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.
Let’s explain. The format was basic, a freestyle sprint. Otherwise, that’s where sprints as we know it ended. The 0.66-kilometer course shot off from the start up a gradual V2-able climb. It then rounded a left-hander where athletes descended what looked like a salted banked turn found in a X-Games terrain park. Down to the course’s bottom zoomed the skiers. Then things turned skyward. The course ascended a mini-Alpe Cermis lasting around one-minute for the men, to the finish atop the climb. The climb was the defining characteristic of the terrain: athletes suffered up a downhill ski slope gaining roughly 60 meters in altitude before the finish line. Calling the final ascent punchy would be an understatement. Grinding. Grueling. Leg-cement-inducing is more appropriate.
The Åre sprint hill climb in profile. (Photo: Screenshot FIS Broadcast)
Perhaps a sprint sideshow? That could be argued. But hosting an event at the base of the Swedish National Alpine hill with amenities for fans, of which there were plenty, and bountiful options for climbing terrain, we’ll let others debate the merits of hosting a climb-fest sprint.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway in Åre, Sweden on his way to winning Stage 3 of the Ski Tour 2020. (Photo: NordicFocus)
But some things haven’t changed: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo qualified in first covering the course in 1:49.64. That’s right, a quick and snappy 0.66 k, despite the big vert. Klæbo continues to deal with broken fingers and a thus far lackluster Ski Tour 2020. He placed 31st in Stage 1 and 25th in Stage 2. He came into Stage 3 ranked 25th overall in the Ski Tour, 2:05 behind the leader, Norway’s Stage 2 winner, Pål Golberg.
For his part, Golberg laid down the second-fastest time in qualification, 2.58 seconds back. Alexander Bolshunov of Russia, by all measures the pre-Ski Tour favorite, qualified in 23rd (+8.59).
Pål Golberg of Norway and Italy’s Federico Pellegrino into the finish. (Photo: NordicFocus)
In the second semifinal, rounding the corner on the first and notably mild climb, Italy’s Federico Pellegrino took the inside line over the top. In bib 11, Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krüger came through in second, followed closely by Bolshunov who had advanced as a lucky loser.
Krüger took an aggressive line and cut off the advancing Russian. As this transpired, Krüger tumbled as their skis crossed. Bolshunov continued with Krüger going between his legs. Bolshunov now sat in fifth as he crested the hill. Krüger snapped a pole and grabbed a spare just prior to the descent. (He eventually received a yellow card for his cut-off move.)
Golberg won the semi, with Pellegrino in second. Bolshunov never recovered and placed fourth, 1.92 seconds behind Golberg. Bolshunov finished the day in eighth after being eliminated.
Although 8th on the day, Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov sits second overall in the Ski Tour 2020 after three stages. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Outside of the peculiar course, a stumble here and there, Klæbo and his astounding pull away acceleration in the final was the story. He advanced by winning the first quarterfinal and the first semi. He won that semi by only 0.52 seconds over France’s Jay Renaud. What became evident was that Klæbo was holding back and had not dialed his tactics.
In the final that featured Klæbo, Pellegrino, Renaud, Golberg, Lucas Chanavat of France, and Norway’s Erik Valnes the charade was over.
Chanavat led into the final climb with Pellegrino off to his right, a meter back, with Klæbo shadowing on the other side. Then Pellegrino upped the pace and pulled ahead with Klæbo settling into his draft. Chanavat took charge of the climbing lane to the left. For a moment, Klæbo must have been inhaling extra oxygen, as he fell slightly back.
But as the trio passed under the red sponsor arch, Klæbo shot off. For every single V1 cycle Pellegrino completed, Klæbo threw in two hop-skates. As he rounded to the left atop the climb, Klæbo looked back on a 20-meter gap. “Mamma mia” they must have been saying in Italy.
Italy’s Pellegrino: totally spent. He placed second overall in the Stage 3 Ski Tour 2020 sprint. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Klæbo won the final in 2:02.63. Pellegrino was second (+2.39), and Renaud third (+3.70). Golberg was fourth (+14.46), Chanavat fifth (+26:39), and Valnes sixth (+1:05.62).
Time to chill at the finish: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway. (Photo: NordicFocus)
“It was a real suffer-fest,” Klæbo told FIS after the race. “It was a lot of fun. At the end I was just trying to push all out. I turned my head on the last climb and it was a huge gap. … It was good to get the confidence again and fight for the podium. … At the end, I was just trying to push all out. I turned my head on the last climb and it was a huge gap. In the end, it was really fun.”
For the U.S. Simi Hamilton was the lone North American who advanced into the heats qualifying in 17th (+7.12). Hamilton skied to third (+2.27) in the second quarterfinal which was won by Russia’s Denis Spitsov in 2:04.14. The Aspen, Colorado native placed 14th in the final standings. (Below we have included an extended post-race interview with Hamilton. In the interview Hamilton discussed his injuries, and his return to racing World Cup sprints.)
The U.S. Ski Team’s Simi Hamilton in Åre, Sweden. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Post-race interview with Simi Hamilton
In his return to World Cup sprinting, Simi Hamilton skis to 14th overall on Stage 3. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Logan Hanneman placed 45th on the stage, Kevin Bolger 60th, David Norris 65th, and Ben Lustgarten 81st.
Post-race interview with U.S. World Cup Coach Matt Whitcomb
For Canada, Russell Kennedy finished in 73rd, Evan Palmer-Charrette 75th, Alexis Dumas 76th, and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier 78th.
The pacing master of Stage 1 of the Ski Tour 2020: Sjur Røthe. (Photo: NordicFocus)
The six-stage Ski Tour 2020, which runs from Sweden to Norway over the next week, began Saturday in Östersund, Sweden with the men’s 15-kilometer individual start skate. The race began with twilight immersing Östersund with the sky eventually morphing into black as the seeded group of skiers looped around on what FIS called a 4.71 k course. This much can be concluded after a single day of what will be a hotly contested tour: the Norwegians fired on Stage 1 as they captured the top four spots in the field of 90 skiers.
The other take away beyond the Norwegian team’s blistering skis – Sjur Røthe paced himself a masterful 15 k of skiing as he won the event in 30:41.5 minutes.
However, not all looked shiny for the Norwegian as he went on to win his first World Cup of the season. At the 5 k time check, Røthe came through in 19th place, 19.5 seconds behind Hans Christer Holund, also of Norway. At 7.6 k, the halfway mark for the race, Røthe had moved up to 10th overall but remained 20.3 seconds off the fastest split set by yet another Norwegian, Simen Hegstad Krüger.
Then the tides turned, and Røthe began chiseling away at the time deficit. As he lapped through at 10 k, he sat in fourth, 15.4 seconds behind the virtual leader, Krüger. The chisel became a jackhammer; at 12.6 k Røthe was within six seconds of Krüger.
Simen Hegstad Krüger hammering during the 15 k skate, Stage 1 of the Ski Tour 2020. (Photo: NordicFocus)
The pacing proved perfect only when Krüger crossed the line: Krüger was a later starter than Røthe: Røthe began in bib 48, Krüger in bib 64. Røthe could, however, pace himself off the splits of Norway’s Finn Hågen Krogh who began in bib 16. Of the early starters, Krogh set the fastest marks at 5 k, 10 k, and the finish, respectively.
Finn Hågen Krogh (bib 16) an early starter during Stage 1 of the Ski Tour 2020, but fast through his 15 skate effort for third overall. (Photo: NoridcFocus)
Røthe’s first-place time (30:41.5) was 1.7 seconds faster than Krüger’s who took second on the day. Krogh was third overall (+16.6), and the veritable senior citizen of the Norwegian team, Martin Johnsrud Sundby, placed fourth (+17.3).
Saturday’s victory was Røthe first win of the season – however, it was his sixth individual podium which includes a second-place time of day podium in Ruka’s 15 k skate pursuit back in December. Last week, he was second in Falun’s 15 k mass start skate.
“It was a great day for me and the Norwegian team,” Røthe told FIS after the race. “I think we need to give a big hug to the guys in the wax cabin today. They made brilliant skis for us today, and for sure I have done my preparations well, I am really satisfied with today. I am looking forward to [the Ski Tour], it has been one of my main goals this season so for sure I am prepared, but I need to go home and get a good rest because it is not many hours before we do the classic race here in Östersund as well.”
For those playing the long-term odds in the Ski Tour 2020, after one stage down, Russia’s overall World Cup leader, and 2019-2020 Tour de Ski winner, Alexander Bolshunov, placed fifth (+22.2).
Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov, the overall World Cup leader here during Stage 1 of the Ski Tour 2020. He placed 5th on the day. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Along with capturing first through fourth places, Norway also claimed sixth (Hans Christer Holund), and eighth (Pål Golberg) place in the top-10. Norwegian Johannes Høsflot Klæbo was out of the points in 31st (+1:22.8). The Norwegian star returned after missing last weekend’s racing in Falun with a broken finger. Along with Bolshunov’s fifth place, Russia took ninth (Denis Spitsov) and 10th (Ivan Yakimushkin). The national team outlier in the top-10 was France’s Adrien Backscheider in seventh.
David Norris (APU), of the U.S., was the best-placed North American in 36th (+1:27.7). U.S. teammate Simi Hamilton (USST) placed 46th (+1:54.5). He returned to the World Cup racing after sitting out last weekend’s racing due to lingering neck pain. Kevin Bolger (USST) skied to 71st (+3:11.1), Ben Lustgarten (CGRP) 73rd (+3:12.2), and Logan Hanneman (APU) 86th (+4:35.6).
David Norris of the U.S. during the 15 k skate, Stage 1 of the Ski Tour 2020. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Post-race comments from U.S. World Cup Coach Matt Whitcomb
For Canada, Russell Kennedy skied to 52nd (+2:02.5), Evan Palmer-Charrette 60th (+2:31.9), Alexis Dumas 64th (+2:39.4), and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier 80th (+4:10.7).
Russell Kennedy of Canada, during Stage 1 of the Ski Tour 2020. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Racing continues in Östersund tomorrow with a 15 k classic pursuit for the men and a 10 k classic pursuit for the women.
Hans Christer Holund of Norway leading down the ribbon of white. A low snow year in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Around and around they go. Due to lack of snow in Falun, Sweden, the men again wheeled their way around a manmade ribbon of snow, skating six icy 2.5-kilometer laps. Reduced from 30 to the 15 k distance and without the long, steep climb for which the course is usually known, how athletes would fare was yet to be determined.
The 2.5-kilometer track of Falun in a low snow year. (Photo: Screenshot FIS Broadcast)
Along the way, two sets of 15 bonus points were available for the top ten skiers to sprint past the 6.7 and 11.7 checkpoints. It was at the first checkpoint that things began to spread out.
Overall World Cup and distance points leader, Alexander Bolshunov of Russia, dropped into a tuck on the downhill, accelerating past the Norwegians Hans Christer Holund, Simen Hegstad Krüger, Finn Hågen Krogh, and Sjur Røthe who had taken turns in the lead. Behind Bolshunov in blue Lycra sat the newly minted skate contender Iivo Niskanen of Finland. Known historically as a classic specialist, Niskanen has shown marked improvements in his skate results this season, including a second place finish in the freestyle distance event in Nové Město.
Alexander Bolshunov (center) primes himself to charge for the sprint bonus, surging past Iivo Niskanen (bib 2) and Hans Christer Holund (bib 6). (Photo: NordicFocus)
Like a slinky, the pack caught back up to Bolshunov, who relaxed and allowed the Norwegians to get to work again at the front. In a tuck or free skating, the group headed down the longest descent of the course, halfway through the lap. As the course bent to the left, the leader, Røthe, began to step turn, pushing off his right ski and leaning into the curve. As his ski left the ground, it pushed the tips of Bolshunov’s skis together, sending him to the snow (and almost to the grass) between a set of v boards. The Russian hopped back up, quickly regaining lost ground on the lead pack.
At the 10 k mark, only 8 seconds separated the top ten. But after the second bonus sprint, where Bolshunov again slingshot around the Norwegian leaders out of the downhill to grab the full 15 points, the field began to spread out.
A sea of red: the top six Norwegian and Russian athletes head into the final lap of the 15 k freestyle in Falun. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Bolshunov pushed the front of the pack, trying to break free of Røthe, Holund, and Krüger. His Russian teammates Ivan Yakimushkin and Andrey Melnichenko maintaining contact from a few seconds behind.
In the final lap, Bolshunov tried to break free, but Røthe matched his every move. Holund and Krüger fell off the pace and were overtaken by the chasing Russians. Rounding a downhill turn inside the final kilometer, Krüger caught a ski in the loose granular snow and was sent to the ground, no longer in the hunt for the third step of the podium.
Rocketing out of the downhill with less than 500 meters to go, Røthe soared past Bolshunov in a tuck to take the lead over the final roller before the stadium.
Down to the final meters, Alexander Bolshunov (right) and Sjur Røthe sprint for home in the 15 k skate in Falun. (Photo: NordicFocus)
It came down to the final sprint, and Røthe was outmatched. Bolshunov snuck back around, powering his skis down the track. He created enough of a gap that his victory was certain, and he threw his arms up in the air to celebrate. It was the Russian’s fourth consecutive distance win, and sixth of the season.
With arms raised, Alexander Bolshunov takes the win in Falun with Sjur Røthe in a close second. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Sjur Røthe collapses after a hard fought battle for second place in Falun. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Yakimushkin was next across the line for third (+9.7), followed by Melnichenko in fourth (+10.5) and Holund in fifth (+11.0). The twenty-three-year-old Yakimushkin was 2nd in the event in Toblach, Italy during Tour de Ski and also 2nd at Russian National champs in April 2019.
With today’s result, Bolshunov looks untouchable at the top of the distance standings with 924 points. Røthe sits in second with 596. Bolshunov also leads the overall by over 400 points ahead of the injured boxer, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo.
Alexander Bolshunov (RUS) and Sjur Røthe (NOR) exchange congratulations after an exciting finish in Falun. (Photo: NordicFocus)
“It was a really hard race because the Norwegian team made good tactics,” Bolshunov told FIS through a translator at the finish. “They always sent someone in front to run the race, so I have to always close some gaps on them and make the most of the bonuses to take maximum points there. Then to make the harder pace on the last lap and to make a good fight with Sjur Røthe at the finish lane.”
The men’s distance podium in Falun. From left to right, Sjur Røthe (NOR), Alexander Bolshunov (RUS), and Ivan Yakimushkin (RUS). (Photo: NordicFocus)
For much of the race, Norris hovered inside the top-20, looking to match or improve upon his career best result of 16th, which was achieved in a 15 k skate in Falun last March.
David Norris tucks in behind Sergey Ustiugov (RUS) heading down the ribbon of snow in Falun. (Photo: NordicFocus)
In a post-race interview, shares that he did not originally plan to compete in Falun, sitting out the 30k instead to focus on the upcoming FIS Ski Tour 2020. He also reflects on his race, how mass starts affect the energy moderation strategy he has been honing, and his outlook heading into the distance-focused tour.
