Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

World U23 Champs Update

The Under 23 World Championships has come to an end. Yesterday I competed in the 15km classic and Tuesday I did the skate sprint. I was pretty happy with my distance race yesterday, I think I have made a big jump in my distance racing this year. I’m pretty sure It’s because I have almost doubled the hours of training this year compared to last year. In the three previous years I never cracked the top 40 in a distance race, yesterday I was 37th, second American. It’s hard to get done with your race and look at the results sheet and have to flip to the second page before you see your name, but the truth is; I went out there, stayed positive and gave it everything I had. Now I just need to figure out what the best method is to make another large jump in my skiing so in one or two years I can be one of those guys standing on that podium. I was born in 1991, the athletes in the Under 23 category are born in 1991,1990, and 1989. I will have two more years to figure out a way to make this happen, I WILL.

The sprint race on Tuesday was a short day for me. The way a sprint works is all the skiers will go out, 15 seconds apart and ski their butts off around the designated course, usually somewhere around 1.5km. Then the top 30 are selected to go head to head in rounds with 6 people in each heat. Starting with the quarters finals, then the top two athletes go to the semi-finals and the top three from there go to the finals. I was one of the two unlucky athletes who was within a second of being in the top 30, so my day ended right after the morning qualifier in 32nd place. It’s pretty tough to be one of those guys that were so close to moving on, you know that all it would have taken would have been to start your finishing kick 5 meters earlier then you did, or to have not missed that one pole plant. At the same time though, I did go out that morning and ski the course the fastest way I thought I could. Maybe with another shot I could have done it differently and taken off a second but thats racing, I have to learn from every race so that I can improve for my next one. I will have another shot.

Myself in skate sprint

We have had a couple of off days, this is essential for recovery. It also gives us time to get out of the hotel and experience the awesome culture and atmosphere. I feel very lucky to have gotten the chance to come here to Turkey, I’m not sure I will get the chance to come back, although I would love too. I would recommend it to everyone.

Our hotel

Really good food.

February 25, 2012
J1 Scando Cup RESULTS

Saturday, 2/25/12:

5km Classic, Ladies:

10km Classic, Gentlemen

Friday, 2/24/12 (Sprints):

Girls’ Sprints

Boys’ Sprints

February 25, 2012
VITAMIN D!!!

Matt and I on our ski yesterday. First Over-Distance (OD) ski I have gotten to do in quite a while, so it was extra special. Perhaps the warmest and sunniest I have ever seen Davos, so it was a really amazing day full of smiles and vitamin D!!!

Rest and Relaxation time in the bed with my buddies Chandra, Marcel 1 and Snargles.

Matt and Chandra on our OD at the top of the Sertig Valley. Double classic tracks up a perfect striding grade for an hour and then 10 minutes of descending, during which we hit 67 kilometers an hour!! SO FUN!

February 25, 2012
Ok Everyone! Let’s do the Taper!

Click to view slideshow.
Hello all,

I’m in Ridnaun, Italy at the moment getting ready for the upcoming World Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany starting next week. We’ve been up here at the top of the valley now for almost a week and I have to say that World Champs can’t get here soon enough. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the Northern Italian sun or the cuisine, it’s just that this time of year is always a bit trying for most biathletes. This is the time of year where we start to “taper”, heading into World Championships. Generally speaking, this involves “tapering” off the amount of training that we do in order to allow the body to recover fully and hopefully be in peak form for what can be as much as six races in a twelve-day period.

On the surface, I could see how some might conclude that a “taper” is nothing more than a little mini-vaca at a secluded mountain resort in Italy. However, we still have specific workouts that need to be executed well and then there is the ever-important recovery phases that prevent the athlete from actually going out an experiencing the surrounding environs as any leisure holiday-maker might. Basically, I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping, reading, and a bit of dry firing. In summary, I can’t wait to get back to racing!

