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.
Novie McCabe races in the sprint heats during 2020 World Juniors in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
Last week, U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced team nominations for 2021 FIS Nordic Junior and U23 World Ski Championships, which will be held in Vuokatti, Finland, in early February. The athletes selected were as follows:
U23 World Championships Team
Sophia Laukli races in the relay during 2020 World Juniors. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
Will Koch races in the 10k classic at 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, Lausanne, Switzerland. (photo: OIS/Chloe Knott)
Johnny Hagenbuch (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation/Ketchum, Idaho)
Zanden McMullen (Montana State University/Anchorage, Alaska)
Will Koch (University of Colorado/Peru, Vt.)
Wally Magill (Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club/Steamboat Springs, Colo.)
Finn Sweet (Craftsbury Nordic Ski Club/Waterbury, Vt.)
Michael Earnhart (APU Nordic Ski Center/Eagle River, Alaska)
Alternate 1: Brian Bushey (Green Mountain Valley School/Waitsfield, Vt.)
Alternate 2: Walker Hall (Methow Valley Nordic Ski Education Foundation/Winthrop, Wash.)
Zanden McMullen races in a citizens race at Kincaid Park in Anchorage, Alaska, in December 2020, wearing an APU suit and a Montana State headband. (photo: Eric Packer)
All athlete team affiliations and information are per the USSS press release. Athletes may claim additional affiliations; for example, APU Nordic Ski Center also lists Luke Jager, Garvie Tobin, and Zanden McMullen among its athletes named to this year’s teams, defensibly so given that all three athletes have trained with APU for years. Or Novie McCabe is listed elsewhere on the USSS site as skiing for Methow Valley, as well as for the University of Utah.
There have been only four FIS race series held in this country so far this season, one in Anchorage in December and one at Soldier Hollow in early January, then one in Palmer, Alaska, and another one at Soldier Hollow last weekend, and a handful more USSS/NRL races. Some athletes were selected to this year’s teams after meeting objective criteria, such as World Cup results (Gus Schumacher, Hailey Swirbul, etc.) or a sub-50-or-60-FIS point result (Hunter Wonders in Anchorage; Peter Wolter and Sydney Palmer-Leger in Soho). The majority were selected via discretion, based on “both historical and current seasonal performances through January 3, 2021.”
It appears that the following athletes named to this year’s team have not previously competed at World Juniors or U23 Championships: Nina Seemann; Will Koch; Brian Bushey; Renae Anderson; Annika Landis;Peter Wolter; Kai Meyers; Ava Thurston; Haley Brewster; Garvie Tobin; Wally Magill; Finn Sweet; Michael Earnhart; and Walker Hall. Seemann, Koch, and Bushey all raced at last year’s Youth Olympic Winter Games.
Brian Bushey races in the ski-cross qualification at 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, Lausanne, Switzerland. (photo: OIS/Joel Marklund/handout image supplied by OIS/IOC)
The competition program for this year’s races will be as follows (click here for race start times, given in Eastern European Time):
February 9, U20 classic sprint
February 10, U23 classic sprint
February 11, U20 5/10 kilometer interval-start skate
February 12, U23 10/15 kilometer interval-start skate
February 13, U20 relay (4 x 3.3km for women, 4 x 5km for men) and U23 mixed relay (4 x 5km)
February 14, U20 15/30 kilometer mass-start classic
Course profiles and details are here (scroll down for courses). The official website is here. Official FIS results are here. The Instagram page is here. The Facebook page (last year’s race featured free livestreaming on Facebook; it is still unclear if that will be offered this year) is here.
The official hashtags, a media advisory states, are #vuokattisport, #roadtoJWSCVuokatti, and #JWSC2021Vuokatti.
Soft Scandinavian Cup track as seen last weekend at the Dec. 15-17 Scando Cup in Vuokatti, Finland, “the same conditions for Sundby all the way down to me,” author Maks Zechel writes.
Editor’s Note: The following is part of a series proposed by Maks Zechel, a 20-year-old Canadian cross-country skier embarking on his first season training abroad. In August, he made the big move to Norway, where he’ll be training and racing with Team Asker for the entire winter. Through these updates, Maks hopes to share his personal “observations, stories and lessons learned” to help close the gap between North American and Scandinavian nordic skiing. Previous posts: #1,#2,#3, #4, #5, #6, and #7.
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Part 1: Vuokatti
It’s Thursday morning and I’m in the Oslo airport, waiting to catch a flight to my second Scandinavian Cup race weekend of the winter. I haven’t seen the sun yet and, from what I’ve heard, my destination of Vuokatti, Finland, doesn’t look much like a Caribbean postcard either.
Two flights and an hour on a bus later, we arrive in Vuokatti. There is something about 3 p.m. total darkness that I suspect I will never grow accustomed to; it’s the impending sense of urgency that I need to go to bed soon. Or maybe that’s just coming from the fact that I still have to check into the hotel, ski the race loop, test skis, eat dinner, and then write my final exam for my online university course. By the time I start my exam, and reboot my laptop after it crashes, it’s 8 p.m. … classic.
We wake up before the first race in the dark. The sun allegedly rises into the cloudy, snowy sky at 9:59 a.m. and sets at 2:07 p.m. Despite our noon start time, the trails remain cast in dusky shadows, and the entire race loop, and ski jumps overlooking the stadium, remain lit 24/7. For the record, I spent approximately 72 hours in Finland, and I can’t confirm that the sun actually touches that part of the world; for all I witnessed they might just brighten the streetlights every morning.
We jog a few hundred meters from the hotel to the race site, located by the Vuokatti Olympic training center. All the racers are staying in two large hotels within walking distance of the race site, which creates an exciting “athlete village” atmosphere. Vuokatti is an epic training and racing location with 7.5 k+ of lit world class ski trails, early season snow making, a ski tunnel, and ski jumping and biathlon venues. Nordic countries don’t seem to like hosting races anywhere with a big chalet, or with any chalet at all, so we set up base in the snow. Luckily for us, the infamous Finnish cold weather decided to leave for the weekend. The stadium is tiny, hardly wide enough for a finishing straight, miniscule individual start corral, and a lap lane. It’s easy to feel lost amongst the tall, uniform pines of a snowy Finnish forest, but the Vuokatti course has something for everyone. Each day, 200-250participants are on the senior men’s start line, with Norway, Sweden and Finland well represented; the top 100 doesn’t get more competitive than this anywhere in the world.
As I’m warming up for my 15 k skate race, I have never recognized so many people that I’ve never seen before in real life: “Oh hey random Norwegian skier, congrats on beating your 3000-meter track PB this summer! By the way, say hi to your dog for me.” The potential for a seriously awkward conversation with one of my idols is too high, so I try my best to avoid in-awe-eye-contact…
Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in his debut race of his record-setting 2017/2018 season. In eight World Cup starts so far, he’s won seven of them. Here he’s shown racing at Norway’s FIS season opener in Beitostølen last month. (Photo: Maks Zechel)
At the end of the first day our teammate, Erland, placed 19th, with Ryan and I at 107th and 132nd. After racing in the Beitostølen Scandinavian Cup and Gålå Norwegian Cup race weekends in November, it remains hard to swallow our pride as we race better than we ever have, but still fall far short of our lofty goals.
However, the lessons that we learn in every international race that we compete in are crucial to our development. During the 15 k classic race in Vuokatti, my teammate, Eirik, was caught by the eventual top-two skiers of the day, Ristomatti Hakola (Finland) and Martin Nyenget (Norway). Eirik is a strong double poler, so he was impressively able to stay with them until the set of steep hills in the last 2 k of the course, where they put around 50 seconds into Eirik per lap. What he was unable to match, was the insane power that Hakola and Nyenget were kicking their skis with, giving them big glides on even the steepest pitches where I had to run out of the tracks
Racing with athletes who are able to ski at this level creates an unforgiving racing environment if you are unable to push yourself to new heights. After a poor race, the performance is reflected by a drop of dozens of spots down the results sheet. Scandinavians respect the high level of these races and they know that there are hundreds of skiers working just as hard as them, ready to take their place if they don’t race fast. Poor races by even the best cause them to disappear down the results (Petter Northug finished 17th in a Norwegian Cup race this winter). Although Erland is an incredible skier who is capable of top-20 Scandinavian Cup results, he had placings of 89th and 47th in Beitostølen. This is nothing to be ashamed of, but the results clearly represented that he was not in top form at the time. Good performances are rewarded in the opposite manner. That is the nature of these races, where 1 minute gained or lost can mean 30-50 spots. In the Vuokatti sprint, the top-30 men in qualifying were all within 5.87 seconds, with the top 58 within 10.55 seconds, and top 84 within 15.15 seconds. The reality is harsh, but it feels productive to know exactly where I stand against the best.