Post-race interview with David Norris
Benjamin Lustgarten (CGRP) was next for the U.S. in 60th (+3:21.0) followed by Ian Torchia (SMST2) in 65th (+3:37.7), and Kevin Bolger (USST) in 68th (+3:59.1).
Post-race interview with U.S. World Cup Coach Matt Whitcomb
Ian Torchia climbs with the pack in Falun. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Evan Palmer-Charette was the top Canadian athlete in 52nd (+2:45.8), followed by Alexis Dumas in 64th (+3:33.3), Bob Thompson 67th (+3:45.5), and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier 74th (+5:36.7).
Erik Valnes of Norway (bib 1) and teammate Pål Golberg (bib 2), and Lauri Vuorinen of Finland, (l-r) during the quarterfinals of the classic sprint in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Thousands of spectators, slate skies, and a manmade loop of snow laid down in the otherwise green-brown Falun, Sweden ski stadium greeted the World Cup on Saturday. After a weekend hiatus last week, racers contested a 1.4-kilometer classic sprint in one of Sweden’s skiing epicenters.
The main World Cup sprint star, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, was absent. The twenty-three-year-old Klæbo broke two fingers last week. According to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, he will be reevaluated on Feb. 13. The fingers were broken while Klæbo and a group of friends were using a “boxing machine”. The game involved hitting a padded area that measures the force of impact. Klæbo’s gloved hand slipped off the pad and struck a hard surface adjacent to the pad.
Although considered a lock in classic sprints, Klæbo has won nine of the last 10 World Cup classic sprints — including five in a row — this would be a day for another skier to claim the win on a course featuring two significant climbs and twisting banked turns on the descents.
Erik Valnes of Norway notched the fastest qualifying time in 2:51:15, followed by teammate Pål Golberg 0.26 seconds back. Overall World Cup leader, Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov (23), the person who could pad his overall World Cup lead with Klæbo out, qualified in third (+0.51).
Alexander Bolshunov charging during the classic sprint in Faklun., Sweden. (Photo: NordicFocus)
In the quarterfinals, it looked like the yellow overall leader’s bib had instilled special powers on Bolshunov. He won the third heat in 2:53.47. Although in a different lineup with five other skiers creating the context, Italy’s Federico Pellegrino won the second quarterfinal in a markedly slower time of 2:59.23.
The first semifinal featured Pellegrino, Bolshunov, Golberg, and Valnes as the main contenders. As the semi to watch, Bolshunov was the thoroughbred out of the gates. He led the double pole army of six over the top of the first hill as he began to string out the field. He then led the classic-run up the second climb, with Pellegrino, Valnes, and Golberg following in order over the top.
Again, Bolshunov hung on over the top with three other skiers towed along. Pellegrino eventually grabbed the lead on the final climb as he moved ahead of Bolshunov. Pellegrino won the speedy semi in 2:50.41, with Bolshunov in second (+0.10), Golberg in third (+0.40), and Valnes in fourth (+1.64). Golberg and Valnes would advance to the final as lucky losers.
Federico Pellegrino during the classic sprint in Falun, Sweden. Pellegrino placed fourth overall. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Bolshunov blazed ahead in the final. His double poling was peerless. His tempo up the first major climb was a mirror of his semi where he was first over the top and forced others to gap up.
On the second climb at 1:45, Bolshunov crested the hill in first with the others chasing. On the descent, with a long glide out lasting nearly 12 seconds, Bolshunov was caught as the leading foursome ran into the final hill before the finish.
Golberg led the charge followed by Valnes with Bolshunov and Pellegrino trailing a few meters back in third and fourth.
Downt the line it was Golberg for the win in 2:51.83. Valnes was second (+0.52), Bolshunov third (+0.92), and Pellegrino fourth (+2.40). Norway’s Håvard Solås Taugbøl placed fifth (+9.74), and Sweden’s Teodor Petterspon sixth (+49.48).
“My feeling was good today but I had a really tough semi final,” Golberg told FIS after the race. “So I expected the final to be tough as well so my tactic was to follow Alexander Bolshunov and fortunately I ended up with a bit more power. We had five Rossignol skis in the finals so something was definitely right today.”
Pål Golberg (NOR) for the classic sprint win in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Bolshunov, who leads the overall with no threat from Klæbo in the near future, he was disappointed with his day. “I am not too happy with today’s result as I was expecting more of myself,” Bolshunov told FIS. “But something did not work out as I was not able to speed up more and go away from my opponents and therefore it would have been good for me if there would have been one more heat so that I could have pulled everything out or maybe if the course would have been longer, then I might have pulled it off.”
No North American men qualified for the heats. Canada’s Bob Thompson was the top North American in 43rd. Alexis Dumas placed 62nd and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier 64th.
Logan Hannaman (APU) and Kevin Bolger (USST), finished 52nd and 53rd, respectively. Ben Saxton (SMST2) raced to 55th.
According to U.S. World Cup Coach Matt Whitcomb, Simi Hamilton is recovering from a back injury and will miss this weekend of World Cup racing.
Post-race interview with U.S. World Cup Coach Matt Whitcomb
“There is no painting any way other than what it is, it was just a bad day,” said Whitcomb.
Bob Thompson of Canada during the Falun, Sweden classic sprint qualifier. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Logan Hanneman of the U.S. during the Falun, Sweden classic sprint qualifier. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Kevin Bolger of the U.S. during the Falun, Sweden classic sprint qualifier. (Photo: NordicFocus)
Britain’s Andrew Young qualified for the heats which was a career first in a classic sprint. He placed 19th overall.
The men’s classic sprint podium from Falun, Sweden: Erik Valnes (NOR) in second, Pål Golberg (NOR) first, and Alexander Bolshunov (RUS) third, (l-r). (Photo: NordicFocus)
Emily Nishikawa (bib 1) leads out the U20 and Open 15km at MSA Trials. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
Mont Sainte-Anne brought great ski conditions on a weekend where the best in Canada fought to qualify for four different race trips: U20/U23 World Championships in Oberwiesenthal, Germany; Falun and the Scando Tour; the sprint tour of Québec and Minnesota; and World Cup finals in Canmore. Combine this with the usual NorAm action and COC leader competition and you have all the ingredients for a great weekend.
Over 400 athletes raced in five age groups with over 150 competing for U20 selection.
For all four trip selections, Nordiq Canada will be making a list and checking it twice. Or maybe more than twice. For U20, five athletes of each gender are selected, starting with the top skier on Sunday, then Friday, then Saturday and starting again with Sunday’s second place. For U23, four or five skiers will be selected the same way. The Sprint Tour averages the qualification and heats points to rank athletes to be selected after pre-qualified athletes. The Canmore weekend similarly sums the two distance days. With 10 Host Nation starts allocated in addition to the ones Canada has earned, there are many start opportunities. Most of the paths to guarantee a spot on next year’s National Team begin with qualifying for one of the above. But no pressure.
Each COC leader gets their own start allocation at every World Cup for the period. As there are no more NorAm (Continental Cup) events until Nationals beginning on March 26, the COC leader as of today retains this for the rest of the World Cup season. The best five of nine races are counted, which means Katherine Stewart-Jones had the women’s spot locked up in December. Antoine Cyr came into this weekend with the leader’s bib and a win Saturday was enough to keep it, according to Nordiq Canada.
The U20 and open women started the day with 15km on the same hilly 5km course as Saturday. Emily Nishikawa and CNEPH’s Cendrine Browne got away early before Nishikawa broke clear on the final long climb to win in 43:44.1, with Browne 13.4 seconds back. Browne’s teammate Laura Leclair spent most of the race alone and held off a charging pack to finish third for the top U23 result, 1:45.4 behind, just 0.8 seconds ahead of the top U20 finisher, Revelstoke’s Elizabeth Elliott. Black Jack’s Jasmine Drolet was edged out into 5th but should still have earned the trip to U20’s in Oberwiesenthal.
Nishikawa spent a rare winter period back in Canada and enjoyed the change.
“It was great to be home in Canmore, and I got a good block of training in before heading back to the World Cup,” Nishikawa emailed. “It was very fun to be able to race in Canada – in Whistler and here in MSA, and now I feel ready to get back on the World Cup.”
Nishikawa, who was 25th overall in the 2019 Tour de Ski, is focussed on the Scando Tour and racing back home in Canmore.
Browne, who is bouncing back from a tough year, was happy to be back in the game. “The race felt really good, I had good legs and great skis. I really liked skiing with Emily, it was fun to race with her again,” Browne wrote. “I should’ve taken more relays and rested more so I maybe could’ve followed Emily when she attacked at 14km. Unfortunately, when she did attack, my legs were fried!”
Browne, a distance specialist who loves the skate days, was also excited to have won the sprint on Friday.
“Winning a sprint was very fun! It was a big confidence boost! It was also a pretty tactic race, which was very fun too.”
The applause and support is always there for the good days, but no athlete has only good days.
“Last year was very tough for me, as for many athletes after the Olympics, Browne continued. “I was very depressed and wasn’t having fun anymore. It was also very hard to lose all support from my federation. After that tough year, I had a severe concussion (in the end of August till mid November) so coming back strong is such a big relief. I feel so much better, physically and mentally and I’m confident that I have a good form.”
Writing about the tough times feels like kicking an athlete when they are down. It is much easier to write about an athlete when they are scrambling to catch a flight to Falun. It looks like some athletes will be at the airport before we have a confirmed published list of who is joining Browne and Nishikawa for period 4 of the World Cup. (To be fair, that list is one of four that has to be written and double-checked by officials who also have flights to make today.)
“Today’s race was tough,” Leclair wrote to FasterSkier. “I skied alone and had a pack of 10 skiers chasing me the whole time. I would have liked to ski with Emily and Cendrine but lost them in the first lap. However, I did what I had to do and I am happy with how I skied considering I was alone.” Leclair will be going to a CNEPH elevation camp in Livigno, Italy, on her way to U23 Worlds.
Russell Kennedy leads the pack early, with Rémi Drolet (#108), Philippe Boucher (#104), Sam Hendry (#107), and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (#106) keeping a close eye. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
The men skied 30km and many said they were feeling the big climb by lap six. Black Jack’s Rémi Drolet animated the race early before Canmore’s Sam Hendry made a big move on the final lap to explode the pack of ten. In the end, it was Team R.A.D.’s Evan Palmer-Charrette who emerged to take the win in 1:15:49.7, with Fondeurs-Laurentides’ Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier at 0.3 seconds and top U23 Hendry at 0.4. CNEPH’s Phil Boucher was fifth at 5.3 ahead of Rémi Drolet who took his third U20 win at 11.2 seconds back.
Foothills’ Tom Stephen popped out of the second pack to book his trip to Germany as the second fastest U20, 2:04.6 behind the winner and 11th overall.
“The race today went very well for me,” Palmer-Charrette explained in an email. “My plan from the get go was to match any move and stay in contact, the final kilometre is very high speed and my plan was to wait until there to make a move, so it played out perfectly.”
“Race went pretty well today,” Hendry wrote of his Sunday. “I skied in the group and did the best job I could to save energy. Coming up to the last climb I moved into the front of the pack to avoid traffic and found myself pulling away from the group so went all in and attacked hard over the final climb. I then had a few second lead and tried to hang on until the end of the course but blew up in the final meters and was passed by Evan and Ricky.”
Like many of the other athletes, Hendry is balancing full time studies with skiing.
“Full time school and racing is going great. The University of Utah is super accommodating and want to see me succeed in not only academics and college racing but also international competitions such as these trials and U23’s.” That balance only goes so far. In addition to collegiate racing and U23’s, Hendry is hoping to ski World Cup Finals in Canmore (which may require a good result from him in Germany), but nationals is not on the program.
Boucher should have earned his trip to Canmore with a 4th and a 5th in distance this weekend.
“The race went well,” he wrote. “I managed to react well on Sam’s move in the last km. It blew the pack in small groups. So the only tactic here was to survive until the end. But in general, the plan for today was to try to stay in the front of the pack in the uphills, so I dont get caught behind if someone makes a move.”
While many athletes are enjoying the new race calendar with less east/west flights to races, Boucher also sees a downside: less races.
“I think there’s a lack of races. We currently race 1 weekend per month… I train all summer long to race in the winter so it’s a shame when we dont have a lot of racing to do in North America. I had a difficult start in December but at least I had some good racing at the U.S. Nationals in Houghton early in January. And then here at MSA, it’s been one of my best racing weekends of the season so far. My race shape is raising and that’s good sign for the coming races.”
Nordiq Canada’s Jeff Ellis, Joel Jaques, and Erik Bråten have talked to FasterSkier about balancing the need for lots of races, reduced travel costs, and reduced challenges to host regional races. Watch this space.
While some athletes will go home happy with their race efforts and others won’t, it seems like everyone enjoyed their weekend. Palmer-Charrette put it best: “The conditions here for the whole weekend were really good, the [Organizing Committee] did a great job with the trails. Yesterday turned out to be a slightly tricky waxing day and on a relatively flat high speed course there were definitely a few athletes caught out with icing issues, however that’s the game of classic racing. For the sprint and today, conditions couldn’t get any better really, so it made for exciting races.”
Photographer Doug Stephen has more evidence of the great trails in his Sunday Gallery. Athletes are welcome to download and use full resolution images if they give credit to ‘Doug Stephen’ or @vr45photography.
Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt leads Jasmine Drolet, Elizabeth Elliott and Liliane Gagnon in pursuit of the top 3. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
Russell Kennedy (#46) caught Sam Hendry (#45) and Nicolas Beaulieu (#44) on his way to third place in the 15km. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
Fresh snow greeted day two of the Mont Sainte-Anne Trials for the interval start classic. With athletes battling to qualify for U20/U23 World Championships in Oberwiesenthal, Germany and three separate World Cup trips (Falun/Scando Tour, Sprint Tour, Canmore), it was never going to be a simple matter of skier against the clock.
Antoine Cyr rocking the NorAm leader’s bib on the way to victory. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
Racing started with the open men’s 15km on a 5km loop that was shared by all the elite categories. Early on, it looked like a tight four way battle, but CNEPH’s Antoine Cyr, starting last, was 14 seconds ahead after the first lap. Cyr was fastest on all three laps to win in 40:05.1, 47.5 seconds ahead of Fondeurs Laurentides’ Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier and 51.6 ahead of Canmore’s Russell Kennedy. Cyr should be selected for U23’s based on this win. In the interview posted below, he talks about his relief to know that his form is still good after a disappointing first World Cup in Europe.
The U20 and U18 men raced 10km and once again Black Jack’s Rémi Drolet displayed that full time students can be competitive, as he won both laps to finish in 26:46.2. CNEPH’s Olivier Léveillé took advantage of a late start bib to narrowly beat ULLR’s Xavier McKeever, finishing at 35.4 and 39.1 seconds respectively. This result combined with Thursday’s sprint should see both Léveillé and McKeever selected for U20 Worlds.
Olivier Léveillé took second place and penciled his name on a ticket to Oberwiesenthal. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
(Drolet’s post-race interview starts with the punchline to a joke, but without the setup we miss the laugh.)