In other news, the Scandinavian world cups went extremely well for the team and I think we all are excited to continue that momentum into Ruhpolding. We had a historical best in the Khantiolahti Sprint race with Russ, Tim, Jay, and I all within the top-16! I think this was the high-point for me. We were also invited over to Finnish biathlete, Mari Laukinnen’s Parents’ cabin for a traditional “smoke sauna” and a huge Finnish dinner. The sauna was amazing, set apart from the cabin and fueled by a huge stove that gave off a lot of heat and a bit of smoke that was naturally vented out the ceiling. After a few cycles of heat followed by a submersion in a hole cut in the ice of a nearby pond, it was time to head back to the hotel for the evening before heading out to Munich in the morning.

After Scandinavia, we headed back to Antholz for a week of training in our coach Armin Auchentaller’s home valley. And now we find ourselves here in Ridnaun with a few days to go before heading back to Germany and World Championships. We will take part in a local Italian Cup race here tomorrow as part of our preparations. After that, it’s mostly rest and a few key intensity workouts before the first races in Ruhpolding.

Until then, all the best!
-Lowell

February 24, 2012
WJC & U23 Updates – North Americans
I’m a bit pressed for time at the moment, so not much commentary on these. They are just the updated versions of the graphs I showed on Wednesday, giving some historical context for the results at WJC & U23′s for the US and Canada.

WJC – USA

WJC – CAN

U23 – USA

U23 – CAN

Related posts:
February 24, 2012
Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland

The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind of racing and travelling. From Russia we flew to Germany, drove to Austria for a few days of training, drove to Czech Republic for a weekend of races, drove to Poland for three more days of racing and then drove back across Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany to Davos, Switzerland where we are currently calling home. There is a weekend off from World Cup racing so we have a week and a half training camp in Davos and time to settle, unpack, fight off the stomach bugs that have been plaguing or team, and maybe even do some laundry. Looking back I realized since the Muonio races way back in the beginning of November, I have only had one weekend without a race and that was Christmas! The alpine sunshine is going to be just the ticket to recharge the batteries and get fired up for the last month of racing! Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks.

Nove Mesto, Czech Republic is the site of next year's Biathlon World Championships and was a great venue, one of my favorites this year. The trails were super fun with some big hills and fast twisty downhills. I'm always surprised with how poorly many of the World Cup women ski downhills and there were some sketchy descents in the mass start races and snow plows and non-snow plowers converged.

Parts of the Czech Republic reminded me a lot of Vermont with big fields and rolling hills.

I was pleasantly surprised with the Scandinavianesque ski trails which linked all the towns in the region. It wasn't something that I expected to find in Eastern Europe. Hopefully next time I'll have a few more days to explore the double classic tracks snaking through the woods.

The first day of racing in Czech was a 15km mass start and it was a pretty tough day for the team. We were all feeling worked over after the hard day of racing but we have an awesome atmosphere on our team right now and we were easily able to put that race behind us and get fired up for RELAY DAY! Glitter, face paint, knee high striped socks, and lots of energy for Sunday's race!

Relays are the most fun races but I also get incredibly nervous for them! All my butterflies came out with a vengeance as I tried to focus on skiing a smart race. Here I am skiing with Germany and Sweden. Andy Newell photo

Holly skied a really strong scramble leg and tagged off to me for the second lap. I skied with a pack for the first lap of the race and then moved up a few places on the second lap trying to gain every second I could before tagging Liz. Pete Vordenberg/NNF photo

Liz and Jessie both hammered out awesome skate legs. We all got lots of TV time thanks to our socks!

Jessie skied the whole race with Charlotte Kalla, the Olympic champion from Sweden. There was a very exciting sprint finish for fourth place but after the photo analysis we ended up in 5th place. If you take out Norway's second team which was also on the podium, that would have been a sprint finish for third! Watch out Sochi!

We were ecstatic finishing area and were way more excite than the winning teams. Vibeke Skofterud who skied on Norway's winning team even asked if she could take a picture of us while we were celebrating.

The next stop was Szklarzka Poreba, Poland.

Kowalczyk is queen in Poland. They didn't even televise the men's sprint heats preferring instead to do a race analysis of Kowalczyk's sprint during that time. The cheering was insane from the very enthusiastic fans, some of which even hiked 10km up a twisty, snowy mountain road from the town to the race venue.ng 10

The stadium and finishing area

The first day was a skate sprint. The snow was super squirrelly and slippery and trying to stay on my feet was enough of a challenge so I failed to qualify for the heats. The fast snow made for an exciting day of racing though. Kikkan fell in the final, was off the back of the heat, but caught back up and still ended up on the podium! So impressive!