World Cup racing is ridiculously hard, and that is a lesson that should be experienced as early as possible. When I was 132nd in the 15 k skate race in Vuokatti, a good race for me, it felt like a smaller reward than I was used to for my efforts. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of competitors, but it helps to look at the time gap when looking for achievable next steps. In this race I was 4:38 minutes behind race winner, Daniel Stock (Norwegian skier with a World Cup podium from last year). It’s a lot over a 38-minute race, but if I can shave off 1 minute by the end of the season, then I’m in the top 100. Wherever I place, at the end of the day I know how far away I am from top World Cup contenders. Doing these races doesn’t make getting fast easier, but it does put into perspective exactly how much my efforts and improvements mean on an elite level.
Every weekend these races feel a little more familiar, a bit more like home. The competition is intimidating, but every race still has the same enthusiastic community of athletes, volunteers, coaches, wax techs, friends, and families that we are used to in Canada. In Beitostølen, a stressed Ryan was enthusiastically interviewed four minutes before his race start and the NRK commentators talked about our goals in Norway and this FasterSkier blog for over a minute on national television. In Vuokatti, the race announcer introduced us as the two Canadians living in Asker, Norway, with their goal of becoming two of Canada’s best World Cup skiers. It’s flattering to be known like this, despite struggling to come even close to the top 100, and it makes us feel like we belong. Soon enough we will make sure we are known for more than just booking a couple of plane tickets to Norway.
Part 2: Getting to the Top
Author Maks Zechel repping the Asker Skiklubb white and blue.
Racing in Scandinavia is like getting on the freeway out of the city at 5 p.m. on the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend; everyone is heading in the same direction, and no matter who you are, you have to be patient and observant in order to seize the opportunities that will bring you to the front of the never-ending queue. In Canadian racing, we often lack this traffic, and this causes skiers to race at their own level, because there aren’t enough skiers of similar abilities to push each other to the top. I believe that it is still possible to become a great skier from racing in North America, but we have to be prepared to take even bigger risks than our Scandinavian counterparts, as we can be sure that they are encountering far more opportunities than us.
From my experiences watching NorAm, SuperTour, Scandinavian Cup, and World Cup results, the best skier of the day will often win a three-lap 15 k with a certain order of lap times: the first lap is the fastest to take advantage of fresh legs, the second lap is the slowest, and the the third lap is the second fastest. These margins are small, but they indicate a skier who has skied a smart and controlled race, riding the edge of blowing up in order to expend energy perfectly and close fast where weaker skiers tire. This is how a winner skis a race. The skiers who don’t win the race ski differently because they are not at the same level. If they ski in the same controlled manner, they fall short of the win because they cannot maintain the same pace/execute the same pace changes. A dark horse who is trying to win, or merely trying to break through the ranks, gives everything in an effort to ski at a level that is higher than they can actually maintain. They may try to go out as hard as possible, risking blowing up early with the hope that they will be able to maintain a “suicide pace”. The skiers who don’t control the race usually ski with positive splits, becoming slower each lap on a good day, because if their splits are negative it means they will lose too much time at the start of the race.
In North America, we get comfortable skiing like winners. The shock comes when we try to make the jump to World Cups, and we suddenly have to relearn how to ski like developing skiers, to ski like we are trying to break through to the top.
Here’s a fact: nobody comes to World Cups from North America and starts winning right away. The jump is too big to make all at once. Scandinavians can sometimes go straight to the top, because they had to grow up skiing like losers, or at least skiing like winners who had to fight against 30 other winners every race. The issue is that North Americans begin to relearn the lessons of devastating time gaps at an important point in their careers, when ideally they would be fighting competitively for coveted World Cup top 30s. We’re not developing as much as we could at home, because we’re not desperately fighting just to come top 50 or top 100 as juniors and U23s. Not to say that you can’t develop hugely between the ages of 25 and 35 (many do), but we rarely see this happen in North America because the attrition rate of skiers in that age range is so high. Many skiers never see their full potential realized.
In North America, we get comfortable skiing like winners. The shock comes when we try to make the jump to World Cups, and we suddenly have to relearn how to ski like developing skiers, to ski like we are trying to break through to the top.
In Vuokatti, numerous small skiing nations were well represented, countries that we North Americans would see as “lesser” skiing nations, when in fact they’re doing things better than us. The Vuokatti Scandinavian Cup saw a large contingent of Chinese national-team skiers compete, and at Beitostølen, Japan was well represented. I even saw a couple of Mongolian skiers in Finland. These national-team skiers are consistently starting Scandinavian Cups in their pursuit of becoming competitive on the World Cup (zero Chinese skiers started the Toblach World Cup, while 10 Chinese men and women started in Vuokatti the same weekend). These small skiing nations recognize that they cannot develop all of their athletes through World Cup starts, so they send their remaining skiers to the next best thing. This mentality has led Japan to produce podium-capable World Cup skiers such as Masako Ishida and top 15 contenders such as Keishin Yoshida.
We need to fill up our quota spots on the World Cup, but for the rest of us, Scandinavian Cups are an equally good opportunity to develop. A month of World Cup racing can cost a Canadian National Team member upwards of $5,000 Canadian dollars (not including flights). Last winter Team Hardwood Elite ran a one-month trip from Canada to Norway for $2,700 CAD (flights included)per athlete, where they raced nine Scandinavian- and Norwegian Cup-level races. We shouldn’t scoff at local-level Norwegian races either, which can be found all over the country every weekend of the winter. Sondre Turvoll Fossli, a World Cup medalist, won a local race, with a senior men’s field of 12, in Lier, the same weekend as Toblach and Vuokatti. At a local race in Konnerud the weekend before, I was bib number 1051 as the last starter of the day. Only 17 senior men raced, but the winner has placed top five in Norwegian Cups.
Many North American skiers want to break through on the World Cup, but there are limited World Cup starts that offer a small and difficult opportunity for us to impress on a stage that we have never experienced before. The chances of breaking through this way have proven nearly impossible for numerous talented North Americans. For the countless incredible skiers who didn’t even receive those World Cup opportunities, the chance of World Cup success is a long-dissolved dream. This builds the impression that only a select few North American skiers can ever be great. This is untrue. The truth is that only a select few will ever break through when offered a handful of World Cup-level racing opportunities. The truth is also that us remaining North Americans have the ability to achieve that same level, but we must do so more patiently and down a less traditional path. If you truly want a chance at becoming competitive on the World Cup, you don’t have to fight for years to qualify for a World Cup development experience that most of us cannot afford. Instead you can race as many Scandinavian/Norwegian Cups as you like, every year, at a far cheaper cost, which will allow you to race against skiers who are already at the World Cup level that many of us dream to achieve. These skiers are no more talented than our skiers, they just have had the time and the countless opportunities to race at a level that most of us never have the chance to see.
This leaves an important question: who is left to race in North America? It is hard to develop our best senior athletes to become World Cup podium contenders, it is harder still to do this in such a way that will allow all of our younger skiers to develop, too. My experience in Norway has been a positive one so far, and I will continue to promote what I am doing. But I should not have to come to Norway to develop. The simplest way for an individual to learn to race like the Scandinavians is to come to a country like Norway, but by individually developing overseas, we put a stop to the widespread development that we could be doing back home.
Norwegians are successful at skiing because they love it; skiing is everywhere in Norway, and for that reason Norwegians never have to go far from home to ski fast. Top Norwegian skiers race in local races because they know that good racing is great development, no matter who you’re racing against. If we want races to be competitive, then it’s up to us to race fast.
Youth and masters alike getting some early season ‘ k’s in on Nakkertok Nordic’s “Nakkertrak” on opening day Nov. 11, 2017. (Photo: Nakkertok Ski Club)
My home club, Nakkertok Nordic, was able to purchase snowmaking equipment last year. Due to the enthusiasm and incredible dedication of the parents and volunteers who are the backbone of Nakkertok, they were able to host two early season race weekends this year, just outside of Ottawa (a city of 900,000 people). Ottawa is in an excellent central location for Eastern Canadians and Americans. The same weekend as the Dec. 15-17 NorAm race weekend in Rossland, over 200 people raced the Candy Cane Cup on the “Nakkertrak” early season snow loop. In the future, I see this becoming a main event in an early season racing series, where athletes race in Craftsbury, Vermont, at their annual early season races, then drive the mere four hours to Ottawa for two back-to-back high level FIS races. Eastern Canada and the U.S.A. are full of the skiing culture that makes Norway so great, our issue is that we fail to coordinate to create the fantastic race opportunities that we could have. Many top Canadian skiers already travel to Craftsbury at the beginning of the winter to be in a race where Patrick Caldwell takes the win and the field is deep with professional, university, high-school, and part-time racers of all levels. There is a fear in Canada of burning young athletes out by letting them race up. I agree, we shouldn’t just allow our “prodigies” to race up; I think that everyone from age 16 and up should race together. Development as a skier is only loosely correlated to age, and I am grateful at every training session with Team Asker for the young junior skiers that kick my butt in workouts. Our egos have to be thrown aside, because the more we segregate our racing categories, the less we can help each other get faster in the way that the Norwegians do.
The simplest way for an individual to learn to race like the Scandinavians is to come to a country like Norway, but by individually developing overseas, we put a stop to the widespread development that we could be doing back home.