In the women’s 10km, Emily Nishikawa continued the theme of winning every lap on her way to a clear victory in 29:51.2. CNEPH’s Cendrine Browne showed that her recovery is going well with a strong second place in her less-favoured technique, finishing 48.7 back. Laval University’s Andrée-Anne Théberge completed the podium, 2:04.7 back.
Emily Nishikawa on a mission. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
AWCA’s Annika Richardson was 4th at 2:15.4 to take the top U23 finish and what should be a selection for U23 Worlds.
By the time the U20 and U18 women headed out, the tracks were showing some wear, but that didn’t stop Black Jack’s Molly Miller from winning the 5km in 15:24.8, 10.9 seconds ahead of teammate Jasmine Drolet, and 11.0 ahead of Revelstoke’s Beth Granstrom. Revelstoke also took fourth with Alexandra Luxmoore at 11.1 seconds, only 0.2 seconds away from silver.
Molly Miller attacking the 5km classic at MSA Trials. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
Black Jack defended their club’s reputation for developing young skiers with three U20 wins so far this weekend. Revelstoke is also starting to make waves with yesterday’s winner Elizabeth Elliott 11th today at 47.6 seconds. With 86 U20 and U18 men and 72 U20 and U18 women competing today, the future of Canadian skiing is starting to look brighter.
Sunday’s free technique mass starts should be exciting, with the U20 and Open categories merged so the younger athletes can measure themselves against the top seniors.
Photographer Doug Stephen has a new gallery for Saturday. Athletes are welcome to download and use full resolution images if they give credit to ‘Doug Stephen’ or @vr45photography.
Katherine Stewart-Jones leads a sprint heat on her way to domination. (Photo: Robert Smith)
The NorAm circuit moved east to the Nakkertok trails for three days of racing jointly hosted by Nakkertok Nordic, Club Skinouk, Chelsea Nordiq, and Kanata Nordic. Friday featured classic sprints, Saturday interval start free, and Sunday interval start classic.
The event was also the Candy Cane Cup for the younger categories, as well as Ontario Cup 1 and Coupe Québec 1. 374 athletes in the U16, U18, and Open categories competed on Friday with many more younger athletes racing Saturday and Sunday.
Nordiq Canada’s Jeff Ellis was there and has once again shared the full-length post-race interviews. Photographer Robert Smith has galleries for each day, so keep scrolling.
Nakkertok had over 3km of trail open thanks to their snowmaking, with a 2.5km loop used for the distance races.
The ‘NakkerTrak’ at Nakkertok before the 2019 NorAm weekend. (Photo: Natural Fitness Labs)
On the women’s side, it was the KSJ show, with home-grown national team member Katherine Stewart-Jones winning all three days.
In the sprint, Stewart-Jones finished in 3:19.96, comfortably ahead of AWCA’s Maya MacIsaac-Jones and RMR’s Katie Weaver at 2.43 and 3.93 seconds back respectively. The podium trio were the top three qualifiers, but in reverse order.
Stewart-Jones steamrolled the field in the free 5km, 36.8 seconds ahead of Laura Leclair in second and 39.9 seconds before Cendrine Browne, both of CNEPH.
The trend continued on Sunday, with Stewart-Jones finishing the classic 10km in 28:52.1, 1:18.1 ahead of Skibec’s Andrée-Anne Théberge and 1:29.8 ahead of AWCA’s Annika Richardson.
Antoine Cyr leads Julien Locke in the interval start classic. (Photo: Robert Smith)
For the men, Hardwood’s Bob Thompson kicked the weekend off with a sprint victory in 3:12.71, followed by national team member Antoine Cyr at 0.36 seconds and his CNEPH teammate Antoine Briand at 0.63.
On Saturday, Cyr won the free 10km in 22:10.4, 20.9 seconds ahead of Fondeurs Laurentide’s Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier and 32.8 seconds clear of Team R.A.D.’s Evan Palmer-Charrette.
Palmer-Charrette stepped up to finish the weekend on top of the podium, winning the 10km classic in 24:43.8. National team member Julian Smith was second at 6.2 seconds followed by Cyr at 14.4 seconds.
For many Canadians this season, the big focus is on the Mt. Sainte Anne (MSA) NorAm in January, which is the Junior and U23 World Championship trials. That series is also a path to World Cup starts. As a result, a number of athletes chose the nearer of the two December NorAm races and skipped the other to reduce travel. Over 30 western Canadians drove to Sun Valley for the SuperTour event instead of flying to Nakkertok.
“I think that it’s good for younger athletes to chase high competition for development,” Stewart-Jones wrote in response. “It makes more sense for them to travel less too. This year, for most of the younger athletes and even a lot of the older ones, the focus is on trials in MSA in January so there is a lot of time to prepare for their optimal race performance.”
Stewart-Jones moved from Nakkertok to Canmore this training year, resulting in new training partners and a new personal coach, national team head coach Erik Bråten. That also meant returning to Nakkertok required two extra flying days and the associated illness risk.
“If I hadn’t been trying to get the COC spot locked up for the rest of the season I would have most likely gone to Sun Valley too.”
There is a complicated calculus to getting World Cup starts in Canada. The COC leader gets FIS-guaranteed starts and financial support from the host organization for each race weekend. Keeping the COC leader bib for the season would mean more and cheaper time on the World Cup for Stewart-Jones. Dahria Beatty and Emily Nishikawa chose to race period 1 in Europe instead, with Beatty qualifying for the next WC trip selection by placing 25th in the Davos sprint on Saturday.
Dahria Beatty (left) and Katherine Stewart-Jones chasing hard in the pursuit. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
This article has been updated to correct an interpretation of the selection criteria.
Day two of nationals was day two of the pursuit at Nakkertok trails in Gatineau, Québec. The two-day pursuit format (classic interval start on day one, free technique pursuit start day two) was held for the second time at nationals. With both national titles and starts at World Cup Finals in Québec City up for grabs, it was always going to be an exciting day.
Lenny Valjas (CNST) justified his decision to come back to race in Canada with a second national title, out-sprinting the pack to finish the 10km+15km pursuit in 1:08.18.6. Philippe Boucher (CNEPH) turned in the fastest time of the day to take second, 0.7 seconds behind, and 0.3 seconds ahead of teammate Alexis Dumas.
Lenny Valjas wins the pursuit, ahead of Phillipe Boucher, Alexis Dumas, and Rémi Drolet. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
Rémi Drolet (Black Jack) was top junior in 4th place, 4.4 seconds back.
“On the last little bit of the 7.5k loop, on the flats, I decided to attack early before the final sprint hill,” Valjas told the LOC after the race, “because some of those young guys are so quick. I couldn’t trust myself on just the last hill, so I made them hurt with a couple km to go. It worked out, we all had a fun sprint up the last sprint hill into the finish.”
“No tactics for me today,” Boucher wrote. “I pushed hard from the start to the finish. I was targeting the best time of the day so I would qualify for World cups finals and become the national champion.”
The early group of eight shrank as Boucher pushed the pace and Valjas struggled to cling on. Dumas described it best: “They was not a lot of tactic today, Philippe Boucher was just too strong. The only thing I could do was following him and hope for the best in the sprint finish at the end.”
Skiing with the final four until the very end, Drolet battled cramps on the second lap.
“On the final hill, I had a lot of trouble moving, but I still managed to stay pretty close to the front and finished in 4th,” Drolet said after the race. “I was really happy about how I fought, considering everything else.”
Neither Boucher nor Dumas were fans of the pursuit format when it was brought back earlier in the season. As both have been on the podium at both editions, maybe they will grow to like it more.
“After the results I’ve got in the pursuit this year, I can only enjoy them,” Boucher wrote when asked if he still prefers mini-tours to pursuits.
Wednesday’s race featured two 5km classic loops in great conditions. Valjas was happy to get his win with nearly even lap times.
“Today was great,” Valjas told the LOC after the race. “I’m excited to be out here, and seeing all the kids. It’s a little bit of inspiration for me to be leading into the last World Cup in my career.”
Asked about edging out the 18 year old Drolet in the interval start, Valjas said “You’ve got to be on your A game to beat him, and I’m happy I got him, but he’s the future. I’m happy to see the young guys nipping at my heels.”
Drolet was happy with his classic race, finishing 9.9 seconds behind Valjas despite skiing his second lap 21 seconds slower than the first.
“Perhaps if I had paced the race better, I could have had a slightly better performance,” Drolet wrote in an email. “The course profile, however, does allow you to go really hard a lot of the time since there are usually long downhills after the climbs.”
Bob Thompson was third in the classic, which qualified him for World Cup Finals.
“I feel I am in a good place to have some great results this week,” Thompson wrote. “This was my first medal as a senior man so I’m really happy to finally be in top form again to finish the year. Very excited about World Cup finals!”
***
Dahria Beatty leads Emily Nishikawa towards the finish. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
Dahria Beatty (CNST) put in the fastest time of the day to win the women’s 5km+10km pursuit in 40:50.8, completing Thursday’s two 5km skate laps in 26:45.8. Beatty and Katherine Stewart-Jones (CNST) worked together to catch Emily Nishikawa (CNST) just before the finish, with Beatty pulling clear for the win ahead of Nishikawa (7.3 seconds) and Stewart-Jones (9.8 seconds).
“Emily skied a really strong race and we were trailing her by between 7 and 15 seconds almost the entire race,” Beatty wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “Working together gave Katherine and I a slight advantage and I was able to finally close the gap on the second last downhill. After that we were on the sprint course and my mind went into sprint mode and I was able to open up a small gap.”
Beatty shared her tactical plan after her second place in the pursuit’s day one classic race. “Tomorrow the goal will be to try to catch those 8 seconds off the start and race with Emily.”
Stewart-Jones had a similar tactical plan, but executed it better. “I wanted to catch Dahria as fast as possible because I knew it would be much easier if we worked together. I was able to do that and we skied together most of the race,” Stewart-Jones wrote. “Dahria broke away with one hill to go and I caught Emily but she had me at the finish line!”
Emily Nishikawa winning the 5km classic at nationals. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
CNST’s Cendrine Browne was unable to close the gap and had a lonely ski in 4th, finishing 1:17.7 back. Sadie White (NTDC TBay) delivered the 5th fastest time of the day to move from 12th to 5th at 2:45.6 back.
Nishikawa earned her lead by winning the classic race Wednesday.
“I am really happy with my race today,” she wrote about her win. “It is always an honour to win a national title. Racing here at Nakkertok is so awesome and seeing so many young skiers out is really inspiring.”
Stewart-Jones was happy with her 3rd in the classic race on her home trails, but not as happy with her pacing.
“I started off hard because I knew it would be a quick race,” she wrote, “but I think that I probably could have paced it better.”
There were a lot of athletes enjoying the atmosphere at Nakkertok. There were 215 junior boys and juvenile boys, 185 junior girls and juvenile girls, 107 junior men and senior men, 76 junior women and senior women who finished the pursuit.
Qualifying for World Cup Finals
Twelve athletes have already qualified, leaving seventeen spots to be decided at nationals: 8 men and 9 women.
The criteria says that the top Canadian in each of the freestyle sprint, then individual start classic, then pursuit, then time-of-day from the pursuit will be selected in that order. As there are more spots, the sequence will be repeated for 2nd place, 3rd place, until all spots are allocated. Athletes who have already qualified are skipped over. Clear and simple? Not exactly, but it became clearer with results from three of the four events.
On the women’s side, the first four places were filled by pre-qualified athletes in all three events. The selection order becomes the first five women in Saturday’s A final, then not Anne-Marie Petitclerc (5th in classic and top junior, but not eligible according to CCC), then White (5th in pursuit), the sixth placed sprinter, then Hannah Mehain (6th in classic). These respective athletes have earned their WCF start, assuming CCC’s interpretation is the same.
If anyone in the top six on Saturday has already qualified, the seventh place sprinter is selected, followed by Annika Richardson (8th in time-of-day counts as 7th because Germany’s Julie Richter isn’t eligible). Having fun yet? CCC will announce the final selection on Sunday.
For the men, we have seven pre-selected and eight spots to go. The first five sprinters on Saturday, along with Philippe Boucher (1st in time-of-day), Alexis Dumas (3rd in pursuit), and Bob Thompson (3rd in classic) are locked in. The sixth place sprinter and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (6th in time-of-day) are waiting on someone higher in the list making the A final.
On Friday, the third day of racing at the 2019 NCAA Skiing Championships featured another cross-country racing day with the women’s 15-kilometer mass start classic and the men’s 20 k mass start classic.
After two days of racing and scores tallied from a single day of nordic racing on Wednesday and an alpine GS event on Thursday, Dartmouth was in the overall lead for the team championship. They had tallied 259 points to Utah’s 252.3 in second. Vermont sat in third overall with 245 points.
Dartmouth’s Katherine Ogden won the women’s 15 k classic on Friday in a time of 46:25.7 minutes. Utah’s Julia Richter was second in 46:49.1, with Colorado’s Hedda Baangman third in 47:15.2.
Utah’s Huro Jordheim skied to fourth in a time of 47:19.8, and Vermont’s Anna Bizyukova was fifth in 48:07.7.
With 2 k to go in the men’s 20 k mass start classic in Stowe, seven skiers were in a train separated by roughly six seconds. One of those athletes, Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier of the University of New Mexico, played his hardest effort in the closing k as he gapped University of Alaska’s Sigurd Roenning.
Izquierdo-Bernier won in 55:50.6 minutes with Roenning skiing through to place second overall (+5.9).
Utah’s Maximilian Bie placed third in 55:57.7. Colorado’s Alvar Johannes Alev was fourth in 56:01.2, and Utah’s Ola Jordheim fifth in 56:02.4.
For the team overall results, heading into Friday evening, Utah has taken the lead with 426.5 points. Colorado sits in second place with 361 points, while Dartmouth fell to third with 359 points.
In the women’s race, Utah took second, fourth and seventh places. Whereas in the men’s race, the Utes took third and fifth places.
In Stowe, Vermont the men raced a 10-kilometer interval start skate race on Wednesday to open the cross-country portion of the NCAA championships. Erik Olsvik Dengerud from the University of Colorado won in a time of 24:25.5 minutes. Kornelius Groev from the University of New Mexico (UNM) placed second in 24:45.1, and Ian Torchia of Northern Michigan University was third in 24:45.4.
In the women’s 5 k skate, Julia Richter of the University of Utah (UoU) won in 13:28.3 minutes. University of Denver’s Jasmi Joensuu skied to second in 13:29.3, and Evelina Sutro of UVM was third in 13:29.4.
Katherine Ogden from Dartmouth placed fourth (13:34.5) and Guro Jordheim of the UoU fifth (13.37.6)
After the first day of competition, during which only nordic races were held, the University of Utah leads the team competition with 142 points. They hold a one point buffer over the University of Vermont. Colorado sits in third with 120 points.
Racing continues tomorrow with alpine athletes competing in giant slalom.
