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Tag: King’s Court

  • Frozen Thunder Day 1: Locke Wins Qualifier for World Cup Spot; Valjas Outlunges Thompson in Final

    Frozen Thunder Day 1: Locke Wins Qualifier for World Cup Spot; Valjas Outlunges Thompson in Final

    Canadian World Cup Team member Len Valjas (1) and Bob Thompson (NTDC Thunder Bay) lunge to the line during Wednesday’s Frozen Thunder classic sprint at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    Clouds heavy with building snow and a winter-storm warning already in effect cast a second anticipatory shadow over a jittery group of racers gathered on Wednesday for the first Frozen Thunder race of the season at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta.

    At stake for some of the top Canadians participating in the day’s classic sprint was the opportunity to secure the final spot on the men’s World Cup team for the first period of World Cup racing starting later this month. Nearly 12 centimeters of snow had fallen the night before on the two-lap race track, and for many stepping out onto the freshly groomed trails, months upon months of training prep was in the barn.

    “That World Cup spot. That has been a goal for pretty well the whole year,” said Bob Thompson, who trains with the Thunder Bay National Team Development Centre (NTDC), on the phone after Wednesday’s races. 

    Thompson, 26, was not the only one hoping to book a plane ticket for World Cup Period 1, which starts Nov. 24 in Kuusamo, Finland, and continues through December. Sixty-six skiers started Wednesday’s men’s sprint qualifier and anyone in the hunt for that World Cup spot would have to outperform them all, excluding the Americans and Canadian World Cup Team member, Len Valjas, who was prequalified for the World Cup.

    Even with the competition’s added edge, many racers went about business as usual on race day and in the days leading up to the event, Thompson explained.

    “It’s been fairly carefree the week we’ve been here,” said Thompson, who arrived in Canmore with his NTDC teammates on Oct. 23. “The morning [of the sprint] I wouldn’t say things were a bleak atmosphere or super serious, it was just kind of everyone was doing their thing.”

    Thompson went about his warmup the way he normally would on race day. In retrospect, he saw his plan as well-executed and his warmup as strong, despite breaking a pole during his intensity segment. For him, the qualifier went “really well,” he said.

    Julien Locke (Canadian U25 Team/Black Jack) after winning the men’s classic sprint qualifier at Frozen Thunder in Canmore on Wednesday and securing the final spot on the Canadian men’s team for World Cup Period 1. (Photo: Cross Country Canada)

    But Julien Locke, of the Canadian U25 Team and Black Jack Ski Team, was the fastest man in the open men’s qualifier and thus earned that coveted World Cup spot.  Locke, 24, posted the top time of 3:37.81 minutes, nearly a second ahead of Valjas in second (+0.97) and 3.57 seconds ahead of the third qualifier, Dominique Moncion-Groulx of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AIAWCA). Thompson qualified fourth, 4.15 seconds off of Locke’s winning time.

    “I didn’t have regrets or second thoughts on how I raced,” Thompson said. “Julien had a great race, props to him. I’ll just have to come back next time.”

    Locke could not be reached at press time, but he spoke with Cross Country Canada (CCC) in a video posted on Twitter after the race.

    “I’m really excited to have won the race this morning and qualified for Period 1 World Cup, but the Olympics is the big goal this year,” Locke said. “It’s super important to go get results on the World Cup, and I’m excited to have a chance to do that.”

    According to CCC High Performance Director Thomas Holland, Locke and the rest of the World Cup Team (excluding Alex Harvey and Cendrine Browne) will head to Gällivare, Sweden, on Nov. 10, where they’ll compete in a weekend of International Ski Federation (FIS) races from Nov. 17-19. Meanwhile, Harvey and Browne, who train out of the Pierre Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) with coach Louis Bouchard in Quebec, will train in Davos, Switzerland, in advance of the World Cup opener in Finland.

    But let’s get back to Frozen Thunder. With the qualifier behind them and the heats slated to take place in a zero-elimination King’s Court format, many racers approached the rest of Wednesday adamant on getting in some solid race efforts.