The President of the Polish Radio was amazed by her "bravery" and gave her this giant rock to show his admiration for getting back up and keeping going. It weighs close to 50lbs and is going to be lots of fun for her to bring home to Alaska

The next day was a 10km classic and rain, snow and zero degree weather made for super tricky waxing conditions and a lot of herringboning at the end of the race. It was a good day for me though and I scored my first World Cup distance points. Vordenberg/NNF photo

The last day of racing in Poland was the World Uphill Trophy. I was feeling pretty tired from the day before so I skipped racing but still skied to the top to cheer on the team. It was an insane race up an alpine area with 500 meters of elevation gain. The trail was so steep that I was considering even doing some side stepping to make it to the top. Mother Nature didn't make it any easier with huge snowdrifts, wind, snow, and all the other elements. The conditions were so crazy on top that I accidentally skied off the course without realizing it.

Liz was the first to the top but the race was up and down so she lost a few places with her tuck snowplow. Andy and Tad both really went for it on the downhill and made up a lot of time until they each had to dig themselves out of the fences. I was very impressed with all of them though in this insane race!

And now we are in Davos with lots of sun, snow, and stinky cheese. I wish I could send some of this snow to Craftsbury! Andy Newell photo

February 24, 2012
Athlete’s Post: Anika and Julia

Its go time! We just got back from a day at the venue testing and waxing skis for tomorrow. Team Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia all arrived today and its beginning to feel like race time! The weather is warm and wet (a mix of rain and snow all day), but we are pushing through and hoping for a bit of a cool down tonight. We’re really pumped up after seeing the kids at World Juniors/U23’s rip it up today and excited to get our race on tomorrow. We will try to update as much as possible in the next couple of days, but bear with us because its going to be a whirlwind trip. Thanks for checking in on us, can’t believe how fast its all flying by! Send some well wishes our way! -Kate

Here’s yesterday’s report from Anika and Julia!

After a long night of bowling we got to sleep in late and eat an amazing breakfast at our hotel since it is our day off. The morning was spent being very studious and getting caught up before the racing starts. Before heading off to Tartu we ate lunch and watched the MTV top 10 James Blunt videos. The team bet that “You are Beautiful” would be the number one song. Turns out it was number two and there was no number one video! The afternoon was spent touring the city, and visiting its’ incredible science museum. We had a blast using the different machines and looking at the optical illusions. The biggest attraction of the day was a bike suspended high off the ground on a tight rope. It was a thrill to ride across, and everyone loved the ride! Before heading to a fancy dinner, we had free time to tour the city and get some shopping in (at least for the girls, who knows what he guys were up to). When it started to get a little stormy outside we headed to a nice dinner accompanied by some lovely music by a local band at the end of the meal. Simi and Tom had Moose as their main meal, which they enjoyed very much, and Max tried beaver soup! Once everyone was full, we headed to the cars to attempt to drive back without getting lost, which fulfilled successfully. Well, coach Adam claims Simi might have splashed a woman on the side of the road which he claimed to be “an accident,” but he did do an excellent job navigating so we forgave them: )

The bridge at our race venue

Max and Kyle

Teagan and Nicole

Eli chilling under the rainbow and Max in the curtain

The crazy mirror maze!

Pitch black photo booth: Pop a balloon in the dark.

Simi rockin’ the rope bike

Eli getting stuck upside down in the astronaut training simulator with a young evil? Estonia boy

Kate and Scott on the spinny chairs

Anika’s head sticking out of the fruit bowl

February 23, 2012
Pre-World Champs…camp?

Ridnaun Panorama (photo: Zachary Hall)

Some would say that the toughest days to be a skier (or possibly any athlete) are the days you are supposed to rest. While it may be easy to rest for one day after a really intense and hard week of training, if that day turns into several, or the training hasn’t been too tough, some athletes start climbing the wall. I’ve always been pretty good at dealing with my down-time. I work hard and enjoy training, but also love the times when I can go spend hours in a coffee shop, or sleep in and spend the day in my pajamas…or better yet, actually get dressed in “normal” clothing and not change all day!