Julia Kern (SMS T2) leading Dahria Beatty (CNST) in the semi. (Photo: Pete Leonard)
For the third consecutive year, the SuperTour and NorAm series met up at Sovereign Lake near Vernon, BC, for a combined race weekend of skate sprints and classic interval starts. Over 450 athletes competed each day in four age groups.
According to many attendees, combining the two Continental Cup series was an unqualified success. While many of the skiers expressed their pleasure in interviews, one quote stood out.
“The SuperNoram is the best idea ever.” — Sam Hendry
The skate sprint course ran fast, with no new snow since Tuesday, ski speed on Saturday was faster still. The NorAm/SuperTour in Sovereign Lake has had classic sprints for the past few years. This iteration of the event was different since the organizers tested a new skate sprint course in advance of the 2020 Canadian Nationals. The jury selected a 1.2km variant over the 1.4km course option for race day. With no new snow for several days, even -9C air and -12C tracks resulted in fast glide. The end result was fast times, ranging from 2:15 minutes for the open men to 2:55 minutes for the junior women.
“Felt good in qualification.” — Andy Newell described his day to FasterSkier in this video interview.
Andy Newell (SMS T2) had a dominant day, winning the qualifier in 2:15.18 minutes, a full 4.05 seconds ahead of second place skier Logan Hanneman (APU), before easily winning each heat. Olivier Hamel (CNEPH) placed third finishing 6.70 seconds back.
Antoine Briand dropping the pack, Andy Newell watching and waiting. (Photo: Pete Leonard)
Newell led from the start in his quarter and semi-finals. In the final, Antoine Briand (CNEPH) pushed from the start after placing second to Newell in the first two rounds. However, the end result was the same. Briand pulled Newell away from the pack and Newell gapped Briand in the final 200m to take the win. Ben Saxton (SMS T2) took the four-up sprint for third, placing ahead of Hanneman, Antoine Cyr (CNST), and Ben Lustgarten (CGRP).
Julia Kern (SMS T2) had a similarly dominant day for the women, winning the qualifier in 2:40.54 minutes, 3.52 seconds ahead of APU’s Hailey Swirlbul and 3.69 seconds ahead of Hannah Halvorsen (APU). Dahria Beatty (CNST) was Canada’s top qualifier, placing sixth, 7.36 seconds back, after she fell on the first corner.
Kern won each of her heats comfortably, but the exciting action was in the pack. In the semifinal, Rosie Frankowski (APU) and Swirlbul hit the deep snow outside the course while attempting a slingshot from the back on the final ‘hole’ corner, a fast turn from the long downhill leading into a steep climb to the finish straight. There were a number of broken poles and minor crashes on that corner, but only those two left the track entirely.
Julia Kern squeezing Dahria Beatty over the bridge in the A final. (Photo: Peggy Hung)
In the A final, Kern earned a gap on the final corner, leading a train of Beatty, Lauren Jortberg (Dartmouth), and Maya MacIsaac-Jones (CNST) to the finish. Halvorsen trailed in alone, followed by Erika Flowers (SMS T2) who broke her pole.
Sunday’s Distance Events
On Sunday, the classic tracks were glazing with -6C air and -10C snow at very high humidity. Many teams picked a hard over soft grip wax combo as no significant snow fell until the end of the race day. While a number of skiers needed to get out of the track in the final ‘technique zone’ climb on the last lap, it appeared that the issue was more often tired legs than lost grip wax.
The classic distance races were much tighter than Saturday’s sprints, with some nail-biting finishes for the coaches.
Canada’s Katherine Stewart-Jones was attacking from the start. (Photo: Gerry Furseth)
Katherine Stewart-Jones (CNST) attacked from the start of the two-lap interval start race and hung on to win in 31:48.4 minutes. Her 15:30.7 minute split for her first lap was the fastest by 17.1 seconds, allowing her to keep the win despite a fifth fastest second lap. Becca Rorabaugh was second fastest on the first lap and third fastest on the second lap to take 2nd overall, 7.1 seconds back.
Kern closed to 0.7 seconds behind Rorabaugh to take third place, while Swirlbul skied the fastest second lap to just miss the podium, 10.9 seconds behind Stewart-Jones and 3.1 behind Kern. Beatty was fourth at 26.7 seconds and first-year senior Hannah Mehain was ninth overall and the third Canadian.
Novie McCabe (Methow Valley Nordic Ski Team) followed up her dominant junior sprint win with a 12th overall placing, 2:00.6 minutes back.
In the men’s 15km classic, Kyle Bratrud (SMS T2) edged out Lustgarten by 3.8 seconds to win in 41:59.3 minutes. Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier, representing the University of New Mexico and CNEPH, put Canada on the podium in third place at 34.7 seconds back.
Junior skier Samuel Hendry (CJNST) edged Newell by 0.4 seconds to take fourth at 1:13.7 minutes back. Bob Thompson (TBay) was the third Canadian in seventh, 1:20.1 minutes behind, confirming his distance progress after a disappointing sprint day.
Almost everyone in North American skiing came to the party. Jess Cockney and Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt were seen testing skis for their teams. Bryan Fish was watching on behalf of the US team and shared his thoughts on international cooperation. New Canadian national team coach Erik Bråten offered his first impressions of Canadian racing. Follow the links below for all the video interviews.
The women’s field cresting a hill during the scramble leg of the World Cup 4 x 5 k relay in Beitostølen, Norway.
FIS World Cup Beitostølen, Norway 4 x 5 k / 4 x 7.5 k Relay
Sunday in Beitostølen, Norway the women raced a 4 x 5-kilometer relay on firm tracks and under partly cloudy skies — Saturday’s races featured fresh snowfall.
Norway I took the win in a total time of 57:23.6 minutes. In order of relay legs, Heidi Weng, Therese Johaug, Ragnhild Haga, and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg comprised the team that raced at the sharp end of the race for all but the first leg.
Weng, the first leg skier for Norway, tagged Johaug in fourth, 7.3 seconds behind Russia’s Yulia Belorukova who scrambled for Russia I. From then on, Norway I set the speed benchmark.
Despite Russia I’s star power, it was Russia II that took second place Sunday. Lidia Durkina, Anna Zherebyateva, Mariya Istomina, and Elena Soboleva, having been gapped by Norway I, could pack-ski until the final stretch to slot over the line .5 seconds ahead of third place Finland I. (Russia II finished 37.3 seconds behind Norway I.)
Russia I’s anchor, Anna Nechaevskaya, fell in the final downhill turn losing several places for her team.
Finland I, the third-place team on the day, featured Johanna Matintalo, Krista Pärmäkoski, Ritta-Liisa Roponen, and Eveliina Piippo. Finland I finished 37.8 seconds behind winner Norway I.
The U.S. I team placed fifth (+48.0) in a performance that saw them out dual Sweden and Norway II in the closing moments of the race. Sadie Bjornsen, Rosie Brennan, Caitlin Patterson, and Jessie Diggins skied for the U.S. on a roster absent some names that were longtime staples of the U.S. team’s relay quartet — both Kikkan Randall and Liz Stephen retired from racing last season.
The U.S. had planned on fielding a second team featuring the U.S. Ski Team’s (USST) Sophie Caldwell (USST), Ida Sargent (USST), Kelsey Phinney (SMS T2), and Kaitlynn Miller (CGRP), however, they did not start.
Norway I held on for the win in the men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay today in Beitostølen in a time of 57:23.6 minutes. This was head-to-head racing at its finest. After 30 k of racing, the final standings came down to a lunge at the finish between Norway I and Russia I. Russia I placed second (+0.7).
Emil Iversen, Martin JohnsrudSundby,Sjur Røthe, and Finn Hågen Krogh formed the Norway I team. The Russia I team included Evgeniy Belov, Alexander Bolshunov, Denis Spitsov, and Andrey Melnichenko.
Norway II’s Didrik Tønseth, Hans Christer Holund, Magne Haga, and Simen Hegstad Krueger placed third (+53.4).
The U.S. team of Erik Bjornsen, Kevin Bolger, Scott Patterson, and Simi Hamilton placed 12th (+3:22.7).
IBU World Cup, Pokljuka, Slovenia 7.5 k / 12.5 k Pursuit
Looking smooth across the finish line, Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø, won the men’s 12.5 k pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia in a time of 30:20.4 minutes. That smoothness was matched in a photo finish with France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet who placed second, 0.1 seconds behindBø. Maillet cleaned his four shooting stages.
Bø looked in control for the last portions of the race. His strong skiing gave him a 50-second lead as he began his final shooting stage. There, the Norwegian missed two targets, allowing the chasers to latch back on during the final lap. In total, Bø missed three targets, one during his first prone stage, and two during his second standing stage.
Russia’s Alexander Loginov was third in the sprint, finishing 1.9 seconds back. Loginov missed one target in his first standing bout, otherwise, he shot clean.
Canada’s Christian Gow placed 14th (+1:09.1) while shooting clean. No other Canadians qualified for the pursuit.
For the U.S., Leif Nordgren was the best placed American in 33rd (+2:39.1, 0+2+1+0). Sean Doherty was 39th (+3:07.9, 0+0+2+2),
Kaisa Mäkäräinen of Finland won the women’s 10 k sprint in a time of 29:16.9 minutes. Mäkäräinen shot clean during the competition. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer was second, finishing 41.3 seconds behind while also shooting clean during all four shooting bouts.
Third place went to Paulina Fialkova of Slovenia. Fialkova finished 59.2 seconds back and shot clean for the day.
Clare Egan after placing sixth in the IBU World Cup’s 10 k pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia. (Photo: Biathlonworld.com)
For the U.S., Clare Egan placed a career-best sixth (+1:22.4, 0+0+1+0). Egan missed a single target during the race.
“I knew the pieces were there,” Egan told IBU TV after the race. “I had clean shooting in a [preseason] race at the Austrian trials before the World Cup. And then I had just awesome ski times this week, so I knew it was coming. I just had really good focus today, and I love competing head to head, so pursuit is a great race for me. I thought I was… I wasn’t sure if I was in fifth or sixth, and this Norwegian skier [Marte Olsbu Røiseland], really good, just got me at the finish. So I was so happy when I looked up and saw that I was in sixth in the flower ceremony.”
Also for the U.S., Susan Dunklee placed 39th (+3:36.3 0+1+0+1), and Joanne Reid 43rd (+3:51., 0+0+1+0).
CNST teammates Dahria Beatty (l) and Katherine Stewart-Jones charge the last hill of the 10km on their way to 6th and 1st respectively. (Photo: Peggy Hung)
Sovereign Lake NorAm/SuperTour 5k/10k Classic
The Sovereign Lake weekend wrapped up with individual start classic distance races and a more neighbourly distribution of results.
Katherine Stewart-Jones (CNST) won the women’s 10km in 31:48.4, hanging on in the last lap to finish ahead of APU’s Becca Rorabaugh (+7.1) and SMS’ Julia Kern (+7.8). APU’s Hailey Swirlbul snatched 4th at 10.9 seconds with Dahria Beatty (CNST) in 5th, 26.7 seconds back.
Kyle Bratrud on his way to victory in the 15km (Photo: Peggy Hung)
Kyle Bratrud (SMS T2) won the battle in the men’s 15km in 41:59.3, 3.8 seconds ahead of Ben Lustgarten (CGRP) and 34.7 seconds ahead of Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (NMU/CNEPH). Sam Hendry (CJNST) edged out Andy Newell (SMS T2) for fifth.
Individual start results are here with the full weekend here. Photos and interviews are coming in the Noram/SuperTour wrap-up.
On Saturday, the second day of World Cup cross-country racing ensued in Lillehammer, Norway with a 10-kilometer freestyle individual start race for the women.
On a track of snow surrounded by green fir trees and a soggy landscape, the women skied two laps of 5 k course. Norway’s Therese Johaug was the fastest skier at every checkpoint to win in a time of 26:22.4 minutes. Ebba Andersson, the upstart Swede skied to second (+9.2), and teammate Charlotte Kalla was third (+15.7).
Collectively, it was a strong day for the U.S. women with four skiers in the top-30.
Sadie Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) finished in ninth (+1:17.0) after placing third in yesterday’s skate sprint. Rosie Brennan (APU) skied to 11th (+1:29.3), the USST’s Jessie Diggins 12th (+1:29.9), Caitlin Paterson (CGRP) 30th (+2:28.2), Kaitlynn Miller (CGRP) 60th (+4:10.4), and Ida Sargent of the USST 63rd (+4:18.4), and Kelsey Phinney (SMS T2) 65th (+4:22.5).
The men raced three times around the 5 k loop for 15 k total and three times up the course’s big climb. In this early season, many of the perceived pre-race favorites finished further back in the field.
Norway’s Sjur Røthe won in a time of 36:34.0 minutes. By the 8.3 k time check, Røthe took control of the race. Teammate Didrik Tønseth placed second (+6.0), while Russia’s Denis Spitsov was third (+28.6).
Canada’s Alex Harvey was the best placed North American in 17th (+1:20.5). Also for Canada, Andy Shields was 61st (+3:08.4), and Russell Kennedy (TEAM R.A.D.)64th (+3:17.0)
For the U.S., Erik Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) finished 43rd (+2:24.5), David Norris (APU) 54th (+2:44.5), Simi Hamilton (USST) 56th (+2:59.4), Paddy Caldwell (USST) 67th (+3:33.1), Kevin Bolger (USST) 68th (+3:38.7), Scott Patterson (USST) 73rd (+3:52.3), and Adam Martin (CGRP) 75th (+4:05.0).
SuperTour (West Yellowstone, Mont.): 1.3 k Freestyle sprints
The fastest qualifier for the men on Saturday in West Yellowstone was SMS T2 athlete Andy Newell. The Vermont native, now residing in Bozeman, Mont., won in a time of 2:35.53 minutes. His margin of victory was 7.26 seconds over second fastest qualifier, Alaska Pacific University (APU) skier Logan Hannenman. Newell’s teammate, Ben Saxton qualified in third (+7.79).
Newell advanced to the finals by winning the first heat and first semifinal.
In the finals, Newell controlled the pace and made clear that at thirty five years old, he can still light up the domestic ranks. Newell won in a time of 2:41.66 minutes. Craftsbury Green Racing Project’s Ben Lustgarten placed second in 2:43.55 minutes, and University of New Mexico skier Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier was third in 2:45.66 minutes.
Adam Luban of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Gold Team finished in fourth, Forrest Mahlen of Alaska Pacific University (APU) was fifth, and Ben Saxton (SMS T2) placed sixth in the men’s final.
Julia Kern, a member of the U.S. Ski Development Team (UUSDT) and SMS T2 , won the women’s qualifier in 3:08.58 minutes. Second in the qualifier, also from SS T2, was Erika Flowers who finished 2.5 seconds behind Kern. University of Utah skier, Julia Richter qualified in third (+3.22).
Like Newell, Kern won both her quarterfinal and semi to make the finals.
Kern won the women’s final in 3:09.85 minutes. APU’s RosieFrankowski, the day’s fourth fastest qualifier, was second in a time of 3:11.37 minutes. Teammate Hannah Halvorsen (APU/USSDT) placed third, stopping the clock in 3:12.51 minutes. Halvorsen placed sixth in the qualifier.
