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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: Jack Carlyle

  • Western Canada Cup #3 and #4: Déjà Vu

    Western Canada Cup #3 and #4: Déjà Vu

    Rémi Drolet leads out the first mass start of the season. (Photo: Peggy Hung)

    Race, rinse, repeat. The Western Canada Cup series returned to Sovereign Lake for race days 3 and 4 of the new season.

    Originally scheduled for Rossland, BC, the event had to be moved after an ‘atmospheric river’ event delivered warm rain to almost all southern BC trail systems on December 1st. Sovereign Lake was the least damaged, able to hold WCC #1 and #2 on the 4th and 5th as scheduled. By December 11th, skiing conditions were much improved and the racers were primed to go again. 

    The organizing committee was a little less primed, with four chiefs unavailable, along with many of the 180 volunteers from the previous weekend. With some timely help from Nordiq Canada, it all came together. Next Gen coach Eric de Nys (a Vernon resident) could be seen moving V-boards with High Performance Manager Joel Jaques (from three ski areas to the south in Penticton) while Al Maddox shortened his vacation to fill in as Technical Delegate.

    Despite hosting major events on the two previous weekends, the club was able to find enough volunteers to make it work.

    While there was still plenty of rust on display, more athletes were getting more things right than last weekend.

    Saturday: 5km/10km Classic Interval Start

    The weather gods delivered one of everything for Saturday’s classic, with fresh snow, strong winds, a brief blizzard during wax testing, before settling for overcast race conditions with firm tracks that occasionally filled with dry blowing snow at -4C.

    On the flat 2.5km course, there were enough skiers lapping to keep the tracks packed. This is the first time this course has been used for the open categories and it has a distinctly different feel to the traditional 5km loop. Eliminating much of the climbing, the new course turns downhill halfway up the first A-climb at the 5km mark, before skipping the second A-climb entirely. 

    Dartmouth’s Jasmine Drolet took the win in 17:22.0, matching her result from last Sunday with an overall win, in addition to topping the U20 list. AWCA’s Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt was 3.0 back in second ahead of teammates Laurence Dumais in third (+47.1) and Beth Granstrom in fourth (+1:00.8).

    “Definitely not my favourite race,” Jasmine Drolet told FasterSkier, despite preferring classic technique. “I tend to prefer the longer races but still good and a good effort out there.”

    “I was happy with it,” Bouffard-Nesbitt explained after the race. “It was unusual for us to start so late at one [pm]. It was sunny this morning, beautiful, mild. We showed up to the racecourse this afternoon and it was blizzarding, so windy. And then it cleared up for our race. So it was fun to do 5km.”

    “It’s definitely quite a bit different than the five km [course]: it’s less climbing and more flat,” Dumais told FasterSkier. “Which is in my favour, because I’m better at double polling, so it was good.”

    In the men’s 10km, Black Jack’s Rémi Drolet matched his sister’s achievement, finishing in 30:37.2, edging out Foothills junior teammates Tom Stephen by 4.7 seconds and Xavier McKeever by 7.0. AWCA’s Jack Carlyle (39.2 back) and Hardwood’s Scott Hill (54.3 behind) completed the senior podium.

    “It was a pretty good day,” Stephen explained. “Not a course that favours me, but I still pushed hard and I’m happy with the results.”

    Asked about ski and wax choices, Stephen said “the coaches were really accommodating today because they tested my skis before we got here, because we had such a late start. So that was nice, a lot less stress than having to get here and test all the skis with the new tracks and stuff like that.”

    McKeever enjoyed the ‘new’ course.

    “I felt really strong with the double pole, there was a lot of double poling on this course. That really played into my favour.”

    McKeever also broke down how the course skied during the race.

    “Overall, there’s some good climbs. there’s two good climbs in there for sure. But once again, it’s it’s a lot of double pole. So I’d say in that sense, it’s like fairly flat overall. There’s like gradual sections, but yeah, you definitely can’t get caught off guard.”

    There were 112 finishers. The smaller field was a result of only two age groups (open and U20) and road closures affecting some teams.

    Sunday: 10km/15km Mass Start Free

    Sunday was a great day of skiing, with snow clouds blowing away in the morning for a sunny afternoon of mass start racing on the traditional Upper World Cup 5km course that older racers know so well.

    Rémi Drolet leads Xav McKeever and Tom Stephen at the end of lap 2. (Photo: Peggy Hung)

    The men raced first, with a very tactical first lap before the action began on the second of three laps. 

    On the third lap, McKeever attacked on the ‘wall’ climb to get a gap he would not relinquish in the final 1.x km. With only one small climb left, racers need either a gap at the top of the wall or confidence in their final sprint.

    McKeever took his first open win in 37:22.3, 1.2 seconds clear of fellow U20 Tom Stephen. Carlyle passed a fading Rémi Drolet to take third, 21.0 seconds behind, while Bob Thompson narrowly missed out on fourth, finishing 40.0 back.

    “I was really happy with my race and how I skied both tactically and technically, so overall, [it was a] good day,” McKeever said after collecting his first senior win at age 18.

    He continued that he “couldn’t really have asked for anything better from a start [to the season], but we’ve just got to keep putting in the work, keep training hard.”

    Stephen, in his last year as a U20, was more philosophical.

    “I’m definitely feeling a little tired,” Stephen said. “There’s a lot of racing back to back for me. But yeah, I think it went well. I’m happy with the result.”

    On his approach to racing, Stephen explained how the weather factored into his race plan.

    “I think I was pretty smart in the tactics part. There were a lot of people throwing down sprints halfway through trying to break away and then easing up because the wind plays a big factor into it.”

    Carlyle also enjoyed the day: “It was good, super fun to ski in the pack and do a mass start race and it felt like Real Racing was back.”

    “I didn’t really think too much about how to win I just kind of wanted to like make their day as hard as I possibly could,” Carlyle continued. “The way it played out was going into the second last climb, I guess it would have been the like the super steep hill [the wall], Xav just had so much speed. So much speed. So Tom and I are kind of standing still and that’s pretty impressive.”

    Jasmine Drolet stretches out the group at the start of the 10km. (Photo: Peggy Hung)

    Shortly after the top men finished, the women began their first mass start of the season with two laps of the same course. Jasmine Drolet strung the group out quickly, opening passing opportunities for lower ranked skiers like Bouffard-Nesbitt who would quickly join the action at the front. After the pandemic break, the points list is a much less useful guide to current performance, but today there was no difficulty to pass on the wide opening climb with room to skate four abreast for over a kilometre.

    Bouffard-Nesbitt finished alone in 29:04.4.

    “It was really good. I love mass starts and I’m so happy that sovereign decided to host a mass start race today,” she said. “The conditions were the best they’ve been in the last two weeks. It was a great day.”

    Jasmine Drolet took second, 12.4 seconds back, followed by fellow U20 Marielle Ackermann from Kimberly in third (+21.0), and Granstrom in fourth (+26.5).

    Jasmine Drolet leads a large pack near the end of lap 1. (Photo: Peggy Hung)

    “It was pretty chill for the first lap,” Bouffard-Nesbitt said. “I didn’t feel that I needed to lead especially, [since] I’m pretty confident in my sprint. So I was happy just to follow and then, yeah, on the second lap, I started to have fun playing around, going to the front a little bit and pushing the downhills and unfortunately, as Jasmine might tell you if you interview her, she had a fall before the last two climbs. That was too bad and that’s where my gap opened up. I just pushed it from there.”

    Jasmine Drolet did include her fall in her post race comments, reflecting on an experience that was “Pretty hard. That’s all, really hard.”

    “A little bit frustrating,” Drolet continued. “I mean, I lead a lot of the race, which is not really what I wanted, but then fell and couldn’t catch up again. So a little bit frustrating, but that’s how mass starts are.”

    She fell on the one tricky corner on the course, a fast hairpin that becomes challenging as the lactate builds in the legs.

    The pandemic has made student life easier, with distanced exams that can be done anywhere. Easier, but not easy, with a large number of athletes needing a quiet space to write exams Sunday evening after the racing was done. Ackermann was one of those student athletes who rushed away before FasterSkier could catch up with her.

    In addition to all the racing, there were bets to be settled.

    Rémi Drolet explains his new purple hair to Next Gen coach Eric de Nys.

    This writer entered a casual masters program mass start classic race on Saturday morning, using the same course as the elite skiers used in the afternoon. The finish times were very different, but I am still smiling days later. To twist up Joni Mitchell, “you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s back!”

    Photo Galleries:

    Doug Stephen (VR45 Photography): Interval, Mass Start.

  • Western Canada Cup #1: Back to the Bibs

    Western Canada Cup #1: Back to the Bibs

    Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt starts the first FIS race in Canada in 20 months.

    Racing returned to Canada after a lost season, and there are plenty of storylines to follow.

    This weekend, The Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, BC hosted a freestyle sprint and a classic 10/15-kilometer individual start. It sounds so familiar, a re-run of the annual NorAm kickoff with a new Western Canada Cup name.

    Travel to the venue became more challenging when a November 13th ‘atmospheric river’ destroyed the two main highways between Vancouver and Vernon. The two alternate routes reopened fairly quickly, but only for commercial traffic. This created an unusual situation where athletes from Vancouver had to fly while athletes from Manitoba (two time zones east) were able to drive.

    Official training on Friday was lightning fast.

    Another atmospheric river on December 1st brought record heat to the region, with a high of 16C in Vernon, well above the old 7C record. A timely cold snap saved the snow base, albeit with extremely fast glide for Thursday and Friday training. The sprint course was changed from the 2005 World Cup loop to a safer and slower variation.

    Despite border restrictions, a number of U.S. teams attended. Dartmouth made their annual trip from Vermont, joined this time by Green Mountain Valley School and Stratton Mountain School (not the post-graduate SMS T2 team; they went to Duluth). Methow Valley Nordic Ski Education Foundation sent a much smaller team than usual, but Sugar Bowl Academy in California helped to make up the numbers (and took a few medals home too).

    Further reaching by geography, Brazil and Portugal each had one woman racing, who were discussing plans to earn quota spots for the 2026 Olympics. Throw in the second ever Mexican National Championships and you have the makings of a great weekend.

    Saturday Freestyle Sprint

    Two themes dominated the sprint day: smiles and rust. With only a few athletes having raced the previous season (World U20/U23 and World Cup athletes), the excitement of racing again was visible everywhere. 

    The rust was also on display. Athletes regretted their layering choices. Enthusiasm led to extremely aggressive starts and ragged finishes. Many athletes forgot to allow time to collect timing chips on the way to the start. More forgot that it takes extra time to show the ‘fully vaccinated’ wristband to be eligible to start. Quite a few discovered that the wristband should not be on your watch arm, because the wristband is covered by a sleeve locked in place by the watch strap resulting in a longer delay. A wristband that is applied so that it can’t be transferred to another person also can’t be moved to the other wrist for day two. Lessons learned, or re-learned, for many skiers.

    National Team Development Centre Thunder Bay (NDC TBay) athlete Julian Smith summed up the first day back for FasterSkier.

    “Yeah, first day racing in Canada in a long time,” he said. “My last race was the American Birkebeiner in February 2020. So that’s pretty fun to put the bib on, really push the body and race with all our friends out here. The organizers here at the Nordic Center did a great job. And everyone was doing their job well and it ran really smoothly.”

    Behind the scenes, there were also a few learning and re-learning moments for the 180 volunteers running the event.

    Nonetheless, race morning dawned with a steady snowfall at -4C that provided great skiing and slower racing.

    Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt was the top seed and became the first person to race for points in Canada in twenty months.

    Pre-race speculation had a changing of the guard, with the young athletes expected to displace the known entities, and most athletes feeling confident in their preparation with very little evidence to back it up.

    Bouffard-Nesbitt, who trains with Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA), justified her #1 bib by winning the 1.3km qualifier in 2:59.69, 2.31 seconds ahead of Kimberly’s U20 Marielle Ackermann. Shaylynn Lowen (NDC TBay) skied to third (+6.54).

    In the heats, Ackermann comfortably won each U20 round to take the win while Bouffard-Nesbitt showed her experience to dominate the senior heats.

    Bouffard-Nesbitt, like most of the skiers, was visibly thrilled to be back on course.

    “Oh, it was really good,” she said, before laughing. “It was rusty! It kind of felt like the first race back in two years. But every heat got progressively better. Quarter was better than the [qualification] and then better after that, so yeah, it was great.”

    Sovereign’s own Hannah Mehain got stronger through the heats to take second place, ahead of Dartmouth’s Callie Young.

    “I felt maybe not quite as snappy in the qualifiers,” Mehain told FasterSkier. “But it improved for the day and I just felt better and better .”

    As the American east and Eastern Intercollegiate Skiing Association (EISA) faced COVID restrictions that limited race opportunities, Young was in a similar boat to the Canadian women in terms of lack of high-level racing opportunities. She also shared her feelings on the sprint day.

    “I didn’t have my best qualifier, this is my second day at altitude,” Young said. “So it was kind of tough. But when I get into the heats, it’s always so fun and competitive.”

    On the same course NDC TBay’s Smith was clearly the strongest of the men, winning the qualifier and all three heats. Xavier McKeever and Tom Stephen, qualifying 2nd and 6th, both chose to race up in senior, resulting in some hard fought heats. McKeever and Stephen are both members of the national team and train with Foothills Nordic Ski Club in Calgary.

    “It was really fun,” said Smith after his race. “It was a blast for the body to do what it’s supposed to do, what I’ve been training it to do, so that was really fun.”

    Smith was one of the few who answered the tactics question with something other than how much fun it was to be racing again.

    “In the final, it kind of slowed down at about the first third. And I just tried to go when everyone else started to go and got a bit of a gap and in the end, was able to hold the lead. So that was really fun.”

    In the end, the juniors found themselves enrolled in the Locke School of Heat Tactics, with Black Jack’s Julien Locke using guile to take second in the final after qualifying 7th.

    AWCA’s Bob Thompson gapped NDC TBay’s Pierre Grall-Johnson on the climb to complete the podium.  

    World U20 relay silver medallist teammates McKeever, Rémi Drolet, and Stephen were 5th, 6th, and 7th, while Olivier Léveillé was away in Lillehammer. Though age and experience filled the podium, Grall-Johnson-Johnson was the first U23 athlete showing that the younger skiers are putting the pressure on.

    Sprint Results: Qualification, Heats, Final, U18/U16 Mass Start.

     

    10km/15km Classic Individual Start

    The race of truth was also the race of discovery as many athletes re-discovered why pre-race routines exist. Sunday dawned clear and cold, rising to -11C for the men’s start at 9am. With yesterday’s new snow packed hard, there was no difficulty in finding grip with hard wax, but not everyone found the glide necessary on a 5km loop that is flat and fast by World Cup standards.

    Rémi Drolet, just returned from racing Continental Cups in Muonio and Gällivare, skied a consistent race to take the win in 39:06.1, setting the fastest time in all three laps.

    Stephen was second, 39.6 behind, moving up on the final lap.

    “It was really good,” Stephen said. “It’s my first 15k back this season because I’ve been coming back from injury. And it went really well, it went just like I planned it, so really happy with it.”

    Interval starts are more exciting than they used to be.

    “Oh, it’s so fun,” Smith added. “I haven’t done something like this with this many people in a long time.”

    AWCA’s Jack Carlyle skied a very strong first 5km lap before struggling with the cold after a mistake choosing baselayers, finishing third at 49.2 back.

    “I made a rookie mistake and did not wear enough layers and froze halfway through the race,” Carlyle explained once he was warm again. “But I had great skis. And for the first bit of the race, I had great feelings. So yeah. Happier where the body is just need to remember not to make silly mistakes.”

    McKeever recovered from a slower first lap, moving up from 7th to finish 4th at 1:06.8 behind.

    “I was really lucky to start my season off in Europe, with a couple of victories in Finland and Sweden. And I was really happy with how they went, especially after last year being a really tough year for myself,” he said. “So overall, I’m pretty stoked to just be back at it.”

    “The sprint yesterday, I think went really well. Today, I was just missing a bit of gas. I feel I didn’t feel awesome, awesome, but it’s just nice to get out there and race again in Canada. And we have more next weekend.”

    Jasmine Drolet stepped up the sibling rivalry with a win in the 10km in 30:38.9. Now in her first year at Dartmouth, she made up for missing the sprint with a steady performance.

    “Definitely a shock to the system,” she told FasterSkier. “But I’m glad to have gotten it over with and to be in racing season now.”

    Back in Canada after her first semester in the Ivy League, she was adjusting to the changes.

    “I was nervous before [the race]. Changing training, and changing coaches and everything, but now, I feel confident that my training this fall was good. The US is maybe a little bit different than Canada, but not very different. It’s a lot of work to juggle school and skiing full time, but it’s manageable.”

    Bouffard-Nesbitt finished in second place, 41.4 back, with a fast first split.

    Another full-time student, Mehain was third at 1:09.7, just holding off a fast finishing Beth Granstrom.

    “I had a great day,” Mehain said. “It’s really fun to be out racing again, seeing everybody. I pushed fairly hard on that course for the classic 10k and had a lot of fun.”

    Distance Results: Interval Start, Full Weekend.

    Mexican National Championships

    Karla Schleske Shepard is the first female National Champion for Mexico. (Photo: Peggy Hung)

    This is the second National Championship for Mexico, with the first held in Canmore at Canadian nationals in 2019. Starting a ski program in a country without snow or a skiing tradition is hard, even without a pandemic disrupting progress. This year, there were six men and one woman competing.

    Jonathan Soto Moreno won both days, capping a year where he also earned a Beijing quota spot for Mexico at World Championships.

    Karla Schleske Shepard, a former heptathlete who represented Mexico at the PanAm games, became the first ever female champion after learning to ski in February 2021.

    What’s Next?

    December 11th and 12th has both the Eastern Canada Cup #1 at Nakkertok and the Western Canada Cup #2.

    The major storm that threatened the first weekend at Sovereign did even more damage in Rossland, forcing Black Jack’s Organizing Committee to cancel. WCC #2 will now be held at the backup venue, Sovereign Lake, with details forthcoming.

    With continued highway closures in BC and additional border restrictions related to the omicron variant, many travel plans will change. Both ECC #1 and WCC #2 may have smaller fields as US teams react to the increased friction at the border.

    NDC TBay, based in arguably the east/west centre of the country, is headed for the eastern Canada Cups. This will allow some comparison between the two series and give ski fans something to debate during the Christmas break.

    All will be made clear in Canmore on January 6th to 11th, when trials for OWG, U20/U23 World championships, and World Cup Period 4 will bring together the top athletes from the entire country.