The Schneeberg Resort and beautiful backdrop. (photo: Zachary Hall)

That said, this week has been a major test of my ability to fill the time. We’re in Ridnaun, Italy for our pre-World Championships training camp, and “training” camp might be stretching it a bit. As we start the peaking process for the end of the season, the training is minimal. We’ve done the work and now it’s time to fine-tune and kick it into top gear. That means most days only one workout, shorter workouts, and a little more intensity. Yesterday, for example, we had a threshold interval set followed by “tolerance” – basically when you go as hard as you can for short burst of time (15, 30 or 60 seconds)…and usually on tough uphill terrain. The idea is that this wakes up your muscles and reminds you how to go hard…finding that extra boost! We followed that tough workout with an 90 minute easy ski with shooting and an afternoon off today. Pretty nice.

One of the comfy sitting areas. (photo: Zachary Hall)

Luckily, we’re in an extremely beautiful place. Ridnaun is known for nice sunny days, and a good venue right next to our hotel. The toughest part of our job right now is trying not to eat too much of the great (and plentiful) food here at the Schneeberg. We’ve been taking full advantage of the huge sauna complex, and the great sitting areas that have pretty decent internet. Even with all that, though, I’m starting to get antsy to race…which is precisely the point! I think I’m just about ready for Ruhpolding…

February 23, 2012
Podiums and Downtown

Well I was not there as I stayed back with the Jrs and took them downtown, and then out to train, but what a day! Sadie came 5th about 5-6s from 2nd and Hoff was skiing with the worlds best taking second in a very tight race!

Sorry I could not figure out how to rotate this one. Pretty cool though.

They sell wood on the side walk. We saw an old man tough as nails carrying a huge bag back to his house.

Downtown.

Ahh nice morning mist NOT. Super smog totally gross and really really hard to breath in. Our hotel and race venue are not in the smog.

Will laid it on the line in a very tough field. Not pictured but Stephanie actually got a little O2 from medical after she finished pretty wobblely, all maxed out from the elevation.

Podium shots later, but flowers in the wax room always a good sign!

Jessie is one of the heavy hitter favorites for the races. Too bad she was sick when she arrived. Recovered now she is feeling ready rumble in the skiathlon! For some reason the press thought Jessie was a sprint specialist, we are all hoping to change that impression Saturday.

The man of day Hoff! 2nd to a super legit Russian.

Big Logs Logan around a very tight turn. Right before he came through two guys crashed and smashed the v board.

Corey in the start. She struggled a bit but learned some invaluable lessons for the future.

One of the top Russians with 200 meters to go.

The Jrs down in the old city.

Finally I found one to photo! A “wild” turkish (click then link to): kangal. These things are all over the place.

Nice cardboard grill. Actually our wax dudes did the same so the rental would make to the race in the morning. Apparently there is no winterized fuel here and a lot of cars, trucks and buses lurch/stall along in the cold. It is -30 in the am and about -3-4 in the day.

A demo’ed apartment building. There are a lot of areas of rubble.

Very nice turkish stylings

Nice Bling Reese.

Turkish rugs in front of a Mosque. I went to buy one but the rug shop was closed!

Lot’s of horses and carts downtown.

Cool art work art carved into a wall downtown.

A Cay house or Tea house.

Ready to go for a real cup!

A nice ornate set up for the Turkish Coffee.

The bottom of the cup filled with grinds. Actually I like my freeze dried at the hotel way better

I love mayo on my pasta. The Russians actually love it and they super fast!

Check out these cool snow boots

February 23, 2012
Birkie Fever Strikes Hard

Saturday is the day for the biggest XC Ski Race in North America

This ribbon of snow will be flattened just before the race.

Listen to the local radio coverage WOJB

Track Brian’s Race

Facebook Birkie coverage

Twitter Birkie coverage

February 22, 2012
Skate Intensity with West River BKL

We had a nice morning up at the mountain for our skate intensity day. The West River BKL kids are on February break so they were able to join us in the morning for a combo practice with both teams. We warmed up with 20 minutes of one-on-one skiing (older SMS skier with a younger SMS skier/West River BKL skier) and worked on some technique and drills – a good chance for the older kids to do some teaching and for the younger kids to get some individualized attention. : ) We worked on some starts, and then wrapped up with a relay race up and down the Solstice trail for those who are feeling rested and healthy.

