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.
Oh yeah, there were some distance races in Rogla on Saturday too, huh?
Once again, this will be short on the words; just some pretty pictures. The US women had another strong outing:
Once again I’d note the continued downward trends for Holly and Kikkan and the generally flat trend for Liz. (Ida still has too few races for trends to be particularly meaningful.) In particular, I would emphasize that Kikkan’s classic skiing is showing the sort of trend her freestyle skiing has shown for a few years now:
Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw were probably hoping for more on Saturday, and although their results weren’t terrible, they also weren’t all that great (for them):
The final thing I’ll note is that I noticed that the Russian women put three folks in the top ten on Saturday, a fairly strong showing for them. A sign of a resurgence for the Russian women? Well…
In Ivanova’s case, that race appears to be at her ceiling (or floor, I suppose if we associate down with better performance). As for Iksanova and Medvedeva, it’s still a bit early to tell, but it’s a good sign for those ladies to be starting out with results in the negative zone of these graphs.
I’ve been otherwise occupied, so I didn’t follow the racing action too closely this weekend. But for you own edification, here are how the heat time shook out among the men’s finalists:
Some of the outlying times were cut off, obviously. Note the general increase in speed in the quarters, and then folks backed off again in the semis, it seems. Semifinal 1 was a fair bit faster than the other:
I had some technical difficulties with the women’s splits, which is a bummer, but that’s life.
North American Women’s Sprinting
But hey, three North Americans in the top ten? Not bad, eh? Are you wondering how often that has happened? Funny you should ask. Including yesterday, I can find 7 instances of North America placing 3 or more skiers in the top ten since 1992. Six are women’s sprint races, 1 is a men’s distance race.
That’s probably enough information for the savvy fan to pick up on some likely candidates. The men’s race was the Vancouver Olympic pursuit, of course. I want to emphasize that that is the only time since 1992 that North American men have put 3 or more skiers in the top ten. That is my new favorite way of describing how well Canada skied at that Olympics.
As for the women’s races, most of them occurred during the Beckie Scott/Sara Renner era, with either Chandra Crawford or Kikkan Randall being the third North American. (Daria Gaiazova and Milaine Theriault each snuck in there once as well.)
Further, given Kikkan’s bad luck with her poles yesterday, we could very easily have had two North Americans on the podium. That has only happened once since 1992, with Beckie Scott and Sara Renner in a World Cup sprint (admittedly it was a World Cup held in Canada, so it may not have been well attended).
Alex Harvey (CAN) follows the leaders in his quarterfinal heat. Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus.
Coming off a season in which Canada got its first-ever World Championships gold in the team sprint, the winners, Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw, are the Canadians you’d expect to see in sprint finals.
But while the duo certainly haven’t been slacking on the World Cup this year, in Rogla, Slovenia it was the women who impressed in a fast and furious one-kilometer skate sprint on Sunday.
2006 Olympic gold medalist Chandra Crawford returned to the podium for the first time in several years, and Dasha Gaiazova skied to ninth place, the second-best result of her entire career.
Of Canada’s seven starters, all but two – Perianne Jones and distance expert Ivan Babikov – made the heats.
“Placing two women in the top ten and all five of our sprint team in the top twenty is a solid day, even though the guys, you know, weren’t as strong as they have been in the past,” said national team Head Coach Justin Wadsworth. “Overall, it’s still a good day.”
The best day – Crawford’s – was covered in our international report. But in terms of personal-bests, Gaiazova was almost as excited as Crawford.
“For her to be top-ten, that’s her best-ever skate World Cup,” Wadsworth said. “It’s a big day for her too. She’s going to be overshadowed by Chandra, but she had a good day as well.”
In her quarterfinal, Gaiazova was at the back of the pack after the initial twists, turns and downhills; she wasn’t even visible in the camera frame of the race broadcast. But she used an impressive burst of speed to make her way to the front on the uphills and ended up second in her heat – which happened to be the fastest of the all the quarters. As a reward, Gaiazova earned an automatic entry to the semifinals.
“I was really impressed with her in that quarterfinal,” Wadsworth said. “She was almost last going into the climb over the bridge, and she just used her strength and powered through the field there. It was really exciting to watch.”
Gaiazova was matched with eventual winner Maiken Caspersen Falla and Kikkan Randall in her semifinal, and ended up fifth, 2.6 seconds back. Her effort was still good for ninth place, just the second top-ten of her career.
