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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: Liz Stpehen

  • Stephen, Elliott in the Money in World Uphill

    Stephen, Elliott in the Money in World Uphill

    For some people, back-to-back World Cup races is just not enough. Fortunately for  elite skiers looking for more fun, more pain, and potentially more cash, there was a perfect option on Sunday—the World Uphill Trophy.

    The Polish World Cup races were shifted to Friday and Saturday to accommodate the event that had originally been considered for the World Cup calendar.

    It ultimately did not make the cut, but that didn’t stop some of the top skiers in the world from contesting a 4-kilometer climb that surpasses the Alpe Cermis for difficulty and then an immediate descent down a giant slalom course back to the bottom and one last 200 meter hill to the finish.

    If that wasn’t challenging enough, soft new snow fell over night, and the wind was howling.

    “Turned out to be a really nasty day with high winds and snow,” Andy Newell (USA) told FasterSkier. “So it was a little bit of a battle out there.”

    Newell, who placed 12th, described the hill as “massive.”

    The race was a mass start event, with the relatively meager field separating into groups.

    Just 20 men and 15 women contested the elite race.

    Maurice Manificat (FRA) won the men’s event, opening a sizable lead on the hill. He wrote on his blog that this allowed him to descend conservatively and stay on his feet.

    Christoph Perillat gave France a 1-2 sweep. According to Manficat, Perillat fell once as he worked the downhill to try to make up ground.

    Anastasia Slonova (KAZ) won the women’s race with Masako Ishida (JPN) continued her run of strong performance by taking second, and Liz Stephen (USA) was third in the women’s race.

    Stephen earned 1,000 Euros for her troubles and was just eight seconds behind Ishida and 16 out of the win.

    Stephen collapses at the finish while Ishida looks on, and Slonova recovers (Photo: Marcin Soto, World Cup Szklarska Poreba)

    Tad Elliott was also in the money for the US, placing sixth, good for 600 Euros.

    Elliott wrote in an email to FasterSkier that the race may as well have been an individual start given how hard the climb was.

    He described the descent as “scary, really scary. “

    The US skiers had not previewed the course, so they hit the downhill in low visibility with no real idea of what to expect.

    “So fast [I] had no idea where the fencing or the gates were.” Elliott said. “I was in a group for second, hanging it out on the downhill when I crashed really hard. Knocked the wind out of me.”

    Newell said the event was “pretty low-key” and that he was tired after racing the World Cup sprint on Friday and the 15k classic on Saturday.

    “At the top I was already out of the top 10, which was the money, so I had nothing to lose and could push it and have fun on the downhill.” Newell said. “It was awesome for the first part but I ended up flying off course twice.”

    Newell said he ended up in the fence both times “pretty tangled up,” but that is was still plenty of fun.

    Both Newell and Elliott said they thought it would be great to see the event on the actual World Cup schedule, though Elliott doesn’t believe that will happen.

    “Its a little bit too scary of a decent right now to make it a World Cup” he said.

    Manificat took a different view, writing that the descent can make the race too random — such events should end at the top or take a more reasonable way to the bottom, he argued.

    Chandra Crawford (CAN) was also in the money, placing ninth in the women’s event.

    More photos can be found here.

    Men’s Results

    Women’s Results

  • Stephen, Chamberlain Headline TD Banknorth Eastern Cup Opener

    Stephen, Chamberlain Headline TD Banknorth Eastern Cup Opener

    Stowe, VT—Trapp Family Lodge plays hosts to this year’s TD Banknorth Eastern Cup opening weekend. The Eastern Cup begins its fourteenth year as NENSA’s signature race series and this weekend will feature several of the nation’s best cross-country skiers. The Trapp Touring Center has been blessed with early season snow and the snow cover has been enhanced with their expansive snowmaking system. Saturday’s one kilometer classic technique sprint race and Sunday’s five and ten kilometer freestyle technique races will utilized the center’s new John Morton designed race courses. The events serve as New England Junior Olympic Team Qualifiers and will be scored to the USSA National Ranking List.

    East Montpelier, Vermont’s Liz Stephen is the event’s headliner. A Burke Mountain Academy graduate, Liz is coming off a 3rd place finish at last year’s World U23 Championships. She and her US Ski Team coach Matt Whitcomb will give a one-hour coaches’ clinic at the conclusion of Sunday’s race open to all coaches for no charge. Liz, however, will not be unchallenged; 2008 World Junior Team qualifiers and Dartmouth College skiers Ida Sargent and 2008 Eastern Cup Champion Sophie Caldwell, UVM’s Jennie Bender and a group of quickly rising New England junior and collegiate skiers will be doing their best to chase her down.

    On the men’s side, it will be a battle of youth versus experience. Masters skier New Hampton, New Hampshire’s Justin Freeman is a former Olympian and fellow Master David Chamberlain is a 3-time World Championship team member. Eli Enman should also find himself in the chase on both days. UVM’s Juergen Uhl, a 2008 NCAA All-American, should prove tough on the course, and last year’s TD Banknorth Eastern Cup Champion and Colby College skier Matt Briggs should not be counted out. Youngsters Kevin Cutts and UVM’s Alex Howe have proven to be very tough on the sprint course and should be top qualifiers in Saturday’s sprint.

    One great feature of the Eastern Cup is that it is not just for the very fastest cross-country ski racers. Athletes of all speeds get to compete side-by-side with some of the nation’s best, there is masters seed group that allows those over thirty to race together, and for the first time in NENSA’s history, Saturday’s sprints will feature the “Cupcake Sprints.” NENSA Youth and Intro Programs Director Abby Weissman has baked cupcakes to be handed out to the winners (and maybe the losers too) of the informal head-to-head races at the conclusion of the official finals. Also new this year, in order to promote a more environmentally-friendly community, NENSA has joined Terracycle’s Wrapper Brigade. In mid-2008, Terracycle launched the Wrapper Brigade, a project that finally puts use to the millions of energy bar wrappers that were formerly discarded. Since its initiation, the program, which is sponsored by Clif Bar, has collected over 300,000 wrappers, which have been turned into products ranging from tote bags to notebook covers. At all of NENSA’s major events this season, bring your empty bar wrappers and look for the recycling boxes under the TD Banknorth tent.

    Please note that day of race registration is available for both day’s races.

    Source: NENSA