Many Norwegian skiers race almost every weekend, all winter long. We have to create these same local racing opportunities, and if we make them accessible, they will soon turn into world-class events. Nakkertok took a race, which has simply been a club time trial in past years, and turned it into a CPL (Canadian Points List) level race with a field of 68 open men and 45 open women in one year (that is a bigger field than the Rossland NorAm). The depth of such events, with their diverse assortment of competitors, creates an environment where both our top racers and our developing racers can grow. An athlete is much less likely to quit skiing if they are regularly racing in a field with dozens of skiers at their level and with similar ambitions of going to university or working full time, all while skiing as fast as they can. Because you know what, racing is really fun, but only if it is a commodity made accessible to every North American skier, not just our Olympic hopefuls.
A local race in Sjusjøen, Norway, with hundreds of racers of all ages. (Photo: Maks Zechel)
About Maks: Maks Zechel is a competitive cross-country skier who secretly wants to become a professional mile runner. He loves hiking and going on canoe trips with his family, as well as peanut butter cups in ice cream. Johan Olsson is his favourite skier and he hopes to race the Cortina-Toblach stage of the Tour de Ski one day. He enjoys writing about his experiences. Follow him on Instagram @makszechel.
Krista Niiranen doing a workout running with poles in Rovaniemi, Finland. (Courtesy photo)
A World Junior Championships and World U23 Championships skier for Finland who had racked up top-10 finishes in her country’s competitive national-championships field, Krista Niiranen moved to the American Southwest last year.
“I had been studying law in the University of Lapland in Finland, but for the last season I transferred to the University of New Mexico and represented the UNM Ski Team,” she explained.
UNM’s Krista Niiranen racing to seventh in the 5 k classic at 2017 NCAA Skiing Championships at the Jackson Ski Touring Center in Jackson, N.H. (Photo: flyingpointroad.com)
Niiranen made a splash on the SuperTour and NCAA circuits, finishing sixth in the classic sprint and 10th in the 10 k freestyle at U.S. nationals before emerging as the top classic skier on the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association tour. She finished seventh in the 5 k classic at NCAA Championships and was named UNM’s Nordic MVP.
This summer, Niiranen is back in Finland training hard with various friends and teammates from before her time as a college skier. She has taken training opportunities all over her country and shared what it’s like to be a top skier in Finland in the summer.
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FasterSkier: Where are you based this summer?
Krista Niiranen: My summer training is based in three areas this summer: Joensuu in Eastern Finland, the Vuokatti Olympic Training Center, and especially my current hometown, Rovaniemi, in Lapland on the Arctic Circle.
I have to say that all of these three spots are top for skiers’ summer training. In the beginning of the summer break I was training in Joensuu, the same area I grew up in. If you happen to be a biathlon fan, I stayed within 30 minutes away from Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium, where is also a great rollerski track for summer training. There is also another track for rollerskiing only in 10 minutes from my family home. Then in June I was training for three weeks in Vuokatti Olympic Training Center, where the majority of the Finnish nordic skiers were gathered up for some good summer training. Currently I am living and training in Rovaniemi in the Northern Finland as a neighbor of Santa Claus.
Niiranen (left) and Iina Ahokas rollerskiing in Rovaniemi. (Courtesy photo)
FS: Compared to Ruka or the World Championships venue in Lahti, what is the landscape like where you are training?
KN: For Americans who have watched World Cup races, I would say that Eastern Finland is pretty similar to Lahti, which is four hours drive from my family home to south. The landscape in Vuokatti and Rovaniemi is pretty similar to Ruka with long and some steep hills. But you can definitely find beautiful hills and lakes from all over the Eastern and Northern Finland, where my training has been based for my entire skiing career.
FS: Do you have a team that you are training with, or are most of your training sessions alone?
KN: During summer I have a couple of training camps in Vuokatti and Lapland with a group of athletes who are challenging the skiers in the Finnish national teams. In the beginning of the summer I was training in Joensuu and Vuokatti with a couple of skiers from the same local ski club I represent when I’m competing in Finland. There are also many skiers at my level living in my current hometown in Rovaniemi, so I can get company for training on a daily basis. I really enjoy training with other skiers, but sometimes it is nice to go for a session alone as well.
FS: What is it like to rejoin a group after being away in the US for most of the year?
KN: I was welcomed to participate in trainings and training camps even if I spent most of the year in the US. Of course it was a little bit different situation when I had not raced in any competitions in Finland last season, but I have many good skier friends here in Finland so it was just fun to catch up with them during rest afternoons and easy trainings.
Jasmi Joensuu (left) and Krista Niiranen on a trail run outside of Vuokatti, Finland. (Courtesy photo)
FS: During the summer, how do you design your training – is it based on a plan from New Mexico? Are you adapting it at all to be able to match with your training friends?
KN: This summer I am designing my training plan based on the knowledge I have gained from my previous Finnish coach and during my time as a Lobo. I am adapting my plan to match with the fixed training camps and trainings of other skiers based on the same area. I think that doing intervals and other training in a group is a good way to develop as a skier and learn from each others. I am also trying to listen my body to keep the balance between hard training with lots of hours and rest time.
FS: Are there typical workouts that you do that are different and probably wouldn’t appear on an American training plan?
KN: The training is pretty similar here in Finland than on our American training plan in New Mexico, but the biggest difference is that we are used to do more really easy long distance and level 2-3 training in Finland, but not really level 4-5 training during summer time.
In Finland I am also orienteering weekly basis as a training. I think that orienteering is a more Scandinavian or European thing, because in the US it was mostly an unfamiliar concept for many people. Running and navigating from point to point in the forest using a map and compass is actually pretty hard training. At least for me, a chill orienteering session ends up always being at least level 3 training when running fast in the forest and concentrating on reading a map.
Iina Ahokas (left) and Krista Niiranen rollerskiing in Rovaniemi. (Courtesy photo)
I have also added some elements, like without poles skate skiing, from our American plan to my training plan in Finland. I am also planning on doing some track sessions here in Finland – I was not used to doing that before my time in New Mexico.
FS: What’s the hardest workout you have done so far this summer?
KN: Definitely, a traditional roller ski race in Vuokatti. The event consisted on 1.6 k uphill skate rollerskiing prologue, a 3 k cross-country running race, and 10 k skate rollerskiing pursuit where the final 1.6 k is uphill. The race was also mentally interesting, because I had not raced in Finland for over a year and therefore I did not really have any expectations when it comes to my current shape. After a hard competition, I was happy when I realized that I had set a new personal best in all the three stages after a year in the US.
[Ed. Note: After the final stage, Niiranen was 10th, two minutes and 50 seconds behind biathlon World Champion Kaisa Makarainen, who won the women’s tour ahead of five-time Olympic medalist skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. World Champion Matti Heikkinen won the men’s tour.]
FS: Are there any absolute favorite places to run or bike or rollerski?
Krista Niiranen (left) and Finnish teammate Petra Torvinen training in the Vuokatti ski tunnel. (Courtesy photo)
KN: All the areas I have been training in this summer are among the best spots for summer training in Finland because the access to rollerski tracks, bike paths and trails is just by the front door. But if I should choose my absolute favorites, I would mention group training on a rollerski track and uphill classic rollerskiing in Vuokatti. Also running with good skier friends (and reindeer) on the countless of trails surrounded by a beautiful scenery in Rovaniemi is one of my favorites. I was also super excited to ski on real snow in a ski tunnel in Vuokatti, even if the scenery there is only a concrete wall.
FS: Maybe related, is your area set up best for some parts of training?
KN: I would objectively recommend all of these three areas for summer training for any skier, but in Vuokatti there is everything what a nordic skier can ask for during summer. There are a rollerski track, long uphills, tens of kilometers of trails for long distance running and hiking, bike paths, a ski tunnel with real snow and beautiful scenery with hills and lakes in Vuokatti. It is not a wonder that there are other national teams in addition to Finnish skiers training in Vuokatti as well.
It is just convenient that especially in Vuokatti and Rovaniemi: all the training possibilities and facilities are right after stepping out the front door, so there is no need to consume time and energy for driving for training.
FS:What is the best part of Finnish summer, aside from training?
KN: The best parts of Finnish summer are midnight sun, going to sauna and swimming in a lake, and everyman’s right to pick up berries and mushrooms to a freezer for the fall and winter.
Midnight sun from an apartment window at the Vuokatti Olympic Training Center in Finland. (Photo: Krista Niiranen)
Oksana Masters (front) and U.S. Paralympics Nordic coach Eileen Carey at 2016 IPC World Cup Finals in Vuokatti, Finland, with wax tech Dave Mark (behind). Masters won the overall cross-country World Cup for the second-straight year. (Photo: U.S. Paralympics Nordic)
When an athlete finishes a World Cup season undefeated, it’s not just a win for the athlete, it’s a win for their teammates as well.