The Canadian has shown her sprinting chops before, placing eighth in a classic sprint in Estonia and securing bronze in the team sprint in Dusseldorf with Crawford last year. But today was nevertheless a breakthrough.
While Gaiazova had an awkward falling-out with the national team this summer, it does not seem to have affected her racing.
The men, whom everyone expected to make a splash in the sprint today, were solid, if not spectacular, finishing in the high teens.
“I felt really good today yet again, but I am not super psyched about the result,” said Kershaw, who finished 15th. “I had a great body this weekend, and to come away with only a 16th (in the 15km classic) and a 15th today wasn’t what I was shooting for.”
Kershaw, who struggles in sprint starts, pointed to the short, twisty course as part of his problem.
“He [relies] on his fitness a little bit, so he just settles in and works his way through the pack,” Wadsworth said. “But on really short courses I think it’s better not to have to find the spaces to move up because everybody is at such a high speed the whole time.”
With very little space to move and the only big uphills at the end, Kershaw did not have the chance to make up that ground that he usually loses in the first 100 meters. While he tried to make a move at the end, he wound up third, 0.9 seconds back.
“I ran out of real estate down the stretch,” he told FasterSkier. “I was too far back, and the course was really tight. I felt like I just couldn’t get around and use my speed today…. It didn’t help that I was outgunned by both [Dario] Cologna, who won, and [Ola Vigen] Hattestad, who was also in the final.”
Valjas in his quarterfinal. Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus.
A second later, teammate Len Valjas crossed the line. Valjas has had better sprints already this year, but he had an excuse for ending up 18th today.
“He’s been sick the last two days and I think he’s probably still a little sick,” Wadsworth explained. “He had two full days in bed and then hopped out of bed today and had a good qualifying, and it shows that he’s a real player when it comes to racing.”
The coach said that he was thrilled that Valjas could even qualify for the sprints, calling it icing on the cake for an already solid first period of racing.
Harvey also couldn’t find the top gear he needed, finishing fourth in his heat behind Federico Pellegrino of Italy and Eligius Tambornino of Switzerland.
As for Babikov? He wasn’t too upset about his 74th-place qualifier.
“Nope, no miracle happened today, I still can’t sprint,” he joked on Twitter.
With the first period of racing finished, Harvey, Babikov, and Kershaw will travel back to Davos to train for the Tour de Ski, while the rest of the team is headed back to Canada for the holidays.
Hamilton leading his quarterfinal heat. Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus.
While Kikkan Randall fell in the sprint final (see our international report) and was unable to keep her win streak alive, the U.S. Ski Team had plenty to be happy about in Rogla, Slovenia today.
Simi Hamilton not only qualified for the rounds for the first time this season, but he did it in style, clocking the seventh-fastest time in qualification. Hamilton’s time was less than two seconds behind Nikolay Morilov of Russia, who led the field.
“It was really exciting to see him lay down a world-class qualification round,” said U.S. Ski Team coach Matt Whitcomb.
While showing his speed in the qualification round was surely reassuring after a tough start to the year, Hamilton didn’t stop there, and sped through his heats as well, ending up tenth overall.
Hamilton in qualifying. Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus.
“I think [the course] suited me really well,” he said. “There were about four really technical corners that you had to ski hard and smart, and it was one of those courses that you had to carry your speed throughout the transitions, which is something I’m good at.”
It showed. Hamilton’s quarterfinal came down to a sprint for the ages – it almost might as well have been a final, and the American was right in the thick of things. Hamilton tied with Anders Gløersen and Eirik Brandsdal of Norway, turning in the fastest time of all the quarters, and Italy’s David Hofer was only a tenth of a second back. Hamilton and Hofer advanced to the semifinals as lucky losers.
Hamilton said that the course’s finish, which was a long gradual after a brutally steep uphill, isn’t traditionally something he’d be confident about, but that today it just worked.
“I felt like today I skied the V1 strong and then was able to stay strong over the last 250 meters all the way to the finish,” he explained.
In his semifinal, Hamilton was again matched with the best in the field. He had to contend with both Norwegians as well as their teammate Pål Golberg and qualification leader Morilov. After trying to make a pass early in the heat and watching his open lane disappear, leaving him boxed in, Hamilton had to put in another furious sprint to the finish.