Mac, Paddy, & Gino go head to head.

Hallie is on break from college (Bates) right now. It was great to have her back with the team for the morning!

Younger girls lining up to get matched up with the older boys for their relay partners.

Start of the relay! Chloe Levins (yellow tights) mixes it up out front with the boys. : )

The steepest hill on the course.

Russell transitions smoothly into his V1.

Will drops right into his skate tuck!

Charlotte – looking good!

Happy. : )

Tyler.

Emma.

Asa.

Paddy.

Gino.

Mac with his dad right behind!

Hamish.

Corky.

Brooke.

Mollie.

February 22, 2012
Davos again!!

So we are back in Davos for our last rest and relaxation week before the final push of the World Cup season. We have 2 races in Lahti, Finland next weekend, 2 races in Oslo, Norway the following weekend, and then hopefully 4 races in Falun, Sweden for World Cup Finals if I can stay in the top 50 on the overall list. This time of year my focus can easily slip away if I let it, especially this year being on the road since November and the end of the season in sight, but keeping the focus and drive high right now is a mind game and I really like mind games, so I am playing to win. It’s been a great season so far, so many improvements over last year, but I still have some unmet goals for the season and I am running out of opportunities to accomplish them. So, I have turned my brain back on, am living in the moment (and these days in Davos are super sunny beautiful days) and am training and focusing to give myself the best opportunity to have great performances in the last few World Cups of the season.

Chandra and I on a ski the other day. We kidnapped one of my best friends who is on the Canadian National Team and took her to Davos with us, which is SO fun!!

Newell getting his sun-bathing on. He’s pretty much a professional at this task.

Matt and Chandra’s post ski high-five.

Chandra and Matt smiling away. Hard not to with these trails and this sun. It’s the life here, especially when a week of resting, recovery and training is just what the doctor ordered.

February 22, 2012
zzzz

we’re all pretty tired from our adventures in Tartu, check back tomorrow for a full report from the athletes. Goodnight!

February 22, 2012
Skiable

This winter has definitely changed my perception of what is and is not skiable. Basically… anything goes. As long as it is not entirely grass you’re probably okay. (Well… unless there is a super heavy frost, then go for it! ski on that grass. Do it! because you are ridiculously desperate and it will be a blast)

The last couple days have felt decisively spring-esque. I did a combo workout at VanHo on patchy un-groomed, crusty trails. I had to dodge patches of leaves, grass, dirt, and rocks. It was Sunny and beautiful and it made it feel like April skiing. When you love snow too much to let it go. And then I remembered it is February. February!?

It’s not pretty. To be honest, it’s not even verging on fair… but it’s all we’ve got.

Another 1/4 inch of snow fell last night instead of rain (thank goodness?) …now instead of seeing the rocks you have no idea they’re coming. Nothing like a lovely little game of chance during your morning workout. That’s why you have rock-skis in the first place… right?

I’m heading to Pennsylvania to be with my family for the weekend… Where my Dad was “really looking forward to going for a run in shorts”… wait what?

February 22, 2012
WJC & U23 Sprints
World Junior/U23s are underway, of course, in the exotic locale of Turkey. Monday wasn’t a spectacular day for the North Americans in the WJC freestyle sprint. For some quick context, here’s a look at the historical results in each discipline for the US:

I’m just using finishing place here, rather than FIS points, since I think that’s often more understandable for people with World Juniors. Obviously, the first distance races were this morning (I wrote this last night) so I’ll update those on Friday.

As you can see, while the men didn’t have a great day, they really haven’t qualified more than 1-2 skiers in a long time. So while it’s not great, it doesn’t seem dramatically different from what we’ve seen over the past 5-6 years. What I notice with the women is that we’ve actually seen 3 straight years of declining results. While the median result this year isn’t much different than last, the top result has steadily decline.

And of course, here’s the same graph for the Canadians:

The “average” junior women’s sprinting result for the Canadians has been declining, but they seem to manage send 1-2 skiers through to the heats. The men have just plain struggled a bit for several years in a row now.