    Photo Galleries: Doug Stephen (VR45 Photography): Sprints, Distance

  • Canadian Racing Rundown: Westerns, Pragelato, and Lausanne

    Canadian Racing Rundown: Westerns, Pragelato, and Lausanne

    Katherine Stewart-Jones leads the mass start on the way to a Canadian 1-2 at the OPA Cup in Pragelato, Italy. (Photo: Athlete Instagram, credited to @damianobenedettophoto)
    Katherine Stewart-Jones leads the mass start on the way to a Canadian 1-2 at the OPA Cup in Pragelato, Italy. (Photo: Athlete Instagram, credited to @damianobenedettophoto)

    Canada took a step back from the World Cup circuit this weekend and focussed attention into development series. As the country tries to build momentum in a post Alex Harvey world, the focus has moved away from World Cup podiums and towards a consistent presence in the top 30. The road to the World Cup goes through local and regional races on the way to national/continental races.

    One of the development challenges in Canada is size. The second largest country has roughly the same population as California. Skiers from Newfoundland live closer to Holmenkollen than Whistler Olympic Park.

    The Continental Cup series in each FIS ‘continent’ is the top level race series below the World Cup. Canada has the NorAm series. The USA has the SuperTour series. France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Austria share the OPA Cup series. This distribution of ‘continents’ may seem odd, but remember that the combined land area of the OPA countries is equal to British Columbia and Nova Scotia. Canada has three more time zones separating those two provinces.

    As part of an effort to reduce travel demands on developing skiers in Canada, Nordiq Canada has been making changes. For the second year in a row, Westerns is not a NorAm event, but a regional event (albeit for a region larger than continental Europe). While this eliminates one east/west flight for eastern-based skiers, western athletes from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, North West Territories, and the Yukon still have a flight to pay for.

    8 young Canadians are in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the Youth Olympic Games. Another 8 were in Pragelato, Italy, for an OPA Cup event, where two Canadians won. If you know someone who doesn’t think winning an OPA Cup is a big deal, listen to what Devon Kershaw and Jess Cockney think in the latest podcast. Cockney may ‘only’ have four top 10 results on the World Cup before he ‘retired’, but he did win a combined NorAm/SuperTour earlier this season.

    As Cockney reminded us in the podcast, development comes in cycles. It is hard to remember that ten years ago Norway needed to borrow a biathlete to make a mens relay team for the Olympics, the same Olympics when Canada had four different men with top 10 individual finishes. The glory of being at the top of the roller coaster comes with an unseen cost of getting a big machine up a steep hill. This weekend was part of that climb.

    Western Canada Cup, Whistler Olympic Park

    Russell Kennedy leads the A final out of a corner that Petra Majdic remembers well from the 2010 Olympics. (Photo: Weisheng Wang)
    Russell Kennedy leads the A final out of a corner that Petra Majdič remembers well from the 2010 Olympics. (Photo: Weisheng Wang)

    Western Canadians was held at Whistler Olympic Park, with over 250 athletes competing for titles under a slightly changed name: Western Canada Cup. Record-setting snow storms and very challenging driving conditions should make for some good stories from the athletes who completed the trip.

    The embedded videos are the full-length interviews by Nordiq Canada’s Jeff Ellis. Social media has edited versions.

    On a spectacularly sunny Friday, AWCA’s Annika Richardson won the 1.3km classic sprint on a course that will bring back Olympic memories for older fans. Richardson’s 3:16.95 put her 1.45 seconds ahead of Benita Peiffer and 2.11 seconds clear of Elizabeth Elliott which made an all-AWCA podium. Peiffer and Elliot are in their final season of U20.

    Bragg Creek’s Sebastien Boehmler-Dandurand edged out Canmore’s Russell Kennedy by 0.28 seconds to win the men’s 1.3km in 2:41.37. Telemark’s Gareth Williams grabbed third at 1.90 seconds, well ahead of his brother Ian in 4th who claimed the top U20 finish.

    On Saturday, WOP showed the changeable weather with falling snow and soft tracks after a heavy overnight snowfall. In the men’s 15km classic interval start, Kennedy confirmed his favourite status with a win in 46:57.6, 45.3 seconds clear of Gareth Williams. AWCA’s Jack Carlyle grabbed the bronze at 1:20.3 back. Ian Williams was again 4th overall to take the U20 win.

    In the women’s 10km, Emily Nishikawa showed why she was Canada’s top distance skier on the World Cup last season with a 35:42.4 time. Sprint winner Richardson claimed second, 2:51.4 back followed by AWCA teammate Sadie White at 3:09.0 Whitehorse’s Amanda Thomson was 5th at 3:45.5 to take the U20 title.

    Sunday continued the domination by the favourites. Nishikawa won the 15km free mass start in 43:06, 2:07.6 ahead of Elliott and 2:13.8 ahead of Revelstoke’s Gina Cinelli.

    In the men’s 15km, Kennedy snatched a second win in 37:29.4, 1.6 seconds ahead of Gareth Williams and 19.4 seconds ahead of Carlyle.

    “It is fun to be back in Canada and see how well people are skiing here!,” Kennedy wrote to FasterSkier. “Whistler is so pretty but it is super tricky with weather. Always unpredictable but really good for testing skis I don’t use that much.”

    While the regional field may not have been as deep as MSA will be, the return of Nishikawa and Kennedy from World Cup period 1 gave nearly 300 athletes a good vision into what the next level of competition looks like.

    Results: Full Weekend, Sprint Qualification, Sprint Heats, Interval Classic, Mass Start

    The organizing committee has photo galleries.

    OPA Cup, Pragelato, Italy

    Dahria Beatty wins the OPA Cup ahead of Katherine Stewart-Jones. (Photo: Beatty's Instagram)
    Dahria Beatty wins the OPA Cup ahead of Katherine Stewart-Jones. (Photo: Beatty’s Instagram)

    While the western athletes were at the 2010 Olympic venue, eight Canadians made the trek to the 2006 Olympic venue to compete in the OPA cup. Dahria Beatty won the Saturday’s mass start 15km classic in 49:09.0, 8.1 seconds ahead of teammate Katherine Stewart-Jones. Italy’s Sara Pellegrini was third at 38.7.

    In the men’s 30km, Antoine Cyr edged out Bob Thompson for 22nd place at 5:56.1 back from winner Paolo Ventura who won in 1:26.36.3.

    On Sunday, Stewart-Jones moved up, taking first in the 5km free in 14:03.5, 5.2 seconds ahead of Italy’s Elisa Brocard and 10.4 seconds ahead of Beatty in third.

    “Being on the podium for both races is a huge confidence booster going into next weekend’s World Cup races, especially because the courses in Pragelato are World Cup level,” Stewart-Jones wrote in an email. “With Dahria also on the podium the last two days I couldn’t be more excited with how well our Canadian Women’s team is performing.”

    Stewart-Jones is targeting the Scando Tour, starting in Åre, Sweden, on February 18th and ending in Trondheim, Norway, on the 23rd.

    “The courses here in Pragelato are awesome which made for some good hard racing this weekend,” Beatty wrote after her third OPA podium of the season.
    “I had only done one distance race this season before this weekend so it was really good for me to get some high caliber race kilometres in. My distance skiing is feeling strong right now so I am excited to do a few distance World Cups in the next month and do some classic skiing since Saturday was also my first classic race of the year.”

    Canadian men recovering from the 30km classic in Pragelato's OPA Cup. (Photo: Erik Bråten)
    Canadian men recovering from the 30km classic in Pragelato’s OPA Cup. (Photo: Erik Bråten)

    In the men’s 10km, Cyr was again top Canadian, finishing 23rd, 1:38.2 behind France’s Jean Tiberghien who won in 24:05.1.

    Thompson is a sprinter by preference and was in Pragelato with Oberstdorf’s sprint in mind.

    “The main focus for me this weekend was to get some longer really hard work in, which a 1.5 hour 30k definitely accomplished,” Thompson wrote. “I think the OPA’s are a great chance to find near World Cup level racing and for those who are looking to get a bit more experience at that level they are a great challenge for those looking to make a jump in their racing.”

    The OPA cup is a continental cup series (like the NorAm and SuperTour) and the field is studded with athletes who move up and down between the World Cup and this series. The athletes best known to North Americans would probably be France’s Richard Jouve (8th here) and Italy’s Elisa Brocard (12th and 2nd).

    Head coach Erik Bråten is with the team until Oberstdorf and back to Canada briefly for MSA Trials. He is excited with the progress this season and happy with the visit to Pragelato.

    “What I take away is that we have some young athletes that is getting great race experience outside of North America, and a couple of girls that really showed a high level even in a tough training week.”

    Results: Full Weekend, Women’s 15km C, Men’s 30km C, Women’s 5km F, Men’s 10km F

    Youth Olympic Games, Lausanne, Switzerland

    The YOG started off with a ‘cross country cross’ event including obstacles on Saturday, followed by the more traditional events: Sprints Saturday, classic mass starts Tuesday, and a mixed relay on Wednesday. The American athletes outshone the Canadians over the obstacles on the first day, taking 4th in each gender before working up to podiums on Tuesday. Full results for the event are here.

    While this is an important event in young athlete’s lives’ and there have been some great individual results, fans and media alike have to be careful not to apply expectations and pressure to the developing minds in those developing bodies.

  • Canmore NorAm / SuperTour / Nationals Weekend Wrap-up (Updated)

    Canmore NorAm / SuperTour / Nationals Weekend Wrap-up (Updated)

    A scenic train in the men's 15km individual start on Sunday. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
    A scenic train ride in the men’s 15km individual start on Sunday. Wyatt Gebhardt of CU Boulder leads the way. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    Updated with more quotes.

    The first three race days of both the NorAm and SuperTour series are complete and the athletes and coaches are digesting the lessons.

    It was free sprints Friday,  classic distance Saturday, and interval start free technique distance on Sunday. The men started the Sunday with a four lap 15km followed by the women doing a 3 lap 10km.

    CGRP’s Ben Lustgarten nailed the pacing to win Sunday’s race in 42:56.0, just 0.8 seconds ahead of AWCA’s Jack Carlyle and 8.0 seconds clear of APU’s Hunter Wonders. Lustgarten was 37th at the first split and 10th after one lap before getting the fastest 3rd and 4th lap. Carlyle won the first two laps but faded to earn the 10th fastest final lap.

    Nordiq Canada provided the full length interviews; shortened versions are also on @nordiqcanada’s Instagram.

    For the women, Caitlin Gregg showed that she is still on the top of her game, easily winning the 10km in 29:55.6. Saturday’s winner Katharine Ogden (Dartmouth) was 23.4 seconds back to complete her medal set with one of each. National team member Katherine Stewart-Jones was third at 1:00.6, after scoring second on both previous days.

    This was Gregg’s second race weekend after the birth of daughter Heidi ten months earlier and a hamstring injury that caused her to miss the NYC Marathon in November.

    Caitlin Gregg climbing to victory in the 10km free. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
    Caitlin Gregg climbing to victory in the 10km free. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    “Today was good confirmation that my fitness is on track after having a baby 10 months ago,” Gregg wrote to FasterSkier. “My goals are still day by day and week by week but I would love to represent the USA at the Theodore Wirth World Cup in March and of course the Birkie is always a big focus of my training.”

    Gregg has always lived outside the normal development system, earning her first World Championship medal before her first national team nomination. This is Gregg’s year to get training priority, while husband Brian works full time as a financial advisor and takes the supporting role, with daughter Heidi leading the sleep-deprivation program.

    The day by day goals are the result of Gregg’s hamstring injury, which is a complete rupture of the hamstring tendon from the ischial tuberosity (sit bone).

    “All 3 muscles have detached but I have had an amazing team of doctors, surgeons and PT’s who have made the impossible possible this season!”

    Medical consensus is that the hamstring will have to be surgically reattached, resulting in months of very limited mobility. Gregg’s hope is to delay that until after SuperTour finals and the Vasaloppet.

    Stewart-Jones was the top Canadian all three days.

    “Overall I am pretty happy with the racing, especially the sprint: I’ve worked really hard at improving my skate technique and I felt way more smooth than last season,” she wrote at the end of the weekend. “I felt really tired today but I pushed as hard as I could considering.”

    That tired result was third place, after taking second on Friday and Saturday.

    Russell Kennedy raced Friday and Saturday as part of his preparation for Europe.

    “I am feeling good. I am fit but not peaking just yet. I have a lot of racing under my belt and a good sense of what is fast and what isn’t. Now just need to put the pieces together in Davos,” he wrote.

    “I was working on my pacing on Saturday and it’s close. Davos is high and a steady course. I need to be ready for a hard last lap but also be able to hang on a good ride. I am hopeful with one more race on Thursday I will be in form for Davos.”

    Kennedy’s Davos teammates Dahria Beatty and Emily Nishikawa skipped the Canmore races to test themselves at an OPA Cup in Slovenia. Beatty took bronze behind Slovenia’s Katja Visnar in the skate sprint Saturday while Nishikawa was 10th in the 10km free won by Italy’s Elisa Brocard on Sunday.

    Depth of Field

    One of the primary goals of combining NorAm and SuperTour races is to gather a deeper, more competitive field.

    A secondary goal for Canadian Head Coach Erik Bråten is to find out if there is “a lot of sea between the boats.” 

    “It’s not just a number,” Bråten explained, “not even to see if we are winning or not, but to see where are the gaps. Is it two people at the top, then a huge gap to the next Canadian?”

    Katherine Stewart-Jones tightening her hold on the NorAm leaders bib, with a third consecutive top Canadian result. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
    Katherine Stewart-Jones tightening her hold on the NorAm leaders bib on her way to a third consecutive top Canadian result. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    In the top-30 of the women’s sprint qualifier, there were 12 Canadians, 13 Americans, and five Europeans. Cutting it another way, we have four U20’s, four U18’s, and eight NCAA athletes. Counting full time students is more difficult, but it is probably about 12.  After removing the 71 U20 and U18 athletes from the qualification results, there are only 37 senior athletes competing for 30 places in the heats. If these were divided into separate NorAm and SuperTour events, every athlete would automatically qualify for heats.

    For the men’s sprint qualifier, there are 14 Canadians, 12 Americans, and 4 Europeans. There was a single U20, two U18’s, and six NCAA athletes. There are 80 U20 and U18 athletes and 71 seniors, which creates a lot more pressure for the men to perform in the qualifier.

    AWCA’s Jack Carlyle had good results moved down the sheet by the invading SuperTour athletes, with his 5th and 2nd places scoring 2nd and 1st on a virtual Canadian-only podium.

    “I’m a big fan of the combined Super Tour/NorAm weekend,” Carlyle wrote. “High level competition is always a good thing, and having the best of Canada and the US is the way to do that.”

    Stewart-Jones has spent more time on the NorAm podium than Carlyle, but had a similar answer about the bigger challenge.

    “I love it. It’s always fun to have more competition.”

    While you might expect junior national team member Anna Pryce who qualified 4th to want to ‘race up’ in senior heats instead of winning all three heats in U20, the choice was not hers, as Nordiq Canada’s Jeff Ellis explained.

    “We currently have the option to let juniors race up and if they qualify for the Open heats they would race up.  If they failed to make the top 30 they would still have the ability to race in the U20 heats.  In Canmore we did not offer that option because the U20 category contained the athletes trying to qualify for the [Youth Olympic Games].”

    At NorAms that aren’t explicitly part of a trip qualification, allowing the fastest U20’s to ‘race up’ creates closer more competitive heats for both age groups.

    Attentive readers will notice that Canada has officially shifted away from named age groups in favour of the FIS-preferred U20, U18, etc. As habits are hard to change, the old names including ‘Junior Women’ and ‘Junior Girls’ are still visible in places. These names will eventually disappear, possibly as slowly as Kuusamo (Ruka), Ladies (Women), Take a break and learn new facts! The free spin is a game on a slot without deposit money. You can see these titles on the internet: free spins, bonus spins, and free spins. Free spins can be won while playing for real money. This is also called "free play" – a bonus game on the slot. The second type of free spins is an online casino marketing event to attract customers, virtual money for bets without the possibility of withdrawal. The classification is as follows: for registration, deposit, and action. Sometimes it can be extra 50 free spins for special slot machines . Don’t hesitate to try it and maybe you will be the next big winner. Cross Country Canada (Nordiq Canada), Lab City (Menihek), and SilverStar (Sovereign Lake).

    The ‘B’ finals are also gone for this season. They were added back after the World Cup eliminated them, with the rationale that it would give a third heat to six more athletes in the four categories. As with the World Cup, nobody wants to watch a B final, few athletes want to race one, and eliminating four ‘B’ finals makes a shorter day for the officials and volunteers.

    Doug Stephen has photo galleries for sprint, classic, and free. Athletes can download full-resolution images for their use if they credit ‘Doug Stephen’ or @vr45photography.

    Sam Hendry brought his University of Utah teammates home to race. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
    Sam Hendry brought his University of Utah teammates home to race. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
  • Sunday Rundown: Canadian Easterns Pursuit

    Sunday Rundown: Canadian Easterns Pursuit

    Mia Serratore on the top of the final hill in the skate pursuit. (Photo: Marten Burns)
    Mia Serratore on the top of the final hill in the skate pursuit. (Photo: Marten Burns)

    Canadian Eastern Championships wrapped up in Duntroon, Ontario, Sunday with the skate portion of the two day pursuit. Tthe men and women skied the same distance on the same course, a two lap 15km free technique pursuit. Start times were based only on Saturday’s 10km classic races, with no bonus points applied.

    Highlands Nordic showed a lot of different weather over the weekend, slowly warming from -18 on Thursday to Sunday’s freezing drizzle changing to rain.

    Alexis Dumas (CNEPH) kicked things off, 16 seconds ahead of Andy Shields (Lappe). Jack Carlyle (AWCA) and Philippe Boucher (CNEPH) started 5 and 8 seconds after Shields. On the second lap, Carlyle escaped from the group to win the pursuit with the fastest time of the day, 37:45.80. Boucher was second, 16.89 seconds back, followed by Shields (46.09) and Dumas (1:23.09). Sweetie massage chick getting fucked Horny Alexis Ford is into hardcore buggering Stepteen Anya Olsen licks stepmom Reagan Darling is tempting fellow with her tits Roxy Raye stretches her anus with a metal speculum and receives an anal reaming Kinky whore Melany loves big stuff in her pussy Cute and Tiny Blonde Halle nugget porn Whore wife Jodi West getting fucked by next door guy Ralph Long Chick receives both of her lusty fuck holes fucked Frisky blonde Kayla Green felt hard cock in her tight ass hole Independence fuck with freedom babe Phoenix Marie Playful bitches Rowan and Lorna try their new toys

    In the women’s race, Laura Leclair (CNEPH) completed her medal set, winning the pursuit with the fastest time of the day, 44:03.80. Saturday’s winner Zoë Williams (Nakkertok) held on for second at 59.6 seconds. Annika Richardson (TBay) earned her first senior NorAm podium, 2:21.59 behind.