“I think I missed out on the lucky loser spot into the final by about a centimeter or so,” Hamilton lamented.
A happy Hamilton at the end of the day. Photo: Holly Brooks.
He finished fifth, and everyone in front of him headed to the final. Hamilton’s time was only 0.1 seconds behind the pair of Norwegian lucky losers, and still faster than that of Dario Cologna, who won the other semifinal.
“I got a little tangled up on the steep V1 climb when I got boxed out in a couple places, so I learned some valuable lessons about the tactics of sprinting,” Hamilton said.
Even after missing out on the final, the American was still psyched – after all, it was his first World Cup top-ten. The result was a major confidence boost after having to sit out several of the season’s opening races.
“I knew that once I was healthy and all of my cards were played right, I’d race better than I ever had in the years past,” Hamilton said. “Training went really well this summer and I’ve had the chance to get a good base with both the U.S. Ski Team and Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation over the last few years.”
But while he looked to the past to explain his result today, he had an eye on the future as well.
“The most valuable things I will take away from today are the lessons that I learned that will allow me to win the race someday soon,” Hamilton concluded.
Despite being sick for much of the fall and early winter, Whitcomb said that the team hadn’t doubted that Hamilton could ratchet up the speed.
“We have a lot of belief in Simi and quite a lot of experience working with him now,” the coach told FasterSkier. “Last weekend was his first healthy weekend, and it chipped the rest off. He was ready for a good one today.”
Simi Hamilton in his quarterfinal heat. Photo: Holly Brooks.
While Hamilton was the most successful of the U.S. men, he was joined in the heats by veteran Andy Newell, who laid down a tenth-place qualification time. Newell, however, was unable to find his footing in the quarterfinals, where he was matched up with Morilov.
“Sprinting has been frustrating so far this year because I’ve been feeling pretty good but just skiing like an idiot I think,” Newell wrote in an e-mail. “I’m allowing myself to get pushed around. Today I [got] pushed on the corner, boxed in on the uphill, and cut off choosing finish lanes.
“It’s completely my fault too, I just need to stop skiing like such a wimp,” he concluded.
Newell ended up fifth in the heat, 1.2 seconds behind Morilov, and 21st overall.
“I think he’s in at least the best shape he’s ever been in, and we’re seeing the trials and tribulations of sprint racing,” Whitcomb said. “I think he’s going to sit down with Grover and talk about negotiating these heats.”
Whitcomb pointed to Newell’s 12-point distance race on Saturday as evidence that the sprinter is in top condition and feeling good.
Newell racing in Rogla. Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus.
“There’s no reason to be discouraged,” he said.
The final American in the heats, Ida Sargent, may not have qualified with the same panache that Hamilton and Newell did, but she did qualify, sneaking in with the 30th-fastest time. It marked the national team rookie’s first foray into the World Cup heats.
“Last weekend I paced the qualifier and that didn’t work, so today I just went for it from the start and it was awesome to squeak into the heats!” she told FasterSkier. “It was my goal to ski in the heats in Period I, so I’m psyched to have done it the day before I flew home.”
In her heat, Sargent was outgunned by Ida Ingemarsdotter of Sweden and Ingvild Østberg of Norway, but she was able to pull away from Astrid Jacobsen of Norway to finish fifth.
“In my heat I didn’t ski aggressively enough in the start and was in fifth or sixth going into the corners,” she said. “I tried to pass on the one uphill but I kept getting blocked, and then I was able to get past Astrid in the lanes. I wish the finishing stretch was longer.”
Sargent has been getting stronger and stronger as the season has developed, and finished 38th in the 10 k classic yesterday. Her 25th-place finish today improved on that personal best.
“For Ida it’s been a series of solid races for sure, some certainly pretty impressive, in the 40s in distance races, mingling in the top 30 before slipping out, but the feeling hasn’t quite been there for her, and today it was,” Whitcomb said. “And that’s really exciting.”
Outskiing Jacobsen is no small accomplishment, either – the Norwegian medical student is a former World Champion in the sprint.
The fourth American, Holly Brooks, saw her string of top-30 results come to an end when she placed 46th in the qualification round and missed the heats.
“Nothing went really ‘wrong”’ so to say,” she wrote in an e-mail. “Maybe it was just too short for me at 2:20 for the women’s winner.”