Flowers ended up fourth in the finals, while Richter and Utah teammate Karianne Moe, placed fifth and sixth, respectively.
Russia’s Denis Spitsov celebrates his first U23 World Championships gold on Friday ahead of France’s Jules Lapierre in the men’s 30 k skiathlon in Goms, Switzerland. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)
(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Lauren Jortberg and Ian Torchia.)
U23 World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): 15/30 k skiathlons
On the final day of U23 World Championships racing in Goms, Russia stole the show in the women’s and men’s skiathlons.
The all-Russian women’s 15 k skiathlon podium at U23 World Championships on Friday in Goms, Switzerland, with Anastasia Sedova (c) in first, Natalia Nepryaeva (l) in second and Yulia Belorukova (r) in third. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)
Anastasia Sedova led them in the first race of the day on Friday, the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon, which she won in 44:03.6 minutes. Russia swept the podium and had four in the top five with Natalia Nepryaeva in second (+10.7) and Yana Kirpichenko in third (+37.2), and Yulia Belorukova in fourth (+1:58.0). Germany’s Pia Fink placed fourth (+1:33.5).
The race was the first of the week for the 22-year-old Sedova, a World Cup regular, and it was her second individual gold medal at her second U23 World Championships (she won the 10 k classic in 2016).
“Good preparation for the Olympic Games,” Sedova said during an in-arena interview after the race. “I am very lucky today. Good atmosphere, good weather today.”
Kirpichenko won the 10 k classic earlier this week and Nepryaeva placed third in the freestyle sprint in Goms.
“It’s hard to say how to describe the race, but Anastasia is a really good skier,” Nepryaeva said after. “She was really good today. So for me it was hard to support her during the race. Today she was much better than me.”
American Lauren Jortberg (Dartmouth Ski Team) led the North Americans in 29th (+5:29.9) for her best distance result at the Junior/U23 World Championships level.
“Early in the race I was right over 30th place, and I was trying to maintain contact with the big group ahead of me,” Jortberg, a Dartmouth sophomore from Boulder, Colorado, wrote in an email. “The pace of the classic leg was really fast. A couple of the girls in the race are heading to the Olympics in a few days so it was a really hot start!”
She came through the transition at the race’s halfway point in 31st, about 3:47 behind the leaders.
“I am a much better skater so I felt like I really put the hammer down on the skate leg and moved up a lot,” Jortberg wrote. “The skate course was much easier than the classic course, but I feel like I skied the massive climbs better than the girls around me. I focused on having a really high tempo over the hills and skiing the downhills technically well because there was no rest on the course.
“I’m pleased with my performance today, and I’m excited about my results this week as a whole,” she added. “I’m definitely leaving here hungry for more because I don’t think it was my best week, but I think it was really solid. This is the most competitive field I’ve ever raced against so it feels really good to know that I’m not too far off their level!”
Also for the U.S., Lydia Blanchet placed 38th (+7:11.1) and Nicole Schneider was 40th (+8:04.3). Julia Kern did not finish.
Canada’s Katherine Stewart-Jones (Canadian National U25 Team/NTDC Thunder Bay) placed 31st (+5:39.0) and Maya MacIsaac-Jones was 42nd (+8:08.8), while Laura Leclair and Sophie Carrier-Laforte were lapped.
Russia’s Denis Spitsov leads France’s Jules Lapierre during the men’s 30 k skiathlon on Friday at 2018 U23 World Championships in Goms, Switzerland. Spitsov went on to win by 2.9 seconds over Lapierre. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)
In the men’s 30 k, Russia’s Denis Spitsov took the win in 1:18:14.9 hours, just 2.9 seconds ahead of France’s Jules Lapierre. Norway’s Ole Jørgen Bruvoll placed third (+21.5), ahead of Russia’s Ivan Yakimushkin in fourth (+23.2), and Andorra’s Irineu Esteve Altimiras in fifth (+36.4).
The gold was the first for Spitsov, 21, who previously placed second in the 15 k classic earlier this week. He has two individual bronze medals from last year’s U23 Worlds (in the 30 k skiathlon and 15 k freestyle).
American Ian Torchia (U.S. Ski Team/Northern Michigan University) placed 27th on Friday (+6:05.7). Only 33 men finished, and he was the only North American that didn’t get lapped.
“Between the 3700 feet of climbing, a 2.5km loop, and the top dogs having World Cup podiums…half the field got lapped,” Torchia wrote in an email. “Definitely added some motivation in the final 2 laps to see Spitsov and Lapierre slowly catching up.
“I felt I skied technically better in skate and struggled on the classic leg,” Torchia explained. “Took a hard tumble halfway through the classic leg and had to take half a lap to recover from that. Found a hole in my suit close to my groin afterward which was a little unnerving!”
At the end of the week, he noted that he felt “more fired up than coming in. Funny how being 6 minutes back can do that,” he wrote. “It was an eye-opening experience to get back on the international stage after 2 years and I will take these lessons of racing to the rest of the season in the Ishpemimg Super Tour, Steamboat NCAA’s, and Craftsbury Spring Series. Also already thinking of ideas on how to change and optimize my training to make the jump to the top level.”
Americans Andrew Egger, Zak Ketterson and Thomas O’Harra also competed, as did Canada’s Alexis Dumas, Gareth Williams, Philippe Boucher, and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier.
Stratton’s Ben Saxton (l) edging Julien Locke (r) by eight-hundredths of a second for the win in the men’s 1.4 k classic sprint A-final on Friday at Eastern Canadian Championships in Gatineau, Quebec. (Photo: Becca Rorabaugh (APU) on her way to winning the women’s 1.3 k classic sprint qualifier on Friday at 2018 Eastern Canadian Championships in Gatineau, Quebec. (Photo: Rob Smith/CCC)
NorAm Eastern Canadian Championships (Gatineau, Quebec): Classic sprints
Eastern Canadian Championships opened in Gatineau on Friday with classic sprinting, and Americans Becca Rorabaugh and Ben Saxton ended the day with wins in the women’s and men’s A-finals, respectively.
Becca Rorabaugh (APU) on her way to winning the women’s 1.3 k classic sprint qualifier on Friday at 2018 Eastern Canadian Championships in Gatineau, Quebec. (Photo: Rob Smith/CCC)
For Rorabaugh, the win is her second straight after the Alaska Pacific University (APU) skier won the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle at last weekend’s SuperTour in Craftsbury, Vermont. She edged last weekend’s classic-sprint winner, Kaitlynn Miller, of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP), by 0.41 seconds for the win in 3:23.15 minutes in Friday’s 1.3 k classic sprint final. It was an all-American podium (and all-American final) with Erika Flowers, of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 Team, just another three-hundredths of a second back in third (+0.44). Liz Guiney (CGRP) followed in fourth (+2.51), Rosie Frankowski (APU) was fifth (+3.88), and Corey Stock (Bridger Ski Foundation) placed sixth (+6.1).
Rorabaugh had started the day by qualifying first in 3:26.95, then won both her quarterfinal and semifinal. Miller qualified third and won her quarterfinal and semifinal as well.
In the men’s 1.4 k classic sprint, Saxton (SMST2) nipped Julien Locke (Canadian U25 Team/Black Jack) at the line by 0.08 seconds for the win in 3:04.54. Patrick Stewart-Jones (Alberta World Cup Academy) placed third (+5.53), Kris Freeman (Caldwell Sport) was fourth (+5.94), Kevin Bolger (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation) fifth (+7.42), and Julian Smith (NTDC Thunder Bay) sixth (+11.63).
Locke initially won the qualifier in 3:08.37, then won the first quarterfinal and first semifinal as well. Saxton qualified sixth, then advanced in second in his quarterfinal about a second behind Smith, and Saxton won the second semifinal.
Easterns continue Saturday with 10/15 k freestyle races and conclude Sunday with 10/15 k classic pursuits.
The women’s 10 k classic podium at 2018 U23 World Championships, with Russia’s Yana Kirpichenko (c) in first and Anna Zherebyateva (l) in second, and Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich (r) in third. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)
(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Lydia Blanchet and Ian Torchia.)
U23 World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): 10/15 k classic
Russia put two in the top three in both the women’s and men’s races on Wednesday at U23 World Championships in Goms, and for the second-straight race, Canada’s Katherine Stewart-Jones landed in the top 30.
In the women’s 10-kilometer classic, Russia’s Yana Kirpichenko pulled out a 13.9-second victory over fellow Russian Anna Zherebyateva, finishing with the winning time of 27:46.1 minutes. Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich returned to the podium for the second race in a row (after placing second in Monday’s skate sprint), finishing third, 29.6 seconds behind Kirpichenko.
In Monday’s sprint, Kirpichenko qualified fourth and ended up fifth in the final. She is a bronze medalist in the 15 k skiathlon at last year’s U23 Worlds.
Stewart-Jones, of the Canadian National U25 Team and National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay, started relatively early on Wednesday in bib 19 and ultimately placed 29th, 3:07.3 out of first. She sped up as the race progressed, from 40th at 2.4 k to 32nd at 5 k and up to 30th at 7.4 k.
So far in all five races she’s competed in over the last two years at U23 Worlds, Stewart-Jones has finished in the top 30. Her best result is 21st in last year’s 15 k skiathlon, and at the Junior Worlds level, she had a best individual result of 14th in the 10 k skiathlon in 2015.
American Lydia Blanchet (Dartmouth Ski Team) started fifth on Wednesday and ended up 30th (+3:10.4) after skiing in the top 30 throughout the race. Her Dartmouth teammate Lauren Jortberg followed in 34th (+3:28.9) and Nicole Schneider was 49th (+5:23.8). Julia Kern did not start.
For Blanchet, a Dartmouth junior, this week marked her first time racing at the Junior/U23 World Championships level. So far, she has placed 32nd in the freestyle sprint and now 30th in the classic distance race.
“This is my first time racing internationally, and I tried to go into the races with no expectations,” Blanchet explained in an email. “I was excited to get as close as I did to qualifying for the sprint, but it was definitely bittersweet—missing heats by 0.3 seconds left me regretting some of the smaller details of my race. Still, it is really exciting to know that I can compete on the world stage!”
After the sprint, she made a goal of finishing in the top 30.
“I really like hilly, rolling courses—especially ones with very technical downhills—and this course definitely fit that bill,” she wrote of the classic distance course. “I am really happy with my race, all things considered. I didn’t feel great while I was racing – my legs flooded pretty hard a few km’s in – but I think I did a good job of holding myself together and staying strong mentally. I know I have the ability to do even better, which is motivating and exciting. I am looking forward to get to ski head-on against the whole field in the skiathlon, and I’m excited to try and pick my way forward from my bib number. I’m also really excited to go home and race carnivals with the Dartmouth team.”
Canada’s Laura Leclair finished 40th (+4:20.9), Sophie Carrier-Laforte was 43rd (+4:19.2) and Maya MacIsaac-Jones 47th (+4:47.3) out of 53 finishers.
Nicole Bathe of the Midwest-based Central Cross Country (CXC) Team, who races for Great Britain, placed 37th (+3:43.8), for her second top 40 of the week after placing 39th in the skate sprint.
Norway’s Mattis Stenshagen racing to the win in the men’s 15 k classic at 2018 U23 World Championships in Goms, Switzerland. It was his first gold medal and podium at U23 Worlds (he earned silver two years ago in the 15 k freestyle at Junior Worlds and also gold in the relay that year). (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)
In the men’s 15 k classic that followed, Norway’s Mattis Stenshagen edged Russia’s Denis Spitsov by 4.8 seconds for the win in 36:28.3. Also for Russia, Ivan Yakimushkin placed third, 35.2 seconds back.
Canada’s Alexis Dumas, of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) was the top North American in 31st, 2:51.7 out of first. He worked his way up from 40th at 5 k to 35th by 10 k, and finally just 0.2 seconds outside of 30th at the finish.
American Ian Torchia (U.S. Ski Team D-team/Northern Michigan University) followed in 32nd (+2:55.9) and Bill Harmeyer (University of Vermont) finished 39th (+3:43.3). Also for the U.S., Thomas O’Harra placed 43rd (+4:17.3) and Zak Ketterson was 57th (+5:37.6).
Torchia, an NMU junior, has been to two Junior Worlds in 2015 and 2016, but this marked his first U23’s.
“The jump from juniors to U23s is quite a leap. I missed the first year of being a U23 last year due to mono so getting back into international racing was a shock to the system,” he explained in an email.
As for his goals for the 10 k, he was hoping for a top 15 or 20, but moreover “wanted to race smart and feel good out on the course technically and physically,” Torchia wrote. “This was the hardest course I have ever raced with 600m of climbing throughout the 15k and I was excited to showcase my striding ability out there…
“However, from the first km I was in the pain cave (even though I didn’t open that fast!) and it was a fight the entire way,” he continued. “I need to work on staying technically strong when hurting and I did not do a good job of executing that today. The eventual second place Russian started as I was looping around for my 2nd lap so I was able to see and feel what a podium performance looks like. Going to have that image in my head throughout the next year!”
For Friday’s 30 k skiathlon, Torchia wrote that he would be “throwing all place goals out the window and focusing on skiing technically well and racing smart. Looking forward to channeling my last skiathlon in Kazakhstan which went really well [he placed 11th in the 20 k at 2015 Junior Worlds] and moving up from my starting position.”
Canada’s Gareth Williams finished 41st (+4:00.2) on Wednesday, Philippe Boucher was 45th (+4:22.7) and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier 47th (+4:24.3) out of 63 finishers.
Norway’s Tiril Udnes Weng (second from l) and Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich (l) battle for first down the finishing stretch of the women’s final for the gold medal in the U23 World Championships skate sprint in Goms, Switzerland. Weng won it by eight-hundredths of a second. (Screenshot: Swiss Ski livestream)
(This article has been updated to include comments from Canada’s Laura Leclair, Katherine Stewart-Jones and Maya MacIsaac-Jones, as well as American Julia Kern.)
U23 World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): Freestyle sprints
On the first day of U23 World Championships racing in Goms, Switzerland, Norway’s Tiril Udnes Weng tallied her first individual world title in the women’s 1.2-kilometer freestyle sprint, winning the A-final in 2:50.24 minutes, just 0.08 seconds ahead of Swiss World Cup regular Nadine Fähndrich in second. Another World Cup skier, Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia finished third, 4.78 seconds out of first.
Weng, 21, is no stranger to World Cups, either. Just two days ago, she qualified 11th in the World Cup skate sprint in Seefeld, Austria, and went on to place 17th overall.
On Monday, she qualified second, 0.2 seconds off Fähndrich’s top qualifying time of 3:03.51. Weng then placed second to Nepryaeva in the fourth quarterfinal, a heat that included Canadians Maya MacIsaac-Jones and Katherine Stewart-Jones, both of the Canadian National U25 Team. While Sweden’s Moa Olsson finished third in that quarterfinal and advanced as a lucky loser based on time, the two Canadians did not. MacIsaac-Jones had previously qualified in 19th and Stewart-Jones in 22nd. Overall, MacIsaac-Jones placed 18th and Stewart-Jones was 23rd on the day.