  • Saturday Rundown: Davos, Hochfilzen, Canmore (Updated 3x)

    Saturday Rundown: Davos, Hochfilzen, Canmore (Updated 3x)

     

    2018 Davos, Switzerland women’s sprint podium. Sweden’s Stina Nilsson (center) placed first, Sophie Caldwell (left) of the U.S. was second, and Maja Dahlqvist (right) also of Sweden was third. (Photo: screenshot @matt.d.whitcomb)

    FIS World Cup Davos, Switzerland 1.5 k Freestyle Sprint

    Women’s Race Report | Men’s Race Report

    On a lovely Davos, Switzerland day, Sophie Caldwell of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) was the day’s fastest qualifier for the women, stopping the clock in 2:46.28 minutes. Caldwell looked cool and in-form on her way to place second overall on the day for her first podium of the season.

    The win went to Sweden’s Stina Nilsson after placing third (+2.03) in qualification. Third place went to another Swede, Maja Dahlqvist. It was the twenty-four-year-old Dahlqvist’s second podium of the year after she placed second in the Ruka, Finland classic sprint. Dahlqvist was the day’s second-fastest qualifier, finishing 0.62 seconds behind Caldwell.

    Four other Amercian’s advanced to the heats. Sadie Bjornsen qualified in 10th (+4.28). She looked strong in her heat, leading the first lap and skiing in second place down the final stretch. She was passed by a surging Natalia Nepryaeva from Russia. After placing third, Bjornsen did not advance. Bjornsen ended up 14th on the day.

    Ida Sargent (USST) qualified in 14th (+5.41) but did not advance out to the heats after placing fifth in the first quarterfinal. Sargent was 21st overall.

    Jessie Diggins (USST) was 15th (+5.50) in qualification. In the fourth quarterfinal, Diggins tripped over Russian skier’s Natalia Matveeva’s pole and fell to her knees in the heat’s opening moments. She was unable to regain the lost ground and placed sixth in a photo finish with Matveeva. Diggins placed 26th overall.

    No Canadians were entered in the women’s race.

    Rosie Brennan (APU) qualified in 28th (+8.83) and was eventually eliminated in the third quarterfinal where she placed sixth. Brennan was 29th on the day. Also for the U.S., Kelsey Phinney (SMS T2) placed 38th, after placing 38th (+12.10) in the qualifier.

    Women’s Qualification Results | Women’s Results

    For the men, although still young twenty-two-years-old, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo looked like the old Klæbo on his way to his first World Cup win of the season. The Norwegian was the World Cup’s overall winner last season and first in the sprint cup.

    Klæbo placed first in the qualifier with a time of 2:22.39 minutes. He advanced to the finals by winning the first heat and the first semi. Klæbo won the final in 2:20.44 minutes. Italy’s Federico Pellegrino was second overall, finishing 0.39 seconds back. Baptiste Gros of France was third (+1.40) to take the last podium step.

    Simi Hamilton (USST) was the best placed North American male. Hamilton qualified in 17th (+4.76) and placed 12th overall. He placed second in the fifth heat a fraction behind Finland’s Joni Maeki. In the second semi-final, won by Norway’s Eirik Brandsdal, Hamilton placed sixth (+6.90).

    Kevin Bolger (USST) just missed the heats after qualifying in 31st (+6.63). After not advancing, Bolger was 31st overall. No other Americans were entered.

    Alex Harvey was the best placed Canadian, placing 37th overall. Lenny Valjas in his first World Cup of the season was 53rd. Andy Shields finished in 60th. No other Canadians were entered.

    Men’s Qualification Results | Men’s Results

     

    ***

    IBU World Cup Hochfilzen, Austria 10 k/12.5 k pursuit

    On Saturday in Hochfilzen, Austria the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit was won by Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen in a time of 30:53.8 minutes. It was Mäkäräinen’s third win of the season. The Finn had a tough time on the shooting range, despite surging for the win in the final meters, she suffered three penalties on the shooting range (1+0+1+1).

    Kaisa Mäkäräinen of Finland down the final stretch in Hochfilzen, Austria during the IBU World Cup 10k pursuit. Paulina Fialkova of Slovenia was second, Italy’s Dorothea Wierer was third. (Photo: biathlonworld.com)

    Paulina Fialkova of Slovenia was second (+1.5, 0+0+1+1) after skiing two penalty loops. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer was third in a close fight for all three podium spots finishing 2.8 seconds behind Mäkäräinen. Wierer had three penalties during the race (2+0+1+1).

    Susan Dunklee of the U.S. was the best placed North American, improving on her 34th start spot to place 28th (+2:06.1, 0+1+1+0). Teammate Joanne Reid was 31st (+2:17.1, 0+0+0+1) after missing only a single target. Clare Egan did not qualify for the pursuit.

    Rosanna Crawford was the lone Canadian to qualify for Saturday’s pursuit. She placed 44th (+3:24.8, 1+1+0+1).

    Women’s Pursuit Results

    Martin Fourcade of France, in a return to shooting and skiing form, took the win in the men’s 12.5 k pursuit. Fourcade won in a time of 32:22.3 minutes while shooting clean through his four shooting rounds.

    vancomycin

     

    Germany’s Arnd Peiffer was second (+13.7, 1+0+0+0), skiing a single penalty lap. Norway’s Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen was third (+16.1) after shooting clean for the race.

    First place starter after winning yesterday’s sprint, Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Bø, fell back in the standings after missing six targets. He placed ninth (+1:00.0, 0+3+1+2) overall.

    Sean Doherty for the U.S. was 31st (+2:37.3, 0+1+0+1). U.S. teammate Leif Nordgren was 42nd (+3:21.5, 1+0+1+3).

    Scott Gow was the only Canadian to qualify for the pursuit. He finished in 51st (+4:36.3, 1+0+0+3).

    Men’s Pursuit Results

     

    ***

    NorAm and U23/JW World Championships Qualification, Canmore, Alberta

    Day two of the Noram and U23/JW trials in Canmore, Alberta, featured freestyle individual interval races; the men raced 15km followed by the women’s 10km

    Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.), fresh back from Europe led the way with a 30:18.5 minute clocking for the 15km. His teammate Evan Palmer-Charrette was second, 30.7 seconds behind. Alexis Dumas (CNEPH) snatched third, 1.6 seconds behind Palmer-Charrette and 0.9 seconds ahead of Jack Carlyle (AWCA). Seb Boehmler-Dandurand (AWCA) was 4.3 seconds back from Carlyle and 48.5 seconds behind the winner.

    Gareth Williams (CNST) was sixth and the top U23 athlete at 1:02.9 back, with CNEPH U23 teammates Philippe Boucher and Antoine Cyr taking 7th and 8th, 8.2 and 8.8 seconds behind Williams.

    Samuel Hendry (Team R.A.D.) won the junior men’s 10km in 23:09.7 to earn a spot on the U23 team in Lahti next month, with his second NorAm interval start win in two tries. Remi Drolet (Black Jack) followed up two sprint NorAm sprint wins with a second place, 33.6 seconds behind. Tom Stephen (Team ULLR) was third at 45.8 seconds.

    In the open women’s 10km free, Dahria Beatty (CNST) continued her hot streak with another win, finishing in 26:05.1. Last weekend’s winner, Katherine Stewart-Jones (CNST) was second at 35.0 seconds. Frédérique Vézina (CNEPH) took third, 1:01.9 behind.

    Sadie White (TBay) was top U23 in 4th, 1:10 behind the winner.

    All results, including live timing for the rest of the weekend.

    [https://zone4.ca/event/18b91492-fd6d-11e8-a07c-0afc046f7944/]

    Sprints final: https://zone4.ca/race/2018-12-13/97cd95d0/2018-haywood-noram-world-jr/results/

    Sprint brackets: https://zone4.ca/race/2018-12-13/4408c89e/2018-haywood-noram-world-jr/results/

    Saturday Interval free:

    https://zone4.ca/race/2018-12-15/c2093acc/2018-haywood-noram-world-jr/results/

    FasterSkier will be updating the Nor-Am segment.

  • 2018 Canadian Nationals: 30/50 k Classic Recap

    2018 Canadian Nationals: 30/50 k Classic Recap

    Katherine-Stewart Jones (193) of NTDC Thunder Bay soaks up her win in the women’s 30 k classic mass start on Saturday at 2018 Canadian Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, Ontario, just 2.3 seconds ahead of Annika Hicks (AWCA) in second. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    (Note: This article has been corrected to reflect that Evan Palmer-Charrette won his second national title last weekend.)

    2018 Canadian Ski Nationals (Thunder Bay, Ontario): 30/50 k classic mass starts

    On the final day of racing at Canadian Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, two National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay athletes topped the podium on their local trails at the Lappe Nordic Centre on Saturday. Katherine Stewart-Jones and Evan Palmer-Charrette won national titles in the women’s 30-kilometer and men’s 50 k classic mass starts, respectively.

    Stewart-Jones, 22, who is also a Canadian National U25 Team member, won the women’s 30 k for her first national title by 2.3 seconds over Annika Hicks of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) with a time of 1:33:50.7 hours. NTDC Thunder Bay had two women on the podium with Alannah Maclean finishing third, 10.2 seconds behind her teammate. Stewart-Jones had previously placed second in the freestyle sprint last Wednesday at nationals.

    “Am I happy or am I happy????” Stewart-Jones, 22, wrote on Instagram following her win “Beyond stoked to finally get a National Champs Title in the 30km”

    Stewart-Jones also started the week with a win in the classic team sprint with Nakkertok club teammate Zoë Williams on March 10.

    Also in the top 10 of Saturday’s 30 k, Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt of Rocky Mountain Racers (RMR) raced to fourth (+18.3), Frédérique Vézina of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) placed fifth (+19.2), American Caitlin Gregg finished sixth (+1:25.5), Sadie White (NTDC Thunder Bay) was seventh (+2:48.3), Williams (Nakkertok) eighth (+3:40.4), Laurence Dumais (AWCA) ninth (+4:30.4), and Katie Weaver (Hollyburn) 10th (+6:47.7).

    Jack Carlyle (l) of the AWCA and Ryan Jackson (81) of BXC leading the men’s field in Saturday’s 50 k classic mass start on the last day of 2018 Canadian Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, Ontario. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    In the men’s 50 k, Palmer-Charrette, 23, who grew up racing at Lappe Nordic, tallied his second-straight podium (after placing third in the skate sprint) with a win in 2:16:44.1. The national title was his second after Palmer-Charrette was the top Canadian in last year’s classic sprint at nationals in Canmore. On Saturday, he finished 9.8 seconds ahead of Scott Hill of Barrie Cross Country (BXC) in second place, and BXC had two on the podium with Ryan Jackson in third (+14.6).

    The top three separated from the rest of the pack, with Julian Smith (NTDC Thunder Bay) finishing 2:40.1 back in fourth, Michael Somppi (AWCA) following in fifth (+2:45.2), then Bob Thompson (NTDC Thunder Bay) in seventh (+2:57.2), Andy Shields (Lappe Nordic) in seventh (+3:13.6), Alexis Dumas (CNEPH) in eighth (+3:20.6), Jack Carlyle (AWCA) in ninth (+3:21.9) and Jess Cockney (AWCA/Canadian World Cup Team) in 10th (+5:20.5).

    Results

    See also: Canadian nationals classic team sprints + interval starts| Skate pursuits + sprints

  • 2018 Canadian Nationals Weekend Recap: Days 1 and 2

    2018 Canadian Nationals Weekend Recap: Days 1 and 2

    Patrick Stewart-Jones (l), skiing for his club team Nakkertok, and Scott Hill (r) of Barrie Cross Country (BXC) going head to head in the men’s classic team sprint on Saturday at Canadian Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Nakkertok won and BXC placed second. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    Canadian Ski Nationals (Thunder Bay, Ontario): Team sprints + 5/10 k classic 

    Canada’s 2018 Ski Nationals opened this past weekend at Lappe Nordic in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with classic team sprints on Saturday followed by 5- and 10-kilometer classic interval starts on Sunday.

    Nakkertok topped the podium in both the open men’s and women’s team sprints. In the men’s final, Nakkertok’s Dominique Moncion-Groulx and Patrick Stewart-Jones won by 1.95 seconds over Barrie Cross Country (BXC) in 14:50.79. BXC’s Ryan Jackson and Scott Hill teamed up for second place, and Skibec’s Alexis Morin and Antoine Brand raced to third (+2.57).

    Katherine Stewart-Jones (22), skiing for her club team Nakkertok, while leading Annika Richardson (Hollyburn Ski Club) and Mathilde Petitjean (r) of C.N.M.S.A. during the women’s classic team sprint at 2018 Canadian Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, Ontario. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    The Stewart-Jones family was also a big winner on Saturday, with Nakkertok’s Zoë Williams and Katherine Stewart-Jones (Patrick’s sister) racing to first in the women’s final in 13:04.72. They finished 2.37 seconds ahead of Katie Weaver and Annika Richardson of the Hollyburn Ski Club in second place, and Marie Corriveau and Mathilde Petitjean of Club Nordique Mont-Sainte-Anne (C.N.M.S.A.) raced to third (+7.42).

    On Day 2 and the first official day of Canadian Ski Nationals, Hill (BXC) took his second-straight win of the weekend, topping the men’s 10 k classic with a time of 26:45.1 for his first senior national title. He finished 7.2 seconds faster than Alexis Dumas, of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) in second, and an early race leader, Knute Johnsgaard of the Canadian World Cup Team, placed third (+12.0)

    Johnsgaard clocked the fastest split at the race’s halfway point, while Hill’s 5 k time was almost 10 seconds slower. But over the final 5 k, Hill’s lap time was nearly 22 seconds faster than Johnsgaard’s. Dumas skied a consistent race, with the fourth-fastest first lap and second-fastest second lap.

    Knute Johnsgaard (Canadian World Cup Team) racing to third in the men’s 10 k classic on Sunday at Canadian Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, Ontario. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    Jackson (BXC) finished fourth (+14.7), and Jess Cockney of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) and Canadian World Cup Team placed fifth (+22.2). Leading the National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay on its home trails was Evan Palmer-Charrette in sixth (+24.8), and Lappe Nordic’s Michael Somppi (AWCA) placed seventh (+29.1). Gareth Williams of Telemark Nordic and the Canadian U25 Team finished eighth (+39.5), American Brian Gregg (CXC/Team Gregg/Loppet Nordic Racing) was ninth (+44.7), and Jack Carlyle (AWCA) 10th (+49.5).

    Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt of Rocky Mountain Racers (RMR) collected her first senior national title with a 13.3-second victory in the women’s 5 k classic. She finished in 15:07.5, ahead of American Caitlin Gregg (CXC/Team Gregg/LNR) in second, while Katherine Stewart-Jones (NTDC Thunder Bay) was the second Canadian and third overall (+17.9).

    NTDC Thunder Bay had two in the top four with Alannah Maclean in fourth (+19.8). Annika Hicks (AWCA) followed in fifth (+22.2), Frédérique Vézina (CNEPH) was sixth (+30.8), Sophie Carrier-Laforte (Skinouk) seventh (+33.0), Maya MacIsaac-Jones (RMR/Canadian U25 Team) eighth (+37.4), Laura Leclair (CNEPH) ninth (+58.1), and Williams (Nakkertok) 10th (+1:07.2).

    Nationals continue Tuesday with 10/15 k freestyle pursuits, followed by skate sprints on Wednesday and 30/50 k classic mass starts on Saturday.

    Audio livestream

    Full race schedule

    Photos

    Results:

    Day 1: Classic team sprint

    Day 2: 5/10 k classic

     

    Spectators during the classic team sprint at 2018 Canadian Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, Ontario. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
  • Sunday Rundown: Gatineau, Hakuba & Planica

    Sunday Rundown: Gatineau, Hakuba & Planica

    Rosie Frankowski (APU) racing to a 2-second win in the women’s 10 k classic pursuit on Sunday, the final day of 2018 Eastern Canadian Championships in Gatineau, Quebec. (Photo: Rob Smith)

    NorAm Eastern Canadian Championships (Gatineau, Quebec): 10/15 k classic pursuits

    Rosie Frankowski defended her lead and tallied her second-straight win on Sunday, the final day of Eastern Canadian Championships, both a NorAm and a SuperTour. Meanwhile, David Norris overcame a 10-second starting deficit to make it all Alaska Pacific University (APU) atop the podium in the classic pursuits.

    Frankowski started the women’s 10 k pursuit 47 seconds clear of her APU teammate Becca Rorabaugh in second and held Rorabaugh off by 2 seconds at the finish, crossing the line first in 1:00:32.6 hours on a warmer day around 0 degrees Celsius with heavy snow in Gatineau. Kaitlynn Miller of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) was the third American on the podium, racing up from seventh to third, 21.3 seconds behind Frankowski.

    Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers) led the Canadians in fourth (+3:09.2), up from sixth at the start, and Frédérique Vézina, of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH), followed in fifth (+3:15.2), after starting fourth.

    Another 4.6 seconds back was Liz Guiney (CGRP) in sixth (+3:19.8). Felicia Gesior (CXC Team) finished seventh (+4:05.6), Corey Stock (Bridger Ski Foundation) placed eighth (+4:05.8), Annika Hicks of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) was ninth (+4:40.8), and Alannah Maclean of the National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay finished 10th (+5:25.9).

    Tad Elliott (13) leads Brian Gregg (17) and Jack Hegman (11) up a climb during the men’s 15 k classic pursuit on Sunday at 2018 Eastern Canadian Championships in Gatineau, Quebec. Gregg went on to edge Elliott in a photo finish for third and Hegman followed in fifth. (Photo: Rob Smith)

    In the men’s 15 k, Norris started second and caught leader Jack Hegman, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) early then raced alone to the victory in 1:19.26, while Ben Lustgarten (CGRP) followed 1:17.8 minutes later in second. Lustgarten started the race in sixth and Brian Gregg (Team Gregg/Loppet Nordic Racing/CXC) started seventh, with Gregg edging Tad Elliott (Ski Club Vail) by less than a tenth of a second in a photo finish for third (+1:38.5). Elliott had started third.

    Hegman finished fifth (+1:42.6), his Sun Valley teammate Kevin Bolger was next across the line in sixth (+1:59.1), Adam Martin (CGRP) finished seventh (+2:01.2), Rogan Brown (SVSEF) was eighth (+2:02.9), Scott Hill (Barrie Cross Country) was the top Canadian in ninths (+2:22.5), and Jack Carlyle (AWCA) finished 10th (+2:44.2).

    Results

    ***

    Nordic Combined World Cup (Hakuba, Japan): Large hill/10 k Gundersen

    In the final nordic combined World Cup competition before the Olympics, Norway’s Jan Schmid came from 1:14 minutes behind at the start of Sunday’s 10 k to win the individual large hill/10 k event by 6.6 seconds in 25:36.5.

    Schmid started the race in seventh, based on his competition jump, 1:14 behind Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves in first. Ilves had jumped to first and started the race 13 seconds ahead of Japan’s Yuto Nakamura in second, but while Nakamura dropped to 18th (+2:21.2) at the finish, Schmid moved all the way up to first with the fourth-fastest course time.

    Japan’s Akito Watabe, who won Saturday’s large hill/10 k competition, took the final spot on the podium after a photo finish with the Czech Republic’s Tomas Portyk. They finished 11.1 and 11.2 seconds behind Schmid in third and fourth, respectively.

