April 08, 2013 (Truckee, CA) – The 1,250-foot hill climb in 50-mph winds to the top of Sugar Bowl’s Mt. Disney – the last event in the 2013 SuperTour Finals – did more than zap energy and freeze faces, it propelled U.S. Ski Team member Liz Stephen to the leader’s position in the four-day series.

Liz Stephen © Mark Nadell

Race leader until the end of Monday’s race, Kikkan Randall, dropped to the 2nd slot in the overall series while Sadie Bjornsen, Randall’s her teammate on Alaska Pacific University and the U.S. Ski Team, took third overall.

U.S. Ski Team member Kris Freeman almost caught race leader Erik Bjornsen half way up the 6-kilometer climb and ended the day with the fastest time to the top: 25 minutes. Brian Gregg was second in the race and Tad Elliott took third. “That was stupid hard,” Freeman said after the race.

Bjornsen was named the 2013 SuperTour Finals champion, while Freeman was second. Michael Sinnott, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, moved to third.

Kris Freeman © Mark Nadell

Climbing to the top of Mt. Disney, at 7,953-feet, on cross country skis was tough enough, but the athletes competing in the last race in the SuperTour Finals also had to battle 40 to 50-mph winds, icy slopes and snow drifts.

Liz Stephen, known for climbing strength, was the fastest woman of the day – covering the 6 kilometers in 27 minutes and 57 seconds. Her teammate Jessie Diggins came in second – 1 minute, 44 seconds behind her.

Former University of Nevada, Reno ski team member Chelsea Holmes, who now skis for Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, returned to her old stomping ground and finished third in the hill climb — an important showing for a girl with sights on the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

supertour2013-hill-f_Kikkan randall-k4.2

Randall was first off the line, but the blowing and drifting snow made it difficult to follow the track, especially when the course took the race out onto the downhill runs. She missed a left turn – marked by two blue gates – about half way up and was skiing straight before race officials caught her attention and got her back on track.

“I could hear them yelling but I didn’t know what they were saying – the wind was too loud,” she said after the race. The mistake lost her a minute or two – she finished 3 minutes, 2 seconds behind Stephen.

Chelsea Holmes © Mark Nadell

Caitlin Patterson Gregg, who won the 2013 and 2011 American Birkebeiner – a 50-kilometer Nordic event held annually in Hayward, Wis., in sometimes sub-freezing temperatures called Monday’s 6-kilometer hill climb “brutal.”

“This is pretty much as hard as it gets,” she said, as she tried to warm up in a small hut next to the finish line, where skiers changed clothes before either riding the chair lift down or skiing. Gregg finished the hill climb in 12th place – she was 13th in the overall series.

As race leader, Bjornsen was first off the line in the men’s race. He kept a strong pace on the lower section but Freeman, who started 48 second behind Bjornsen, began to close the gap as they moved onto the downhill ski runs and into the stongest winds. Bjornsen said he knew Freeman was there.

Erik Bjornsen © Mark Nadell

“I led the whole way and I almost missed a gate and Bird (Freeman) yelled ‘cut left,’” Bjornsen said. “When you’re in a headwind and there are not tracks to follow it’s easy to miss turns.”

He said he just put his head down and pushed, and when they got closer to the top, he tried to sprint to open up a gap, but failed. “I was so tired,” he said. “I pretty much crawled to the finish line.”

U.S. Ski Team member Andy Newell, who dominated Saturday’s sprint races, finished the race in 17th place – 1 minute and 29 seconds behind Freeman. He said hill climbs are not his event, but he said this particular race was not the best setting.

Men's podium (l-r) Gregg 2nd, Freeman 1st, Elliott 3rd © Mark Nadell

Freeman agreed. “I also think it was too hard as a ski race,” he said. “It’s too steep and too high (in elevation) to be a good race.”

He said he’s looking forward to Thursday’s U.S. National Championships, where he’ll get to ski in his element — the 50 kilometer distance. He was U.S. 50-kilometer freestyle champion in 2012, and U.S. 50-kilometer Classic champion in 2011.

“I just hope they have snow left,” he said of Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Center, which is hosting the events. The women race 30-kilometers on Wednesday.

Women’s Final Hill Climb

Men’s Final Hill Climb

USSA SuperTour Finals – Men’s Final Overall Standings

USSA SuperTour Finals – Women’s Final Overall Standings