In an email, MacIsaac-Jones explained her goal had been to make the semifinals.
“My strategy was to stick behind the top two girls, and hang on as best I could,” she wrote of her quarterfinal. “As Canadians we tend to be pretty good at downhilling, so I tried to use that to my advantage. I wasn’t quite able to stick with the top girls over the crest of the big hill, but I was happy to be fairly competitive in the heat overall!”
Still, the top 20 was her best result in her fourth trip to Junior/U23 Worlds.
“I’m disappointed of course to have missed out on making the semi-final, but I feel I did the best I could with what my body had on the day so I’m happy with that,” she continued. “It was of course exciting to get my first top-20 , but also disappointing because I felt like my body wasn’t moving as well as it was at trials a few weeks ago (I got sick right after arriving in Europe which probably didn’t help with that).”
For Stewart-Jones, this marks her fifth Junior/U23 World Championships.
“Over the years I have learned that it’s just another race, and that I don’t need to treat it any differently,” she wrote in an email on Tuesday. “Coming into te race I knew that I was in the best shape I’ve been all year, but I also had only done one skate sprint qualifier and no heats) this year so I wasn’t sure what to expect.”
Her goal had been to reach the semifinals and finish in the top 12.
“I am happy with how I skied the qualifier. The quarterfinal was tough,” Stewart-Jones wrote. “My teammate Maya and I ended up being in a really fast heat. I felt like I skied well technically but I don’t think I skied it how I needed to to have a chance of moving on. I tried holding on to the top 2 girls over the top of the first hill and ended up losing time on the second… I think it would have made more sense to lay back a bit over the top of the first to save some gas for the end.”
Stewart-Jones as well as MacIsaac-Jones came incredibly close to making Canada’s 2018 Olympic team based on their results at NorAm trials earlier this month.
“Overall, I am happy with how the body feels but disappointed with how I skied tactically,” Stewart-Jones wrote. “Not making the Olympic team was definitely more frustrating than it was disappointing. The whole ordeal was a bit exhausting, with first missing out on the 4th spot by less than a second and then being 12th on the list of [11] quota spots, it was really as close as it gets. I’m doing my best to fuel that frustration into positive energy so that I can perform at my best here. I am really looking forward to the next 2 races!!”
Norway’s Tiril Udnes Weng (l) and Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich in a photo finish for first in the women’s freestyle sprint final at U23 World Championships on Monday in Goms, Switzerland. Weng won it by eight-hundredths of a second. (Screenshot: Swiss Ski livestream)
Fähndrich won both her quarterfinal and semifinal leading up to the final, and Weng won the second semifinal by 0.59 seconds over Nepryaeva. In the final, Weng had the edge.
“I dream about winning, that’s the goal of my season,” Weng said during a post-race interview in the arena. “So it felt good to win.”
Three Canadians made the heats, with Laura Leclair of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) qualifying in 26th then placing third in her quarterfinal, 2.75 seconds behind German winner Nadine Herrmann. That put Leclair 15th overall on the day in her first U23 World Championships race.
“As it is my first time at Worlds and my first year in a big category (U23) I was coming here for experience,” Leclair wrote in an email on Tuesday. “Experience to ski internationally, in Europe and against the best. Of course, I was hoping to perform but I never anticipated a top 15.
“Since I was seeded 30th, I was a little skeptical of making it through the qualifier,” she continued. “Qualifying 26th was a very exciting moment.”
In her quarterfinal, she said the pace didn’t pick up until about halfway up a long uphill out of the start, a climb that lasted for about a minute and a half.
“I was in a strong position (4th) but it was hard to make my way to the top,” Leclair wrote. “At the top of the big hill, a girl broke a pole and I was able to pass her and push over the hill into the downhill in order to come closer to the two girls in front. The last uphill felt like it was just give or take. Obviously, I chose the give option and gave it all I had into the finish. My heat wasn’t one of the fastest so I wasn’t a lucky loser but I am very happy of how I skied that course.
“This season has been full [of] surprise,” she concluded. “Just qualifying for Worlds in Canada was one! I am very happy that all my efforts and my dedication to the sport are paying off. For the rest of the week, I want to have some strong races, especially in the skiathlon and maybe surprise myself again.”
Two Americans qualified in the top 30 as well, with Lauren Jortberg (Dartmouth Ski Team) in 14th and Julia Kern (U.S. Ski Team/Dartmouth/Stratton Mountain School T2 Team) in 21st. Jortberg went on to finish fifth in her quarterfinal, 7.28 seconds behind German winner Pia Fink, and Kern finished sixth in Fähndrich’s quarterfinal, 22.28 seconds out of first. Overall, Jortberg placed 22nd and Kern was 27th.
In an email, Jortberg, who competed at U23 World Championships last year at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, explained her goal was to qualify for the heats.
“I honestly had no idea what to expect in Goms this year because Soldier Hollow felt just like US Nationals and the Super Junior National Qualifiers I’d been going to for the past ten years,” Jortberg, a Dartmouth College sophomore, wrote on Monday. “Obviously the competitors from all over the world was different, but was easy to visualize what is going to be like. The venues are similar in many ways because there are very few trees making it very open and a great spectators course.
“A big difference between Goms and Soldier Hollow is the little towns everywhere,” she continued. “The first ski we did here, we skied through the roads and through a town. There are ski trails everywhere here, we could even ski from the venue to the hotel (which is pretty far)! For the ski courses, I think Goms is one of the most challenging ski courses I’ve ever raced on. There are huge climbs are incredibly technical downhills! Its a one of the most exciting places I’ve ever raced, I love it so much.”
As for her racing on Monday, she wrote that she was “really psyched because I felt really strong and smooth in the qualifier! I was a bit bummed because I had to scrub a fair amount of speed skiing behind a girl I caught on the really technical downhill. The heats were really fun!! I had a great starting position and skied really smooth up the big climb. Then I took a very gutsy move on the downhill to sling shot into first place on the inside corner around the downhill turn. Unfortunately right after that I got caught up in a tangle on the last climb, and then I lost contact with the lead group. I was bummed to get caught up in a tangle, but it was really cool to be able to ski with these girls!”
Overall, Jortberg described the day as “pretty incredible.”
“My motto has always been that sprints are funny because ‘anything can happen’ for the good and bad!” she added. “I’m pretty excited for the rest of the week of racing even though this race was my main target. These courses play really strongly to my strengths so it should be fun to see what I can do!”
Kern explained in an email that she’s been sick for the past month so her main goal was to start Monday’s race. But for a long time leading up to this race, she had envisioned a top 10.
“Regardless of how I was feeling, one of my goals was to ski with good technique because that is something you can always control,” Kern wrote. “I was pretty content with my qualifier, given being sick. Skiing out there today, I had no idea if I would surprise myself and my illness wouldn’t impact my skiing or if I was just going to feel absolutely terrible. I was happy with how I placed given how I felt.”
In the heats, she wanted to stay in contact with leaders up the course’s big climb, then try to “drop the hammer on the downhill and last uphill.”
“However, my quarterfinal did not play out that way,” she wrote. “The pace was hot from the start, with bib #1 [Fähndrich] gunning from the start. I stuck with the heat until part way up the first climb, where I started to lose the leaders. I did not feel good and I had no energy so I was not able to hold the pace of the other competitors. I had considered not doing the heats because I felt pretty wiped after the qualifier, but the competitor inside me couldn’t just walk away from my favorite thing—sprint heats.
“Given my current health state, I feel okay about my day, but I am obviously bummed because this was the race I was looking forward to most this season,” Kern added. “I am looking forward to getting healthy in time to race the 10k classic, or at the very least the skiathlon!”
Also for the U.S., Lydia Blanchet missed qualifying by 0.32 seconds in 32nd, as did Canada’s Sophie Carrier-Laforte, who was 3.68 seconds out of the top 30 in 34th. American Nicole Schneider finished 44th.
The all-Norwegian men’s freestyle sprint podium on Monday at U23 World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, with Erik Valnes (c) in first, Jan Thomas Jenssen (l) in second and Even Northug (r) in third. (Screenshot: Swiss Ski livestream)
In the men’s 1.5 k skate sprint on Monday, Norway swept the men’s podium, with Erik Valnes winning his first World Championships medal in 2:56.38, Jan Thomas Jenssen finishing 0.24 seconds back in second, and Even Northug placing third (+6.34).
For the 21-year-old Valnes, this marked his first U23 World Championships (or Junior Worlds for that matter). He’s competed in two World Cup sprints this season, placing 22nd in the skate sprint earlier this month in Dresden, Germany, and 27th in a classic sprint in December in Lillehammer, Norway.
Valnes started Monday by winning the qualifying round in 3:00.18, by 0.77 seconds over Sweden’s Anton Persson, then won his quarterfinal and semifinal, both by nearly half a second, before besting his fellow Norwegians in the final.
“Fun to take the gold medal at the end,” Valnes said during a televised in-arena interview after the final. “It was my biggest goal this year, so it means a lot, of course. A gold medal is always good to have.”
No North American men qualified for the heats. Canada’s Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier placed 40th, Antoine Briand was 41st, Philippe Boucher 42nd, and Olivier Hamel 60th.
For the U.S., Bill Harmeyer finished 46th, Andrew Egger was 47th, Thomas O’Harra 64th, and Zak Ketterson 65th.
The third NorAm of the season in Mont Sainte-Anne (MSA), Québec, was also a Canadian selection event for next month’s Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, as well as Junior and U23 World Championships, which start later this month in Goms, Switzerland.
The original schedule of racing from Saturday, Jan. 6, to Tuesday, Jan. 9, with a backup race day on Wednesday had to be modified when Saturday and Sunday were colder than International Ski Federation (FIS) safety rules allow.
Cendrine Browne (CNEPH/Canadian National U25 Team) celebrates her decisive win in the women’s 15 k skiathlon on Jan. 8 at Mont Sainte-Anne NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
The classic sprint was moved to Friday, Jan. 5, for the open categories only. The skiathlon was moved to Monday, the freestyle sprint moved to Tuesday, and the classic interval start races rescheduled for Wednesday.
The senior men’s races saw a new winner each day, while Cendrine Browne of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) and Canadian National U25 Team won both women’s distance races (the 15 k skiathlon and 10 k classic) and placed second in the skate sprint. She also finished fourth in the classic sprint (and second in the classic-sprint qualifier) to essentially earn one of the remaining spots on the Canadian Olympic team.
Another CNEPH skier, Antoine Cyr was a big winner in the junior division, winning three out of four races.
While you’ve already heard about the news (and did you catch these Junior/U23 Worlds team announcements?), below you’ll find athlete quotes from each race day.
***
Classic Sprints
The most probable spot remaining on the Canadian Olympic team was reserved for the top female sprinter at trials in the same discipline that will be contested in PyeongChang: the classic sprint. Browne, who had spent the first month and a half of the season in Europe on the World Cup and considers herself much more of a distance skier, qualified second and finished fourth in the A-final to earn that spot.
World Cup team member Dahria Beatty, also of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA), who had previously met qualifying criteria for PyeongChang, won both the qualifier and all of her heats. National team member Julien Locke (Canadian U25 Team/Black Jack) edged out Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) for the A-final win, but Kennedy won the tiebreaker for an additional quota spot at the Olympics, if Canada gets it.
Dahria Beatty (401) of the AWCA/Canadian U25 Team en route to a win in one of her heats in the women’s classic sprint on Jan. 5 at Mont Sainte-Anna NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“It felt quite cold today with the wind and humidity but I believe it was only -14c. The course was in good condition.”
— Beatty (1st), on the conditions
“When I was doing my intervals on the course the day before the race I felt rushed and bogged down on the herringbone and steep striding sections. I made sure to really focus on how I was going to ski each section technically. On this course that allowed me to be relaxed in my qualifier and ski faster than if I was rushing. I am pleased that I was able to stick to my plan and the heats went well. I led my quarter and semi and then in the final I put myself in a comfortable position off the start and attacked on the climb and led the second half of the race”
— Beatty on strategy
“I didn’t have as much confidence in my fitness and I put a lot of pressure on myself to try to execute the perfect race. The snow was faster out of the track so that is where I tried to ski. I was out of the track and picked up a technique infraction around one of the final corners in my quarter final. I’m very disappointed in myself.”
— Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers/Canadian National Team), about her first race in 11 months after an injury ended her 2016/2017 season early. She skied a strong semifinal to qualify for the A-final, but was disqualified for a technique infraction in her quarterfinal
Julien Locke (National U25 Team/Black Jack) qualifying second in the men’s classic sprint on Jan. 5 at Mont Sainte-Anna NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“I was quite relaxed coming into these trials. There was obviously a lot on the time, but at the end of the day, it’s just a ski race like any other. I knew that I had been racing well and was confident that I was in strong form. I was aware that both the qualifier and heats were up for consideration and was ready to fight hard in both.”
— Locke (1st in the A-final, 2nd in the qualifier), on his mental approach
“The track was in excellent condition yesterday. After having done a race-prep intensity Wednesday evening in slow, soft, heavily-falling snow, the track felt considerably easier on race day. The atmosphere on the course was fantastic. Lots of excitement and a wall of sound at the start and up the 2nd climb.”
— Locke
“I played the 1/4 final conservatively, following the Andy and Scott around the course before coming through on the final straight. I decided to be more offensive in the semi and started at a strong pace and skied from the front. With all of the twists in the 2nd half, I wanted to be out of trouble. It took a while to get the body feeling good but by the time the final came around, I knew that I was feeling strong. I pushed the pace from the start and attacked the course to the end. It was great to have the track to myself to just put my head down and ski fast.”
— Locke on his tactics
Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) qualifying first in the men’s classic sprint on Jan. 5 at Mont Sainte-Anna NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“I have had good fitness this year so I used the first two heats to try some strategies knowing Julian has a really good end kick. That being said the whole final could have taken a win so I just wanted to make sure I was near the front so I could take a podium since I knew that would be my best chance.”
— Kennedy (1st in qualifying, 2nd in A-final)
“To be honest I don’t like reading criteria so I didn’t really realize how important it was. I was more interested in racing to my best ability and coming up with a course strategy with my coach Alain [Parent]!”
— Kennedy, on his mental approach
“Happy with my result. I was on crutches the day before and didn’t think I would be able to start so pretty happy with the outcome.”
— Evan Palmer-Charrette (NTDC Thunder Bay; 4th in the A-final)
***
Skiathlon
Canadian World Cup Team members Knute Johnsgaard (170) and Jess Cockney (179, behind) leaving the ski exchange halfway through the men’s 30 k skiathlon on Jan. 8 at Mont Sainte-Anna NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“It felt really good to take the win today. Even though I’ve met criteria for the Olympics I know people were starting to question my deserving of the spot, and rightfully so. I think I was letting that get to me until today when I finally just raced one for Knute and not to prove anything to anyone else.”
— Knute Johnsgaard (Canadian World Cup team; 1st) on winning the mental game
“We had a solid group of 5 or 6 guys right through most of the race and of that group I was pretty confident I could take it if it came down to a sprint.”