After U.S. Paralympics Nordic sit skier Oksana Masters completed the 2015/2016 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Cup race season as the undefeated victor in the cross-country events, from the 1-kilometer sprints to the debut of the 20 k marathon event, her success was seen as one for and from the team.
“Oksana is an amazing athlete and I have been privileged to be a [part] of her cross country skiing career since she started the sport,” her teammate Andy Soule wrote in an email.
“We have both become better skiers by learning from one another and training together,” Soule added. “She is hard-working, motivated, and a joy to be around as a teammate and as a person; and it makes me incredibly happy to see her having the level of success she had had these past couple of years.”
Last week at IPC World Cup Finals in Vuokatti, Finland, Masters raced to three wins in a row, including the cross-country sitting sprint, but she didn’t let it get to her head.
“It [was] the last sprint of the season and I didn’t want to leave anything behind!” Masters, of Louisville, Ky., told Inside the Games.
Throughout the season, nobody came close to the 26-year-old Masters in the cross-country events. According to a U.S. Paralympics press release, nearly eight seconds separated her from her closest competitor in the sprint, and more than 28 seconds separated her from the field in the middle distance 5 k.
“Oksana brought impressive consistency to her racing this season,” U.S. high-performance coach Eileen Carey wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “We had longer travel to our World Cups this season than is typical, so quality recovery was hard to come by at times. Oksana made gains this winter in making smart decisions for her recovery and health, even when it meant backing off from training. She made a few mistakes early in the winter, training through some sickness, but she learned from it and made smarter decisions for the rest of the season. Her performances in cross country races would not have been possible without that adjustment. That self-knowledge will pay off in future seasons.”
Day 1: Canada’s Arendz Fifth, Top 10’s for Weekes and Hudak
The first day of IPC World Cup Finals took place Tuesday, March 15, with a biathlon sprint.
In the women’s 6 k visually impaired biathlon sprint, Ukraine’s Oksana Shyshkova won in a time of 20:55.8 after shooting clean. Also with perfect shooting was Mikhalina Lysova of Russia who finished in second overall. Third place went to Russian skier Elena Remizova after she missed two shots (1+1).
In the women’s 6 k standing biathlon sprint, Oleksandra Kononova of Ukraine placed first in a time of 20:53.2 after two penalties (1+1). Russia’s Anna Milenina finished in second, also with two penalties (2+0). Russian teammate Ekaterina Rumyantseva rounded out the podium in third with three penalties (1+2).
Two Canadians competed in the 6 k standing biathlon sprint, including Emily Weekes and Brittany Hudak. With three misses (0+3), Weekes finished ninth, while teammate Hudak finished just behind her in 10th place with four penalties (2+2).
In the women’s 6 k sitting biathlon sprint, the top two spots went to Russia, with Irina Guliaeva coming in first in 23:31.8, after missing one shot (1+0). Her teammate Nadezhda Fedorova, came in second after shooting clean. Third place went to Germany’s Anja Wicker after she missed one shot (1+0).
Masters finished sixth in a time of 25:47.0 after missing three shots (3+0).
In the men’s 7.5 k visually impaired biathlon sprint, Russia’s Stanislav Chokhlaev emerged victorious, winning the event in a time of 20:36.9 after perfect shooting. Also shooting clean was second place finisher, and Russian teammate Nikolay Polukhin. Third place for the men’s visually impaired event went to Ukraine’s Anatolii Kovalevskyi with one miss (1+0).
U.S. Paralympics Nordic veteran Andy Soule tucking at 2016 IPC World Cup Finals in Vuokatti, Finland. (Photo: U.S. Paralympics Nordic)
American skier Jake Adicoff also competed in the event, racing to 11th after four misses (2+2).
In the men’s 7.5 k standing biathlon sprint, Ukraine’s Ihor Reptyukh, raced to first place in a time of 18:49.5 after perfect shooting. In second place was Vladislav Lekomtsev of Russia with two misses (2+0). France’s Benjamin Daviet rounded out the top three, finishing third with one miss (0+1).
Canada’s Mark Arendz competed in the men’s standing biathlon sprint, racing to fifth place overall with two misses (1+1).
“Going into today I felt I had a lot more. The body felt ready to go, but it didn’t materialize in today’s race,” Arendz said in a Canadian Para Nordic Team press release.. “I was close on the skiing, but I’m still finding myself needing to tweak my shooting. Two misses is two too many for me right now.”
In the men’s 7.5 k sitting biathlon sprint, the top three spots all went to Russia, Grigory Murygin leading the trio in first in 25:23.6 with one miss (1+0). Ivan Golubkov and Roman Petushkov both shot clean and finished second and third, respectively.
Soule was the sole U.S. skier in the event, racing to an 11th place overall after five misses (3+2).
“[I] had a broken pole early in the sprint and I am grateful to team Russia for their display of sportsmanship in offering me one of their spare poles until a coach could get mine to me,” Soule wrote in an email.
Canada’s Derek Zaplotinsky also competed in the event, finishing in 15th overall after shooting the same as Soule.
The second day of racing, Wednesday, March 16, brought athletes out for another biathlon event.
In the women’s 12.5 k sitting biathlon, Russia’s Maria Iovleva took her first victory of the week, finishing first in a time of 53:20.6 with just one miss (0+0+1+0). She led a Russian podium sweep with Guliaeva placing second with three misses (2+0+1+0) and Svetlana Konovalova taking third with two misses (1+0+1+0).
Masters finished seventh, after skiing eight penalty loops (2+0+4+2).
In the women’s 12.5 k visually impaired biathlon, Ukraine’s Shyshkova took her second consecutive title of the week, completing the course in a time of 40:43.0 after one missed shot (1+0+0+0). Finishing in second once again behind Shyshkova was Russia’s Lysova after skiing four penalties (2+1+1+0). Third place went to Vivian Hosch of Germany, who missed three (0+3+0+0).
In the women’s 12.5 k standing biathlon, Ukraine’s Kononova continued her winning streak, taking first place in a time of 43:15.2, after missing two shots (0+0+1+1). Second place went to Russia’s Natalia Bratiuk, with one penalty (0+0+0+1). Rounding out the podium finishers for the day was Russia’s Milenina in third after missing six shots (0+1+2+3).
Weekes finished just off the podium in fourth, with two misses (0+0+0+2).
“Emily led the way for us again today, and showing steady development,” Canadian head coach Robin McKeever, said of Weekes in a team press release. “The classic sprint is a bit of a tough test for Emily, but she faired well today and skied strong.”
In the men’s 15 k visually impaired biathlon, Russia’s Polukhin bested his previous second place finish for first, winning the 15 k in a time of 43:31.3 with perfect shooting. In second place was Russian Nikita Povarov, who also shot clean. Ukrainian skier Iurii Utkin rounded out the podium in third, after two misses (1+1+0+0).
In the men’s 15 k standing biathlon, France’s Daviet raced to the win in 44:12.0 after skiing three penalties (2+0+1+0). Second place went to Ivan Kodlozerov of Russia with one miss (0+0+1+0). Russian teammate Lekomtsev finished third after missing four (0+2+1+1).
Mark Arendz (Canadian Para-Nordic Ski Team) at last year’s 2015 IPC World Cup Finals in Surnadal, Norway. This year in Finland, he placed fifth in the 2016 World Cup Finals biathlon sprint. (Photo: IPC Nordic Skiing/Facebook)
Arendz finished just off the podium in fourth after skiing three penalty loops (0+1+1+1).
In his second victory of the week, Murygin of Russia, raced to first in the men’s 15 k sitting biathlon in 54:18.1 with one penalty (0+1+0+0). Germany’s Martin Fleig finished second after missing four (2+0+2+0). The third podium spot went to Poland’s Kamil Rosiek with two penalties (2+0+0+0).
Soule finished sixth, with seven penalties (4+1+0+2).
“Both biathlon races were difficult shooting races for me. I have struggled in the range somewhat this year and will be working in the of season to return to some solid shooting fundamentals,” Soule wrote. “I am really excited for the mass start 20km marathon race [later that week] … This is a type of race that we do not get to do often and I an looking forward to the challenge.”
Canada’s Derek Zaplotinsky was the second North American to compete in the event, finishing 11th with 12 penalties (2+4+3+3).
Day 3: Masters Wins Sprint; Adicoff, Weekes and Soule All Reach Respective Finals
Thursday marked the third-consecutive day of racing with a 1 k cross-country sprint, where Masters continued her streak to finish the season with her fourth cross-country sprint win in as many races. She won the sprint in 2:12.68, besting Russia’s Iovleva in second and Germany’s Wicker in third.
The women’s 1 k visually impaired cross country sprint went to Lysova of Russia, who won in 3:31.34. Crossing after Lysova in second was her Russian teammate Remizova. Ukraine’s Shyshkova took the final podium spot in placed third overall.
Thursday brought the third-straight win for Ukraine’s Kononova, who won the women’s 1 k standing cross-country sprint in 3:28.44. Crossing behind her in second was her Ukrainian teammate Liudmyla Liashenko. Rounding out the top three was Russia’s Milenina in third.