    American Adam Loomis achieved his best individual result in three years, placing 24th (+3:03.4), after jumping to 30th and starting 3:20 out of first. Loomis skied the eighth-fastest course time.

    His USA Nordic teammate Ben Berend placed 31st (+4:28.4) after ranking 28th in the jump.

    Results: Jumping | Final

    ***

    Nordic Combined Continental Cup (Planica, Slovenia): Saturday and Sunday

    Meanwhile on the Nordic Combined Continental Cup, Americans Bryan and Taylor Fletcher reached the podium on both Saturday and Sunday in Planica, Slovenia.

    Bryan won back-to-back individual large hill/10 k Gundersen starts, while Taylor placed second on Saturday and third on Sunday.

    On Saturday, Bryan jumped to third on the 139-meter large hill and started the 10 k race 22 seconds behind Germany’s Anton Schlüter in first. Taylor jumped to 14th and started 1:35 minutes out of first and posted the fastest course time in the 10 k to finish second to his older brother, 59.4 seconds back.

    Bryan skied the third-fastest 10 k to take first in 26:24.1 minutes. About a minute behind Taylor, Austria’s Martin Fritz placed third (+1:58.8). Schlüter ended up 15th (+3:51.5).

    Also for the U.S., Jasper Good raced from 26th in the jump to eighth overall (+3:08) with the fifth-fastest course time. Grant Andrews did not finish after posting the 38th-ranked jump.

    Canada’s Nathaniel Mah placed 28th (+5:41.5) after starting 27th based on his jump.

    On Sunday, Fritz jumped to first and finished between the Fletcher brothers in second place, 39.7 seconds behind Bryan, who repeated in first.

    Bryan had jumped to second and started the 10 k just 9 seconds back. He skied the fourth-fastest course time en route to the win in 25:01.6.

    Taylor’s jump put him in 15th and 1:40 back at the start of Sunday’s race, and he passed 12 competitors to claim third (+1:25.0) with the second-fastest course time.

    Good finished 17th (+3:12), up from 23rd in the jump, with the ninth-fastest 10 k time, and Andrews placed 22nd (+3:38.2), up from 24th.

    Mah finished 34th (+5:38.7) after jumping to 21st.

    Results: 

    Saturday: Jumping | Final

    Sunday: Jumping | Final

  • Saturday Rundown: Relay Silver for U.S. Men; Loomis 4th; Plus Hakuba & Gatineau

    Saturday Rundown: Relay Silver for U.S. Men; Loomis 4th; Plus Hakuba & Gatineau

    The U.S. men’s silver-medal relay at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, with (from left to right) Luke Jager, Hunter Wonders, Gus Schumacher, and Ben Ogden. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

    (Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Ben Loomis, Luke Jager and Gus Schumacher.)

    Junior World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): Men’s and women’s relays

    Two individual medals and a relay podium. That’s how the U.S. team fared this week at Junior World Championships in terms of a medal count, but the significance of its breakthroughs go way beyond the hardware.

    Hailey Swirbul became the most successful American nordic skier at Junior World Championships with a silver and a bronze in the two women’s distance races. Then, on Saturday, the U.S. men took their turn in the spotlight, racing to second and almost first in the 4 x 5-kilometer relay for the best relay finish by an American team at Junior Worlds. Last year, the U.S. women placed third at 2017 Junior Worlds at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah.

    Luke Jager started the team off on Saturday as the first classic leg, putting the U.S. men in sixth at the first exchange, 14 seconds behind Sweden in first.

    While Sweden dropped to second on the next leg, the U.S. continued to move up, with Ben Ogden racing to fourth, 8.5 seconds out of first, behind Norway, Russia and France, respectively.

    On the first freestyle leg, Hunter Wonders held the U.S. in fourth and tagged anchor Gus Schumacher in fourth, 31.3 seconds out of first. Norway continued to lead with France, and Russia skied about 5 seconds back in third with 5 k to go.

    Schumacher then skied the fastest anchor leg to race up to second, passing France and finally Russia in the finishing straight, as he crossed the line 2.2 seconds behind Norway’s Jørgen Lippert — who eased up in the finish and secured the Norwegian gold with a total time of 50:04.2 minutes.

    The men’s 4 x 5 k relay podium at 2018 Junior World Championships with Norway (c) in first, the U.S. (l) in second (Ben Ogden, Luke Jager, Gus Schumacher, Hunter Wonders), and Russia (r) in third. (Photo: Julia Kern)

    The U.S. placed second, 3.3 seconds ahead of Russia in third (+5.5), and France finished fourth (+29.6).

    Norway’s winning team included two men who won individual golds this week, Harald Østberg Amundsen (in the 20 k skiathlon) and Jon Rolf Skamo Hope (10 k classic), as well as Håvard Moseby and Lippert (who took bronze in two races).

    Russia’s team was made up of Kirill Kilivnyuk, Sergey Ardashev, Yaroslav Rybochkin, and Alexander Terentev. Team France was Camille Laude, Hugo Lapels, Tom Mancini, and Pierre Tichit.

    Canada placed 11th (+3:12.8) with Antoine Cyr, Ritchie Graham, Felix Longpre, and Etienne Hebert. Sixteen teams contested the men’s relay on the final day of Junior Worlds in Goms.

    American Luke Jager (9) skiing with Norway’s Harald Østberg Amundsen (1), France’s Camille Laude (3), and Sweden’s Jacob Nystedt (8) during the first leg of the men’s 4 x 5 k relay on Saturday at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland. (Photo: Julia Kern)

    In an email, Jager, who turned 18 last month, explained that he was grateful for the opportunity to race at his first Junior Worlds.

    “I barely qualified for this trip after a tough week in Anchorage so my options for starts were super limited,” Jager wrote. “I got the sprint start last week which was pretty horrendous and then a guaranteed spot on the relay team. So I had the whole week to prepare and rest. Watching the boys all week we realized that a medal could be possible and we started targeting that super closely.”

    But over the last week, Jager hadn’t been feeling well.

    “I was feeling really really bad in the days following the sprint and could barely get out and ski for 60 minutes each day,” he recalled. “I had actually told [U.S. Ski Team Development Coach Bryan] Fish that if I continued to feel as bad as I had been I was gonna sit out the relay. But I started feeling better and better throughout the week and was feeling really good this morning.”

    He had previously asked Fish if he could ski the scramble leg.

    “Bryan was stoked about it too so that decision was easy,” Jager explained. “This group of dudes is perfect for each leg of a relay so we barely even needed to discuss order. I am definitely a stronger classic skier so I was stoked to be able to get some redemption for my poor form in the last month.”

    Schumacher, 17, explained he found out the relay order on Friday night and “really started to get excited about it,” he wrote in an email. “We had some foreign friends say that they thought we could do well so that really helped confidence.”

    From the gun, Jager expected a fast pace and pushed to put himself in the lead group while trying to conserve energy and avoid any tangles He locked onto Norway’s Amundsen and by the last climb on the second lap, found that the group was beginning to string out.

    “I was thankfully able to hold on just enough to maintain connection with the leaders and put Ben in a position where he could do his thing,” Jager wrote. “I would have liked to be a little further up in the group when I tagged off to Ben but the Swedes’ first skier had done so much damage in the last minutes that we were all in single file and pretty much in survival mode up the last climb.”

    Russia’s Alexander Terentev leading Norway’s Jørgen Lippert, American Gus Schumacher (9), and France’s Pierre Tichit (3) up a climb in the final leg of the men’s 4 x 5 k relay at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland. (Photo: Julia Kern)

    Fast-forward to Schumacher getting tagged in fourth in the final exchange, 31.5 seconds behind Norway in first, 30.9 seconds behind France in second, and 26.2 seconds behind Russia in third. Despite the gap, he believed he could close it.

    “I definitely thought those three were in reach, and I wanted to catch them, if for no other reason than to keep clear of 5th and 6th,” Schumacher wrote. “I focused on really holding steady for the first 2k, then starting to push more, and I was able to catch that lead pack and then recover with them for the last sprint, which did end up really hurting.”

    While he had distanced himself from France and secured third by the final hill, he hadn’t anticipated catching Russia or Norway.

    “By the time I got through the downhill corner, however, I was closing fast on the Russian and realized I was right there,” Schumacher wrote. “I popped around the last corner and was almost even with Russia, then after a few seconds of sprinting I pulled ahead and he slowed down and I knew I had it.”

    While Jager explained he’s not one to get very nervous about racing, Saturday was completely different.

    “… Watching the rest of the race progress was one of the most nerve wracking experiences of my life,” he wrote. “When Hunter tagged off to Gus I knew we were really really gonna be in the fight for a medal. I’ve been racing Gus for most of my life and I know when that kid is gonna throw down and produce a miracle and I could see it…

    “This is something this group of guys has been dreaming of and training for for a really long time now,” he added. “To be able to watch that dream come into fruition today was indescribable. Probably the best day of my life since Cole Morgan added me on Snapchat. We came here this year to show the world that US skiing is the real deal and that we’re here to stay and I think we did that. To be able to be a piece of that history was an honor.”

    “Experiencing the podium here has been so cool,” Schumacher wrote. “I thought it was possible, but actually getting it feels amazing. This whole trip has been really cool even without this success, it’s such an amazing place and the team is tight. I think individually I anticipated results maybe a little better, but this seems about right, and as a team I think we all surprised ourselves. Together we can make some big waves.”

    Germany Wins Women’s Relay; U.S. 8th

    In the women’s 4 x 3.3 k relay earlier on Saturday, Germany took the win by 8.6 seconds over Russia with a winning time of 39:17.4. Sweden finished third, 47.5 seconds out of first.

    Germany’s Alexandra Danner, Celine Mayer and Lisa Lohmann await their teammate Anna-Maria Dietz at the finish of the women’s 4 x 3.3 k relay on Saturday at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland. Germany placed first and Russia finished second, 8.6 seconds later. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

    Germany (Alexandra Danner, Celine Mayer, Lisa Lohmann, Anna-Maria Dietz) improved from third on the first leg, to second on the second and third legs, and final first on Dietz’s anchor leg.

    Russia (Polina Nekrasova, Hristina Matsokina, Nina Dubotolkina, Maya Yakunina) led the race from the first through the third and final exchange, before slipping to second at the finish.

    Sweden (Tua Dahlgren, Frida Karlsson, Alicia Persson, Johanna Hagström) rebounded from 13th and more than a minute and a half back at the first exchange to tag in fourth and 28 seconds out of first thanks to Karlsson’s fastest second-leg time. By the final exchange, they were up to third and they held that position to the finish.

    The U.S. women’s 4 x 3.3 k relay at 2018 Junior World Championships, with (from left to right) Hailey Swirbul, Kathleen O’Connell, Hannah Halvorsen, and Molly Gellert. They placed eighth on Saturday. (Photo: Julia Kern)

    The U.S. placed eighth (+1:08.1) with Kathleen O’Connell, Swirbul, Molly Gellert, and Hannah Halvorsen. After O’Connell put them in eighth and about a minute back on the first leg, Swirbul skied them up to sixth with the second-fastest second leg, 30.1 seconds out of first. Gellert held onto that position on the first skate leg, but Halvorsen slipped two places on the anchor leg to finish eighth.

    Canada finished 15th (+4:47.8) out of 16 teams with Hannah Mehain, Natalie Hynes, Annika Richardson, and Alexandra Racine.

    Results: Men | Women

    ***

    Slovenia’s Vid Vrhovnik (3) celebrates his win in the last nordic-combined competition of 2018 Junior World Championships, the individual normal hill/5 k, on Saturday in Kandersteg, Switzerland, while the Czech Republic’s Jan Vytrval, Austria’s Dominik Terzer and American Ben Loomis (r) battle for second. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

    Nordic Combined Junior World Championships (Kandersteg, Switzerland): Normal hill/5 k Gundersen

    In the final nordic-combined competition of Junior Worlds, American Ben Loomis nearly notched his second podium of the week, missing it by one-tenth of a second in fourth place.

    American Ben Loomis (7) leads Austria’s Johannes Lamparter during Saturday’s 5 k at 2018 Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Switzerland. Loomis went on to place fourth and Lamparter finished eighth. (Photo: Romina Eggert)

    Slovenia’s 18-year-old Vid Vrhovnik won the individual normal hill/5 k Gundersen by 4.9 seconds over Austria’s Dominik Terzer. After posting the third-best jump on the 106-meter hill, Vrhovnik started the 5 k race 6 seconds behind Germany’s Luis Lehnert in first. Terzer jumped to second and started just 4 seconds behind, while the Czech Republic’s Jan Vytrval jumped to fourth and started 10 seconds back. Loomis jumped to seventh (just as he did on Tuesday before racing to third place) and started 27 seconds out of first.

    “I was happy with my jump being closer in time to the front,” Loomis wrote in an email about his his jump, which put him about 10 seconds closer to the leaders than on Tuesday. “I didn’t feel quite as lucky with the wind. I was hoping to jump around the top 5, but 7th, only 27sec back was good, too.”

    Over the two-lap 5 k, Vrhovnik battled with Terzer, while Lehnert slipped to seventh at the finish, 23.5 seconds behind. The Slovenian took the win by nearly five seconds over Terzer in 11:28.8, and Vytrval outlunged Loomis for third place (+5.4). Loomis placed fourth (+5.5), well ahead of Norway’s Einar Lurås Oftebro in fifth (+18.4).

    Ben Loomis (USA Nordic) on the last day of 2018 Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Switzerland. He jumped to seventh and moved up to fourth in the 5 k. (Photo: Romina Eggert)

    “I was able to catch places 3-6 on the first lap and ski with them through the beginning of the second lap,” Loomis wrote. “Towards the end of second lap I closed down on second place (Jan Vytral) with Dominik Terzer. On the last corner we packed up in positions 2-4.

    “The finish started with a sharp downhill corner followed by a quick stretch less than 100 meters,” he continued. “I came into the finishing lanes in second but unfortunately took the wrong line and was passed by Dominik and never quite caught Jan in front of me.”

    While he had been hoping for another podium, Loomis acknowledged that he was pleased to ski the fastest race time and “be battling at the front”.

    “Overall I am leaving Switzerland with my goals accomplished and feeling satisfied,” he wrote. “It would have been nice to walk away with a double podium but I am still very happy with how to week went. This week has been a huge confidence booster going into the Olympics next week. I am very excited to represent my country and enjoy my time at the games. I am looking to have fun, take in experience and not overthink the results.”

    Also for the U.S., Stephen Schumann placed 18th (+1:18.6), up one place from 19th in the jump, Jared Shumate finished 40th (+3:05.7), up from 48th in the jump, and Tucker Hoefler was 55th (+5:50.5), after jumping to 55th.

    Results: Jumping | Final

    ***

    The podium at Saturday’s Nordic Combined World Cup in Hakuba, Japan, with Japan’s Akito Watabe (c) in first, Norway’s Jan Schmid (l) in second and Germany’s Manuel Faißt (r) in third. (Photo: FIS/Flawia Krawczyk)

    Nordic Combined World Cup (Hakuba, Japan): Large hill/10 k Gundersen

    Many of the winter-sports World Cups were off this weekend before the Olympics start in earnest a week from today in PyeongChang, South Korea, but not nordic combined, which had a World Cup stop in Hakuba, Japan.

    There, local hero Akito Watabe took the win in 24:14.6 minutes, a whopping 1:12.6 minutes clear of Norway’s Jan Schmid in second. Germany’s Manuel Faißt placed third, 1:22 back, and Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves finished 52 seconds later in fourth (+2:14).

    The lone American competing in Saturday’s 10 k Gundersen, Ben Berend achieved his first individual World Cup top 30, placing 23rd (+4:31.7) after jumping to 16th on Hakuba’s 134-meter large hill.

    Watabe led from the beginning of the day after jumping to first, ahead of Ilves in second, Faißt in third, and Schmid in fourth. Watabe started the 10 k with a 16-second head start on Ilves, while Faisst started 52 seconds out of first and Schmid started 1:08 behind.

    Berend started the 10 k with a 2:36 deficit to first, with five others within 10 seconds of him. His teammate Adam Loomis did not start the 10 k after jumping to 38th.

    Another individual large hill/10 k Gundersen will be held on Sunday in Hakuba. The first nordic combined competition in PyeongChang, the individual normal hill/10 k, is set for Wednesday, Feb. 14.

    Results: Jumping | Final 

    ***

    The men’s 15 k freestyle podium at 2018 Eastern Canadian Championships in Gatineau, Quebec, with Jack Hegman (c) in first, David Norris (l) in second and Tad Elliott (r) in third. (Photo: Rob Smith)

    NorAm Eastern Canadian Championships (Gatineau, Quebec): 10/15 k freestyle

    Americans swept the podium in both the men’s and women’s freestyle individual starts on Saturday at Eastern Canadian Championships in races that count toward both NorAm and SuperTour standings.

    According to unofficial results, Jack Hegman, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF), won the men’s 15 k by 9.1 seconds over David Norris, of Alaska Pacific University (APU), in 35:44.9. Tad Elliott (Ski Club Vail) placed third (+38.7) just ahead of the top Canadian, Jack Carlyle, of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA), in fourth (+41.7).

    The U.S. occupied eight of the top 10 in the men’s race, with Kevin Bolger (SVSEF) in fifth (+45.0), Ben Lustgarten, of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) in sixth (+52.3), Brian Gregg (Team Gregg/LNR/CXC) in seventh (+57.0), Rogan Brown (SVSEF) in eighth (+58.1), Canada’s Scott Hill (Barrie Cross Country) in ninth (+1:14.7), and Eric Packer (APU) in 10th (+1:18.6).

    The women’s 10 k freestyle podium at 2018 Eastern Canadian Championships in Gatineau, Quebec, with Rosie Frankowski (c) in first, Becca Rorabaugh (l) in second and Erika Flowers (r) in third. (Photo: Rob Smith)

    After placing second in a 10 k freestyle at last weekend’s SuperTour in Craftsbury, Vermont, Rosie Frankowski (APU) won the women’s 10 k freestyle on Saturday in Gatineau by more than 30 seconds in 27:07.3. Her teammate Becca Rorabaugh (who won the Craftsbury 10 k skate as well as Friday’s classic sprint in Gatineau) placed second (+37.1) on Saturday, and Erika Flowers placed third (+1:26.4) for the third-straight race.

    Frédérique Vézina, of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre, led the Canadians in fourth (+1:46.2), while America Liz Guiney (CGRP) placed fifth (+1:52.2), and Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers) finished sixth (+1:56.4).

    Also in the top 10, Kaitlynn Miller (CGRP) placed seventh (+1:57.8), Felicia Geisor (CXC Team) was eighth (+2:18.5), Zoë Williams (Carleton University) ninth (+2:39.6) and Annika Hicks (AWCA) 10th (+2:43.4).

    Eastern Canadian Championships conclude Sunday with 10/15 k classic pursuits at the Nakkertok Nordic Ski Centre.