— Johnsgaard
Jack Carlyle (AWCA) leading Knute Johnsgaard (directly behind) and Graham Nishikawa (162) during the men’s 30 k skiathlon on Jan. 8 at Mont Sainte-Anne NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“I am very excited about the race today, this is my first time getting a senior podium on the NorAm and that means a lot to me. I tried to just sit in the group and stay relaxed on the classic portion, and for the skate I wanted to stay near the front of the group.”
— Gareth Williams (Telemark Nordic/National U25 Team; 3rd)
“I am really happy with how my race went today! Throughout the classic portion, all the racers stayed pretty close together. I kept my place near the front of the pack, taking advantage of the draft of the skiers in front of me to save energy. On the last uphill before the downhill finish I managed to pull away from the girl I was skiing with and from there it was just a sprint to the finish! Since we don’t have many opportunities to race Skiathlons in Canada I was happy I had the chance to race this one!”
— Natalie Hynes (Whitehorse Ski Club), who won junior women’s 10 k skiathlon to earn trip to Junior Worlds
Antoine Cyr (92) celebrates his first NorAm win in the junior men’s 20 k skiathlon on Jan. 8 at Mont Sainte-Anne NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“I found myself alone with about 30 sec lead on the chasing pack. After the exchange, I paced the 10 km well and was able to keep a strong lead. When I crossed the finish line I was guaranteed a spot for Europe !! I jumped in my mom and my sister arm (they came down all the way from Gatineau to see me) I was so happy and then I celebrated with the rest of the team.”
— Antoine Cyr (CNEPH), on earning a Junior Worlds spot with his first NorAm junior win
***
Freestyle Sprints
Dahria Beatty (AWCA/National U25 Team) racing to fourth in the women’s skate sprint qualifier on Jan. 9 at Mont Sainte-Anne NorAm Trials in Quebec. She went on to win the A-final for her second-straight NorAm sprint win. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“In today’s final, Maya [MacIsaac-Jones] started fast and Zina [Kocher] really attacked the climbs. I tried to make sure I was always sitting in 2nd or 3rd behind those two until the second last climb where I pushed the flat section at the top to go into the twisting downhill behind Zina. I was able to overtake Zina on the last little bump before turning back into the stadium, allowing me to take the best line into the finish.”
— Beatty (1st), on tactics
“I felt soooooo tired!!! After the quali, I was wondering if I should do the heats. But as discussed with my coach Louis [Bouchard], my preparation for OWG has started and this sprint was a part of it.”
— Browne (2nd), on feeling the pain on Day 3
“The final was rough, I got pushed and cornered but that’s part of the game in sprints! The tactic was to give everything I had left. I thought that maybe I would finish last of my heat because my legs were so heavy! But it turned out that I still had some energy left because I passed Maya and Zina in the last 150 meters to finish 2nd!”
— Browne
Zina Kocher (Foothills Nordic) in the women’s skate sprint on Jan. 9 at Mont Sainte-Anne NorAm Trials in Quebec. She finished third in the A-final. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“In the final though I wanted to be in 2nd or 3rd for the final downhill because the draft was so important. But it didn’t work out that way. I ended up first and so I just kept going as hard as I could, & then was passed on the downhill by Daria. So I just tried to get into her draft and hold on. I lost it a bit though in the turnaround & mini downhill to the straightaway finish line & Cendrine was in my draft and had a bit more to give than I did in the last stretch to the line.”
— Zina Kocher (Foothills Nordic; 3rd), on the tactics that got her to the podium
“Hannah Mehain led us off the start and there was some jostling for position between myself, Catherine [Reed-Métayer] and Hannah. It’s a good course to be out in front, or at least in the top two, so with Hannah making a big effort to lead the start I tucked in behind. I knew I had excellent skis thanks to our amazing support team so was confident that I would be able to make a move on the downhill and push over the small hill into the finish straight!”
“I’m happy with the heat skiing again today but I’m still needing to find the top level for the qualification. I’m confident I can get to the right speed but it hasn’t been totally there yet this year.”
— Jess Cockney (Canadian World Cup team; 1st)
Bob Thompson (303) leading his skate-sprint quarterfinal, ahead of Alexis Dumas (318) and Philippe Boucher (313) and others, on Jan. 9 at Mont Sainte-Anne NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“Olivier [Hamel] was strong today and led out both my Quarter and Semi-finals to some really quick heat times. In the final there were a couple crashes that worked in my favour so I was able to claim second spot on the podium despite running out of gas well before the finish line.”
— Andy Shields (Lappe Nordic; 2nd), on the heats
“The group stayed mostly together through the first two climbs with the main push happening on the long second climb. Knute had an unfortunate crash at the bottom of that hill and [Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier] had a crash on the last downhill. I was then in third behind Andy with Jess in front and just a bit too far back to challenge Andy for second.”
— Bob Thompson (NTDC Thunder Bay; 3rd) on the A-final
***
Classic Interval Starts
Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (CNEPH) racing to first in the men’s 15 k classic on Jan. 10 at Mont Sainte-Anna NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“This morning I was pretty motivated after my fall in the final of the sprint yesterday. I started fast knowing the course well [having] trained on it the last weeks. This help me very much to pace myself! The second half I just tried to keep my pace to the finish.”
— Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (CNEPH; 1st), on using local knowledge to get his first senior win at NorAms and a trip to U23’s
“Just rushing to airport. Happy with my week overall in MSA. Shape is good. Skis were good. Will keep improving into Korea for Paralympics.”
— Graham Nishikawa (Canadian Para-Nordic Team; 3rd)
“What a weekend! I felt great and I know I will feel even better during the Olympics. My preparation is on point! I did not think that I would perform so well in the two sprints, that was a surprise for me!”
— Browne (1st)
Katherine Stewart-Jones (NTDC Thunder Bay/Canadian U25 Team) racing to second in the women’s 10 k classic on Jan. 10 at Mont Sainte-Anna NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“There was a lot on the line today and I left it all out there.”
— Katherine Stewart-Jones (NTDC Thunder Bay/U25 Team), after her second place earned her a trip to U23’s, and the possibility of PyeongChang
“What really did it for me in this race was the last double pole section about 1 km before the finish. I knew I needed to make up a couple of seconds so I double poled as quickly and as hard as I could using the circular double pole technique that my older sister Heather taught me.”
— Mehain (1st junior woman), who ensured a trip to Junior Worlds
“I felt no stress going into the race and I just wanted a fun race. It was sunny and super nice weather. so I decided to go as hard as I can for as long as I can and see what would happen. After 2 km I had a split and I was leading by 25 second.”
— Antoine Cyr (CNEPH; 1st junior man), on feeling relaxed on the way to his third win in three days
***
Did Not Start
On Friday, there were five DNS in the heats and another seven in the qualifier. The number of DNS rose by the day.
“I’m battling a cold and a calf injury I sustained on Thursday before the classic sprint in crash/pile up. I actually started [the skiathlon Monday] but shortly into it realized despite trying to tell myself it I was good to go it was the wrong decision to start given how my body is doing. As for the other 22 athletes, there certainly is a bug going around here. As well some people decided to rest given the change in schedule.”
— Palmer-Charrette
Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers) racing to ninth in the women’s 10 k classic on Jan. 10 at Mont Sainte-Anne NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“There have been so many DNS’ this week! I think for everyone it has been partly strategic and partly due to health. These are trials races for everyone so a lot of people are trying to give themselves the best chance possible in their strongest event. Especially with everyone getting sick or feeling like they are getting sick or trying to fight through sickness, skipping a race meant one more day of recovery to prepare for the rest of the week. In my case, my body was not recovering from the sprint effort on Friday and I was also fighting off some action in my sinuses. I didn’t feel well enough race to Monday.”
— Bouffard-Nesbitt
“It’s a really tough set of races here which is probably why you’re seeing so many folks DNS. Starting three days straight of racing with the 30km yesterday saps the body in a big way. Our heats ended late in the afternoon today so there’s not as much time for recovery going into tomorrow’s 15km classic. All I can do is get the recovery wheels spinning in preparation for tomorrow’s 15km classic.”
— Shields
“I’m really happy with my classic sprint. I was feeling really good. Unfortunately that race was really exhausting because it was a super cold day, I’ve been fighting a cold since Sunday night which is tough considering how important this weekend was. Monday was rough, I was not feeling very good. I decided to take Tuesday off to rest and recover for today which paid off in the end.”
— Stewart-Jones
***
What Happens Next
“I was disappointed with how my season started and was struggling to find my race form during WC period 1, so I came home for Christmas to regroup and build up towards the Olympics in February. … I head back over to Europe Jan 15th for our Olympic prep camp and the Seefeld World Cup.”
— Beatty
Anne-Marie Comeau (Université Laval) racing to third in the women’s 10 k classic on Jan. 10 at Mont Sainte-Anne NorAm Trials in Quebec. With the best results after Cendrine Browne in the two distance races at trials, she is the next pick for the Olympic team. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
“This week has been a huge disappointment for me but I’m still so eager to get more training in me and get to a point where I can deliver performances I know I’m capable of.”
— Bouffard-Nesbitt
“It’s hard to judge World Cup level racing until you’ve been there and seen how competitive it is for yourself. Some of the races in December where it looks like I’m getting crushed, I might have actually won a Noram, its a completely other world of competition over there. Nevertheless I think my shape is coming around for the games.”
— Johnsgaard
“This has guaranteed me a spot for U23 Worlds, but the following days are still important to ensure I can start in more than just the Skiathlon. Some of the stress has been released today but it will still be full charge into the next two days!”
— Williams
“The preparation for Pyeongchang is is coming along and seeing speed in the heats is encouraging and the 15km classic [on Wednesday] will be great training for my next block back in Canmore too.”
— Cockney (who changed his mind the next morning and skipped the classic day)
“On the DNS front. I didn’t race today so I could rest up as I am leaving for Dresden this afternoon for all the period 2 world cups. The trip is now, myself, Julien Locke, Dominique Moncion Groulx and Antoine [Briand]. Antoine was added after Russell [Kennedy] had to pull out due to sickness since the weekend. After Dresden we will have one day stop in Ramsau, then Slovenia, and then I will be in seefeld for a few days before the rest of the team arrives from Livigno.”
— Thompson on competing at this weekend’s Dresden World Cup
“I will be representing Canada from this Sunday all the way till 25 of February racing in Europe. A dream come true for me !! I can’t really believe it yet.”
— Cyr
Antoine Cyr (92) celebrates his first NorAm win in the junior men’s 20 k skiathlon on Jan. 8 at Mont Sainte-Anne NorAm Trials in Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018 Facebook)
The women’s 10 k classic podium on Wednesday at the NorAm trials in Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec, with Cendrine Browne (1) in first, Katherine Stewart-Jones (2) in second, and Anne-Marie Comeau (3) in third. Dahria Beatty (l) placed fourth. Comeau and Stewart-Jones are both on the U23 World Championships roster, although it’s likely that one or both of them will end up focusing on the Olympics instead. (Photo: Cross Country Canada/Instagram)
The U.S. and Canada have named their squads for FIS Cross Country World Junior and U23 Championships, set to begin later this month in Goms, Switzerland.
Both countries’ selections include athletes who excelled against the senior fields at recent domestic races (U.S. National Championships and NorAms) which served as selection races for Olympic teams.
In fact, Canada’s U23 women did so well against their senior compatriots that it’s unclear who will represent Canada at the Championships and who will do so at the Games. Anne-Marie Comeau (Université Laval), Maya MacIsaac-Jones (Rocky Mountain Racers), and Katherine Stewart-Jones (NTDC Thunder Bay/Nakkertok) were all on the podium in different competitions at Mont Sainte Anne, Quebec, last week at Canadian Olympic Selection Races.
Comeau was second in the 15 k skiathlon and third in the 10 k classic, earning herself a probable Olympic berth when each country’s Olympic quota size is finalized. However, she does not currently have the five sub-100 FIS point races on her resumé which are required to compete in the Olympics.
Then-21-year-old Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier CNEPH racing his first World Cup during the men’s freestyle sprint qualifier at World Cup Finals in March. He won the senior men’s 15 k classic at the NorAm selection series this week. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
“Anne-Marie is looking at different options now to find those races in North America,” Cross Country Canada High Performance Director Thomas Holland explained in an email.
Meanwhile, Stewart-Jones is next on the distance ranking list, and could get an Olympic call if Comeau is unable to get those points, or if an additional quota spot opens up after better-ranked countries finalize their rosters. Despite fighting off illness through the race weekend, Stewart-Jones finished second in the 10 k classic at the end of the selection series.
“I know that I have qualified for U23 World Champs,” Stewart-Jones told FasterSkier. “That trip leaves on [January] 15th. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Olympic selection but I will probably not know until the 21st.”
Meanwhile, MacIsaac-Jones was second in the classic sprint final after qualifying fourth in the final, missing taking the open women’s sprint spot for PyeongChang by just one place. That spot went to Cendrine Browne instead, taking her out of the distance rankings and opening the way for Comeau and/or Stewart-Jones.
Some of the men who ended up on Canada’s U23 squad also competed well against the seniors. Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (CNEPH/Fondeurs-Laurentides) won the men’s classic distance race at the NorAm week, and both he and Olivier Hamel (CNEPH/Skibec) were in the final of the skate sprint. Gareth Williams (Telemark) was on the podium in the 30 k skiathlon, where Philippe Boucher (CNEPH/Skibec) finished fifth.
The U.S. women’s relay after taking a historic third in the 4 x 3.3 k relay at 2017 Junior World Championships on Sunday at Soldier Hollow in Midway Utah, with (from left to right) Hannah Halvorsen (holding her baby sister), Julia Kern, Katharine Ogden, and Hailey Swirbul. (Photo: U.S. Ski Team/Tom Kelly)
The U.S squad, meanwhile, is headlined by Hannah Halvorsen (Alaska Pacific University/U.S. Ski Team), Julia Kern (Stratton Mountain School T2/Dartmouth College/U.S. Ski Team), and Hailey Swirbul (University of Alaska Anchorage), who return from last year’s World Juniors medal-winning relay team.
Kern is now a U23, and is competing at the World Cup sprints in Dresden, Germany, this weekend. Back in the U.S., Swirbul finished eighth in the women’s 10 k skate at U.S. Nationals, while Halvorsen was fifth in the skate sprint after qualifying fourth.
Joining Swirbul and Halvorsen on the junior team will be two men who turned heads in the senior races at U.S. Nationals. Gus Schumacher (Alaska Winter Stars) finished sixth overall in the men’s 15 k skate and eighth in the skate sprint. Ben Ogden (Stratton Mountain School) was ninth in the 15 k skate and then qualified fourth in the classic sprint, before finishing the day in 12th overall.