Weekes advanced to the final where she finished fifth. Her teammate, Hudak finished ninth overall.
Three Russians dominated the men’s 1 k visually impaired cross-country sprint, with Vladimir Udaltcov taking first in 2:52.66. Chokhlaev placed second, while Oleg Ponomarev took third.
Jake Adicoff (c) and his two guides, U.S. Paralympics high-performance coach and director John Farra (r) and Germany’s Florian Grimm. (Photo: U.S. Paralympics Nordic)
Finishing just off the podium after advancing to the final was Adicoff of the U.S. in fourth.
The men’s 1 k standing cross-country sprint saw Russian Lekomtsev stand at the top of the event podium, ahead of Ukraine’s Vovchynskyi in second place. Third place went to Japan’s Yoshihiro Nitta.
Arendz missed advancing to the final by one spot, finishing seventh overall.
Competition in the men’s 1 k sitting cross-country sprint went to Ukrainian athlete Maksym Yarovyi, who crossed the final in first in a time of 1:55.47. Russia’s Golubkov and Aleksandr Davidovich finished second and third, respectively.
Soule advanced to the final, where he placed sixth overall.
Canada’s Chris Klebl advanced to the semifinal, where he placed 12th and Canadian teammate Zaplotinsky finished the day in 14th overall.
Day 4: McKeever, Masters Take Marathon Titles; Klebl Second
After a day of rest, IPC World Cup athletes returned to the Vuokatti ski trails for Saturday’s marathon events.
Masters raced to first place in the women’s 20 k sitting marathon on Saturday, March 19, completing the course in a time of 1:00:57.0.
Two Russians, Guliaeva and Fedorova finished behind Masters in second and third, respectively.
The women’s 30 k visually impaired marathon event went to Remizova of Russia, who won in 1:36:22.6. Her Russian teammate Lysova placed second. Ukraine’s Shyshkova earned her fourth-straight podium of the week, after placing third.
Ukraine’s Kononova rolled to her fourth-straight win of the week in the women’s 30 k standing cross-country marathon. She won in 1:39:09.6, while Sweden’s Helene Ripa finished second and Russia’s Rumyantseva placed third.
Hudak raced to fifth in the women’s 30 k.
Canada’s Brian McKeever (c) and his guide Graham Nishikawa with their gold medals after the men’s visually impaired 30 k at 2016 IPC World Cup Finals Vuokatti, Finland. Russia’s Alexsander Artemov (l) placed second and France’s Thomas Clarion (r) was third. (Photo: IPC Nordic Skiing/Facebook)
Canadian team veteran Brian McKeever took the victory in the men’s 30 k visually impaired cross-country marathon, completing the course in a time of 1:20:43.0. Behind him in second was Russia’s Alexsander Artemov and France’s Thomas Clarion in third.
Adicoff was the second North American in the men’s visually impaired marathon in sixth overall.
After winning Thursday’s standing sprint, Russian Lekomtsev took his second win of the week in the men’s 30 k standing in 1:17:52.8. The next closest competitor was his Russian teammate, Rushan Minnegulov in second. Third place went to France’s Daviet.
Arendz raced to eighth place in the 30 k standing marathon.
In the men’s 20 k sitting, Klebl narrowly out on a victory, placing second behind Maksym Yarovyi of Ukraine. Yarovyi completed the 20 k course in a time of 52:31.0.
Soule was one spot off the podium in fourth, behind Korea’s Eui Hyun Sin in third.
“The 20km was an interesting race,” Soule wrote in an email. “It was formatted as a mass start, which is not how we usually race. Because of the way we adjust times for differing disabilities, it was not actually first across the line wins. While we do not actually train specifically for this distance, the fast conditions and relatively flat course made it run much like a long individual race.”
Day 5: Masters Defends Unbeaten Streak; McKeever Wins Again
Athletes geared up for the final World Cup race of the season on Sunday, March 20, with the men’s and women’s middle-distance cross-country races.
American Oksana Masters (c) on the podium with one of her three gold medals from this year’s IPC World Cup Finals in Vuokatti, Finland. (Photo: IPC Nordic Skiing/Facebook)
Masters displayed her strength with one final win, topping the women’s 5 k sitting cross-country in a time of 17:16.3, for her third win of the week.
Finishing behind Masters in second was Russia’s Fedorova and in third was Guliaeva, also of Russia.
In the women’s 7.5 k visually impaired cross-country, Lysova won in a time of 20:02.0. Second place went to her Russian teammate Remizova and Ukraine’s Olga Prylutska finished behind her in third place overall.
In the women’s 7.5 k standing cross-country, Russia’s Milenina won in 19:59.2. Ukraine’s Kononova finished in second and Russian Rumyantseva placed third.
McKeever secured his second win of the week, finishing first in the men’s 10 k visually impaired cross-country. McKeever completed the 10 k course in 22:31.1. Second place went to France’s Clarion.
“We put in a really good effort today. Nish was on fire for the first five kilometres, and that moved us into a solid position,” McKeever said of his guide, Graham Nishikawa, in a team press release. “We were able to build on that pace, and nobody was able to respond.
Adicoff once again just missed the podium in fourth overall, finishing behind Russia’s Chokhlaev in third.
France’s Daviet took his second win of the week in men’s 10 k standing cross-country. Behind Daviet in second was Russia’s Minnegulov and Ukraine’s Reptyukh finished third.
Arendz placed eighth in the 10 k standing event.
In the final men’s sitting cross-country event, Russia’s Golubkov finished first in a time of 23:47.4. Second place went to Ukraine’s Yarovyi and Korea’s Eui Hyun Sin took third.
Soule led the North Americans in that race in fifth, while Canada’s Klebl and Zaplotinsky finished behind him in 12th and 16th, respectively.
“Overall the event has been a lot of fun,” Soule wrote. “I always enjoy coming to Vuokatti, a place where we have competed on a regular basis for my entire nine-year career.”
Masters Wins World Cup Globe for Second-Straight Year
Overall, Masters won the season-long World Cup title for the second year in a row in the women’s sitting cross-country. She topped the rankings with 760 points, beating out Russia’s Maria Iovleva, who had 545 points, and Russia’s Nadezhda Fedorova, who was third with 526 points.
Andy Soule was 30 points short of the cross-country podium in fourth overall, with 390 points to Russian winner Ivan Golubkov’s 689 points in first.
Emily Weekes placed seventh in the women’s standing cross-country, McKeever was eighth in the men’s visually impaired.
Soule placed fifth overall in the biathlon World Cup men’s sitting, while Masters was sixth in the women’s category. Weekes finished the season in ninth overall in the biathlon World Cup, and Mark Arendz tied for ninth in the men’s standing biathlon.
Kent Murdoch leading the pack in the 45-kilometer skate in the M5 category at 2016 Masters World Cup in Vuokatti, Finland. (Photo: Vesa Suomalainen)
Hankering for World Cup-style distance racing?
While most masters tend to aim for the traditional ski marathons, the annual Masters World Cup (MWC) presents an opportunity for skiers 30 and older to ski up to four races of regular World Cup distances in a week.
“It’s so much fun to do a variety of distances within a week, and being able to battle it out with athletes from all over the world is just a really unique opportunity,” says Milan Baic of Traverse City, Mich., who won silver in the final 45-kilometer skate race on Feb. 12 in Vuokatti, Finland.
Baic, 56, has been to every MWC event since 2004, and is planning to be back at the 2017 MWC in Klosters, Switzerland, and beyond.
“With the MWC you get a package deal of a race week. It’s not just a week of really professional and high-level racing,” Baic says. “But AXCS [American XC Skiers] puts together everything with accommodations, race entries and all logistics taken care of, all in a very affordable package. It’s a great value. All you need to do is show up and race.”
More than just races
“You meet so many interesting people, you make genuine friends that you see year after year at the Worlds, and you start looking at people from other countries and cultures in a different way,” Baic says.
He notes that while every year has a different flavor and atmosphere, the events in Russia in 2004 and 2015 have been among the most memorable.
“People in the host communities really take a lot of pride in putting on a really professional and smooth championship week, and are also really excited to share their culture and specialties in everything from opening and closing ceremonies, award ceremonies, medals and awards,” he says.
Milan Baic, of Traverse City, Mich., has a well-proven medal strategy for the 45 k event at Masters World Cup: he eats five bananas before breakfast. It usually produces a medal for him, and this year was no exception. He earned the silver medal in the M6 category, one of the most competitive in the Masters World Cup, in Vuokatti, Finland. (Photo: Kent Murdoch)
Also, Baic points out that the U.S. contingent also has a great spirit, good energy and a supportive team environment.
“The racers cheer for each other, help each other out with feeds and wax tips, and it’s fun to travel with the same people, as well as meet new skiers from other parts of the U.S.,” Baic says.
Baic and several of the masters on the US team train systematically for cross-country skiing year-round. He estimates that in an average week, he puts in about 12 hours of training between skiing, strength training and occasional cross training.