Similarly, here’s the same graph for the U23 sprint, first for the Americans:

and the Canadians:

Related posts:
February 22, 2012
Intervals and BOWL OFF!

Another great day in Estonia! The weather has been warm and snowy since we arrived in Mammaste. This morning we did hard skate intervals on the sprint course. The men will race a short 1.3km loop and the women will do a shorter 1km version. The courses may be short, but they are full of steep ups and downs as well as some tight corners. They will favor skiers with strong transitions. This afternoon we did some speeds as a team. The boys got to test their speed against Simi Hamilton who is straight off of the World Cup sprint in Poland. After speed practice and a few failed lunges we headed home for a quick dinner before walking across the street for some Galactic Bowling. I think that Max was the top scorer for athletes and Adam won the coaches competition. Tomorrow is a much deserved day off. We’ll catch up on homework and sleep in the morning and head 44km to the city of Tartu for the afternoon. We plan to check out the science museum, and explore the city. Everyone is looking forward to a fun day. Thats all for now, thanks for reading!

“recess” in Estonia. No Exaggeration, their were probably about 350 kids at the venue by the time we were leaving doing any variation of winter sport. The kids were bused in on giant charter buses.

Adam leads a group of boys.

Max

Jack

Kyle drops into the stadium.

Teagan

Kids!

The boys on the first climb out of the stadium.

Anika

Tom

Teagan

Julia, Adam

Eli

Nichole

Heidi

The boys hammering

The boys again, and some Estonia ladies looking on

Kyle

Adam

Kyle

Boys and Simi check out the course

Starts!

Where the magic happens.

Credit Adam and Scott for such a sweet wax setup

Woot!

February 21, 2012
J1 Trip Update from Anika

Estonia has been quite theadventure! We got to go sledding Friday night on a very steep, but fun hill. Everyone had a blast and is loving Estonia We went skiing in Otepaa forthe last time Saturday morning before heading out to Mammaste where the ScandoCup races will be held. It was a very cold ski in the morning, but conditionswere still spectacular. After lunch we headed to Mammaste which was quite theadventure (we got lost our fair share of times). In the afternoon, we checkedout the new trails that we will soon be racing on. The skiing was good, andvery fast but the snow was a little bit thin in spots.

The coaches!

The team!

Our hotel in Oteppa – don’t you think it resembles a bomb shelter?

The Tehvandi Stadium. World Cup races are held in this very stadium.

This sign shows how far each of these major cities are from Otepaa.

The ski jump in Otepaa.

The Tartu Marathon, Estonia’s largest ski marathon, was held Sunday morning. It was a spectacle to see with somewhere around 6,000 skiers total in the event. One of our coaches, Adam St. Pierre, competed in the race so we spent the morning driving all across Estonia following the 63 kilometer course. We were the support crew for Adam and a very fast Estonian skier. It was amazing to see how fast the fastest skiers skied for that long. In the afternoon we went for an easy classic ski on our new race courses.

The stadium set up for the Tartu Marathon. There were 18 tracks total. You may recognize that hill on the left from the sprint races in Otepaa. They race right over it!

The flags in the stadium right before the marathon.

The winners of the Tartu Marathon.

It warmed up and snowed quite a bit Monday making for some squirrelly snow and tough kick waxing conditions. There were quite a few falls on the tight downhill corners of the race course. Luckily the snow was soft. It was still a fun ski, and the snow is clean and ready for some racers!

The main lodge in Mammaste.

Team USA!

Freshly groomed tracks on thetrails in Mammaste.

Tuesday was an interval/speedday with Simi Hamilton. The skate sprint course for the girls is very short;only one kilometer. It takes about two minutes on slow skis and slow snow, soit will be a very fast course on Friday. There aren’t any pictures from todaybecause it was snowing too hard.

You can also follow the USA J1 Trip on Facebook.

February 21, 2012
Eastern Cup Finals and Junior Nationals!

It was an exciting final weekend of Eastern Cup racing for the Nordic Gumbies!

After a weekend high pressure racing four of our skiers have qualified for Junior Nationals, which will be held in Soldier Hollow, Utah the first week of March. Devlin Shea, Hans Halvorsen, Mary Kate Cirelli and Heidi Halvorsen were named.

