FasterSkier

Tag: X Team

  • Pros of Tomorrow Presented by Fischer: Jake Ellingson

    Pros of Tomorrow Presented by Fischer: Jake Ellingson

    Jake Ellingson of Mount Itasca Biathlon shot a flawless race in the mass start of the North American Rollerski Cup in Jericho, Vermont, to place second overall and the top American. (Photo: Paul Bierman)
    Jake Ellingson of Mount Itasca Biathlon shot a flawless race in the mass start of the North American Rollerski Cup in Jericho, Vermont, to place second overall and the top American. (Photo: Paul Bierman)

    Editor’s Note: This ‘Pros of Tomorrow’ series, brought to you by the generous support of Fischer Sports, aims to highlight some of the most notable up-and-coming athletes around the world, which may or may not be Fischer-sponsored skiers. Have an idea for a top-notch skier you’re itching to read more about? Email info@fasterskier.com with the subject line: Pros of Tomorrow. Ideas for intriguing juniors or collegiate skiers, or lesser-known athletes are welcome as well — subject line: From the Pack.

    Jakob Ellingson has made some changes this year. The 20-year-old biathlete from Minneapolis finished high school, switched to training full time, revamped his approach to shooting, and attended training camps in Lake Placid with the national team.

    “I’m actually feeling really good at this point,” he said of a year where he’s increasing his training volume.

    Seems like it. Ellingson turned heads last weekend in Jericho, Vermont, with a pair of strong finishes in the North American Rollerski Cup races.

    Missing three shots in the sprint, he placed seventh; in the mass start the next day, he placed second behind World Championships silver medalist Nathan Smith. He two penalties over 20 shots represented the best shooting of any of the 80 or so athletes competing, male or female, in any age category.

    Ellingson (center) on the U.S. podium in Jericho, flanked by 2014 Olympians Sean Doherty (left) and Leif Nordgren. (Photo: Jake Ellingson)
    Ellingson (center) on the U.S. podium in Jericho, flanked by 2014 Olympians Sean Doherty (left) and Leif Nordgren. (Photo: Jake Ellingson)

    Landing as the top American in his first year competing as a senior surprised even Ellingson.

    The last time he had talked to FasterSkier, it was after a frustrating sprint race at 2015 World Junior Championships, where he missed five shots and placed 65th, just outside the cutoff for the pursuit.

    So the changes have certainly made a difference.

    “Really, I shouldn’t have been surprised because all I did was that I didn’t rush it and just did what I had been practicing,” Ellingson said in a phone interview last week.

    Part of the result came down to a specific race-day plan. The range approach in Jericho can be tricky, with a long but gradual uphill leading into the shooting range.

    “Sometimes I think people go faster than they should because they don’t realize that it is, yeah, a pretty challenging approach,” Ellingson said. “Coming up that hill, Vlad [Cervenka, Ellingson’s coach] was telling me to just calm down and do what I had been training. To not worry about those other guys.”

    But lots of athletes go into races with a plan. Having the ability and presence of mind to follow that plan – particularly in the psychologically tough sport of biathlon – shows a level of maturity.

    “I was very impressed by his performance,” United States Biathlon Association Chief of Sport Bernd Eisenbichler said after the competitions.

    Ellingson said that having trained with the national team athletes in the spring gave him confidence.

    “I know that most of those guys will shoot faster than me,” he said. “But I know that when they shoot fast, especially early in the year like this, they can make mistakes. So it’s okay if I take my time and make sure I hit them.”

    He also was grateful to end up skiing behind Sean Doherty, a World Junior Champion who has been on several international racing trips with Ellingson as a youth and a junior. A 2014 Olympian and now a World Cup racer, Doherty has experience that Ellingson doesn’t.

    But he was a known quantity.

    “Skiing behind Sean was nice,” Ellingson said. “He was trying to do the same thing, to control the range approach. And he’s obviously faster than I am and a stronger skier, but I’m getting closer.”

    One of Ellingson's photos from a training trip to Colorado. (Photo: Jake Ellingson)
    One of Ellingson’s photos from a training trip to Colorado. (Photo: Jake Ellingson/flickr)

    Ellingson has been training primarily with Cervenka in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The longtime coach has offered his current star athlete a place in his house to live, and Ellingson only returns to the Twin Cities on rest weeks.

    An avid and talented photographer, Ellingson doesn’t feel the need to cram any other pursuits into his schedule, so focusing on biathlon made sense.

    “I don’t know what I’d study,” he laughed of the decision to defer college.

    Despite training full time, he says his life is not getting dull.

    “With Vlad we do a lot of different stuff,” he said of the shift to full-time training. “Not just too much skiing or too much running, we do a lot of biking and a little bit of swimming. We really spread it out and make it fun. It doesn’t seem too much like a job. Just going out and having fun training.”

    As the oldest of Cervenka’s athletes, Ellingson knows that although he may be happy with his coach and enjoy helping out with the high school team, he needs a new challenge to continue his upward trajectory.

    A group of Minnesota athletes who train with Vlad Cervenka on bagged the Grays and Torreys peaks in Colorao. Ellingson is at right and his sister Siena on the left. (Photo: Jake Ellingson)
    A group of Minnesota athletes who train with Vlad Cervenka on bagged the Grays and Torreys peaks in Colorao. Ellingson is at right and his sister Siena on the left. (Photo: Jake Ellingson)

    “My goal is to get on the X Team or the Development Team so that I can be working with these guys more often,” he said of USBA’s two development programs. “I think that’s the next thing for me, is to spend more time training and racing with the top guys in the U.S.”