Distance specialist Noah Hoffman tried his had at the quick stuff and came up short, placing 70th, while Lars Flora did not start in his last race as the Continental Cup leader.
In 22nd place, Alex Harvey was today’s top American racer in the 30km classic race at Rogla. Taking 35th place in the sprint race yesterday, Harvey was just 1.67 seconds out of qualifying rounds. A native of Quebec, Harvey has been racing on the Canadian National Team since 2007.
You have had a really solid weekend of racing – are you feeling like you are coming into your race form?
I am really happy with my shape right now. I am at a much better level than I was last year at the same time.
You weren’t far off qualifying in the sprint – what will you have to work on to get up to speed, and how will you do that in these next couple weeks?
I was 35th in the sprint, I know I can qualify when I am in good shape. I am not going to work on any specific thing other that get into better shape, and it will come as the race season progresses.
How did you feel about today’s race: What were conditions and skis like? Did you get any good splits that let you know how you were doing? Did you pace the race at all or have any other strategies?
Today’s race was perfect. It was cold overnight but the sun was strong during the day and it made for very firm tracks and good weather. It was a mass start so I knew where I was standing at any time during the race. I was trying to ski near the front so I don’t get the ”yo-yo” effect at the back, but not to close to the front because the snow was very cold so the guys at the front were working a bit harder than those who were following. There was 3 intermediate sprint for bonus world cup points at 7.5km, 15km and 22.5km. I didn’t plan to contended in any of those 3 sprints because you loose quite a bit of energy when you put a energy burst like that during a 30km race. I was well positioned for the one at 22.5km so I decided to go for it, and once you committed, there is no turning back. I ended up winning the sprint and I grabbed 15 extra points for the world cup which is pretty nice. I had a hard time recovering from that push and paid the price in the last 2km of the race but all in all, it was well worth it for the bonus points.
What does you schedule look like from here – will you return to Canada for Christmas or stay and train?
I am going back to Davos and I will spend Christmas there with some of the team. It will be my first time away from home for Christmas…we will see how it goes but I think I will be fine. I have a great time with my teammates and Davos is amazing. My mom will probably have a harder time than me!
What will training be like until the next races?
Next week will be pretty easy for me. It has been a great block of racing for me, I need those races to get into my best shape. Now I need a couple of days to rest and absorb all of that and then get ready for the Tour de Ski which is a big event.
![](http://www.statisticalskier.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/usaWom.png" "usaWom")
Once again I’d note the continued downward trends for Holly and Kikkan and the generally flat trend for Liz. (Ida still has too few races for trends to be particularly meaningful.) In particular, I would emphasize that Kikkan’s classic skiing is showing the sort of trend her freestyle skiing has shown for a few years now:![](http://www.statisticalskier.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/kikkan.png" "kikkan")
Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw were probably hoping for more on Saturday, and although their results weren’t terrible, they also weren’t all that great (for them):![](http://www.statisticalskier.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/canMen.png" "canMen")
The final thing I’ll note is that I noticed that the Russian women put three folks in the top ten on Saturday, a fairly strong showing for them. A sign of a resurgence for the Russian women? Well…![](http://www.statisticalskier.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/rusWom.png" "rusWom")
In Ivanova’s case, that race appears to be at her ceiling (or floor, I suppose if we associate down with better performance). As for Iksanova and Medvedeva, it’s still a bit early to tell, but it’s a good sign for those ladies to be starting out with results in the negative zone of these graphs.![](http://www.statisticalskier.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/rogla_spr_men_final.png" "rogla_spr_men_final")
![](http://www.statisticalskier.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/rogla_spr_men_semi.png" "rogla_spr_men_semi")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/Feature181211ah047.jpeg" "Feature181211ah047")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/Valjas181211ah055.jpeg" "Valjas181211ah055")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/Group181211ah043.jpeg" "Group181211ah043")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/Hamilton181211ah019.jpeg" "Hamilton181211ah019")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/Simi.jpg" "A happy Hamilton at the end of the day. Photo: Holly Brooks.")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/IMG_3525.jpg" "IMG_3525")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/Newell181211ah013.jpeg" "Newell181211ah013")
![Alex Harvey races in Davos 15km](http://images.fasterskier.com/2009/12/Alex-harvey-15km-davos.jpg")