While the MWC is the highlight of the season, Baic also races the traditional marathons, and last year, he was 43rd at the American Birkebeiner, the highest ranked to date of any racer 50 or older in the 43-year-old event.
This is the Masters World Cup
Every year, the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the World Masters Association (which is currently under the reign of the first-ever American president, John “JD” Downing) organize a championship-style weeklong competition open to non-professional skiers age 30 and older. The event routinely attracts over 1,000 skiers from more than two dozen countries. This year, the masters World Cup was held in Vuokatti from February 6-12. Roughly 70 American skiers age 40 to over 80 helped themselves to 16 medals in the course of the week in Finland.
If the venue Vuokatti sounds familiar, it might be because it is also home to both FIS World Cup and Continental Cup races every year, as well as one of Finland’s Olympic training centers, home to the 2-kilometer Finnish ski tunnel, and the Angry Birds theme park.
Then, in 2018, the Masters World Cup returns to North America for the first time since 2011, back when the event was held in Silver Star, British Columbia. The 2018 championships will be held in Minneapolis in January 2018, but the exact dates are yet to be announced.
The Minneapolis Masters World Cup represents a very unique opportunity to race several World Cup-style races right in the heart of a big metropolitan area, as most of the Masters World Cup events take place at ski areas that are not necessarily close to big cities.
About the Author: FasterSkier contributor Inge Scheve, a Norwegian native, lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, and Bend, Ore., for a number of years where she became an avid skier and masters racer. Scheve recently competed in her sixth Masters World Cup in Vuokatti, Finland.
Mona-Liisa Malvalehto of Finland celebrates her first World Cup victory and podium at the classic sprint in Liberec, Czech Republic, in 2013. On Saturday, she won a Finnish Cup sprint to open the 2015-2016 season. (photo: FIS Cross Country)
Just days after the Frozen Thunder sprint in Canmore, Alberta, the official European racing season kicked off in Vuokatti, Finland, with classic sprints contested by most of the Finnish national team, among others.
For the women, Mona-Liisa Nousiainen won the 1.5 k qualifier by 2.03 seconds of Anne Kyllönen, with Kerttu Niskanen in third. Nousianen won her first World Cup in January, 2013, but recently married national team teammate Ville Nousiainen.
Mona-Liisa then won her quarterfinal and semifinal before skiing away from the field in the final to take the season’s first win.
“My goal is to stay in great shape the entire season,” she told Finnish broadcaster YLE. I hope I managed to ski a smooth strong season and stay healthy.”
Kyllönen, another World Cup regular, had led the final out of the gate. But after Nousiainen passed her coming towards the finish, she was also beaten out for second place by Katri Lylynpera. Lylynpera was a top-20 finisher at U23 World Championships last season, but this is by far her best national-level result.
“In the final, I had no other strategy than that podium,” Lylynpera told Kestävyys Urheilu, a Finnish sports website.
Niskanen placed fourth, Leena Nurmi fifth, and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen sixth.
Also in the field was Kaisa Mäkäräinen, the World Champion and two-time World Cup Total Score winner in biathlon. Not used to racing classic, Mäkäräinen qualified in ninth. She made it to the semifinals of the sprint but then placed sixth in her heat.
“I’ve done sports for so long that I might as well go embarrass myself,” Mäkäräinen told the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper a few days before the race. “I’ve never skied before a classic sprint.I’ve been doing hours of rehearsals for it now… The aim is to get a good workout sprint.”
College of Saint Scholastica alum Anita Kirvesniemi placed third in her quarterfinal and just missed moving on to the semifinals.
The men’s competition was full of drama, with Matthias Strandvall crossing the line first in the final but quickly getting relegated to last place in the heat due to skiing on Toni Ketelä’s skis.
Strandvall had won the qualifier by 0.93 seconds over Anssi Pentsinen.
The jury reportedly relegated him due to an obstruction incident which not only affected Ketelä, but caused Ville Nousiainen to crash; Ville crossed the line 35 seconds after the leaders in the final.
“My tactic was that I saved all the tempo for the end, it is my trump card,” Ketelä told the media; he had made a close finish with Strandvall and Mikkonen. “The jury then decided on what had happened before.”
Juho Mikkonen placed second and Ristomatti Hakola third, with Pentsinen fourth and Nousiainen fifth. Other favorites like Sami Jauhojärvi and Martti Jylhä did not make the final.
J.D. Downing at the 2015 Masters Word Cup last March in Syktyvkar, Russia. (All photos: Inge Scheve)
Late last month, John “J.D.” Downing of Bend, Ore., was elected president of the World Masters Cross-Country Ski Association (WMA), putting him at the helm of the international organization that governs master skiers in the International Ski Federation (FIS).
Pointing out that master skiing is much more than the big loppet events, Downing, who founded XC Oregon and has been involved in international cross-country skiing for more than four decades, said in a phone interview that he wants to get more masters involved in racing, both internationally and locally.
“In some capacity I’ve been part of just about every type of nordic ski event imaginable over the past 41 years, and I really believe the MWC [Masters World Cup] format is one of the most enjoyable to be around,” Downing said. “You get the fantastic energy of international participation of the big marathons, but with easier logistics and a more intimate ski experience out on the trails. I also love the fact that skiers of any ability can enjoy an annual world championship with their peers, discovering all these fantastic ski places around the world.”
As president of the WMA, Downing, 49, wants to reduce the logistics and organizational requirements necessary for attending and hosting a Masters World Cup, an annual, competitive world championship for skiers ages 30 and older, which attracts more than 1,000 athletes annually from across the globe.
FasterSkier: What attracted you to this position, and what do you hope to accomplish during your term?
J.D. Downing at work in the U.S. wax room at the Smetanina Sports Complex at 2015 Masters World Cup. (Photo: Inge Scheve)
“I have really enjoyed the past 11 years working with the WMA as the USA national director, and when it became apparent that there wasn’t a long list of directors that were able or willing to step into the president shoes, taking on the added responsibility, it just made sense at this time for me,” Downing said.
“Honestly, the biggest thing I hope to accomplish is having the WMA become more of a team effort with even the minimal administrative functions we have to perform each year. I’ll have a full plate the next several MWC events leading what should be increasingly bigger Team USA contingents, but I’m confident we’ll see multiple other directors and officers embrace different tasks within the WMA, which is exactly the way a non-profit international organization led by volunteers should function.”
He added that the association is already working on a few new elements within the event design for Masters World Cups that will come into play after the 2016 MWC in Vuokatti, Finland, which could make the championships appeal to a wider group of master skiers.
“We would like to reduce the time commitment at the MWC for skiers, particularly younger masters. We also want to keep the event as practical to manage as possible for future organizers, so there are some ideas being worked on in that area as well,” he said.
FS: What are some of the challenges facing the association, and what issues need to be addressed?
“The biggest issue by far is a gradual reduction in worldwide numbers of what I call motivated masters,” Downing said. “The biggest ski events are generally doing very well, and the MWC numbers are holding steady. But we are seeing a clear decline in motivation and numbers of master skiers at the grassroots level around the world. Skiers under the age of 55 are particularly hard to keep ‘in the game.’ ”
He added that some of the underlying issues of this gradual decline are beyond the scope of the WMA, including climate change.
“There are many factors involved in this decline that the WMA can’t really address. Annual consistent snow in ski regions worldwide being first and foremost. But we do need to find ways to motivate and interest more adult skiers in the basic concept that there is more to this sport than just taking part in one or two big loppets every year.
“We’ve got an amazing lineup of MWC events coming up, and I urge every skier over 30 to consider taking part in a future Masters World Cup,” he added. “Vuokatti in 2016, Klosters in 2017, Minneapolis in 2018, and then next fall, we hope to confirm Beitostølen, Norway, for 2019 MWC, which would keep the positive momentum going.”
“We’ve got an amazing lineup of MWC events coming up, and I urge every skier over 30 to consider taking part in a future Masters World Cup.” — World Masters Association President J.D. Downing
The last time the MWC was in North America was in 2011 in Silver Star, British Columbia. In 2008, the MWC was in McCall, Idaho.
Additionally, most of the national masters associations host national championships in varying locations. In the U.S., that organization is American Cross Country Skiers (AXCS), which Downing also heads. This season, the 2016 National Masters Championships will be held at Royal Gorge in California.
Downing has been the U.S. national director since 2004, and will continue to lead the AXCS while being MWA president. He does not anticipate that the additional responsibilities of the presidency to detract from his national role.
“There are some practical economic advantages for both AXCS and WMA in having me do both jobs, especially with the MWC 2018 in Minneapolis coming up fast,” he said.
The WMA Legacy
On Sept. 25, Downing was elected president of the WMA during the the association’s annual conference in Klosters, Switzerland. He takes over for Germany’s Thomas Heckmann, who served as WMA president since 2009, but stepped down this past spring because of business demands. WMA Technical Vice President Klaus Pleyer served as an interim president this spring and summer until the election.
