks for all your hard work!

The classic race resumed on Wednesday. I unfortunately woke up with a bit of a cold and very low energy. I completed my warm-up and decided to give the race a go…four times around the 2.5k loop. I managed to ski the first lap in control, but going into the second lap my entire body felt like lead…I had no energy whatsoever. What do I do? Fight the fatigue? drop out of the race? I expressed how i was feeling to my coach and he recommended that I save my energy for the 20k race the following day. And that is what I did…half way through the race, I decided to drop out. Definitely not an easy thing to do. I’ve only dropped out once in my entire ski career and it is not a good feeling! I quickly put that disappointing performance behind me and once again started preparing for the next race.

Dropping out of the Wednesday’s classic race definitely fueled the fire for Thursday’s 20k skate race. Still not feeling 100% I went into the race with a completely focused attitude. My plan was to ski the first couple laps controlled and work into it each additional lap (7 laps total). I kept a consistent pace throughout the race and skied almost the entire race with another skier, exchanging leads. I ended up 9th overall, just 4 seconds out of 7th! Overall I was pleased with the effort but bummed to miss 7th by such a small margin.

Giving it everything in the 20k skate

Three races down, one to go! The last race was the skate sprint. I skied a solid prelim, qualifying in 8th place. I went into the quarterfinal 100% determined to advance to the semis, which I hadn’t done yet this season. I charged off the start in the lead. I managed to maintain my lead as I hammered up the hill and down into the final 200 meters. I won my quarterfinal, finally making it into the semis! I was feeling strong and once again went into the semis ready to charge. All was well until the final 100 meters…I was fighting for third place when it came down to a lunge to the finish! Yet again, it was a photo finish. I ended up getting the short end of the stick and missed qualifying for the A-final. Instead I was in the B-final. I had lost a bit of steam from the previous efforts but managed to finish 9th.

Leading the charge in the quarterfinals

The conditions in Maine were definitely challenging! We can only hope for better next year! Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers for making it possible!

Once again, I had the privilege of helping with Fast and Female in Bethel, Maine. It was a very successful event with over 130 girls attending! It was a day filled with skiing, lunch, dance and yoga! I had fun with a group of 30 girls, ages 9-10. Our group name was “The Green Goblins.”

Great group of girls out to have some fun! Thanks to all the supporters and organizers

The Green Goblin Girls!

I am currently back in Ketchum, recovering, training and getting ready for the second half of the season.

Thanks for checking in!
More later!

Wow, it has been way too long since my last post! My apologies! It has been a busy few weeks of traveling, racing and more traveling! As you probably recall from my last post, we had U.S. Nationals in Rumford, Maine the beginning of the month. It was a crazy and somewhat challenging week given the very little amount of snow! We arrived to 32 degrees with brown grass, dirt and twigs everywhere! “Hhmmm, maybe it is somehow just magically snowy up at the race venue” I thought to myself. That was not the case however.

The first training day was a bare…dirt, rocks, twigs everywhere! Disappointingly I ruined my skis. The forecast called for warmer temperatures and rain on race day. Ug! That turned out to be true, but the race was still a go! We raced the classic sprint in probably the worst conditions I have ever skied in. Despite the conditions, racers still had their game face on…it was time to put uncontrollable variables aside and just race as hard as you could. I skied a strong qualifier but missed advancing to the semis by less than a hair in a photo finish. My day ended short, but I immediately put that performance aside and focused on preparing for the races in the days to come.

As a result of the lack of snow, organizers decided to postpone the distance classic race by a day to give organizers more time to create a 2.5k loop with man-made snow. Luckly temperatures dropped into the 20’s and they were able to make snow. The organizers and volunteers did a good job of preparing a 2.5k loop. Thanks for all your hard work!

The classic race resumed on Wednesday. I unfortunately woke up with a bit of a cold and very low energy. I completed my warm-up and decided to give the race a go…four times around the 2.5k loop. I managed to ski the first lap in control, but going into the second lap my entire body felt like lead…I had no energy whatsoever. What do I do? Fight the fatigue? drop out of the race? I expressed how i was feeling to my coach and he recommended that I save my energy for the 20k race the following day. And that is what I did…half way through the race, I decided to drop out. Definitely not an easy thing to do. I’ve only dropped out once in my entire ski career and it is not a good feeling! I quickly put that disappointing performance behind me and once again started preparing for the next race.

Dropping out of the Wednesday’s classic race definitely fueled the fire for Thursday’s 20k skate race. Still not feeling 100% I went into the race with a completely focused attitude. My plan was to ski the first couple laps controlled and work into it each additional lap (7 laps total). I kept a consistent pace throughout the race and skied almost the entire race with another skier, exchanging leads. I ended up 9th overall, just 4 seconds out of 7th! Overall I was pleased with the effort but bummed to miss 7th by such a small margin.