    Results

  • Saturday Rundown: Planica and Red Deer

    Saturday Rundown: Planica and Red Deer

    Annika Hicks in the yellow NorAm leader’s bib leads Zina Kocher (52), Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (56) and Laurence Dumais (62) in the women’s 10 k classic mass start at Western Canadian Championships on Saturday in Red Deer, Alberta. Hicks went on to win by 2.5 seconds over Bouffard-Nesbitt. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    Western Canadian Championships (Red Deer, Alberta): 10/15 k classic mass starts

    On Day 2 of the NorAm Western Canadian Championships in Red Deer, Andy Shields of Lappe Nordic won the men’s 15-kilometer classic mass start and Annika Hicks of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) topped the women’s 10 k classic mass start.

    Andy Shields (1) leads Russell Kennedy during the men’s 15 k classic mass start at Western Canadian Championships on Saturday in Red Deer, Alberta. Shields went on to win by 9 seconds over Kennedy. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    Shields won the open men’s race by 9.4 seconds in 40:14.4, while Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) placed second for the second-straight day. Scott Hill, of Barrie Cross Country (BXC), reached the podium in third, 14 seconds out of first.

    Friday’s freestyle sprint winner, Jess Cockney (Canadian World Cup Team) placed fourth (+48.5), Michael Somppi (AWCA) followed in fifth (+49.4), and Jack Carlyle (AWCA) was sixth (+52.4). Just 0.1 seconds after Carlyle, Remi Drolet (Black Jack) was the top junior in seventh overall (+52.5), Sam Hendry (Team R.A.D.) was the second junior in eighth (+52.9), Patrick Stewart-Jones (AWCA) finished ninth (+55.0), and Antoine Hebert (AWCA) 10th (+55.2).

    The open women’s race was closer in the race for first place, with Hicks capturing her first NorAm win in 28:51.0, 2.5 seconds ahead of Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers) in second. All three women that reached the podium in Friday’s sprint returned to it on Saturday, with Zina Kocher (Foothills Nordic) placing third (+23.8). (On Friday, Bouffard-Nesbitt won ahead of Kocher in second and Hicks in third.)

    Laurence Dumais (AWCA) finished fourth on Saturday (+58.4), Kaia Andal (Caledonia Nordic) was the top junior in fifth overall (+1:07.6), Molly Miller (Black Jack) finished sixth (+1:08), Alana Brittin (Revelstoke Nordic) seventh (+1:24.4), Amanda Thompson (Whitehorse Ski Club) eighth (+1:26.6), Paiga Latta (Sovereign Lake Nordic) ninth (+1:48.6), and Beth Granstrom (Revelstoke Nordic) 10th (+1:50.3).

    Western Canadian Championships conclude Sunday with freestyle relays (women’s 3 x 3.75 k and men’s 3 x 5 k).

    Results

    ***

    FIS Cross-Country World Cup (Planica, Slovenia): Classic Sprints

    The men’s classic sprint podium at the World Cup in Planica, Slovenia, on Saturday, with Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klaebo (c) in first and his teammate Emil Iversen (l) in second and Sweden’s Teodor Peterson (r) in third. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

    Women’s report

    Men’s report

    Stina Nilsson and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the classic sprints against the backdrop o the Julian Alps in Planica, Slovenia, retaining leadership of their respective Sprint Cup standings.

    In the women’s race, Nilsson outgunned Maiken Caspersen Falla of Norway in the final uphill, and then pulled away in the finishing straight. Kathrine Harsem of Norway, who had won the qualifier, also pulled past Falla, claiming second place and the first individual World Cup podium of her career. Harsem crossed the line 1.27 seconds behind Nilsson, and Falla another 0.54 seconds back. After skiing near the front at the beginning of the final the U.S. Ski Team’s Jessie Diggins placed fourth, +3.81. Sweden’s Anna Dyvik was fifth, +4.45, and Norway’s Heidi Weng sixth.

    U.S. sprinter Sophie Caldwell finished the day in ninth after placing fifth in her semifinal heat. Teammates Ida Sargent and Sadie Bjornsen didn’t make it out of the quarterfinals; Bjornsen was caught up when Germany’s Sandra Ringwald crashed, and as a result finished a distant fifth in her heat for 21st overall. Sargent finished 23rd.

    Julia Kern qualified in 43rd (+14.28), Rosie Brennan 49th (+15.87), and Caitlin Patterson 53rd (+17.56). No Canadian women raced.

    In the men’s final, Klæbo simply pulled away from the field, as he had done in most heats all day since winning the qualifier by 2.75 seconds. Emil Iversen was the closest to staying with him; after Klæbo eased up at the finish, his Norwegian teammate crossed the line just 0.64 seconds back. Sweden’s Teodor Peterson claimed third, +8.14, teammate Oskar Svensson fourth, +11.8, Norway’s Eirik Brandsdal fifth, +19.77, and Russia’s Gleb Retivykh sixth, +27.08.

    For the U.S. both Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell placed fourth in their quarterfinals, after qualifying 16th and 23rd, respectively. They ended the day in 19th and 20th.

    A large contingent of U.S. men competed, with the Alaska Pacific University duo of Logan Hanneman and Tyler Kornfield narrowly missed advancing to the heats, finishing 35th (+13.55) and 38th (+13.96), respectively. Teammate Reese Hanneman was 51st in the qualifier (+17.99) and Craftsbury GRP’s Ben Lustgarten 59th (+19.41).

    A Canadian delegation also raced, with Julien Locke leading the way in 62nd (+21.26), Dominique Moncion-Groulx 65th (+22.70), Bob Thompson 66th (+24.48), and Antoine Briand 70th (+27.20).

    Results: women | men

  • Monday Rundown: U.S. Nationals; MSA NorAm Trials

    Monday Rundown: U.S. Nationals; MSA NorAm Trials

    Left to right: Tyler Kornfield (APU), Reese Hanneman (APU) and Ben Saxton (SMS) the top three Americans in the men’s 1.6 k classic sprint final on Monday, the last day of 2018 U.S. Cross Country Championships in Anchorage, Alaska.

    U.S. Cross Country Championships (Anchorage, Alaska): Classic sprint

    Women’s report

    Men’s report

    Caitlin Patterson did it. With a classic-sprint win on Monday, she successfully capped off an undefeated 2018 U.S. Cross Country Championships, as the top American woman in all four races over the past week in Anchorage, Alaska.

    Patterson, of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, qualified seventh then won the women’s 1.5-kilometer final by more than 2 seconds in 3:39.58 minutes. Finland’s Jasmi Joensuu, a junior at the University of Denver (DU), won the qualifier and ultimately finished second in the final, 2.36 seconds behind Patterson.

    Craftsbury once again had two on the podium with Kaitlynn Miller placing third overall (+3.9) as the second American. Becca Rorabaugh, of Alaska Pacific University (APU), was the top American in the qualifier in second overall, then placed fourth in the final (+9.92) and reached the U.S. podium in third.

    Petra Hyncicova, a University of Colorado Boulder (CU) senior from the Czech Republic, placed fifth overall (+10.03), and Lydia Blanchet, a Dartmouth College U23 skier, finished sixth (+11.21) and was the fourth American woman.

    Joensuu, 21, of Kuortane, Finland, started the day by winning the qualifier in 3:41.4, while Rorabaugh followed in second, 1.31 seconds back. Hyncicova qualified third (+1.85), CU’s Hedda Bångman (who won Sunday’s 20 k classic) qualified fourth (+2.92), and Miller qualified fifth (+2.93). Anne Hart of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team clocked the sixth-fastest qualifying time (+3.88), and Patterson followed in seventh (+4.77).

    From there, Patterson won both her quarterfinal and semifinal, besting Miller and Joensuu in the latter by 0.66 seconds and 2.63 seconds, respectively. Blanchet placed fourth in that same semifinal (+5.15) and advanced to the final as a lucky loser with a fast-enough time, along with Joensuu (Patterson and Miller automatically advanced in first and second).

    With her 4-for-4 record at 2018 nationals, Patterson is the most successful woman at U.S. Cross Country Championships since U.S. Ski Team member Jessie Diggins was the top American in all four races at 2012 nationals in Rumford, Maine.

    In the men’s classic sprint final, Reese Hanneman (APU) captured his second title in as many sprints this week (after winning the freestyle sprint on Friday). He won the qualifying round by 2.84 seconds in 3:21.93, and later the final by a 0.2 seconds in 3:20.62. Kornfield placed second, and Ben Saxton (SMS Elite Team) rounded out the podium in third (+4.78).

    Logan Hanneman, the winner of Friday’s freestyle-sprint qualifier, finished second to his older brother Reese in Monday’s classic-sprint qualifier, then went on to reach the final and place fourth overall (+5.42). Kevin Bolger (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation) placed fifth (+5.52), and Zak Ketterson (Northern Michigan University) was sixth (+6.83).

    Results:

    Women’s qualifier | Women’s final

    Men’s qualifier | Men’s final

    ***

    NorAm Trials (Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec): 15/30 k skiathlons

    The women’s 15 k skiathlon podium on Monday at NorAm trials at Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec, with Cendrine Browne (c) of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) and Canadian U25 Team in first, Anne-Marie Comeau (l) of Laval University in second, and Dahria Beatty (Alberta World Cup Academy/Canadian World Cup Team) in third. (Photo: Cross Country Canada/Instagram)

    Cendrine Browne won the women’s 15-kilometre skiathlon in 43:01.9 minutes on Monday at the Mont Sainte-Anne (MSA) ski trails to put an exclamation point on her presumptive selection for the PyeongChang Olympics. Browne, of the Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre Harvey (CNEPH)/Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre, which is based in nearby Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, broke away with Laval University’s Anne-Marie Comeau during the classic leg to take a 20-second lead that she held to the finish.

    Comeau faded slightly to take second, 11.9 seconds back, qualifying for U23’s and putting her name in the hat for the upcoming 2018 Olympics. Either Comeau or the winner of Wednesday’s classic interval start should take that potential Olympic berth as Canada’s top female distance skier not already qualified. Browne has theoretically earned a spot as the top women’s sprinter, besides Dahria Beatty, who won the sprint and already met Canada’s Olympic qualifying criteria.

    “It now has to go before the selection committee,” Cross Country Canada’s High Performance Director Thomas Holland wrote in an email on Friday.

    After trials races were shuffled around due to extreme cold, with temperatures near -20 Celsius on Sunday at MSA, it warmed up to a balmy -8 degrees Celsius (17 Fahrenheit) by mid-afternoon on Monday. Both the women’s and men’s skiathlons were held, which not only served as one of two distance races for Olympic selection, but for Junior and U23 World Championships as well.

    In the race for third place, Beatty outsprinted a group of four to take the final podium spot, 19.9 seconds behind Browne and 0.3 seconds ahead of their fellow Canadian National Team member Maya MacIsaac-Jones, of Rocky Mountain Racers (RMR) and U25 Team. Just 0.2 seconds out of fourth, Katherine Stewart-Jones, of the National Training Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay and national U25 Team, placed fifth (+20.4) and CNEPH’s Laura Leclair was another second back in sixth (+21.4).

    Almost 55 seconds passed before the seventh-place finisher came across the line, which was Zina Kocher (Foothills Nordic) skiing alone (+1:15.8). Another 49 seconds later, Jaqueline Mourao of Brazil’s national team placed eighth (+2:04.9), ahead of Zoë Williams (Carleton University) in ninth (+2:11.3), and Andrea Dupont (RMR) in 10th (+2:11.5).

    In the junior women’s 10 k skiathlon, Whitehorse’s Natalie Hynes won in 30:19.8 to punch her ticket to Junior Worlds in Goms, Switzerland, from Jan. 28-Feb. 3. India McIsaac (RMR) finished 0.7 seconds back in second and Orford’s Alexandra Racine completed the podium in third (+32.8).

    The men’s 30 k skiathlon podium at NorAm trials at Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec, on Sunday, with Knute Johnsgaard (c) of Canada’s World Cup Team in first, Graham Nishikawa (r) of the Canadian Para-Nordic Team in second and Gareth Williams (Telemark Nordic/Canadian U25 Team) in third. (Photo: Cross Country Canada/Instagram)

    On the men’s side, Canadian World Cup Team member Knute Johnsgaard, who met qualifying criteria for PyeongChang last season, shook off a slow start to the World Cup season with a win in the NorAm trials men’s 30 k skiathlon, finishing in 1:13:30.9.

    Graham Nishikawa, who’s already destined for the PyeongChang Paralympics as a guide on the Canadian Para-Nordic Ski Team, finished 1 second back for second place. The 34-year-old Nishikawa edged out first-year senior national-team member Gareth Williams, 20, of Telemark Nordic and the national U25 Team, by 0.5 seconds. Williams was the top U23 athlete to qualify for this year’s U23 World Championships.

    The top 6 finished within 41 seconds of the podium, with Jack Carlyle (AWCA) in fourth (+5.8), Philippe Boucher (CNEPH) in fifth (+13.9), and Scott Hill (BXC) in sixth (+40.7). World Cup Team member Len Valjas led the next group across the line in seventh (+1:28.6), followed by Bob Thompson (NTDC Thunder Bay) in eighth (+1:29.4), Alexis Dumas (CNEPH) in ninth (+1:35.5), and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (CNEPH) in 10th (+1:35.7)

    CNEPH’s Antoine Cyr won the junior mens 15 k skiathlon in 50:13.1 to earn a spot at Junior Worlds. Félix Longpré, of the local M.S.A. ski club, finished second (+15.7) and Thomas Manktelow was third (+49.0), just ahead of his Alberta World Cup Academy teammate Étienne Hébert in fourth (+49.3).

    After Sunday’s racing was postponed due to temperatures well below the legal race limit, the remaining trials schedule includes freestyle sprints on Tuesday (for Junior and U23 World Championships qualifying purposes only), and classic interval starts on Wednesday.

    Results

  • Rossland NorAm Rewind: Notes & Quotes

    Rossland NorAm Rewind: Notes & Quotes

    The men’s freestyle sprint A-final finish at the Rossland NorAm on Dec. 16, with Julien Locke (r) outlunging Evan Palmer-Charrettee (l) at the line. (Photo: Kai Symington-Kruss)

    It’s been a week or two since the last NorAm of Canada’s Continental Cup series (10 days to be precise), but without further ado, here are the quotes from the winners and top finishers.

    To recap, the American husband-and-wife combo Brian and Caitlin Gregg came to Rossland, British Columbia, and dominated the three-day mini tour, with Caitlin winning all three races (a 5-kilometer classic, freestyle sprint and 10 k freestyle pursuit) and Brian winning the two distance races (10 k classic and 15 k freestyle pursuit). Canadian National U25 Team member Julien Locke won the men’s sprint on his home trails at the Black Jack Ski Club.

    The women’s podium after the 10 k freestyle pursuit on Dec. 17, the last day of the Rossland NorAm mini tour, with Caitlin Gregg (c) in first, Zina Kocher (second from r) in second, Annika Hicks (third from l) in third, Andrea Dupont (second from l) in fourth, Lisle Compton (far l) in fifth, and Frederique Vezina (r) in sixth. (Photo: Brian Gregg)

    “I absolutely loved racing in Canada these past few weeks,” Caitlin, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, wrote in an email after her second weekend of racing north of the border. (The NorAm season opened at Sovereign Lake near Vernon, B.C., on Dec. 9-10.)

    “My favorite part about the races this weekend in Rossland were the incredible race courses and race organization,” she continued. “The 5k loop is the toughest in North America!”

    “I wish that we had the whole Super Tour field here racing since the Black Jack Ski Club puts on such a fantastic race,” Brian wrote. “The courses in Rossland are World Cup level and some of the most difficult we race all year. … With Rossland just 4.5 hours from Silver Star we picked that as our most competitive local race.  Caitlin and I both felt we needed some more racing in preparation for US Nationals in January.”

    While the races were held on the Black Jack trails some 3,800 feet above sea level, Brian explained that he and Caitlin stayed around 1,300 feet “for a bit better recovery in prep for US nationals.”

    They received race support from the National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay.

    “We have had several training camps with the Thunder Bay team and athletes and it was really great of them to provide the infrastructure for our success this weekend,” Brian wrote. “We were really hoping that Caitlin or any of the other top [U.S.] domestic women could be racing in Toblach this weekend on the World Cup. I was sad to see that we only started 5 athletes of our quota of 7.”

    While their results in the Rossland NorAm don’t count toward their overall SuperTour ranking, Caitlin has so far recorded four podiums this season, with a third-place finish in the Sovereign Lake 10 k freestyle (which counted as a SuperTour). Additionally, she won the skate-sprint qualifier at the SuperTour opener in West Yellowstone, Montana, and went on to finish fifth after a crash in the final. Brian has a total of three wins this season, with a victory in the West Yellowstone SuperTour 15 k classic mass start.

    “I am really happy with my skiing so far this season,” Caitlin wrote. “My goal is to make the 2018 Olympics and be at my peak for the 10k skate at the games.”

    But enough about the Americans, let’s hear from the Canadians who finished near the top of the field in Rossland:

    After the women’s 5 k and men’s 10 k classic interval starts on Dec. 15:

    Ty Godfrey (Canmore Nordic/Team R.A.D.) racing to sixth in the men’s 10 k classic at the Rossland NorAm on Dec. 15. (Photo: Kai Symington-Kruss)
    • Scott Hill (Team Barrie Cross Country (BXC)), 2nd place (first Canadian):

    “I thought I paced the classic race well on a tough course here in Rossland with starting conservative despite it only being a 10k. … Conditions are really good here with just below 0 temperatures but some fresh snow during the classic race made things tricky for the techs but I thought my guys gave me what I needed to race my race.”

    • Bob Thompson (NTDC Thunder Bay), 3rd place:

    “I focused on starting strong and had a great first lap, then just couldn’t hold the pace quite well enough to stay in 2nd. Trying to make consistent lap times a focus while still starting strong at what I feel will be a top time.”

    • Annika Hicks (Alpine Insurance Alberta World Cup Academy), 2nd place (first Canadian):

    “My classic skiing is feeling especially strong which is a big confidence booster going into Trials at MSA [Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Jan. 6-10] because those races are so classic heavy!”

    • Hannah Mehain (Sovereign Lake Nordic/Canadian National Junior Team), 6th overall, top junior woman:

    “I knew it was going to be short because it is only 5km so I decided to go hard out of the start. The course was tough with several long uphill sections so I made little markers on course in my warmup where I would refocus and notch it up. I found they definitely helped. It was easy to become distracted and forget about pushing hard. Before my race, I talked to Kajsa Heyes about the course as she finished before I started and she said that you can punch up the climbs no problem so I trusted her and did just that in my race. I was thankful for grippy wax as there are a lot of hills and it would be tiring to herringbone them all.”

    • Zina Kocher (Foothills Nordic), 12th overall:

    “Being that it was really my first 5k classic race since I was a kid, I should be easy on myself! I still see so many areas on which to improve, mostly with technique. But I want more and know there is another gear untapped inside of me with classic. I focused on being calm and smooth today and I felt much smoother with my technique than the last classic race which is a step in the right direction.”