The World Masters Association consists of national directors from every country that fields teams at the Masters World Cup. Every year, the WMA meets to determine business regarding master skiers, review rules and regulations, and select a host and destination for the next Masters World Cup championships, much like the annual FIS general assembly.
The MWC is the biggest event of its kind for age-group skiers, and the bidding process to host the MWC is much like that of the regular FIS Nordic World Championships with potential host destinations submitting their bids to the WMA for review. WMA officials then visit the host destinations and vote on the options.
The U.S. Paralympics Nordic team at the World Cup in Asahikawa, Japan, Feb. 14-19, including athletes Andy Soule (l), Oksana Masters (second from l) and Dan Cnossen (second from r). (Photo: Eileen Carey/U.S. Paralympics Nordic)
Heading into the last races of the season, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Cup Finals, the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Program is probably used to the weight of carrying several medals around, but its athletes aren’t feeling any pressure.
“I honestly can not believe that I am currently the World Cup leader,” U.S. sit skier Oksana Masters wrote in an email last month after winning two-consecutive World Cup races in Asahikawa, Japan.
In her second year of skiing, the 25-year-old former Paralympic rower went on to win four out of five races in Asahikawa to stay on top of the overall World Cup standings and earn a nomination for IPC Athlete of the Month.
Oksana Masters racing to gold in the cross-country 5 k sit ski at the World Cup last month in Asahikawa, Japan.(Photo: Eileen Carey/U.S. Paralympics Nordic)
“It’s a great feeling knowing what I have been working on is working,” Masters continued. “I feel like anything can happen … I am just eager to continue to grow as a skier and feeling more confident on the snow.”
At IPC World Championships in January, Masters earned silver in the cross-country middle distance and bronze in the cross-country sprint in Cable, Wis. She was the second-most decorated skier on her team after Andy Soule, who racked up five medals in seven races.
A few weeks beforehand, Masters had to skip U.S. nationals at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Leading into the championships, she injured her back in training, compressing nerves on the right side while stopping suddenly and aggravating a previous injury from rowing.
“I sat out the whole week of nationals and then that week before Cable, I started to get back on snow,” she explained on the phone in early February. “I was basically on the bed for that week, then afterwards, [I] kind of had to fight off a little bug that I got that week prior to Cable, which happened to turn into bronchitis and walking pneumonia. So World Championships was just more of a mental battle than gonna be just a battle for getting medals, with one setback after another.”
“I didn’t really have much expectations for myself at all considering there’s only so much your body will allow you to do when it’s trying to get back to it’s healthy stage and so [I was] just basically trying to survive at that point,” Masters continued. “Instead of being in the top five or something, I was trying to focus on areas where I need to be focused in any race, which is technical aspects, like turns and transitions, up and over the hill, and kind of take it one race at a time.”
She quickly found her racing form in Cable.
Asked how her first race there felt, she reflected: “Like I was gonna die. I just saw the black light, nothing else … but skiing-wise, it was the first time since about three weeks that I’d basically did anything and pushed my body at that race pace, so that first [biathlon] race was brutal and tough, but at the same time, it got my body more ready and prepared me for the cross-country races and [upcoming] races through that week.”
In total, Masters competed in six events in Cable and explained she was shocked after taking her first medal — bronze — in the sprint.
“Not to fall and to end up with that medal was kind of a relief, but [it] also just brought my focus more towards, OK I had setbacks, but I still can be within the competition and hang with the field, so just believe in the previous training that I’ve done and what I do know and just do it,” she said.
“I’m just doing what I can and focusing on myself. It just so happens to be putting me much higher than I ever could imagine being.” — Oksana Masters (U.S. Paralympics Nordic)
Last year, Masters made herself known as one of the world’s most competitive sit skiers after taking two medals (silver and bronze) at the Sochi Paralympics. She went on to podium in three races at this season’s IPC World Cup opener in Vuokatti, Finland.
Based on her experience in rowing, in which it took her 13 years to medal at the Paralympics (she earned bronze in the double scull in 2012), she appreciated the time it takes to become a veteran of any sport — despite being a new favorite in nordic.
“I’m now that the stage where I respect my competition, of the years they put in to be where they are now,” she said. “I’m playing catchup and I’m just doing what I can and focusing on myself. It just so happens to be putting me much higher than I ever could imagine being.”
Lt. Cmdr. Dan Cnossen (l) and Oksana Masters with their gold medals from the Asahikawa World Cup in Japan last month. (Photo: Eileen Carey/U.S. Paralympics Nordic)
Next week from March 16 to 22, Masters and her teammates will be competing at IPC World Cup Finals in Surnadal, Norway.
“I think our athletes are still feeling fresh and motivated and excited to get another opportunity to race, especially with the full field competing,” U.S. Paralympics High-Performance Coach Eileen Carey wrote in an email. “Our goals will be to continue the process of progress, and squeeze as much as we can from final days on snow this season.”
There’s no ignoring that they’ll be favorites. At the last World Cup in Asahikawa in mid-February, Soule, an Army veteran, won four-straight races. His teammate, Lt. Cmdr. Dan Cnossen won the fifth: the middle-distance cross-country.
“I knew that with a small but strong field there was a good chance for several very good and meaningful finishes,” Soule wrote in an email earlier this month. “The whole week felt great and was an amazing experience. I have never had a string of wins like that, but tried to approach it the same way I do any other race series, taking one day and one race at a time, trying not to think too far ahead.”
With his success in Japan, Soule, 35, rose from third to first in the overall World Cup.
“I am excited to go to Norway and have a good strong finish to the season,” he said.
A biathlon specialist, he’s looking forward to three biathlon events in Norway.
Cnossen pointed out that Soule considered retiring before this season. Soule explained that, because he was doing well at the end of last year and still having a lot of fun, he couldn’t imagine ending his ski career. As of February, Soule said he was committed through the 2018 Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“The mental space he is in is pretty remarkable and I think it has allowed him to relax and let his skills, experience, and love for skiing take over,” Carey explained. “He is aware of the results and knows what he has to do to clinch the World Cup overall, but isn’t letting that distract him from focusing on the basics when he gets to the start line. More than his personal performances, I think he is excited by the team’s performance as a whole.”
While he didn’t have his best performance in the final middle-distance race in Asahikawa, Cnossen did — and Carey wrote that Soule was excited for him.
“It has strengthened him to be a part of the success and progress of the team as a whole,” she added. “The coolest thing about Andy and all our National Team athletes is that they are still very much in progress. They have all made gains this year and all have more to make. It is exciting for all of us as a team to feel the progress but to also see the space for improvements.”
Dan Cnossen racing to gold in 10 k cross-country sit ski at the World Cup last month in Asahikawa, Japan.(Photo: Eileen Carey/U.S. Paralympics Nordic)
“I decided to ski a hard first lap on the 10km race and see if I could hang on for the remaining three laps,” Cnossen wrote in an email.
“The coaches mentioned during the team meeting the previous night that we should use this World Cup event as an opportunity to take chances without worrying about the finishing result. I wanted to see if skiing an overly-fast first lap, out of four total, would result in an implosion or if I could hang on knowing I’m in with the leaders.”
On the second lap, a Norwegian wax technician told him he was in the lead.
“The US coaches may not have wanted me to know that early!” Cnossen reflected.
He went on to win by 13.4 seconds over Canada’s Chris Klebl. Cnossen spent the better part of the fall and winter in San Diego — not exactly ideal for a winter athlete.
“This season has been a transition for me, with a move [from Colorado] to San Diego in order to out-process from the military,” he explained. “Accordingly, my training time on snow has suffered, so my goal this year is to accumulate as much race experience as possible and work on a relaxed, powerful double pole technique.”
The process, which involves a thorough evaluation by the Veterans Affairs and Departments of Defense, will have taken the 34-year-old Navy SEAL commander six months to complete. Unable to get on snow in southern California, he spent about two to three hours a day training with a Ski Erg or hand cycle, after taking up competitive cycling last summer.
“Now, so close to retiring, I’m able to train in the mornings for a couple hours as I normally would, with a second workout in the afternoon,” he wrote. “I’m going to attempt to travel to Norway one week in advance of my team, which would be ten days ahead of the first competition, to train on snow.”
As for the team on the whole, Carey wrote that she could not be more proud.
“Our athletes have taken being students of the sport to a new level this year,” she wrote. “They enjoy doing the hard and sometimes frustrating work to back up what they are learning. Of course it is motivating to see race results back up the progress. But we are not getting too distracted by the podiums.
“There is a lot of progress left to make so we try to keep sight of that,” she added.
Rosanna Crawford with coach Roddy Ward after placing a career-best fifth in the IBU World Cup 10 k pursuit on Sunday in Hochfilzen, Austria. “Such a fun race today, I moved from 34th to 5th for a new personal best with 19-for-20 shooting,” Crawford wrote on Facebook. (Photo: Chris Lindsay)
While Roddy Ward, biathlon Canada national team coach, was referring to athlete Rosanna Crawford when he said, “Way more is possible,” it’s easily a sentiment that could be applied to the rest of the international nordic circuits after this past weekend of racing.