    (Article continues below)

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba9eMJtnlWV/?taken-by=coach_babs_

    “The King’s Court format that we use in the heats was a great showcase for athlete development whereby every athlete entered in the race gets to race all 3 heats,” Holland explained in an email. “The format sees men and woman and para-skiers in some of the same heats – super fun event for all the athletes.”

    In the first heat, Thompson, Locke, Valjas, and Moncion-Groulx went head to head, yet with the heats starting one minute apart on the two-lap track, there was a constant influx of skiers and some overlap.

    “I think comments were made that we were dogging it a little bit,” Thompson said of that initial round. “There were other heats that we were basically skiing in the first lap with that were going faster than us … they were running pretty quick through the starts.”

    Dominique Moncion-Groulx (Alberta World Cup Academy) leads Julien Locke (3), of Canada’s U25 Team and Black Jack, and Len Valjas (l), of the Canadian World Cup Team, during a Frozen Thunder classic sprint heat on Wednesday at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    In the second heat, Locke and Valjas paired up with Knute Johnsgaard (Canadian World Cup Team/AIAWCA) and American Cole Morgan, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF). Thompson and Moncion-Groulx faced another American SVSEF skier, Kevin Bolger, as well as NTDC Thunder Bay’s Andy Shields. Four men advanced to the  senior men’s final: Bolger, Thompson, Locke and Valjas.

    In the final, Thompson recalled creating what he saw as “a bit of a gap” between himself and Valjas, yet Valjas, a seasoned World Cup sprinter, caught him in the lunge to the line for first. Overall on the day, Valjas placed first, Thompson second, Locke third, and Bolger fourth.

    With the King’s Court format, female racers competed in the same same qualifier as the men, with Dahria Beatty (U25 Team/AIAWCA) emerging as the fastest female qualifier in 4:20.66. Her time was 8.56 seconds clear the second woman, American Chelsea Holmes, of Alaska Pacific University (APU), and 10.03 seconds ahead of Katie Weaver (Hollyburn Ski Club) in third. The third-placed Canadian woman in the qualifier, Annika Hicks (AIAWCA) clocked in fourth (+13.25). 

    In the heats, the women continued to race with the men. In the all-women final, Maya MacIsaac-Jones (U25 Team/Rocky Mountain Racers) took the win, Hicks placed second, Holmes third, and Frédérique Vézina (CNEPH) fourth.

    Frozen Thunder racing continues Friday with men’s 10 k and women’s 7.5 k distance races, starting at 9 a.m. Mountain time. In a press release, CCC anticipated a turnout of 115 participants.

    Classic sprint results: Qualifier | Heats

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba-9qryFyoc/?taken-by=cccski

  • With World Cup Starts Up for Grabs, Cockney Wins Frozen Thunder Classic Sprint Qualifier

    With World Cup Starts Up for Grabs, Cockney Wins Frozen Thunder Classic Sprint Qualifier

    Jess Cockney (Canadian World Cup B-team) racing to first in the men's classic sprint qualifier at Frozen Thunder on Tuesday in Canmore, Alberta. The win should secure his spot with the Canadian national team at World Cup Period 1. (Photo: Jenn Jackson)
    Jess Cockney (Canadian World Cup B-team) racing to first in the men’s classic sprint qualifier at Frozen Thunder on Tuesday in Canmore, Alberta. The win should secure his spot with the Canadian national team at World Cup Period 1. (Photo: Jenn Jackson)
    Update: Early Thursday, Cross Country Canada (CCC) announced that Jess Cockney has been selected for World Cup Period 1, referencing both his Olympic history and last season’s World Cup top-10 result. 

    ***

    For most of the 88 racers at the Canmore Nordic Centre on Tuesday, it was a chance to train with a race bib on. But for some top male sprinters seeking World Cup starts, it was already one of the most decisive days of their season.