     

    After the freestyle sprints on Dec. 16:

    • Julien Locke (Black Jack/Canadian National U25 Team), 1st:

    “It was amazing to race at home today. It’s such a thrill to put on a show for all of the locals, many of whom have been volunteering since I first started racing Kootenay Cups. The Black Jack club is so supportive and they have done a great job putting on the races. The atmosphere on the course was fantastic, so much energy out there.  I’ve been feeling the travel and previous 4 weeks of racing, and the cheering squads certainly gave me a boost.”

    [He started his season on the World Cup and returned to Canada earlier that week.]

    “I returned to North America on Monday evening [Dec. 11] and it took a while to get the body moving this morning. I was lacking tempo in the qualifier but started to get some snap back through the heats. The final was fun, a reasonably fast pace the whole way. The TBay guys were on a mission to take control up the first climb. I snuck by going over the top and stayed at the front up the 2nd climb, through the twists and into the finish. Evan [Palmer-Charrette] carried a lot of speed out of the last decent and put in a good sprint. It was fun to put in a stretch for the line. It was a close one!”

    • Evan Palmer-Charrette (NTDC Thunder Bay), 2nd:

    “I played it the way I wanted to through all the heats. With the gradual incline on the finishing stretch the finish line snuck up on me and I made a last second attempt at a lunge but otherwise I executed quite well. I considered not starting the sprint and even more so after a rough qualifier but my mom made the trip down to Rossland and arrived before the heats so I figured I couldn’t sit out, so all things considered it was a solid day.”

    [Palmer-Charrette finished 23rd in the qualifier.]

    Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg/Loppet Nordic Racing) racing to her second-straight win at the NorAm in Rossland, B.C., with a victory in the skate-sprint final ahead of Andrea Dupont (101) and Zina Kocher (r). (Photo: Kai Symington-Kruss)
    • Zina Kocher, 3rd:

    “Feel stoked! Totally surprised myself as sprinting is not really my forte. And my 3rd skate sprint race ever. … [I]  gave it everything I had from the start, but I’m almost always last out so I have just learned in biathlon mass starts to use that to my advantage to find the holes/spaces in the group & then move up. I had really great skis today and fully used that to my advantage with the gradual downhill, pushing hard into it & free skating to propel myself into a better position for the next uphill, & before the S turn downhill. I had a bit of a mishap in the 1st heat, getting too close to [Caitlin] in the last corner and tripping on her pole. Got up quick & kept fighting… luckily our heat was fast & I moved on. I think I was just in disbelief each time I moved on, was totally enjoying myself and just kept fighting.

    “Also would like to point out, that this podium sweep were all the old timers. And I was the youngest 😉 Go masters.” 

    [Kocher is 35. Gregg, 37, won the final and Andrea Dupont, also 37, placed second.]

     

    After the 10/15 k freestyle pursuits on Dec. 17:

    (Note: The rundown linked to above was written based on the pursuit’s “time of day”, or individual stage results, rather than overall mini-tour results. The following referenced results reflect overall pursuit/mini-tour finish.)

    The men’s podium after the 15 k freestyle pursuit on Dec. 17, the last day of the Rossland NorAm mini tour, with Brian Gregg (c) in first, Andy Shields (second from r) in second, Bob Thompson (second from l) in third, Evan Palmer-Charrette (r) in fourth, and Jack Carlyle (l) in fifth. (Photo: Brian Gregg)
    • Brian Gregg, 1st:

    “We [Caitlin and I] entered the final day as the rabbits for the rest of the field.  It is odd to feel that the others are just a few meters behind, but also a great exercise in remaining focused on your own race. I focused on racing as a time trial with a conservative start and the goal of negative splitting each lap.  Andy and Bob closed the gap pretty well in the first lap but a strong final 10km allowed me to get the time back.

    “Our greatest success of the weekend came on day 1 in the classic race. We put a big focus this year on our classic skiing with some on snow training camps in May in Iceland/Norway and August/September in New Zealand and it is great to see that showing on the results page.  It also helped that our skis were amazing.”

    • Andy Shields (Lappe Nordic), 2nd:

    “Scott Hill started just over 10s ahead of me and Bob Thompson started around 20 seconds ahead so I had a couple ‘steps’ to climb and launch off of. I caught Scott in the first km and dropped him before the end of the first lap and caught Bob partway through the second lap. Bob and I tried to chase down Brian Gregg but ended up losing time to him. I found a tonne of pace somehow in the last km and a bit and was able to break away from Bob before the finish. … Usually my pace change in distance races is just awful, but it was quite good on Sunday which is a good sign of fitness.”

    “I had a heavy November of training and I think this weekend was a sign I’ve finally digested the training load. I’ll keep training casual over the holidays so I can hopefully be fresh and ready to go at trials.”

    • Bob Thompson, 3rd: 

    “Pursuit was a solid race. The hunt was on for Brian and after a great first lap Andy [Shields] caught me and we did our best to work together but Brian was just a bit too strong for us and skied away with the overall and the best time of day. … This pursuit was one of the first that I have been one of the top starters and had to chase for top positions while fighting to stay ahead of all those chase groups. Definitely my favourite part of racing this weekend.”

    • Evan Palmer-Charrette, 4th:

    “The pursuit was really fun, I love chasing in a pack with a big group of guys. I did not feel great off the start and my confidence was not very high but by the end of the 2nd lap I started to feel like I was getting into a race gear and finished strong.

    “I started to find a race gear the past two days but overall period one has been a struggle coming into it after be being quite sick. That being said I think I haven’t burnt my brightest match of the season and have as good of a shot as anyone. I would like to have strong races in both the sprint and distances races in Quebec, but with the sprint being the only race with an Olympic birth that will be the main focus of the event for me.”

    • Jack Carlyle (AWCA), 5th: 

    “My strategy was to catch as many people that started just in front of me as I possible early on in the first lap. There was a strong contingent of skiers that started just head of me and I wanted to get up to them as quickly as possible, just to make sure I didn’t loose a strong ride. Once I got settled in a pack the plan was to let the race come to me and let it unfold until the last few kilometers, then I would make moves to fight for positions to the finish. I thought that if I could have a good day, being top 5 in the tour was an achievable goal.

    “It was a really fun race. There was a healthy exchange of lead sharing in the pack I was in, with the pace been pushed most of the time. On the first lap a large pack formed and we all skied together for most of the race, building the pace as the race went on. Seemed as though as the race went on the pack got smaller and smaller, until EPC and I were the last two chasing down the top three skier in front of us (Brian G, Andy S, and Bob T). With about 1.5km to go, Evan and I started playing a little bit of cat and mouse, thinking about the tactics for the finish. Pace slowed down, and you could tell we both had plans to try to out sprint the other in the last stretch. Smart on his part as he was second, and almost first the day before in the sprint and [I] couldn’t even sniff the semis that day. We both gaver at the finish and as you can predict, EPC came across the line in 4th and I in 5th.”

    [Carlyle finished eighth in the 10 k classic to start the mini tour]

    “Going into this past weekend I was really focused on the Classic 10km on the Friday. This was the race I put the most attention on going into the weekend. I knew that I was skating well and I [wanted to] do the same in Classic. The two distance days were the races I knew I had the best chance to reach the podium. Having a strong performance in classic early in the season was important for me going forward. After the race in Silver Star, I knew that I was in a good place physically and mentally to potentially have a strong performance in the Tour weekend.”

    • Scott Hill, 8th: 

    “Sunday was a rough one for me. There was a fast group behind me that formed in the pursuit start and they swallowed me up quickly. I stayed with the group for most of the rest of the race but I didn’t have the legs to stay with the attacks when they happened on the last lap. This past week and weekend were my chance to try some things to get an idea of what’s working for me right now to come up with the best lead up to the Olympic trials in a few weeks. With one good race and one that didn’t really work out I am confident in what I need to do to be in good shape in a few weeks.”

    • Julien Locke, 10th:

    “After spending the past month racing on the WC, the focus for this weekend was to perform at home, and continue to put in good race efforts ahead of the January selection events. … This is the first year I have raced 5 weeks in a row before Christmas. I am looking forward to a focused training block between now and New Years. I’ll be training at home as we have lots of snow at home and excellent conditions at Black Jack, perfect for good preparation.”

    • Antoine Cyr (Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre), 15th overall, 2nd junior:

    “I am super happy with the shape right now. I had a phenomenal start to the season and I have been racing over my expectation, World Juniors trials and Olympic trials are in two weeks so hopefully the shape is still there when I race in Mont-Saint-Anne.”

    “With my second place junior on Friday and the win in the sprint I was well placed for the overall mini tour. In the pursuit I was starting really close to 3 of my teammates so the plan was to stick with them as long as possible and protect my second place in the overall [NorAm standings]. I had a good race with all the top seniors in Canada and I was able to protect my place in the [overall standings].”

    • Zina Kocher, 2nd (first Canadian), former Canadian national-team biathlete:

    “I attacked from the beginning and tried to maintain the pace till the finish.  … Wasn’t sure what to expect with the Pursuit format without the shooting aspect and how that would end up. As in, how can I make up enough time to move up — I felt very behind 1st place starting 2:27 back. I just focused on giving it everything I had & going for it. … Pursuits in biathlon are maybe more exciting & huge possible ups or downs in the results than xc BUT it it is nice to just put my head down and giver ;)”

    “Feeling really great about this weekend. Ski speed felt like it picked up this weekend compared to last & that was the goal. Classic is coming along, learning every day and things are going in the right direction. … I wanted my fitness level to be good, not at it’s best but good & have strong skate finishes.”

    • Annika Hicks, 3rd:

    “The races in Rossland went really well. My plan for the first period of racing was to keep building throughout the month, so to have a couple podiums this weekend was great. … I love racing in Rossland, The distance courses are really challenging and ski really nicely. Conditions were great; the tracks weren’t too soft and the temperature was prefect for racing.”

    • Hannah Mehain, 14th overall and 2nd junior (who won the junior women’s skate sprint):

    “My favorite part of the weekend was the sprint. Before my sprint race, the announcer mentioned how Jessie Diggins made a major breakthrough at Rossland in the sprint races 7 years ago. She won the qualifier by 5 seconds in the senior women category and she was only 17 years old. She ended up taking gold overall that day (I believe, fact check me on this one). This inspired me. I decided I was going to make a breakthrough that day too. And I did.”

  • Sunday Rundown: Ramsau, Toblach, Annecy, St. Ulrich, Rossland (Updated)

    Sunday Rundown: Ramsau, Toblach, Annecy, St. Ulrich, Rossland (Updated)

    Bryan Fletcher (USA Nordic) jumping to 45th in the Nordic Combined World Cup on Sunday in Ramsau, Austria. In the 10 k that followed, he skied the third-fastest time to finish 14th overall. (Photo: Romina Eggert/USA Nordic Facebook)

    NorAm mini tour (Rossland, B.C.): 10/15 k freestyle pursuits

    Team Gregg ended the Rossland NorAm mini tour with another double win, with American Caitlin Gregg and her husband Brian Gregg winning the 10- and 15-kilometer freestyle pursuits, respectively, at the Black Jack Ski Club trails.

    The women’s 10 k freestyle pursuit podium at the NorAm in Rossland, B.C., with American Caitlin Gregg (c) in first, and Canadians Zina Kocher (l) and Andrea Dupont (r), in second and third, respectively. (Photo: Cross Country Canada)

    Caitlin capped the long weekend with her third-straight win, a 48.28-second victory over former Canadian biathlete Zina Kocher (Foothills Nordic). Caitlin started first and was first across the finish in 29:02.86, while Kocher started ninth and rose to second place for her second-consecutive podium (after placing third in Saturday’s skate sprint). Andrea Dupont (Rocky Mountain Racers) started fourth and finished third (+1:58.35) for her second-straight podium as well (she was second in the skate sprint behind Gregg).

    Lisle Compton of the National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay and Canadian National Junior Team finished fourth overall (+2:07.03), Frederique Vezina of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) was fifth (+2:16.10), and Annika Hicks of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) sixth (+2:16.51). Laura Leclair (CNEPH) placed seventh, Kaia Andal (Caledonia Nordic) was the top junior in eighth overall, Jaqueline Mourao (Brazil Ski Team) ninth, and Sophie Carrier-Laforte (Skinouk) 10th.

    Brian, who won the Rossland men’s 10 k classic on Friday, also started Sunday’s 15 k freestyle pursuit first and finished in that position in 38:43.93. Andy Shields (Lappe Nordic) raced to second overall, 7.65 seconds back, after starting fourth, and Jack Carlyle (AWCA) reached the podium in third (+8.75) after starting 10th.

    Evan Palmer-Charrette (NTDC Thunder Bay) ended the weekend in fourth (+17.68), Philippe Boucher (CNEPH) was fifth (+19.02), Brian McKeever (Canadian Para-Nordic Ski Team) sixth (+22.16), Michael Somppi (AWCA) seventh (+34.62), Alexis Dumas (CNEPH) eighth (+52.78), Bob Thompson (NTDC Thunder Bay) ninth (+54.76), and Julien Locke (Black Jack/Canadian U25 Team) 10th (+1:04.46).

    Results

    ***

    FIS Nordic Combined World Cup (Ramsau, Austria): Saturday & Sunday individual competitions

    Bryan Fletcher (USA Nordic) notched seventh in the Nordic Combined World Cup this weekend in Ramsau, Austria, for his best result since January 2016. (Photo: USA Nordic/Facebook)

    After a bye week, the Nordic Combined World Cup resumed in Ramsau am Dachstein, Austria, with back-to-back individual normal hill/10-kilometer Gundersen starts on Saturday and Sunday.

    On Saturday, American Bryan Fletcher posted his best individual result in nearly two years in seventh place, 32.6 seconds behind German winner Eric Frenzel.

    Saturday’s individual competition on Ramsau’s 98-meter hill started out with Japan’s Taihei Kato going farthest in the jump portion, the Czech Republic’s Tomas Portyk jumping to second, and Frenzel jumping to third. Fletcher tied Japan’s Yoshito Watabe for 28th and the two started the 10 k race 1:02 minutes back accordingly.

    While Frenzel picked off two places to finish first in 24:05.8 minutes, Fletcher moved up 21 spots to seventh place with the second-fastest course time of 23:48.4.

    Germany had two on the podium with Fabian Rießle just 0.7 seconds back in second place, and Norway’s Jan Schmid finished third, 8.1 seconds behind Frenzel.

    On Sunday, Rießle climbed to the top step on the podium, winning the weekend’s second normal hill/10 k in 26:12.5.

    Norway’s Jørgen Graabak led after the jump portion, yet ultimately finished sixth, 9.8 seconds behind Rießle.

    Rießle jumped to ninth and started 18 seconds out of first, then took the win on the four-lap course by just 0.3 seconds over Italy’s Alessandro Pittin. The Italian notched second place after starting 36th based on his jump and racing the fastest 10 k time in 25:00.8.

    Finland’s Eero Hirvonen finished third (+1.5) after starting 10th, and Schmid was another 2 seconds back in fourth (+3.5) after jumping to seventh. Frenzel did not start.

    Three Americans qualified for Sunday’s competition. Fletcher jumped to 45th and started 1:30 back, yet rose to 14th (+43.7) with the third-fastest course time. His younger brother Taylor Fletcher skied the second-fastest course time to finish 34th (+2:01.6), up 24 places after jumping to 58th. Adam Loomis finished 52nd (+4:38.6) after jumping to 59th.

    The U.S. Nordic Combined team is headed back to the states to prepare for U.S. Olympic trials later this month, according to the USA Nordic Facebook page.

    Results: Saturday | Sunday

    ***

    FIS Cross Country World Cup (Toblach, Italy): 10/15 k classic pursuits

    Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo after winning the men’s 15 k classic pursuit for his seventh World Cup win of the season on Sunday in Toblach, Italy. With win No. 7, he has the most wins before the new year in FIS Cross Country World Cup history. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

    Women’s report

    Men’s report

    If you thought Johannes Høsflot Klæbo was out, think again. After placing 10th in the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle on Saturday in Toblach, the 21-year-old Norwegian raced to his seventh victory of the season in the men’s 15 k pursuit on Sunday.

    In doing so, Klæbo broke the record for the most World Cup wins before the New Year: he’s tallied seven in the last eight races he’s contested.

    On Sunday, he started 10th, 36 seconds behind his Norwegian teammate Simen Hegstad Krüger, who won the 15 k freestyle and started first. Klæbo had worked his way up to third by 11.4 k, and at the finish, he edged Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov by 1.9 seconds for the win in 33:31.1 minutes.

    Ustiugov, who started fifth, claimed second, and Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin rose from 14th to third place (+4.5), ahead of Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh in fourth (+9.7), Finland’s Matti Heikkinen in fifth (+9.8), France’s Maurice Manificat in sixth (+10.7), Norway’s Hans Christer Holund in seventh (+11.1), Switzerland’s Dario Cologna in eighth (+11.8), Canada’s Alex Harvey in ninth (+16.3), and Krüger in 10th (+24.0). Norway’s defending Overall and Distance World Cup champion, Martin Johnsrud Sundby placed 11th (+34.4) after starting 20th based on his result on Saturday.

    Erik Bjornsen once again led the U.S. men, racing from 29th at the start to 26th (+1:43.1). Scott Patterson improved from 42nd to 39th (+2:37.2), Paddy Caldwell moved up from 52nd to 44th (+2:57.7), and Noah Hoffman slipped to 49th (+3:01.7) after starting 40th.

    Canada’s Devon Kershaw moved up five places to 33rd (+2:02.8), Graeme Killick finished 50th (+3:42.0), Russell Kennedy 66th (+5:05.8), and Knute Johnsgaard moved up six places to finish 76th (+6:20.8).

    The all-Norwegian women’s 10 k classic pursuit podium on Sunday at the World Cup in Toblach, Italy, with Marit Bjørgen (c) in first, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (l) in second and Heidi Weng (r) in third. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Twitter)

    In the women’s 10 k classic pursuit earlier in the day in Toblach, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen overcame a 22-second starting deficit to take the win by just 0.3 seconds over her teammates Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in second. It was an all-Norwegian podium with Heidi Weng in third (+0.8).

    Bjørgen started fifth, 22 seconds behind Swedish race leader Charlotte Kalla, based on their results in Saturday’s 10 k freestyle individual start. By the 6.4 k checkpoint, Bjørgen led a pack of four other Norwegians and Kalla — all within 1.4 seconds of first. At 8.5 k, Bjørgen led Østberg in second and Weng in third, while another Norwegian Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen skied another eight seconds back with teammate Ragnhild Haga in fourth and fifth, respectively. By that point, Kalla was skiing alone, another 11.7 seconds in sixth, while American Jessie Diggins led a group 25 seconds behind Kalla in sixth.