The weekend’s racing began Friday with the IBU World Cup 7.5/10 k sprint in Hochfilzen, Austria, that saw Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway and Kaisa Mäkäräinen of Finland claim victories in their respective races. American Tim Burke turned in the top North American finish after placing 13th, while teammate Susan Dunklee paced 29th for the women.
Tim Burke on his way to 25th in the IBU World Cup 12.5 k pursuit on Sunday in Hochfilzen, Austria. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)
The action continued in Hochfilzen on Saturday with the men’s 4 x 7.5 k and the women’s 4 x 6 k relays. Russia proved dominant in the men’s race, winning by roughly 20 seconds. Canada finished a team-best sixth place while the U.S. team was lapped after a combination a poor starting position and sub-par skis. In the women’s relay, Germany proved as strong as the Russian men, topping their field by over 20 seconds. The Canadian women were unable to match their male counterparts, however, and finished 11th.
In the final day of IBU World Cup racing, one Canadian athlete demonstrated what exactly was possible. Crawford, who started the 10 k pursuit in 34th, wanted to improve her position, but when she crossed the line for a career-best fifth place it was apparent improving her position was just the beginning. On the men’s side, Burke was the top North American in 25th position.
The weekend also brought FIS Cross Country World Cup action to Davos, Switzerland. Norwegians Therese Johaug and Maritn Johnsrud Sundby won Saturday’s 10/15 k classic interval starts. A trio of Americans made up of Liz Stephen, Jessie Diggins and Sadie Bjornsen went 20-21-22 in the 10 k to give the Americans three skiers in the top 30. Canadian Emily Nishikawa placed 29th for her best-ever World Cup finish. In the 15 k, Canadian Alex Harvey also found success, skiing to 17th, which he said was one of his best distance performances at altitude.
In Sunday’s sprint, Ida Sargent returned to the spotlight after placing 16th, while teammates Kikkan Randall and Sophie Caldwell joined her in the top 30 after finishing in 20th and 22nd positions. On the men’s side, Canadian Lenny Valjasreturned to form to place 13th while American Andy Newell placed 15th.
Andy Newell (l) of the USST trails eventual 3rd place finisher Erik Brandsdal of Norway (r) and Alexey Petukhov of Russia (c) who eventually finished fourth in the 1.3 k freestyle sprint in Davos, Switzerland. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
The real story of the day, however, was that Norway continued its winning streak with both its men and women sweeping Sunday’s races and earning 10 of 12 podium positions in Davos.
Not just over the mountains from from Davos, Livigno, Italy hosted the La Sgambeda Marathon. While the women’s 42 k freestyle was dominated by Riitta-Liisa Roponen of Finland, American Holly Brooks was able to hold on for an impressive second place.
Back across the home front, NorAm racing continued in Rossland, British Columbia despite warm conditions and a lack of snow. Both races were classic distance races with 7.5/11 k on Saturday and 11/15 k on Sunday, and Canadian Alysson Marshall and American Kris Freeman topped their respective fields each day.
Last Thursday, the FIS Nordic Combined Continental Cup opened in Park City, Utah, where Taylor Fletcher posted the two best American performances in fifth and eighth place.
The IPC World Cup also opened last Wednesday in Vuokatti, Finland, with Canadian Mark Arendz taking silver in his first race on Thursday: the 15 k standing biathlon. Two days later, his Canadian Para Nordic teammates Chris Klebl and Brittany Hudakboth earned bronze in the 10 k sit-ski and 5 k standing, respectively. Also on Saturday, American Oksana Masters captured a career-best World Cup silver in the 5 k sit-ski, and Andy Soule just missed the podium in the 10 k sit-ski (behind Klebl) in fourth.
On Sunday, Masters carried her momentum to win gold in the women’s sit-ski sprint, becoming the first American female Paralympic nordic skier to do so since the early 2000s. On Tuesday, she took her first-ever international biathlon silver in the biathlon sprint.
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![Oksana Masters (front) and U.S. Paralympics Nordic coach Eileen Carey at 2016 IPC World Cup Finals in Vuokatti, Finland, with wax tech Dave Mark (behind). Masters won the overall cross-country World Cup for the second-straight year. (Photo: U.S. Paralympics Nordic)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/Oksana-Eileen-Carey-and-Dave-Mark-wax-tech.jpg")
![U.S. Paralympics Nordic veteran Andy Soule tucking at 2016 IPC World Cup Finals in Vuokatti, Finland. (Photo: U.S. Paralympics Nordic)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/Andy-Soule-tuck.jpg")
![Mark Arendz (Canadian Para-Nordic Ski Team) at 2015 IPC World Cup Finals in Surnadal, Norway. He placed fourth overall in the 2014/2015 IPC World Cup biathlon standings. (Photo: IPC Nordic Skiing/Facebook)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/03/10686663_815099761871530_6240947688851136757_n.jpg")
![Jake Adicoff (c) and his two guides, U.S. Paralympics high-performance coach and director John Farra (r) and Germany's Florian Grimm. (Photo: U.S. Paralympics Nordic)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/Jake-Adicoff-and-his-two-guides-John-Farra-Florian-Grimm-of-Team-GER-.jpg")
![Brian McKeever (c) and his guide Graham Nishikawa with their gold medals after the men's visually impaired 30 k at 2016 IPC World Cup Finals Vuokatti, Finland. Russia's Alexsander Artemov (l) placed second and France’s Thomas Clarion (r) was third. (Photo: IPC Nordic Skiing/Facebook)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/12671979_979915135389991_2259626625599369564_o.jpg")
![American Oksana Masters (c) on the podium with one of her three gold medals from this year's IPC World Cup Finals in Vuokatti, Finland. (Photo: IPC Nordic Skiing/Facebook)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/12888712_979915172056654_1965668222538447075_o1.jpg")
![Kent Murdoch leading the pack in the 45-kilometer skate in the M5 category at 2016 Masters World Cup in Vuokatti, Finland. (Photo: Vesa Suomalainen)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/kent-45k-finish-vesa.jpg")
![Milan Baic, of Traverse City, Mich., has a well-proven medal strategy for the 45 k event at Masters World Cup: he eats five bananas before breakfast. It usually produces a medal for him, and this year was no exception. He earned the silver medal in the M6 category, one of the most competitive in the Masters World Cup, in Vuokatti, Finland. (Photo: Kent Murdoch)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/milan-5-banana-race.jpg")
![Mona-Liisa Malvalehto of Finland celebrates her first World Cup victory and podium at the classic sprint in Liberec, Czech Republic, in 2013. (photo: FIS Cross Country)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/01/Malvalehto-wins-first-ever-World-Cup-with-sprint-win-in-Liberec.jpg")
![J.D. Downing at the 2015 Masters Word Cup last March in Syktyvkar, Russia. (All photos: Inge Scheve)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/10/John-Downing-2015-MWC-Syktyvkar-RUS.jpg")
![J.D. Downing at work in the U.S. wax room at the Smetanina Sports Complex at 2015 Masters World Cup. (Photo: Inge Scheve)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/04/JD-at-work-Photo-Inge-Scheve.jpg")
![The U.S. Paralympics Nordic team at the World Cup in Asahikawa, Japan, Feb. 14-19. (Photo: Eileen Carey/U.S. Paralympics Nordic)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/03/Full-team.jpg")
![Oksana Masters racing to gold in the cross-country 5 k sit ski at the World Cup last month in Asahikawa, Japan.(Photo: Eileen Carey/U.S. Paralympics Nordic)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/03/Roxy-mid1.jpg")
![Lt. Cmdr. Dan Cnossen (l) and Oksana Masters with their gold medals from the Asahikawa World Cup in Japan last month. (Photo: Eileen Carey/U.S. Paralympics Nordic)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/03/Dan-Oksana-medals.jpg")
![Dan Cnossen racing to gold in 10 k cross-country sit ski at the World Cup last month in Asahikawa, Japan.(Photo: Eileen Carey/U.S. Paralympics Nordic)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/03/Dan-mid-21.jpg")
![Rosanna Crawford with coach Roddy Ward after placing a career-best fifth in the IBU World Cup 10 k pursuit on Sunday in Hochfilzen, Austria. “Such a fun race today, I moved from 34th to 5th for a new personal best with 19-for-20 shooting,” Crawford wrote on Facebook. (Photo: Chris Lindsay)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/Rosanna-Crawford-with-coach-Roddy-Ward.Such-a-fun-race-today-I-moved-from-34th-to-5th-for-a-new-personal-best-with-19-for-20-shooting1.jpg")
![Tim Burke on his way to 25th in the IBU World Cup 12.5 k pursuit on Sunday in Hochfilzen, Austria. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/Burke14122014cm150-1.jpg")
![Andy Newell (l) of the USST trails eventual 3rd place finisher Erik Brandsdal of Norway (r) and Alexey Petukhov of Russia (c) who eventually finished fourth in the 1.3 k freestyle sprint in Davos, Switzerland. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/davos14-386.jpeg")