    The Frozen Thunder classic sprint followed a King’s Court format, a more casual approach that guarantees all racers three heats. After the qualifier, competitors were divided into groups of four based on their finish times, regardless of gender or category.  In each heat, the top two moved up one group and the bottom two moved down one group.

    As an example, Canadian Para-Nordic standout Mark Arendz qualified 64th and shared his first heat with three junior women. After winning two heats, Arendz reached the final, where he lined up alongside Friday’s female distance winner Chelsea Holmes and two junior men.

    The format resulted in a relaxed day for most, with evenly matched heats. As with Friday’s 7.5- and 12-kilometer freestyle interval starts, everyone used the same wax for qualification. The addition of a no-double-pole zone for the qualifications ensured that everyone chose grip.

    For the Canadian male sprinters who hadn’t already qualified for World Cup Period 1, the pressure was on. For the winners of the sprint qualifiers on Tuesday and Thursday (with a freestyle sprint qualifier only on Thursday at 9 a.m. Mountain time), they would each be rewarded with one of two remaining World Cup spots.

    Len Valjas (Canadian World Cup A-team) racing to second in the men's classic sprint qualifier on Tuesday at Frozen Thunder in Canmore, Alberta. Valjas is pre-selected for World Cup Period 1. (Photo: Jenn Jackson)
    Len Valjas (Canadian World Cup A-team) racing to second in the men’s classic sprint qualifier on Tuesday at Frozen Thunder in Canmore, Alberta. Valjas is pre-selected for World Cup Period 1. (Photo: Jenn Jackson)

    On Tuesday, Jess Cockney of the Canadian World Cup B-team staked his claim, winning the classic-sprint qualifier in 3:51.66, 4.09 seconds ahead of World Cup A-team sprinter Len Valjas. Distance specialist Graeme Killick posted the third-fastest qualifying time, 6.98 seconds back and 0.49 seconds ahead of fourth-place finisher Knute Johnsgaard, completing a top-four sweep for the Canadian national team.

    “It’s a huge help to be on snow this early for us and the fact that it’s available in my hometown is incredibly lucky,” Cockney, who trains in Canmore, wrote in an email about the Frozen Thunder trials races.

    The other favourites for the remaining World Cup spot finished fifth through seventh: Bob Thompson, of the Thunder Bay National Development Centre (NDC), who was 9.12 seconds behind in fifth; Simon Lapointe, of the Pierre-Harvey Training Centre (CNEPH) in sixth (+9.95), and Julien Locke (U25 Team/Black Jack) in seventh (+10.26). 

    After Tuesday’s races, Cockney explained that he expected to be chosen for the first World Cup period as a result of his qualifying win.

    “I haven’t heard anything official but that was the understanding I had of the criteria,” Cockney wrote.

    According to Cross Country Canada’s published criteria, sprint selections for World Cup Period 1 “may be made” based on the race winner or winners in each of the two Frozen Thunder sprints. If unable to select the winners (i.e. pre-selected athletes win), second-place finishers may be chosen. There were other possibilities, in less preferable order, and ultimately, a five-person selection committee will determine who gets to go.

    Cockney skipped the heats, explaining that he felt “under the weather a bit [Monday] and I’m trying to make sure I don’t make it any worse.” Killick and Valjas skied two heats before ending their days early due to similar concerns.

    In the heats, Locke, a national-team rookie, won all three of his heats to take the overall victory. Brian McKeever of the Para-Nordic Ski Team placed second and John Hegman of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) in Idaho was third.

    “I was happy to see my teammate Jess Cockney ski very well and make the criteria,” Locke wrote in an email. “Personally, I had a subpar ski in the qualifier but everything went well in the heats. I felt that I was skiing well technically in the soft snow and I’m satisfied with where the shape is at right now. I am looking forward to the final selection on Thursday.”

    Locke was one of several skiers excited by live TV coverage: “For the first time that I have seen in Canada, there had a TV crew on-site broadcasting the races live. Great work Shaw [TV Calgary]!”

    Canadian television stations typically edit and delay broadcast of nordic races.