    Ultimately, Bjørgen finished first in 25:19.3 and formed an all-Norwegian podium with Østberg and Weng, Jacobsen placed fourth, 21.5 seconds out of first and 20.7 seconds behind Weng in third.

    Haga was fifth (+31.8), Kalla sixth (+41.9), Diggins seventh (+53.7), Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva eighth (+54.2), American Sadie Bjornsen ninth (+55.2), and Austria’s Teresa Stadlober 10th (+55.6) in a photo finish with Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen, who placed 11th (+55.6).

    For the U.S. Ski Team, Diggins and Bjornsen retained their starting positions of seventh and ninth, respectively, while Rosie Brennan started 19th and finished 25th (+2:14.6). Chelsea Holmes (Alaska Pacific University) finished 39th (+3:03.8) and Liz Stephen (USST) finished 48th (+4:05.2).

    Canada’s Emily Nishikawa placed 53rd (+4:14.5), Dahria Beatty finished 63rd (+5:44.7), Cendrine Browne 66th (+5:57.7), and Katherine Stewart-Jones 70th (+7:31.5).

    Results: Women | Men

    ***

    IBU World Cup (Annecy, France): Women’s and men’s mass starts

    Women’s report

    Men’s report

    France’s Justine Braisaz won her first International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup race of the season on Sunday at home in Annecy, France, topping the women’s 12.5 k mass start by 11.2 seconds in 37:19.4.

    While Braisaz shot 19-for-20 (0+0+1+0), Iryna Kryuko of Belarus cleaned the four-stage race for second place, her first World Cup podium. Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, who won Saturday’s 10 k pursuit, placed third (+19.9) with two penalties (0+1+0+1).

    Two North Americans qualified for the selective mass start, with Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) racing to 20th (+1:16.3) with three misses (1+0+1+1), and Emma Lunder (Biathlon Canada) placing 28th (+2:21.4) with a single penalty (1+0+0+0).

    In the men’s 15 k mass start that followed, France’s Martin Fourcade finally got the win he was looking for, shooting clean and beating his main rival Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway by 3.9 seconds. Fourcade crossed the finish line first in 36:30.3, Bø settled for second after skiing two early penalty loops (2+0+0+0) and Germany’s Erik Lesser tallied his second podium in Annecy (after placing third in the sprint) in third place again (+6.2) with clean shooting.

    Two Americans and a Canadian qualified for the mass start, with US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey leading them in 23rd (+2:22.4) with three penalties, Sean Doherty following in 24th (+2:52.5) with four misses, and Biathlon Canada’s Scott Gow finishing 26th (+4:05.4) with five penalties.

    Results: Women| Men

    ***

    OPA Cup (St. Ulrich, Austria): 10/15 k freestyle pursuits

    On the final day of Alpen Cup (a.k.a. OPA Cup) racing in St. Ulrich, Ida Sargent of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) scored her third-straight top five with a fifth place in the women’s 10 k freestyle mass start. She previously placed third in the skate sprint and 5 k classic on Friday and Saturday.

    Germany’s Julia Belger won the women’s mass start on Sunday in 28:33.6, while Saturday’s 5 k winner, Elena Soboleva of Russia placed second (+0.7). Russia had two on the podium with Mariya Istomina in third (+6.4). Germany’s Elisabeth Schicho finished fourth (+15.8), just ahead of Sargent in fifth (+15.9).

    Germany’s Antonia Fräbel placed sixth (+17.1), followed by American Sophie Caldwell in seventh (+17.9). The USST had three in the top 10 with Julia Kern in 10th (+41.9), out of 60 finishers.

    In the men’s 15 k freestyle mass start, Beda Klee of Switzerland took the win in 37:14.6, 2.4 seconds ahead of Germany’s Thomas Bing in second. Six-time Olympian Sergey Dolidovich of Belarus reached the podium in third (+4.5).

    The U.S. had two men in the race, with Simi Hamilton finishing 14th, 16 seconds out of first, and Andy Newell finishing 71st (+2:25.2) out of 118.

    Results: Women | Men

  • Kalla Continues to Dominate in Gällivare; Russia Sweeps Men’s 15 k Classic

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BbpElh6gxkx/?taken-by=kalla_87

    Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla.

    For the second day in a row, Charlotte Kalla, a name synonymous with the yellow and blue of Sweden, stood atop the podium, placing first in the women’s 10-kilometer classic International Ski Federation (FIS) race on Saturday in Gällivare, Sweden. On Friday, Kalla won another individual-start race, the 5 k freestyle, by a margin of 8.8 seconds. She more than doubled that time gap by the finish of Day 2, winning the 10 k classic in 27:55 minutes, 17.7 seconds ahead of Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva in second place. Natalia Nepryaeva, also from Russia, skied to third, 40.9 seconds back of Kalla.

    “I am feeling good and I think I am where I should be at this moment,” Kalla wrote in an email. “I had a good feeling on the classic race and handle the condition well. On Friday I opened hard and tried to push hard all the way.”

    Known as a skate powerhouse, Kalla has improved her classic skiing and is now a double threat. “I have improved my classic technique the last years,” Kalla explained. “When I am in shape it doesn’t matter if it is skating or classic. I am glad I managed to ski well in the condition we had. It was a little bit soft because of the snowfall.”

    Although a home FIS event for Sweden, Russia secured six of the top-10 spots with Sweden settling for three. Japan’s Masako Ishida, the only non-Russian or Swede outlier in the top 10, placed fourth (+1:02.4). Russians Anna Zherebyateva raced to fifth (+1:08.8) while teammate Yulia Belorukova was sixth (+1:12.8).

    Sweden took the next two spots with Stina Nilsson in seventh (+1:20.9) and Anna Haag in eighth (1:20.9). Russia rounded out the top 10 with Anatasia Sedova placing ninth (+1:24.1) and Mariya Guschina in tenth (+1:25.0).

    Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter, a World Cup regular, placed 11th (+1:30.6).

    Kikkan Randall was the only U.S. Ski Team member at the race, and a day after finishing eighth in the 5 k skate, she finished 15th (+1:48.1) on Saturday. In an email, Randall explained that snow had fallen continuously for the last 24 hours in Gällivare.

    “Conditions were pretty nice, the track was a little soft and a lot of racers here made the pole track a little punchy,” she wrote.

    Considering the massive time-zone shift from her home in Anchorage, Alaska, to Central European Time, it appears Randall is adjusting well.

    “I felt decent today, not too tired from the jet lag or yesterday’s race. I wanted two back-to-back races to get ready for next weekend’s triple World Cup opener,” she wrote, referring to the first three World Cup races in Kuusamo, Finland, starting Friday, Nov. 23.

    Throughout Saturday’s 10 k, Randall steadily improved her overall placing: she was 32nd at 4.2 k, 23rd at 6.8 k and locked into 15th by 9.2 k.

    “It was definitely good to race a 10km classic today,” Randall wrote. “I had trouble really digging into my race gear on the first lap today. I think I was skiing a little stiff and not carrying my momentum down the track. Nepryaeva [the third-place finisher] caught me going into the 2nd lap and that was the jumpstart I needed. I was able to match her pace for most of the rest of the race and it helped me find better technique and tempo.

    “I wanted to be a little stronger today but I got some really important feedback on where I’m at and what I need to work on as the race season progresses,” she added. “My fitness feels pretty good and now it’s just a matter of fine-tuning.”

    Emily Nishikawa was the only Canadian entered on Saturday and finished in 51st (+3:39.3). Sixty-nine women started the race, 38 from Sweden, 17 from Russia, seven from Japan, two from Switzerland and Estonia, and one each from the U.S., Canada, and Poland.

    Yesterday’s 12th-placed skier, Russian Evgenia Shapovalova, who was recently handed down a lifetime Olympic ban by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), did not start the race.

    Russia Sweeps

    In Friday’s 10 k skate in Gällivare, only Swiss star Dario Cologna kept the Russians from sweeping the top nine by placing third. In that race, Evgeniy Belov and Sergey Ustiugov of the Russian national team finished first and second, respectively.

    Saturday was a different race, a 15 k classic, but with a similar thread and no Cologna as a Russian foil.

    The Russian men finishing in unison to take first, second and third in the men’s 30 k skiathlon, the final race of 2017 U23 World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Alexander Bolshunov (8) was deemed the winner, Alexey Chervotkin (1) was second, and Denis Spitsov (11) third. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)

    It was Russia, Russia, Russia.

    Alexander Bolshunov, winner of the 30 k skiathlon at 2017 U23 World Championships, won the race in 37:13, one second ahead of Maxim Vylegzhanin in second. Alexey Chervotkin was third (+5.1).

    Classic specialist, Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin finished fourth, 13 seconds off the podium, and Cologna placed fifth (+22.1).

    Despite being on Swedish soil, the rest of the top 10 became a mostly Russian affair. Russian teammates Alexey Vitsenko and Artem Maltsev placed sixth (+29.5) and seventh (+37.4), respectively, Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson interrupted the trend by tying Russia’s Evgeniy Belov for eighth (+38.0), and Russia’s Alexander Bessmertnykh took 10th (+40.1).

    There’s a pattern: Russia took 14 of the top-20 places. Twenty-eight of 126 starters were from Russia, with the vast majority of the field being Swedish. Outside of the top 10, Sweden’s Daniel Rickardsson was the next-best Swede in 12th (+49.6).

    Devon Kershaw (World Cup Team), who finished 12th on Friday, once again led Canada in 20th (+1:06.7). At 6.8 k, Kershaw was ranked 15th, and at 9.6 k he was down one spot to 16th. By the 11.4 k checkpoint, he began slipping further in the standings.

    “Today was a tough one,” Kershaw wrote in an email. “I felt pretty good but conditions were soft, so you had to really feather it (the technique) – especially on the climbs.  Pacing wise I think I was doing pretty well, but in the last 2.5km today I was missing any semblance of a kick to the finish and ended up conceding a few seconds to those around me, knocking me from about 15-16 to 20th.”

    Although an interval start race, Kershaw never found a strong pacing partner. “I was skiing alone – no help at all today,” Kershaw wrote of his solitary effort. “It would have been so helpful! Especially that last lap when things get tough. But in individual start races, you need to learn to do it alone. So good to try and get used to that “time trial” feeling.”

    Three other Canadians competed, with Graeme Killick (World Cup Team) finishing 50th (+2:32.3), Jack Carlyle (Alberta World Cup Academy) 91st (+4:06.1), and Brian McKeever (Para Nordic Team) 110th (+5:16.0).

    As of press time, Fasterskier could not confirm if the International Ski Federation (FIS) held an emergency meeting to discuss the involvement of IOC-banned Russian skiers in FIS-sanctioned races. Of the six IOC-sanctioned Russian skiers, four are men: Belov, Vylegzhanin, Alexander Legkov, and Alexey Petukhov. All four skiers raced on Friday, however, Legkov and Petukhov (and Shapovalova, one of the two women sanctioned by the IOC) did not contest Saturday’s race.

    Racing continues in Gällivare on Sunday with classic sprints.

    Results: Women | Men

  • Kalla, Belov Top Gällivare FIS Opener; Randall 8th, Kershaw 12th

    Kalla, Belov Top Gällivare FIS Opener; Randall 8th, Kershaw 12th

    Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla racing to a win in her first race of the 2017/2018 season, the women’s 5 k freestyle in Gällivare, Sweden, on Friday. (Photo: Sporteventgallivare/Instagram)

    Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and Hanna Falk went 1-2 in Sweden’s season-opening International Ski Federation (FIS) race on Friday in Gällivare, with Kalla winning the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle by 8.8 seconds in 12:58.1 minutes. Falk, her teammate on the Swedish women’s team, placed second and Russia’s Yulia Belorukova took the third spot on the podium, 10.3 seconds out of first.

    The host nation had three in the top four, with Ida Ingemarsdotter in fourth (+16.1). Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal finished fifth (+17.8), Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva placed sixth (+23.4), and Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva was seventh (+25.0).

    Kikkan Randall of the U.S. Ski Team raced to eighth (+27.2), just ahead of Sweden’s Evelina Settlin in ninth (+32.0) and Russia’s Anna Nechaevskaya in 10th (+33.5). Japan’s Masako Ishida was just 0.3 seconds out of the top 10 in 11th.

    In an email, Randall explained that she decided to venture to Europe earlier this year to get some racing in ahead of the World Cup.

    “We also wanted a little extra time to let Breck adjust to the 10hr time change!” she wrote of her 1-year-old son, who will be traveling the World Cup circuit with Randall and her husband, Jeff Ellis, this winter.

    (Article continues below)

    Most of the U.S. Ski Team arrived in Rovaniemi, Finland, on Thursday, Nov. 16 (with the exception of Andy Newell, who is racing this weekend in Beitostølen, Norway, with Noah Hoffman). The rest of her teammates planned to train at the Santasport Olympic training center in Rovaniemi until Nov. 21, when the entire team will meet up in Kuusamo (also known as Ruka), Finland — the site of next weekend’s World Cup opener.

    “I’m happy with my start today,” Randall wrote of Friday’s race. “It took my a couple km’s to get going today but I felt like I was finding my rhythm in the 2nd half of the course.  It’s my first hard session this week after the travel over so today was a good jolt!  It was a competitive field and I was satisfied to be in the mix.”

    Ninety-two women raced the Gällivare 5 k skate, compared to 56 women on Friday in Beitostølen (Norway’s FIS season-opener). Randall planned to race the 10 k classic on Saturday in Gällivare, then skip Sunday’s classic sprint.

    “It’s great to be back around other World Cup skiers again and I’ve always liked Gällivare so it’s nice to be back here,” she wrote. “My former wax tech lives here and has been taking great care of us. … Looking forward to meeting up with the team in Ruka next week.”

    With 46 Swedes and 23 Russians accounting for most of the women’s field, Canada’s Emily Nishikawa put herself in the mix in 26th, 54.9 seconds behind Kalla. Nishikawa’s Canadian World Cup teammate Dahria Beatty placed 56th (+1:38.3).

    For Nishikawa, who’s known as a distance skier, the top-30 result was notable in that a 5 k falls somewhere between a sprint and a distance race.

    “5km is such a hard distance, and it is over so fast, but it is a lot of fun,” Nishikawa wrote in an email. “I have been able to work on my sprinting a bit more this summer as I have been injury free, so I’m looking forward to seeing more speed in my racing this season.”

    She planned to race all three days in Gällivare, including Sunday’s sprint.

    “With these races, I am just hoping to fine tune my fitness and get some hard intensity in to feel sharp for the upcoming World Cup races,” added Nishikawa, who’s entering her fifth World Cup season as a leading member of the Canadian women’s World Cup Team. “Today’s race was a really hard effort and I am happy with how I skied today.”

    The 12th-ranked Russian woman on Friday, Evgenia Shapovalova, who was recently banned for life from future Olympics, placed 22nd.

    Belov Bests Ustiugov

    In the men’s 10 k freestyle on Friday, another one of the Russians sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Evgeniy Belov won in 23:08.5. He was 6.5 seconds faster than his Russian teammate Sergey Ustiugov, who placed second. Ustiugov is the defending Tour de Ski champion and Overall World Cup runner-up.

    Switzerland’s Dario Cologna placed third, 7.6 seconds out of first, and Russia swept fourth through ninth, with Sweden’s Marcus Hellner following in 10th (+36.4). Out of the five actively competing skiers the IOC sanctioned earlier this month, all five raced on Friday in Gällivare, which was legal considering FIS had not ruled they can’t.

    Four of those skiers are men. In addition to Belov, Maxim Vylegzhanin placed 14th (+43.2), Alexander Legkov followed in 15th (+45.9) and Alexey Petukhov finished 23rd (+56.7) out of 157 finishers on Friday.

    Devon Kershaw (front) training with U.S. Ski Team sprinter Andy Newell in Sjusjøen, Norway, last week. (Photo: Noah Hoffman)

    Ahead of them, Canada’s Devon Kershaw ended up 12th (+39.9), tying another Russian Artem Maltsev (who is not on the IOC-banned list) with identical times.

    “My stance on the whole Russian fiasco is unchanged,” Kershaw wrote in an email, referring to a previous email he wrote to FasterSkier earlier this week when asked how he felt about the IOC-banned Russians competing in FIS events. “I find the entire thing both disturbing and hilarious. The fact that FIS is risking their credibility like this makes no sense to me. Apparently there will be an emergency meeting of sorts tomorrow about it (with FIS I’m assuming but I haven’t heard much about it) – so we’ll have to all wait and see what they come up with.

    “As for seeing Belov win – I mean, that’s no surprise,” Kershaw continued. “He’s shown that he’s a force when he’s in form. But yeah, the fact that he and others have been recently banned for life by the IOC are winning races after that news came out just shows the Mickey Mouse club that our sport has become.”

    As for his own race, Kershaw wrote that he felt great about it. The course suited him well without too much hard climbing. “… You kind of need to be pushing the whole way around. I really like courses like that,” he wrote.

    The conditions, however, with about 10 to 15 centimeters of new snow from the early morning that continued into the race, made the course slower, which Kershaw found to be more challenging.

    “But that is another reason why I am so satisfied with the effort today. Individual start skating in soft conditions? Not my favourite, so I’m happy how I was able to execute things,” he wrote. “For me to be in the mix in a 10km skate like that feels great. I had good energy all race and hit my technical goals for the race too, so I have to be satisfied.”

    Kershaw and the rest of Canada’s Period 1 World Cup team arrived in Gällivare last Sunday. Over the last week, they’ve been testing equipment and getting into a race routine ahead of the World Cup opener, he explained.

    “I changed various things with my training this year so it’s exciting to see how my body feels in the beginning of a new season,” Kershaw wrote. “… My goals are really to just be calm and execute well – which means going into the racing with no expectations other than to ski as technically well as possible while working on the whole pacing thing (which can be challenging at the beginning of the season when you don’t have that many races in the body). I’ll look to have another well executed race tomorrow and the results will be what they will be.”

    Canada’s NorAm leader at the end of last season, Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) was the next-best Canadian in 48th (+1:35.7), followed by Len Valjas (World Cup Team) in 49th (+1:37.0). Jack Carlyle (Alberta World Cup Academy) placed 67th (+2:07.2), Julien Locke (National U25 Team) was 72nd (+2:10.9), Graeme Killick (World Cup Team) 90th (+2:32.2), Brian McKeever (Para Nordic Team) 97th (+2:39.0), and Jess Cockney (World Cup Team) 119th (+3:10.7). Knute Johnsgaard (World Cup Team) did not start.

    Racing continues in Gällivare this weekend with 10/15 k classic individual starts on Saturday followed by classic sprints on Sunday.

    Results: Women | Men

  • More Early Racing as Cologna, Kylloenen, and Van Der Graaf Get Wins

    More Early Racing as Cologna, Kylloenen, and Van Der Graaf Get Wins

    Racers navigate a steep climb and descent on the race loop at Bruksvallarna on Saturday. (Photo: Jocke Lagercrantz/Bruksvallsloppet.se)

    The World Cup season draws ever-closer as season-opening races continued this weekend in Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland.

