February 18, 2008 (Liberec, Czech Republic) – Distance skate race and a classic team sprint in Liberec, Czech Republic, host of next year’s World Championships. While we didn’t have a lot of snow to ski on, there was at least a 1.9km man-made loop to host the races. In the skate race, I was happy to ski on fresh legs and finish with my best ever distance skate result on the world cup—46th place 8% off the winner.

For the classic team sprint I teamed up with Laura Valaas. We skied hard and just missed advancing to the finals by five-tenths of a second. So close! Now we head to Falun, Sweden for distance racing on Saturday and Sunday.

The Full Story

This trip to Liberec would be our first preview of the 2009 World Championship courses for next season. However, like most of Central Europe, Liberec has also been plagued with warm weather this winter and instead of skiing on the newly designed trails, the races were confined to a 1.9km man-made loop. Snow was even trucked in from the nearby national park glacier (which drew protest).

Friday was my first chance to ski on the course. It was dirty, soft and littered with debris. I skied a few laps, swerving to avoid rocks and thrashing through the calf deep sugar on the main climb. The snow was slow from the dirt mixed in and after an hour I was feeling pretty whipped. We were all in awe that a world cup race could be held in such conditions. Thankfully, the organizers made use of the below freezing temperatures and blew snow onto the course every hour during the night and sprayed the really soft parts with water. By race time Saturday, the course was looking much better.

7.6km Skate
The distance race was supposed to be a 10km individual start skate, but attempts to increase the loop to 2.4km failed and the race was reduced to 4 laps of 1.9km (approx 7.6km). The men raced six laps each on the course first, followed by a multiple lap
Nordic combined race. By the time the women got on course, the snow was getting pretty chewed up on the climbs. Yet, compared to the conditions from the day before, the course appeared to be in great shape. Course workers were still spraying down sugary parts of the course while we warmed up.

Usually the Red Group (top 30 ranked racers) go last, but because of the snow conditions, the fastest racers went out first this time. That meant I had to finish my warm-up on foot until it was my time to start. With the race already going full swing, I got my chance to go. Racers were all over the course. With multiple laps, skiers would be overlapping like crazy.

Within a few hundred meters, I latched on to a Finnish girl. She was at least a lap ahead of me, but I had the advantage of fresh skis. She set a good pace on the climbs and I settled into my rhythm. Training the day before, my legs had felt like lead. So I was cautious with my pace at first. As I crested the high-point on my first lap however, I was surprised and excited to find that my legs felt fresh.

Over the second lap, I continued to follow the Finnish girl. She would pull a little bit ahead going up the climb and I would reel her back in on the downhills and flats. When the bib number behind me came passing by entering the climb on the third lap, I was too timid and didn’t change my pace to follow her. She pulled about fifty meters ahead and remained at that distance for a while.

Coming through the stadium entering my third lap, I decided I needed to over take the Finnish girl. So I skied around her and focused on my own pace. I led for a little while and then when we hit the climb, she surged. It was her final lap while I still had one to go, so I let her pull a little bit ahead. As we came sailing back down the other side, she got caught in the soft burm to the outside of an icy corner and went sprawling toward the fence. Luckily I was able to avoid her crash and continue on.

On my last lap, the effort was definitely starting to set in. I had to focus on making quick, powerful movements to keep from settling down too much. Going up the big climb for the last time I tried adding a little hop to my step. My breathing was surging and my legs were burning. But I made it up and over with good momentum. Grover was at the top of the hill, yelling to me that it was four seconds to get into the top 40. I pushed hard over the top and negotiated the icy turn one more time.

The final climb and flat into the stadium faced into the wind and it was a grind to make it to the finish. I sprinted in the last 100m, trying to bounce off my skis like I would in a sprint and then slid across the line. My place read 44th. I hadn’t been able to pick up the four seconds I needed to break into the top 40. When all the racers had finished, I slipped down two more spots to 46th.