Giving it everything in the 20k skate

Three races down, one to go! The last race was the skate sprint. I skied a solid prelim, qualifying in 8th place. I went into the quarterfinal 100% determined to advance to the semis, which I hadn’t done yet this season. I charged off the start in the lead. I managed to maintain my lead as I hammered up the hill and down into the final 200 meters. I won my quarterfinal, finally making it into the semis! I was feeling strong and once again went into the semis ready to charge. All was well until the final 100 meters…I was fighting for third place when it came down to a lunge to the finish! Yet again, it was a photo finish. I ended up getting the short end of the stick and missed qualifying for the A-final. Instead I was in the B-final. I had lost a bit of steam from the previous efforts but managed to finish 9th.

Leading the charge in the quarterfinals

The conditions in Maine were definitely challenging! We can only hope for better next year! Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers for making it possible!

Once again, I had the privilege of helping with Fast and Female in Bethel, Maine. It was a very successful event with over 130 girls attending! It was a day filled with skiing, lunch, dance and yoga! I had fun with a group of 30 girls, ages 9-10. Our group name was “The Green Goblins.”

Great group of girls out to have some fun! Thanks to all the supporters and organizers

The Green Goblin Girls!

I am currently back in Ketchum, recovering, training and getting ready for the second half of the season.

Thanks for checking in!
More later!

Wow, it has been way too long since my last post! My apologies! It has been a busy few weeks of traveling, racing and more traveling! As you probably recall from my last post, we had U.S. Nationals in Rumford, Maine the beginning of the month. It was a crazy and somewhat challenging week given the very little amount of snow! We arrived to 32 degrees with brown grass, dirt and twigs everywhere! “Hhmmm, maybe it is somehow just magically snowy up at the race venue” I thought to myself. That was not the case however.

The first training day was a bare…dirt, rocks, twigs everywhere! Disappointingly I ruined my skis. The forecast called for warmer temperatures and rain on race day. Ug! That turned out to be true, but the race was still a go! We raced the classic sprint in probably the worst conditions I have ever skied in. Despite the conditions, racers still had their game face on…it was time to put uncontrollable variables aside and just race as hard as you could. I skied a strong qualifier but missed advancing to the semis by less than a hair in a photo finish. My day ended short, but I immediately put that performance aside and focused on preparing for the races in the days to come.

As a result of the lack of snow, organizers decided to postpone the distance classic race by a day to give organizers more time to create a 2.5k loop with man-made snow. Luckly temperatures dropped into the 20’s and they were able to make snow. The organizers and volunteers did a good job of preparing a 2.5k loop. Thanks for all your hard work!

The classic race resumed on Wednesday. I unfortunately woke up with a bit of a cold and very low energy. I completed my warm-up and decided to give the race a go…four times around the 2.5k loop. I managed to ski the first lap in control, but going into the second lap my entire body felt like lead…I had no energy whatsoever. What do I do? Fight the fatigue? drop out of the race? I expressed how i was feeling to my coach and he recommended that I save my energy for the 20k race the following day. And that is what I did…half way through the race, I decided to drop out. Definitely not an easy thing to do. I’ve only dropped out once in my entire ski career and it is not a good feeling! I quickly put that disappointing performance behind me and once again started preparing for the next race.

Dropping out of the Wednesday’s classic race definitely fueled the fire for Thursday’s 20k skate race. Still not feeling 100% I went into the race with a completely focused attitude. My plan was to ski the first couple laps controlled and work into it each additional lap (7 laps total). I kept a consistent pace throughout the race and skied almost the entire race with another skier, exchanging leads. I ended up 9th overall, just 4 seconds out of 7th! Overall I was pleased with the effort but bummed to miss 7th by such a small margin.

Giving it everything in the 20k skate

Three races down, one to go! The last race was the skate sprint. I skied a solid prelim, qualifying in 8th place. I went into the quarterfinal 100% determined to advance to the semis, which I hadn’t done yet this season. I charged off the start in the lead. I managed to maintain my lead as I hammered up the hill and down into the final 200 meters. I won my quarterfinal, finally making it into the semis! I was feeling strong and once again went into the semis ready to charge. All was well until the final 100 meters…I was fighting for third place when it came down to a lunge to the finish! Yet again, it was a photo finish. I ended up getting the short end of the stick and missed qualifying for the A-final. Instead I was in the B-final. I had lost a bit of steam from the previous efforts but managed to finish 9th.

Leading the charge in the quarterfinals

The conditions in Maine were definitely challenging! We can only hope for better next year! Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers for making it possible!

Once again, I had the privilege of helping with Fast and Female in Bethel, Maine. It was a very successful event with over 130 girls attending! It was a day filled with skiing, lunch, dance and yoga! I had fun with a group of 30 girls, ages 9-10. Our group name was “The Green Goblins.”

Great group of girls out to have some fun! Thanks to all the supporters and organizers

The Green Goblin Girls!

I am currently back in Ketchum, recovering, training and getting ready for the second half of the season.