    (From left to right) Bob Thompson (NDC Thunder Bay), Graeme Killick (AWCA/NST A-team), Lenny Valjas (NST A-team) and Knute Johnsgaard (AWCA/NST U25 Team) go head-to-head in a classic sprint heat at Frozen Thunder in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Jenn Jackson)
    (From left to right) Bob Thompson (NDC Thunder Bay) chases Lenny Valjas (NST A-team), Graeme Killick (AWCA/NST B-team), and Knute Johnsgaard (AWCA/NST U25 Team) during a classic sprint heat at Frozen Thunder in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Jenn Jackson)

    “These races are a fun way to get into the racing spirit!” McKeever wrote in an email.  “Other than that, I don’t put any importance on them seeing as how it’s October and the big races are a long ways off.”

    He appreciated the casual-sprint format for training purposes.

    “King’s Court is a good way for every starter to get a full set of rounds in a sprint, regardless of qualification time,” he wrote. “It also pits people against others of similar ability which can be fun instead of getting shelled by the top guy/girl in the quarterfinal as happens sometimes. However, it does take a lot of time to get through the series of races and it makes for a lot of fatigue. I think I’m more tired after today than after a long Ski Classics race!”

    Fatigue was a common theme among the racers as most are in the middle of a high-volume, on-snow block. Johnsgaard finished sixth in the A-final after qualifying in fourth.

    “I feel really good about my race today,” Johnsgaard wrote. “I’m fortunate to already be qualified for Period 1 on the World Cup, so I can focus on the road ahead rather than the races this week. The conditions were slow but everyone was on the same wax, at least for the qualifier so we all suffered together!”

    In addition to Johnsgaard, of Canada’s U25 Team and Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA), pre-selected skiers for the World Cup Period 1 include Valjas, Killick, Alex Harvey, Devon Kershaw, and Andy Shields.

    “It’s a great chance for me to practice going fast on snow but to me it’s not nearly as important as to the guys trying to nab the last World Cup spots,” Johnsgaard added.

    Killick was also in training mode, but as with most elite athletes, the competitive urge is always there. “I took the qualifier pretty seriously,” Killick wrote. “It’s a good chance to gauge my speed with all the top guys competing for a spot over-seas.”

    Pre-selected Beatty Top Female Qualifier; Phinney Wins Final  

    Dahria Beatty leads Kelsey Phinney and Annika Hicks in the ladies final (Photo: Jenn Jackson)
    Dahria Beatty (102) leads Kelsey Phinney (106) and Annika Hicks (109) in the women’s final at the Frozen Thunder classic sprint on Tuesday in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Jenn Jackson)

    With all of the national-team senior women prequalified for World Cup Period 1, the women’s qualifier and heats had a more relaxed feel, especially for an American like Kelsey Phinney. The Sun Valley skier won her final and explained in an email that she’s enjoying her first visit to Frozen Thunder.

    “King’s Court sprinting was really fun! I liked that it allowed the women and men to do heats together, and that it gave the day a relaxed feel,” she wrote. “I’ve done King’s Court sprints in training before, and I like that everyone gets the experience of racing a full round of heats. I was skeptical at first with so many racers, but Zone4 did an incredible job timing and it ran really smoothly. The big difference between regular heats and King’s Court is that your qualification place matters more because there are only a couple heats to move up to get into the A final.”

    Phinney qualified 49th in 4:40.40, 4.14 seconds behind Canadian U25 Team member Dahria Beatty, who was the first woman in 44th. Annika Hicks (AWCA) qualified in 47th as the second woman, 1.57 seconds back.

    Dahria Beatty (AWCA/NST U25-team) was the fastest woman in the classic sprint qualifier on Tuesday at Frozen Thunder in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Jenn Jackson)
    Dahria Beatty (AWCA/NST U25-team) was the fastest woman in the classic sprint qualifier on Tuesday at Frozen Thunder in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Jenn Jackson)

    In the third heat, the organizers pulled the top women together for their own A-final.  There, Phinney beat out Beatty and Hicks.