    In Muonio, Finland, a long weekend of racing wrapped up with 10 and 15 k skate races. Finland’s Anne Kylloenen took the win in the women’s 10 k, besting Emilie Kristoffersen of Norway by 8.2 seconds. Kylloenen’s national-team teammates Laura Mononen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen took third (+14.0) and fourth (+17.1), respectively. Merete Myrseth, a Norwegian skier who competed for the University of Utah on the NCAA circuit last season, finished 17th, +57.1.

    In the men’s 15 k, Alexey Chervotkin of Russia took a 13.8-second win over Iivo Niskanen of Finland. Denis Spitzov of Russia was third, +17.5, and University of Utah alum Snorri Einarsson fourth, +21.2. Einarsson is competing for Iceland. Graham Nishikawa of Canada finished 19th, +1:14.4, and Brian McKeever 40th, + 2:05.3.

    Finishing sixth (+37.0) was Maxim Vylegzhanin of Russia, who made his second flower ceremony of the weekend. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on Thursdayto strip the Russian skier of three silver medals from the 2014 Olympics for doping violations and ban him from all future Olympic Games. However, the International Ski Federation (FIS) has not yet taken any action since he and five other skiers were banned from the IOC, meaning that all six athletes are currently free to take part in non-Olympic ski competitions. FIS has not yet responded to a request for comment about Vylegzhanin’s continued competition.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BbZO7VFFYpg/

    In Bruksvallarna, Sweden, Sunday meant skate sprinting, and Norwegians took both the men’s and women’s wins. In the men’s race, Paal Troean Aune bested countryman Even Northug in the final, with Anton Persson the only Swede on the podium in third. None of the top sprinters from either country competed. Jack Carlyle of Canada finished 60th, 19.4 seconds behind Aune’s qualifying time.

    In the women’s sprint, Wenche Aune Snildalsli took the win over four Swedes: Emma Thalin, Moa Olsson, Jackline Lockner, and Wilma Joensson were next across the line, and Latvia’s Patricija Eiduka finished sixth.

    A large contingent of international racers has also been training in Davos, Switzerland, where organizers have a lengthy saved-snow loop covering some of the same terrain which will host the World Cup in mid-December. On Friday and Saturday, the Swiss competed with the German and Italian teams in sprint and distance races, with a few individual athletes from other countries attending as well.

    In Friday’s sprints, Laurien Van Der Graaf came out on top for the home team, besting Germany’s Laura Gimmler and Steffi Boehler in the ‘A’ final after Gimmler had won beat her by 1.59 seconds in the qualifier. Fourth place went to Sandra Ringwald, also of Germany, and fifth to Ilaria Debertolis of Italy. In the men’s sprint Thomas Bing claimed the win for Germany, skiing away Switzerland’s Erwan Kaeser by more than two seconds. Giacomo Gabrielli and Stefan Zelger of Italy were third and fourth, and Janosch Brugger of Germany rounded out the ‘A’ final in fifth.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BbUYGpgl2V_/

    In Saturday’s distance races, Katerina Smutna – racing for the Czech Republic after taking a break for several years to focus on a long-distance marathon career – won the three-lap, 10.5 k competition by just three seconds over Katharina Hennig of Germany, with Boehler another 12.2 seconds back in third. Van Der Graaf finished fourth, + 27.1, and Debertolis fifth, +39.6.

    In the men’s four-lap race, covering 14 k, Swiss Olympic gold medalist Dario Cologna took a commanding 26.6-second win over Russia’s Ilia Chernousov. Jonas Dobler of Germany claimed third, +33.8, with Giandomenico Salvadori of Italy fourth (+59.2), narrowly beating out Livio Bieler of Switzerland (+1:00.9).

    Chernousov could soon become an Olympic champion like Cologna. Vylegzhanin’s disqualification from the 2014 Olympics, along with that of Alexander Legkov, leaves Chernousov to inherit a gold medal in the 50 k freestyle, where he initially finished third. He has not been named in any of the doping investigations by the World Anti-Doping Agency or the International Olympic Committee. In fact, a Russian ski coach recently claimed that Chernousov had turned whistleblower and informed against his Russian teammate, but Chernousov has denied that allegation.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BbW9TxXnxwI

    Results

    Bruksvallarna

    Women’s sprint qualifier – final

    Men’s sprint qualifier – final

    Muonio

    Women’s & men’s skate distance races

    Davos

    Sprint races (one document, men & women / qualifier & heats)

    Distance races

  • Finns, Russians, Norwegians & Swede Nab Early-Season Wins; Vylegzhanin Competes Despite IOC Ban

    Finns, Russians, Norwegians & Swede Nab Early-Season Wins; Vylegzhanin Competes Despite IOC Ban

    (l-r) Anna Svendsen of Norway, Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, Lovise Heimdal of Norway, and Leena Nurmi of Finland receive prizes after rate women’s classic sprint in Muonio, Finland, on Friday. (Photo: Ski Muonio/Instagram)

    FIS races are already being contested in Finland and Sweden this weekend, with most top Scandinavian racers sitting out but a few national-team members and others picking up their first victories of the season.

    The competitions in Muonio, Finland, drew the most diverse field, including racers from Norway, Russia, Japan, China, Canada, Estonia, and Slovakia, among other countries. In the men’s classic sprint on Friday, the home team got a win from Ristomatti Hakola; he and Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov went 1-2 in both the qualifier and the final. Russia’s Andrey Parfenov rounded out the podium. In the women’s sprint, Anna Svendsen took the win over Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva, with Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland finishing third.

    On Saturday, racers moved up in distance. In the 10 k classic, Bolshunov – a U23 World Champion last season – bested Russian teammate Alexey Chervotkin by 20.6 seconds, with Andrey Sobakarev making it a sweep another 21.6 seconds back. Brian McKeever and Graham Nishikawa of Canada finished 56th (+2:10.6) and 63rd (+2:18.5), respectively.

    Also in the men’s race was Maxim Vylegzhanin. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on Thursday to strip the Russian skier of three silver medals from the 2014 Olympics for doping violations and ban him from all future Olympic Games. However, the International Ski Federation (FIS) has not yet taken any action since he and five other skiers were banned from the IOC, meaning that all six athletes are currently free to take part in non-Olympic ski competitions. In a press release, FIS stated that “the next steps will be the review by the FIS Doping Panel of the six verdicts upon the receipt of the reasoned decisions” but did not provide a time frame for these decisions.

    In the women’s 5 k classic, Finland’s Krista Parmakoski posted an 18.4-second win over Nepryaeva, with Kowalczyk third again, +24.2.

    Bruksvallarna, Sweden, hosted races on Saturday as well, with a primarily Swedish and Norwegian field but some other racers as well. Norway’s Chris Andre Jespersen topped the 15 k skate, posting a 31.4-second win over Simon Lageson of Sweden. Norwegian Tore Leren was third, +53.1. Canada’s Jack Carlyle finished 38th, +2:29.5. Petter Northug and his brother Even were in Bruksvallarna this week but decided at the last minute not to race, with Northug making his debut in Beitøstolen, Norway, next weekend instead.

    In the women’s 10 k skate, Swedish national team member Emma Wiken bested Lina Korsgren – a long-distance specialist who finished eighth in the Visma Ski Classics standings last season – by 9.8 seconds. Berit Mogstad of Norway finished third, +15.3 seconds.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BbW-cRsn14l/

    Results

    Muonio

    Classic sprint: men’s qualifier – men’s final – women’s qualifier – women’s final

    Classic distance: men’s 10 k – women’s 5 k

    Bruksvallarna

    Skate distance: men’s 15 k – women’s 10 k

  • Palmer-Charrette, Gregg Top First-Ever Canada 150 Rollerski Race

    Palmer-Charrette, Gregg Top First-Ever Canada 150 Rollerski Race

    Evan Palmer-Charrette (41) leads the elite men’s 11.25 k mass start at the Canada 150 Rollerski Race on Saturday, July 1, in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Right behind him, Brian Gregg (44) and Angus Foster (46) follow. (Photo: Christian Hollmann)

    Editor’s note: Evan Palmer-Charrette, a 23-year-old member of the National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay, agreed to write a recap of the inaugural Canada 150 Rollerski Race, the first Cross Country Canada (CCC) sanctioned rollerski race in Thunder Bay, Ontario, well before he won the race. By no fault of his own, Palmer-Charrette ended up being both the author of and a subject in the following article, and his teammate Annika Richardson provided a post-race video interview with him. Richardson finished second in the women’s race.

    ***

    THUNDER BAY, Ontario — On Canada Day this past Saturday, July 1, a historic holiday for Canada as a nation, NTDC Thunder Bay in conjunction with the Lakehead Superior Nordic Association, Big Thunder Nordic Ski Club and Lappe Nordic, made history of its own, hosting a Cross Country Canada (CCC) sanctioned rollerski for the first time in downtown Thunder Bay. It was the second time a sanctioned (tier-two, non-FIS) rollerski race had been held in Canada, following last year’s Challenge Volvo 2016 in Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec.

    Sadie White racing in the Canada 150 Rollerski Race on July 1 in Thunder Bay, Ontario. (Photo: Kevin Schlyter)

    Saturday’s event, dubbed the Canada 150 Rollerski Race, drew more than 40 of Canada’s top development skiers and Americans Caitlin and Brian Gregg to showcase rollerski racing as part of the city’s Canada Day festivities. The day began with both men and women racing 1.5-kilometer time-trial sprint qualifiers on a two-lap, 750-meter course.

    Evan Palmer-Charrette qualified first in a time of 3:03.71 minutes, followed by Julian Smith in second (+3.64) and Jack Carlyle in third (+5.05).

    In the women’s qualifier, Caitlin Gregg won the qualifier by more than nine seconds in 3:28.21. Annika Richardson was second overall (+9.35) and top Canadian qualifier, followed by Sadie White in third (+11.51).

    The forecast for the day called for thunderstorms, and while some rain led into the qualifier, the sun came out for most of the distance races. All of the women raced together over a 9 k distance, whereas the men were broken up into four groups racing either 4.5, 6, 9, or 11.25 k based on their qualifier results. The distance races were held on the same course as the sprint, which circled a city block and included an out-and-back for an additional climb and descent.

    The elite races offered cash prizes for the top five men and women ($500, $300, $200, $75, and $25, respectively), as well as the top three in the men’s and women’s qualifier ($150, $100 and $50, respectively). Each race featured three primes scattered throughout the course, which rewarded the first to reach them with cash ($100 at the second prime) and prizes from local businesses.

    Mia Serratore (35) leads Caitlin Gregg (31), Annika Richardson (32), Katherine Stewart-Jones (34), and others in the women’s 9 k “Canada 150 Rollerski Race”, the first-ever sanctioned rollerski race held July 1 in Thunder Bay, Ontario. (Photo: Anna Buske)

    Given her qualifying result and impressive resume, Gregg established herself as the race favorite for the women’s 9 k race. The first prime was on Lap 4, which was when Gregg made her move and broke away from the field, which gave her a sizable gap for the remainder of the race. She won in 23:25.9, more than a minute ahead of anyone else.

    “I’ve been working on my starts so I try to get out fast, which was a lot of fun when you have a big pack like that in a mass start,” Gregg explained. “And then I just tried to relax for the first couple of laps. … I felt strong and was able to push through the whole race, which was nice for having a race effort this time of year.”

    After Gregg’s move dismantled the pack, Richardson raced to second (+1:01.1) as the top Canadian finisher.

    “After attempting to bridge it [the gap] with Sadie, it was all about skiing smoothly and holding second until the end,” she said.

    Canadian national-team member Katherine Stewart-Jones rounded out the podium in third (+1:56.9). Only four women finished the race, with White placing fourth (+2:07.7).

    Michael Somppi leads Brian Gregg (second from l) and Evan Palmer-Charrette (second from r) during the “Canada 150” downtown rollerski race, the first-ever CCC-sanctioned rollerski race in Thunder Bay, Ontario, on July 1. (Photo: Kevin Schlyter)

    The elite men’s 11.25 k race played out quite differently with 10 of the 13 starters finishing within 17 seconds of one another. Yet similarly to the women’s race, the pace picked up going onto the fourth lap with a prime and a prize on the line. Angus Foster outsprinted teammate and fellow Thunder Bay native Palmer-Charrette to take the first prime and a prize to go along with it.

    After Brian Gregg was first to the second prime, Michael Somppi took the third and final prime on the 12th of 15 laps and made a decisive move to try and break away from the pack. However, with just over two laps to go, Palmer-Charrette reeled him back in and finished first in 25:20.2. Gregg followed just 0.2 seconds later for second overall and Carlyle crossed 0.3 seconds later for third place. Less than 4 seconds out of first, Somppi finished sixth (+3.8), behind Dominique Moncion-Groulx in fourth (+1.7) and Andy Shields in fifth (+2.0).

    The men’s 6 k race was hit by the worst weather of the day, as a looming storm cloud opened up during it. Thomas Manktelow of the Albert World Cup Academy (AWCA) won the first prime and went on to win the race as well.

    Thomas Manktelow (l) and Levi Nadlersmith (r) racing to first and second, respectively, in the men’s 6 k race at the Canada 150 Rollerski Race in Thunder Bay, Ontario. (Photo: Kevin Schlyter)

    “I was a little worried about some of the corners in the wet, but managed to get away without any crashes,” Manktelow said. “The mass start was super-fun and went pretty well, and the entire event was well-run.”

    Larkin Wasmuth won the men’s 9 k race and Aleksi Luoma topped the men’ 4.5 k.

    The field was quite strong with the likes of 2014 U.S. Olympian Brian Gregg and several athletes from national training centres across Canada.

    “It was so much fun to compete in a sanctioned roller ski race in North America,” Gregg wrote in an email. “NTDC and Thunder Bay did a fantastic job running the event especially with the added challenge of a few rain showers throughout the day. I can’t wait for the next rollerski race, the Canada 150 race has set the bar high.”

    Results: Qualifying time trial | Final

    Evan Palmer-Charrtee (41) holds off Brian Gregg (44) and others, including Dominique Moncion-Groulx (53) and Andy Shields (49), for first place in the elite men’s 11.25 k “Canada 150 Rollerski Race” on July 1 in Thunder Bay, Ontario. (Photo: Kevin Schlyter)
  • Tuesday Rundown: Canadian Nationals in Canmore

    Tuesday Rundown: Canadian Nationals in Canmore

    Devon Kershaw (589) leads University of Denver skier Eivind Romberg Kvaale during the men’s 15 k classic interval start on Tuesday at Canadian Ski Nationals at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta. Kershaw went on to win and Kvaale placed sixth. (Photo: W. James MacLean)

    2017 Canadian Ski Nationals (Canmore, Alberta): Days 1, 2 & 3

    On the third day of Canadian Ski Nationals in Canmore, Alberta, World Cup skiers Devon Kershaw and Emily Nishikawa — both fresh off World Cup Finals in Quebec City — picked up victories in the men’s and women’s classic interval starts on Tuesday.

    Kershaw won the men’s 15 k in 45:05.3 minutes, 44.6 seconds ahead of two University of Denver (DU) skiers Dag Frode Trollebø and Moritz Madlener.

    Both of Tuesday’s second- and third-place men’s finishers reached the podium at NCAA Skiing Championships earlier this month. On Tuesday, Trollebø, who’s originally from Norway, finished second, 44.6 seconds behind Kershaw. Madlener, of Germany, was another 2.2 seconds back in third (+46.8). World Cup skier Graeme Killick was the second Canadian in fourth overall (+1:09.2), and David Palmer, of the Black Jack Ski Club, placed fifth (+1:22.5).

    “It was so hard, hot, and the conditions were vicious,” Kershaw said, according to a Cross Country Canada (CCC) press release. “I cramped up with five kilometres to go. It was a really hard day. But this is my home. I love Canmore and I think it is important for the kids to see that even after a hard World Cup season you should come and support the national championships.”

    “That was a massive effort for me,” he added. “The conditions were just really, really slow, but I wanted to do this race to end the season.”

    Nishikawa won the women’s 10 k classic by nearly 1 1/2 minutes in 29:07.6. American Mary Rose, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) finished second (+1:24.8), Katherine Stewart-Jones (NTDC Thunder Bay/Canadian U25 Team) was the second Canadian in third overall (+1:27.9) and Frédérique Vézina, of the Pierre Harvey Training Centre (CNEPH), placed fourth (+2:44.7).

    “It was great to be back racing today in Canmore and see so many friendly faces out there,” Nishikawa said, according to CCC. “It was tough racing today, having raced three races last weekend in Quebec and then travel, but I was so happy to be able to race.

    “I had great skis and was able to have another solid race,” she added. “It is always an honour to win a National Title. I love racing at Nationals.”

    “I think it is really important for the next generation to get a chance to compete against, and meet National Team athletes,” she continued. “When I was a juvenile racing at Nationals, I was so inspired to be able to meet some of my idols who were on the National Team, so it’s important to me that I am here.”

    While many of the 30 Canadians that competed at World Cup Finals last Friday through Sunday flew directly to Canmore for nationals, the races started without them, with a brand-new collegiate relay cross event on Saturday, March 18, and 10/15 k freestyle interval starts (for the open class) on Sunday, March 19.

    The relays put university teams head to head on obstacle courses, with two skiers per team.

    The women’s relay win went went to the University of Alberta’s Ember Large and Kathryn Stone, with a team name of “Largely Stoned” as a play on their last names. They won in 13:05.1, just 1 second ahead of Jenn Jackson and Makaila Hudson, representing Lakehead University, in second. The Rouge et Or (University of Laval) first team of Christel Pichard-Jolicoeur and Camille Burbidge Izquierdo placed third, 15.3 seconds back.

    In the men’s relay, Rouge et Or/University of Laval, with Alexis Turgeon and William Dumas, took the win in 10:36.7, 17.5 seconds ahead of Lakehead’s first team, Noah Thompson and Gavin Shields, in second. Christopher Weller and Carrington Pomeroy of Carleton University’s first team reached the podium in third (+33.5).

    On Sunday, Madlener won the men’s 10 k skate by 6.8 seconds over Graham Nishikawa, a guide for the Canadian Para-Nordic Ski Team, in 23:58.0. Another DU skier, Eivind Romberg Kvaale placed third (+13.4), ahead of Jack Carlyle (Alberta World Cup Academy) in fourth (+20.3). Michael Somppi (NTDC Thunder Bay) was the third Canadian in fifth overall (+25.3).

    Retire biathlete Zina Kocher won the women’s 5 k skate by 14.6 seconds over Jenn Jackson (Lappe Nordic) in 13:08.7. Sun Valley took third through sixth with Deedra Irwin in third (+34.1), Kelsey Phinney in fourth (+35.2), Annie Pokorny in fifth (+38.6), and Rose in sixth (+41.7).

    Racing continues at the Canmore Nordic Centre on Wednesday with classic sprints. The sprints on Wednesday and Thursday will be streamed live on YouTube. Details here: skinationals2017.com.

    Complete results | Schedule