Thanks for checking in!
More later!

They didn’t crack into the top thirty, but the Americans had strong races for them, nonetheless.

Related posts:

1. <Race Snapshot: IBU World Cup 1 Women
2. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 1 Women’s Sprint
3. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 2 Women’s Pursuit

What can you say, except that today is a very good day?

Related posts:

1. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 1 Women’s Sprint
2. <Race Snapshot: Davos WC Sprint
3. <Race Snapshot: TdS Classic Sprint

Thanks once again to Skaði Nordic for sponsoring this week’s Week In Review. Let’s get right to it:

• Lots and lots of racing meant lots and lots of race snapshots: TdS mass start, TdS final climb, IBU World Cup women’s sprint and men’s mass start, IBU World Cup men’s individual and women’s individual and finally more biathlon with a men’s sprint.
• I spent a lot of time recapping the Tour de Ski. This included a fairly popular post looking at what “might” have happened without the bonus seconds from the distance races.
• Finally, I posted some graphs looking at a few of the top US domestic skiers and their results so far this season, wrapping up the week with a brief note on the USST’s World Championship team selections.

Looking forward to some sprinting action tomorrow on the World Cup scene…

Related posts:

1. <Week In Review: Friday Dec 3rd
2. <Week In Review: Friday Dec 10th
3. <Week In Review: Friday Dec 17th

Honestly, I’m reluctant to wade into this topic, but since this blog is supposed to focus on the intersection of XC skiing and data, I feel like I need to say something. The USST announced their team for World Championships in Oslo, which inevitably led to a certain amount of griping about the choices made or the tools used to make those choices.

I spend a lot of time looking at XC skiing results data in far more detail than most people and I can’t see anything remotely questionable in the selections. What I mean by that is that if you compare the team they selected with a detailed look at all the available race results so far this season, nothing seems obviously wrong to me given the particular set of races on the schedule in Oslo.

Clearly, some judgement calls were made, but that’s inevitable. No ranking system is perfect. No matter how complex or sophisticated your points system and ranking method is, there will be instances where it fails to capture the “truth”. Data should be a guide, not an ironclad law.

As some food for thought, here are some slightly improved versions of the graphs I posted this morning, but with versions for sprinting as well. Once again, there are surely some “contenders” that I haven’t plotted; this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive look at everyone vying for a spot on the WSC team. The modification I made is to plot line segments rather than points. I recommend reading them by row: red lines are “good” for the athlete in the row, blue lines are “bad”. Only instances where each pair of athletes raced against each other are counted. The length of the line segment represents the difference in percent back for distance races and the difference in rank for sprint races. Some general observations follow:

Men's Distance

Men's Sprint

Women's Distance

Women's Sprint

A few simple notes:

• The number of racers who are unambiguously beating the collection of people I’m comparing them to is fairly small. They include Lars Flora, Holly Brooks and to a somewhat lesser degree Sadie Bjornsen.
• Note how many of the other cases are quite ambiguous. By that I mean that there’s a healthy mix of red and blue lines of varying lengths in many of the rows.
• In some cases (e.g. Simi Hamilton) we have only a very few races to go by, if all we are to look at is head-to-head comparisons. If you base your metric on such head-to-head comparisons, how do you give skiers like Ida Sargent or Simi Hamilton credit for strong results in Europe? Conversely, how do you incorporate bad results from Europe? This isn’t so simple.

Related posts:

1. <Head-to-Head: Marit vs Justyna
2. <Career Retrospective: Reto Burgermeister
3. <Athlete To Watch: Nicole Fessel

Tough day for the North Americans, sadly.  Fantastic race by Lars Berger, though.

Related posts:

1. <Race Snapshots: IBU WC 1 Men’s Sprint
2. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 1 Men/Women’s Pursuit
3. <Race Snapshot: IBU WC 3 Men’s/Women’s Sprint

Continuing on from yesterday as promised, we have two rather large graphs showing the head-to-head results of some top US skiers on the domestic scene.  These graphs are, well, big and to be honest I’m not particularly proud of them.  I’ve been struggling with how to display the head-to-head results from a large number of pairs of skiers in an appealing way and quite frankly I haven’t had much luck.  This is the least bad option I’ve found so far.  Even so, it clearly won’t work for a truly large number of skiers.

In any case, here they are:

These may be a bit confusing at first, so let me explain.  You should read these by focusing on rows of panels.  For example, in the men’s graph we have a row of panels for Lars Flora.  Each of these panels displays his results versus the person in that column using the difference in percent back.  Red dots mean the person on the row won, blue means the person on the row lost to the person on the column.  So the large number of red dots in the Lars Flora row is good (for Flora).

It’s not the best, but you can at least scan along a row and get a sense for how often someone is winning versus a particular person.

Related posts:

1. <Head-to-Head
2. <Poll Update
3. <Post-WJC/U23 Development: Canada