The U.S. U23 team includes Zak Ketterson (Northern Michigan University), who finished just off the podium in fourth in the skate sprint at U.S. Nationals and followed it up with sixth in the classic sprint; Alayna Sonnesyn (University of Vermont), who was eighth in the skate sprint and sixth in the 20 k classic mass start; Lydia Blanchet (Dartmouth College), sixth in the classic sprint; Andrew Egger (Colby College) and Thomas O’Harra (Alaska Pacific University), tenth in the skate and classic sprints, respectively; Bill Harmeyer (University of Vermont), 11th in the skate sprint; Ian Torchia (Northern Michigan University/U.S. Ski Team), 12th in the 30 k classic; and Lauren Jortberg (Dartmouth College), who never finished out of the top 15 in the three senior races she entered at U.S. Nationals.
Rosters
Junior Men
USA:
Luke Jager, Alaska Pacific Nordic Ski Center
Ben Ogden, Stratton Mountain School
Karl Schulz, Univ. of Vermont
Gus Schumacher, Alaska Winter Stars
Canyon Tobin, Alaska Pacific Nordic Ski Center
Hunter Wonders, Alaska Pacific Nordic Ski Center
Canada:
Antoine Cyr, Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey / Skinouk
Félix Longpré, Club Nordique Mont Sainte Anne
Etienne Hébert, Alberta World Cup Academy / Montériski
Graham Ritchie, National Team Development Center Thunder Bay / Big Thunder
Reed Godfrey, Canmore Nordic
Junior Women
U.S.:
Margaret Gellert, Alaska Winter Stars
Hannah Halvorsen, Alaska Pacific Nordic Ski Center / U.S. Ski Team
Kathleen O’Connell, Montana State University
Hannah Rudd, Univ. of Alaska-Anchorage
Sofia Shomento, Dartmouth College
Hailey Swirbul, Univ. of Alaska-Anchorage
Canada:
Natalie Hynes, Whitehorse
Annika Richardson, National Team Development Center Thunder Bay / Hollyburn
Hannah Mehain, Sovereign Lake Nordic
Catherine Reed-Metayer, Skibec
India McIsaac, Rocky Mountain Racers
U23 Men
US:
Andrew Egger, Colby College
Bill Harmeyer, Univ. of Vermont
Zak Ketterson, Northern Michigan University
Thomas O’Harra, Alaska Pacific Nordic Ski Center
Ian Torchia, Northern Michigan University / U.S. Ski Team
Canada:
Gareth Williams, Telemark / Canadian National Ski Team
Olivier Hamel, Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey / Skibec
Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier, Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey / Fondeurs-Laurentides
Alexis Dumas, Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey / Skibec
Philippe Boucher, Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey / Skibec
Antoine Briand, Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey / Skibec
U23 Women
U.S.:
Lydia Blanchet, Dartmouth Ski Team
Lauren Jortberg, Dartmouth Ski Team
Julia Kern, Stratton Mountain School / Dartmouth College / U.S. Ski Team
Nicole Schneider, Northern Michigan University
Canada:
Anne-Marie Comeau, Université Laval
Maya MacIsaac-Jones, Alberta World Cup Academy / Rocky Mountain Racers
Katherine Stewart-Jones, National Team Development Center Thunder Bay / Nakkertok
Laura Leclair, Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey / Chelsea Nordiq
France’s Martin Fourcade after winning the men’s 20 k individual at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany, by more than a minute on Wednesday. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
IBU World Cup (Ruhpolding, Germany): Men’s 20 k individual
For France’s Martin Fourcade, the difference between a miss on the last shooting stage of the men’s 20-kilometer individual International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup on Wednesday versus perfect shooting wouldn’t have ultimately changed his result in Ruhpolding.
Despite the one-minute penalty, which was tagged onto his total time after his lone miss of the day, Fourcade still won by a minute. The Czech Republic’s Ondřej Moravec, who started 2 1/2 minutes ahead of him in bib 18 (while Fourcade wore bib 23), had successfully cleaned every stage, shooting 20-for-20, and initially crossed the finish line first — about a minute and 23 seconds ahead of former race leader Simon Eder of Austria.
But Moravec’s moment in first was fleeting as Fourcade burst into the stadium, not yet letting off the gas, seconds after Moravec finished. Fourcade took the win in 44:27.9, 1:01 ahead of Moravec in second. To indicate how fast Fourcade’s last loop was, it’s worth noting that he was 30 seconds ahead of Moravec with 4 k to go. On that final 4 k loop, he doubled his time ahead of second place.
Fourcade’s win came four days after his last race in Oberhof, Germany, the 12.5 k pursuit, which he also won.
“We are in a biathlon routine now,” he said, according to an IBU press release. “It was hard to find strong motivation with not much recovery or training this week. … Today I wanted to beat my record of podiums in a row. Today was my 14th [individual podium, including last season] in a row and I am really proud of this. I am very happy with my competition as well. Ruhpolding is place that I really love and I am happy that I continued my success here.”
Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø achieved his eighth-straight podium in third, 1:06.3 behind Fourcade with a single miss on the last stage as well (0+0+0+1).
“I heard the speaker, so I knew Martin had missed,” recalled Bø, who started behind Fourcade in bib 29. “I knew if I could shoot clean, there was a small chance I could beat him. I tried and missed. That was my tactic: to go for the win, not save the podium.”
He left the range for the last time 48.3 seconds back from Fourcade in first.
Michal Krcmar (l) and Ondřej Moravec (r) after reaching the flower ceremony in fifth and second, respectively, on Wednesday at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)
Germany’s Roman Rees shot clean and placed fourth (+1:19.1) for his first-career World Cup top 10, and the Czech Republic had two in the top five with Michal Krcmar in fifth (+1:36.6) for his best result of this season.
For Moravec, second place marked his season best as well, after finishing outside the top 10 in previous races this season.
“This podium is really important for me,” he told the IBU. “My first trimester was really bad; my shape was not good especially for the shooting. I also missed a lot of the summer training so did not have the best preparation … I am very please at how I was able to focus and have success in this race.”
Austria’s Dominik Landertinger followed in sixth (+2:21.9) with one penalty and Eder ended up seventh (+2:23.8) with one miss as well.
While the one-minute penalty per miss did not faze Fourcade, it led several North Americans to drop out of top-20 contention, particularly Tim Burke (US Biathlon), who had been in 16th after cleaning the third shooting stage. Burke had cleaned his first stage then missed one on the first standing, but was back in the top 20 with a clean third stage. On the final standing, he missed his first two shots, causing him to look up for a moment to refocus. He cleaned the last three, but still ended up with two additional minutes of penalties that put him 36th at the finish, 4:35.0 out of first (0+1+0+2).
Sean Doherty (US Biathlon) racing to 31st to lead his team in the men’s 20 k individual on Wednesday at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. (Photo: US Biathlon/NordicFocus)
Sean Doherty led the U.S. men in 31st after missing two targets between the first prone and first standing stages. Ranked 76th after the second stage, he recovered to 53rd after a clean third stage and then 32nd after hitting all five targets on his last stage (1+1+0+0). With two penalties, Doherty finished the race 4:13.6 back in 31st.
“I am happy with the race today,” Doherty said, according to a US Biathlon press release. “I left some room for improvement on the range. It was a big step in the right direction from last week. We had very fast conditions on the course today and our waxing staff did a great job as usual.”
All three U.S. starters finished in the top 40, with Lowell Bailey in 37th (+4:36.4) with three misses (0+2+0+1).
Biathlon Canada was led by Christian Gow in 34th (+4:30.7), for his career-best in a 20 k individual race. After starting in bib 2, he cleaned his first and third stages to put himself in 32nd with one stage to go, within 28 seconds of the top 20. But a miss on his last standing put Gow in 39th leaving the range for the last time, and he ended up 34th at the finish (0+1+0+1).
“My shooting was just OK today,” Gow wrote in an email. “I would have liked to hit one more for sure and then I would have been completely satisfied with the race. I felt more nervous than normal in the range, and my two misses were a direct result of being a bit hesitant on the shooting mat.
“I am pretty happy with today overall,” he added. “I think this is the best skiing I’ve had in an Individual race and my best placing as well. I do wish I could have one or two shots back, but overall I am happy.”
Also for Canada, his older brother Scott Gow finished 55th (+5:13.2) with three penalties (0+1+1+1), Brendan Green placed 78th (+6:53.7) with four misses (1+0+2+1), and Macx Davies was 91st (+8:02.4) with five penalties (1+1+3+0), out of 107 finishers.
The Gow brothers and Green raced Sunday in the men’s 4 x 7.5 k in Oberhof, where they placed 10th.
“Honestly, I have been feeling pretty tired after the 3 days of racing in a row last weekend,” Christian wrote. “Our travel wasn’t too bad, but it still didn’t feel like much of a rest day.”
The Ruhpolding World Cup continues Thursday with the women’s 15 k individual (starting at 8:30 a.m. EST on the Olympic Channel). Another men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay will follow on Friday, then the women’s 4 x 6 k relay on Saturday, and the men’s and women’s mass starts on Sunday.
The women’s 10 k classic podium on Wednesday at the NorAm trials in Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec, with Cendrine Browne (1) in first, Katherine Stewart-Jones (2) in second, and Anne-Marie Comeau (3) in third. Dahria Beatty (l) placed fourth. (Photo: Cross Country Canada/Instagram)
The NorAm trials at Mont Sainte-Anne (MSA), Québec, concluded Wednesday with the 10- and 15-kilometer classic interval starts. On the line were NorAm points, U23 and World Championships invitations, and for the women, what may well be the last Olympic spot on the Canadian team.
The action started with the men’s 15 k classic, which Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH) won in 39.07.8 minutes to punch his ticket to U23 World Championships later this month in Goms, Switzerland. He won the race ahead of Scott Hill of Barrie Cross Country (BXC) in second, who skied a fast final lap to come within 6.9 seconds of first.
Canadian Para-Nordic teammates Graham Nishikawa and Brian McKeever finished third (+30.0) and fourth (+37.4), respectively, with Nishikawa as McKeever’s guide in Paralympic events having the edge in the interval-start race the two skied on their own (Nishikawa started 64th and McKeever 55th).
According to Nishikawa, the two have been entering NorAm events that fit into their preparation for the PyeongChang Paralympics. Nishikawa wrote a quick email on his way to the airport on Wednesday.
“Happy with my week overall in MSA. Shape is good. Skis were good. Will keep improving into Korea for Paralympics,” he wrote after his second distance podium of the week.
In the women’s 10 k classic, Cendrine Browne (Canadian National U25 Team/CNEPH) continued her strong showing at trials with her second victory and fourth top-four result, taking the win in 29:47.0.
Katherine Stewart-Jones, of the U25 Team and National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay, and Anne-Marie Comeau (Université Laval) were virtually tied for second after the first lap, but Stewart-Jones held the speed to take second, 39.2 seconds behind Browne and 24.3 seconds ahead of Comeau in third.
About 16 seconds later, Maya MacIsaac-Jones, of the U25 Team and Rocky Mountain Racers (RMR), finished fourth (+1:21.0) ahead of Dahria Beatty, of the Canadian World Cup Team and Alberta World Cup Academy, in fifth (+1:26.6).
The selection criteria are complex, but a quick calculation suggests that Comeau, who placed second to Browne in Monday’s skiathlon, gets the provisional women’s distance spot for the PyeongChang Olympics (since Browne already established herself as the sprint leader), and Stewart-Jones, who was fifth in the skiathlon, gets the U23 Worlds berth. Stay tuned for updates and official selections.
The junior men’s 10 k classic podium on Wednesday at the NorAm trials in Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec, with Antoine Cyr (c) in first, Félix Longpré (2) in second and Étienne Hébert (3) in third. (Photo: Cross Country Canada/Instagram)
CNEPH’s Antoine Cyr took his third win of the week in the junior men’s 10 k, finishing in 25:57.3, well ahead of local Félix Longpré (MSA) in second (+48.2) and Étienne Hébert (AWCA) in third (+55.6).
In the junior women’s 5 k, Hannah Mehain (Sovereign Lake Nordic/National Junior Team) took the win in 15:22.7, just 2.7 seconds ahead of skiathlon winner Natalie Hynes (Whitehorse Ski Club/National Junior Team) and 15.0 seconds ahead of Tuesday’s skate sprint winner Annika Richardson (NTDC Thunder Bay/National Junior Team) in third.
The senior men’s NorAm skate sprint podium, with Jess Cockney (c) in first, Andy Shields (2) in second and Bob Thompson (3) in third, along with Olivier Hamel in fifth, Knute Johnsgaard in sixth and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier in sixth in Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018)
The Mont Sainte-Anne (MSA) NorAm weekend continued Tuesday with freestyle sprints, which counted toward Junior and U23 World Championships team selection only.
In the women’s 1.3-kilometer sprint, Dahria Beatty, of the Canadian World Cup Team and Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA), won every heat to take her second win of the MSA NorAm, after winning Friday’s classic sprint. According to a timing error, in which the clock was started well before athletes left the start, the A-final was more than a minute slower than the fastest heat of the day (the second semifinal, which Cendrine Browne won in 3:34.33, ahead of Zina Kocher in second). Beatty won the final with a time listed as 4:39.44.
“Most definitely we did not ski that much slower, if it was slower,” Kocher wrote in an email after the race. “My legs were on fire & we were all fighting to give it everything!”
Monday’s skiathlon winner, Browne, of the national U25 Team and Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH), took second overall, 0.52 seconds back, and Kocher (Foothills Nordic) rallied for her first podium of the week in third (+2.44). The day’s fastest qualifier, Maya MacIsaac-Jones, of the U25 Team and Rocky Mountain Racers (RMR) finished the day in fourth (+2.93), Laura Leclair (CNEPH) followed in fifth (+4.78), and Sophie Carrier-Laforte (Skinouk) finished sixth (+30.43).
The junior women’s NorAm podium in Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec, on Tuesday, with Annika Richardson (c) in first, Elizabeth Elliott (2) in second, and Catherine Reed-Métayer (3) in third. (Photo: Mario Walker/NorAm MSA 2018)
Annika Richardson, of the Canadian national junior team and National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay, won the junior women’s sprint in 3:42.10, ensuring a return to Junior World Championships this year. Elizabeth Elliott (Revelstoke Nordic) finished 3.27 second back in second, and junior qualification winner Catherine Reed-Métayer (Skibec/National Junior Team) reached the podium in third, 4.9 seconds back.
In the men’s 1.35 k skate sprint, World Cup Team member Jess Cockney won the A-final by a commanding 3.5 seconds in 2:56.39, ahead of Andy Shields (Lappe Nordic) in second. Bob Thompson (NTDC Thunder Bay) continued his consistent season in third place (+4.1). Olivier Hamel (CNEPH) followed in fourth (+8.93), Monday’s skiathlon winner Knute Johnsgaard (World Cup Team) finished fifth (+14.9), and Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (CNEPH) placed sixth (+35.77).
Johnsgaard won the qualifying round in 2:57.37, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Hamel in second. Thompson was 2.46 seconds back in third.
In the junior men’s A-final, Antoine Cyr (CNEPH) took his second consecutive win, finishing first in 3:03.81. Graham Ritchie (NTDC Thunder Bay) placed second (+1.2) and Étienne Hébert (AWCA) third (+1.99).
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