Due to lack of snow the races which are traditionally held in New Hampshire were held up at Craftsbury on a manmade 5km loop. Saturday was a classic individual race with women skiing 5km and men 10km. The entire team had fantastic results, led by an 11th place by Hans, where he was the fourth junior overall — his points from this race got him in the money as far as qualification for the New England team. Devlin also had a strong showing with a 25th place finish, and the 4th J1 on the day. The women were led with MK, who tied for 3rd place overall and secured her place as one of the top women in New England — she was the second ranked skier named to the 25 woman squad. Kaitlin turned in her best classic result of the year, placing 22nd.

The Sunday races were mass start, pitting racers in head to head action to make the final spots on the New England team. New England has been the strongest division in the nation for the past three years and looks to defend it’s honor as the holder of the Alaska Cup. GMVS athletes and alums have had a huge impact on the New England team and we look to do our part to defend the title!

MK led the charge again with an impressive third place finish, just missing silver by a lunge to the line. Kaitlin had another strong showing in 24th and skied a technically sound and tactical race over the tough 10km course.

Devlin had the race of his season (so far) by skiing a tactically awesome race where he marked a few of his competitors for the first lap and a half of the 15km race and then turned on the after burners to move up to 19th and snag the 3rd J1 spot for the day. Hans had a hard effort after leaving it all out there the day before, yet the strength of that race kept him on the right side of the “JO Bubble.”

Alum David Sinclair had his best skate race of the season and claimed 3rd place overall. Alum, Emily Stitt had a solid weekend of racing too, with an 18th and a sixth place finish — the Middlebury sophomore will join us in Utah.

The Nordic Team will head out to Utah on the 28th to acclimatize in Utah, Justin will accompany the kids and serve as the Head of Waxing for the New England Team.

February 21, 2012
Klingenthal World Cup

I just wrapped up the World Cup in Klingenthal! I was very excited coming into this past weekend because of my success in the Continental Cup.

Right away the weather was challenging and made for some hard conditions to jump in. I made the best of it, and tried my best to put high level jumps in play. Official training had some wet snow in the track and strong wind that didn’t help my timid first jump. So I went up with a new attitude and tried to be more aggressive from the starts to put me in a better position to start my move. I felt better right away and knew I could have a solid competition round next.

Comp round/first race: I went up knowing I could put in a solid competition round. I have been working a lot on the metal side of the sport and being in the right state of mind for competition. Doing this has helped me with my confidence going into competition and getting what I wanted done. I put down another great jump and put myself in a good position for the race.

Unfortunately the conditions made for some hard times in the waxing department and trying to pick out the correct skis. I did my best as did the rest of the team, but we were certainly missing something about the skis as we were much slower that we ever are. I thought I had good race with the conditions and moved up from 31st and to 23rd.

Day 2: We woke up to heavy snow, It wasn’t until we reached the hill that we saw the strong winds on the hill. It wasn’t much later that we saw that jumping was canceled and they would use the provisional competition round from Saturday morning. Unfortunately that was a much shorter jump that my competition from that day and put me much further back in the starting order.

I knew right away from testing that we were going to have excellent skis. I have had some very positive races this year so I was confident that I could move up the result list. Going out I set a solid pace and caught Mikko Kokslien who eventually set the fastest time of the day. But Later in the lap I experience some bad luck on the downhill which slowed me down. After making up some solid time I was then delayed when I got caught in a crash at the bottom of a downhill transition going into the long but fast uphill. The train I was with skied away and I was forced to ski the rest of the race on my own trying to get into points. Fortunately, the world cup course is very hard which suits me very well. I was able to ski up ten places from 39th and finish 29th.

With the bad luck I experienced this trip, I would say it was a very promising weekend. This was the first time I have finished in points both days, which will help me solidify my spot in the top 50 world ranking list. I am looking forward to Liberec, CZE where we will have two more individual events. I am looking to crack to top 20 results there and try to get myself close to top 30 in the world.

Stay tuned!

February 21, 2012
Winter Hauled In

No running on slippery snow here

Madison Sprints

results

No pine needles on this snow!

Missing a turn would not be productive

February 20, 2012