My first reaction to the result was lukewarm. 46th didn’t sound that great, and I felt like I had been a little too conservative with my first three laps. When I got back to the wax cabin and looked at the results however, I was surprised to see that I had finished only 8% back from the leader, and achieved 68 FIS points. It was by far my best distance skate race performance in a world cup. It wasn’t a spectacular performance but another step in the right direction!

Classic Team Sprint
Laura and I were excited to team up once again for a sprint relay. The usual format is three laps each around a 1.2km course. But due to the configuration of the man-made loop, the sprint course was a little long at 1.4km and the race organizers shortened the race to two laps each. The format for qualification had also changed since our last race together, and now it was only the top three teams (vs. 5) that would automatically advance to the finals. Then it would be the next four fastest times from both semi-finals combined that would get the “lucky loser” spots for the final.

The course crews had worked on the loop all through the night and it was actually in decent shape for the classic style race. Four tracks lined the course, and the snow was firmer, faster and less rocky than the previous days. I tested three pairs of skis and decided to go on an old favorite for the race. My warm-up went smoothly and I entered the exchange zone area feeling fired up and ready for a good race.

We had a little scare when Laura couldn’t find where to get her transponders (timing devices strapped to each racers ankle) within minutes of the start. Luckily she got them in time and started the race without incident. I could see on the big screen that she got into a good position right away, tucked in behind the leaders. She held that position all the way around her first lap and came into the stadium with the pack.

With all the teams coming in at once, it was a little crazy in the exchange zone. Our first tag was solid and I took off out of the exchange zone chasing down a pack of teams ahead. The course included two long climbs and long double-pole sections. I skied aggressively and gradually worked my way back onto the pack. It was a hard effort but I felt strong and powerful. I tagged off to Laura.

In between laps, I jogged around to stay loose. Soon the teams were coming back into the stadium and I quickly strapped on my skis and hustled over to the exchange zone. Two teams had pulled away and a pack of three teams chased a few seconds behind. Laura had just lost a little ground in the last hundred meters and when I got the last tag, I was heading off with a big gap to try and pull back.

I skied as hard as I could, forcing myself to really get dynamic on my skis and push the pace up and over the two climbs. It was a really hard last 200m, double-poling back into the stadium. I hadn’t been able to catch the teams ahead but I had at least kept the distance. I double-poled as hard as I could down the last stretch and then glided the last meter over the line. We finished 7th in our heat, 26.2 seconds off the winning time of 16:32.6.

Now we had to wait and see how fast the second semi-final would be. Although we finished seventh in our heat, if the fourth place team in the next heat was slower, we still had a chance to advance to the final. I went back to the wax cabin and grabbed my running shoes. By the time I got back to the stadium, the second heat was about to finish. We carefully watched the scoreboard as the teams came across the line. The winning time of the second semi-final was 16:32.0, just six-tenths of a second faster than the first. When the fourth team finished, we knew it was going to be close. They were 26.3 seconds off the leader.

We quickly did the math and realized we just barely missed advancing by five-tenths of a second. That last meter that I had glided instead of thrusting my foot across the line had been the difference. Oh man, so close!

Since we didn’t get to race the finals, we grabbed our cameras and caught the men’s semi-final action from different points around the course. Both our US men’s teams were in the hunt for the first couple laps, before fading on the third laps to finish out of contention. Then we watched the women’s and men’s finals. While the best scenario is to be racing, it is still advantageous (and fun) to be able to watch the races and learn from the top skiers.

When the races concluded we packed up and went back to the hotel. I spent the afternoon compiling the video and photos from the race into a video that I have posted on my FasterSkier blog.

Now we’re on the road again, this time heading up to Scandinavia for World Cups in Falun, Sweden this coming weekend. The sprinters will take a break (I am going to pretend to be a distance skier for a few days) while the distance skiers will do a pursuit and a relay. With only two girls over here for the US right now, Laura and I will be sitting out the relay. The US men will have a relay and we will cheer them on.

Thanks for tuning in!

Cheers,
Kikkan 🙂