November 30, 2014 (Ruka, Finland) – On Day 2 of the Ruka opener American Sadie Bjornsen was the top NA skier 17th in the women’s 10km CL race while Devon Kershaw was solid in 14th in the men’s 15km CL contest behind teammate Alex Harvey in 7th. We caught up with them post race for their impressions of how their season openers went.

Sadie Bjornsen (USA) © Nordic Focus

Sadie Bjornsen (USA)

How does it feel to get the first big races in…?
Sadie Bjornsen: It feels good to get the first races of the season in. Racing at this level always takes a bit of getting used to after training hard all summer. But, I am happy to get the first weekend underway.

Talk about your skis – conditions – and the course.
SB: I had good skis today! Conditions were better than yesterday, with less tricky icing problems. It helped that the weather cooled down a bit. It still wasn’t your usual mule kicking conditions of Ruka – but plenty good! The course was much harder then I remember from last year – but that is good for me. I love to make it really hard at the beginning of the year to not only test your fitness, but of course train your mind. It is easy to push hard when you feel good – but it’s harder to push really hard when you don’t feel as spectacular. Last year I came into these races feeling on fire – but this year I hope to have that fire in Falun, and of course some before and after!!

How has your training gone and how’s your fitness ?
SB: I had a great summer of training, and my fitness is feeling good. I look forward to a few more weekends of racing to get the fire really going!

Are you satisfied with your race today ?
SB: Yes, I am happy! I did one 5k time trail before coming here, but I didn’t expect to be blowing things out of the water in Ruka this year. So I am leaving knowing I have the right fitness, and I’m ready for the weekends to start rolling here! 🙂

Devon Kershaw (CAN) © Nordic Focus

Devon Kershaw (CAN)

Looks like you felt good out there today…
Devon Kershaw: I did feel good today racing. I started well, fell asleep a little bit in the 2nd lap but still feeling really good and then I had a great last lap. It’s confirmation that the changes I’ve made with my training and the feelings I’ve been having are real – and that things are moving in the right direction. Still some work to do – I didn’t feel stellar on the steeper terrain, but I was happy to feel snappy and good in the flatter terrain – which is traditionally where I am strongest in classic.

You paced yourself well and picked up at the end – are you happy overall ?
DK: I am happy. It’s a solid start to the season. After last year’s difficult start to the year and difficult year all around, to have a top 15 in the first distance race of the 2014/15 World Cup season is good for me. I am happy with how I raced the race, and the feelings overall were positive while racing. The body was working quite well today.

DK: Talk about the conditions – your skis and – the course.
DK: Conditions were great today. A nice change from the mess yesterday. Tracks were in decent shape – some bigger grooves where the poles go but otherwise good. It was -5 or -6, so it set up pretty well. My skis were great. I think we all had good skis (Canada) today. Able to climb most of the way up the steep Kuusamo climbs, and good speed along the flatter sections.

Alex [Harvey] was strong too – how inspiring is that for you and the team ?
DK: Oh yeah, I mean, Alex is a real beast. He’s the best skier Canada’s had (on the men’s side) hands down. He’s very confident in what he did for preparations, he’s extremely professional and looks at every aspect of his “game” to see where he can improve. I’m very impressed to see how he put this weekend together. From many seasons of not many points scored before Christmas – to this year already, 14th and 7th in the first two competitions. He’s an inspiration for me, but I think more importantly, he should be an inspiration and role model for all young aspiring skiers in Canada. He does things extremely well. The results are just confirmation of how good his preparation is – which is the best I’ve seen or been around in my career.