    That’s very possible. Along with Russell Currier of the Maine Winter Sports Center, Ellingson has been invited to a testing week with the U.S. team in Lake Placid in September. (Casey Smith of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project was also invited, but will be training in Ramsau, Austria, with his team.)

    There, it’s possible that either could get named to the American “B” team, which didn’t have any nominations this spring, or that Ellingson could be added to the X team.

    “We are really pleased to see this,” Eisenbichler said of the level of all three of those athletes. “These guys showed now that they are ready to perform against the others… After that we see if we have a naming for the B team or what happens. But I think they see that if you perform, then you get a reward.”

    And thanks to his strong finishes in Jericho, Ellingson is very much in the running for a pre-season camp in Utah (rescheduled from Canmore, where not enough snow is saved to guarantee skiing in late October). From there it’s possible, with more good performances, to move to a pre-World Cup camp in Sjusjøen, Norway.

    The decision to focus on biathlon seems to be working out so far.

    “I figure, school will still be there when I’m done,” Ellingson said. “And with biathlon it’s hard to really focus on it when you’re going to school because colleges in the U.S. don’t support it. It’s going well right now, so I don’t see any reason to stop.”

    Want a blast from the past? Read some of our previous Pros of Tomorrow profiles:

    Frédérique Vézina (2014)

    Lukas Ebner (2014)

    Miles Havlick (2014; fourth overall in 2015 SuperTour)

    Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (2014; 2015 senior World Championships team member)

    Nichole Bathe (2014)

    Anja Gruber (2014; fourth place in 2015 Birkie)

    Ben Lustgarten (2014)

    Heidi Widmer (2013; 2014 Olympian)

    Cendrine Browne (2013; 2015 senior national champion)

    Leif Nordgren (2010; 2014 Olympian and longtime senior national team member)

    Lenny Valjas (2010; 2014 Olympian and longtime senior national team member)

    Brittany Webster (2010; 2014 Olympian)

    Ida Sargent (2010; 2014 Olympian, 2015 World Cup top-5 finish, senior national team member)

    Andrew Musgrave (2010; 2014 Olympian and longtime senior national team member)

  • Six U.S. Biathletes Receive National Team Promotions

    Six U.S. Biathletes Receive National Team Promotions

    Clare Egan competing at Ethan Allen in Jericho, Vermont, earlier this summer. The Craftsbury Green Racing Project athlete received a promotion from the U.S. Biathlon Association's Development Team to its X Team.
    Clare Egan competing at Ethan Allen in Jericho, Vt., earlier this summer. The Craftsbury Green Racing Project athlete received a promotion from the U.S. Biathlon Association’s Development Team to its X Team.

    After a summer of training and competition, the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) has announced updates to its national team roster.

    In the spring, USBA had named a Development Team for the first time in several years, as well as a new “X Team” squad of more advanced development athletes.

    “Back in spring when we started the new USBA team structure philosophy for the development side with the X-Team and the Development Group we clearly stated that these two teams are ‘open’ teams,” USBA Chief of Sport Bernd Eisenbichler wrote in an e-mail. “‘Open’ for talents we might find through the Talent ID Camp, and for our youth and junior biathletes and ‘young’ biathletes (time in the sport) who were close to getting named to a team already back in April, and showing good development and professional attitude through out the summer training.”

    The Craftsbury Green Racing Project’s Clare Egan was initially named to the Development Team, but has now been promoted to the X Team. Egan placed third in the sprint at North American Rollerski Biathlon Championships this summer, an impressive result after learning to shoot only recently in her nordic career.

    What’s the difference with Egan’s new nomination?

    “The X Team is the ‘A’ team of the Development side, and the Development Group is the ‘B’ team,” Eisenbichler explained. “X team gives you a resident bed in Lake Placid and other benefits, but this season we want to really work very intensively with both teams to give them most time possible with biathlon training. So also the Development Group got a good amount of camp days in Lake Placid and/or Utah, so all the athletes have a good chance to develop as quickly and as far as possible in a short amount of time.”

    Also promoted to the X Team is Max Durtschi, a Dartmouth College student who tried out biathlon only earlier this summer as part of USBA’s Talent ID Camp. A former professional cyclist who also had great success as a junior in cross country skiing, Durtschi has picked up the sport quickly.

    Four other athletes have been named to the Development Team, most of whom also participated in the Talent ID Camp and have continued working on biathlon this summer. Headlining the group is Patrick Johnson, a former collegiate and SuperTour-winning cross country skier. He is joined by Kelsey Dickinson (College of St. Scholastica) and Jakob Ellingson (Loppet Nordic Racing), both of whom competed in 2014 World Youth and Junior Championships. Another St. Scholastica skier Paul Schommer was also named to the Development Team.

    “To name them in addition now at the end of the summer is  a great sign for what is possible in our new structure, if an athlete is willing to put in the work and develop through out the training period,” Eisenbichler wrote. “All athletes in the X-Team and Development Group will be invited to an on-snow camp in Canmore, Canada, at the end of November and to the IBU Cup Trials races in Minnesota right after. The camp will be lead by our Head Coach Development Jean Paquet.”