    “I’m happy with today!” Phinney wrote. “I love racing heats, so I’m always happy to get a full day of heat racing with speedy competitors. We’ve put in a big volume week on snow and so it was good to end this block with a fun day of sprinting. I was pleasantly surprised that I felt pretty fast despite being tired from a big week of training. Also there was fresh snow on top of the man made loop, so we had some tricky conditions. It was definitely a good day to work on skiing in tough conditions.”

    “My race was alright,” Beatty wrote in an email. “I definitely feel like I am still missing my top speed but that’s what these races are for. They are the perfect opportunity to get tuned up for the race season and remind the body how to move really fast.”

    Hicks rounded out the podium with enthusiasm.  “I felt strong today and it was a good confidence booster going into the start of the season,” she wrote. “Qualifying second behind Dahria was a huge surprise though! I’m usually not a strong qualifier but felt like I skied really well today.”

    Results: Qualifier | King’s Court

    The start of an all-women's heat at the 2016 Frozen Thunder classic sprint, which followed King's Court format. (Photo: Matthias Ahrens)
    The start of an all-women’s heat at the 2016 Frozen Thunder classic sprint, which followed King’s Court format. (Photo: Matthias Ahrens)

    FasterSkier is seeking photos from the 2016 races at Frozen Thunder. Please email submissions with caption and credit info to info@fasterskier.com.

  • Slightly Shorter But Still Sprint-Worthy: Frozen Thunder in Photos

    Slightly Shorter But Still Sprint-Worthy: Frozen Thunder in Photos

    It wasn’t easy, but the crew at the Canmore Nordic Centre got it done. Warmer temperatures last winter limited the production (and ultimately the stockpiling) of artificial snow — the stuff essential for Canada’s preseason, home-based training each October in Canmore, Alberta. But last week, organizers were able to roll out a one-kilometer loop of snow, which was shorter than usual but enough to hold at least one race: the Frozen Thunder classic sprint on Monday.

    “We have a slightly smaller loop than we had before because we had so many warm temperatures last February and March; they couldn’t actually blow the snow,” Canadian National Team Head Coach Justin Wadsworth explained in a phone interview last Friday.

    Without a distance race on the docket as well, Wadsworth anticipated the field for the sprint would be smaller.

    “I think people did hear that the pile of snow was smaller so the U.S. and some of our Eastern Canadian clubs and programs have decided to stay where they are and not ski on a smaller loop,” he said. “There’s also a snow pile at Forêt Montmorency in Quebec so they’ll start grooming there fairly soon. Thunder Bay and a lot of the Quebec and Ontario teams will be there training.”

    The Frozen Thunder sprint drew just over 50 competitors for the King’s Court format, which allowed everybody — junior men, junior women, senior men, and senior women — to compete in a mixed field and race a qualifier and three heats.

    Best known as a distance skier, Emily Nishikawa, the woman with the most World Cup experience currently on Canada’s national team, earned the senior women’s sprint title. In the final, she topped two junior men, Peter Hicks and Alec Stapff, and senior woman Andrea Dupont (Rocky Mountain Racers) to do so.

    “Frozen Thunder is always a fun way to start off the race season, it was good to get a bib on and push hard, but in a low-key, relaxed atmosphere,” Nishikawa, 26, wrote in an email. “I was racing against younger boys for most of my heats, so that was fun and different. The conditions were pretty soft on the track, but it is good to practice skiing in that type of condition. I was pleasantly surprised to do that well in a sprint race, as I have been focusing more on distance racing!”

    Canadian World Cup Team member Lenny Valjas, 26, dominated the senior men’s field, winning each of his heats and beating fellow national-team members Jess Cockney and Ivan Babikov, and Julien Locke (Black Jack) in the final.

    “Lenny’s back as good as we’ve ever seen him before,” Wadsworth said before the sprint. “He’s super fit. He’s had a consistent summer of training.”

    Both Nishikawa and Valjas set the fastest times in the morning qualifier by nearly four seconds.

    Results