February 13, 2010 (Gatineau, QC) – Assessment of Canmore…The word on the street is that
Assessment of US and Canada at Canmore Weekend – Both teams did enough each day to keep the press at bay heading to Vancouver. Especially the old dogs Sara Renner and Ivan Babikov for the Canadians, and Caitlin Compton (race of her life), Torin Koos and Kikkan Randall for the US rallying to be in the top 10 displayed these teams can do it. Also, there was a good sprinkling of other skiers from both teams in the top 30 of both day’s races.
There was still the continued backward movement in the sprint heats after numerous good qualifying positions and I just wonder when we’ll break out of this cycle.
Sara Renner pulled off one of the best tactical moves of her skiing career when she cut the inside of the corner in the last downhill just as you go under the underpass heading to the finish – that move put her on the podium and closed the door on Petra Madjic (SLO). Madjic went down as she got caught in the middle of the group and squeezed with no where to go. On the other hand, Koos gave his race away at this same location, as he came into the corner with the lead, but looked like he was swinging a tractor trailer out wide to get around the corner and everyone just went by. His effort to that point said final six and an excellent chance to podium. Next time, Torin.
Surprises at Canmore – John Kristian Dahl (NOR) places 2nd in the men’s sprint and is not on the Norwegian Olympic Team. Does this belie a stronger Norwegian Team than I think they are?
Alex Harvey’s complete crash in the results of both races – a 62nd in the 15km skate and a 48th in the sprint qualifier – which was an easy qualifier to make. This looks like he has fallen off a cliff compared to whom he was a month ago or at this time last year. Yes, he is getting ready for the Olympics, but is something missing?
I know that he opted to stay in Quebec City to train for a few weeks with his training center group, which is a big step below Canmore’s National Team group and most importantly he missed out on the altitude training built into the program. Every team in this final preparation period was all over the western US and Canada at altitude for these weeks before the Olympics.
I know if I was coaching this team it would give me cause to be concerned about what events to use him in and where he now fits into the relay team. In looking at his international results for this year he is looking like he has become a stronger classic skier. So, instead of skiing the last leg in the relay he would be considered for the 2nd leg, which of course is classic.
Alex is sure to get a start or two before the relay and that is more then two weeks away, so is there is time to get him back on track? One more problem I wouldn’t want to have as the coach this close to the Olympics. It’s never easy!
The US also chose not to go to altitude and left their skiers on their own during the lead up period to the Games. Canmore is not extremely high but that could have been the reason for being off on the results they expected or wanted.
World Juniors and U23s – I keep reading about top 30s here as the assessment of success at this level of competition. I’ve been away from the coaching scene for 18 years now and back then we felt that top 15 finishes were directly linked to success (being a consistent WC point scorer) in the future on the WC circuit and this was our evaluator. This was a tepid year for the teams from both Canada and the US in both talent and depth by my assessment.
Is There Enough Snow in The Callaghan – The heat wave in British Columbia continues and while we think three feet of snow is a lot, it can disappear very quickly when storms are rain, rather than snow and temperatures, do not go below freezing, especially at night. I hope every one is well stocked up on red and silver klister, yuk!!
Also, I lived in Vancouver for five years, and you want to see a snow eater, watch a “pineapple express” come roaring through the Pacific Northwest, and you’ll be walking down Whistler to get to the bottom.
Twenty days to go, and if the weather stays as is, do we make it? I think it will be close! Oh, yes, and then we have the Paralympic Games following from March 12-21. Lets hope the weather gods flip the switch here soon. Thanks “El Nino”!!
Can You Believe It – my spies said that there was no doping control in Canmore. That’s right – no FIS, no WADA and who ever else should or could be testing were absent in Canmore. Leave the door open and the kids will always steal the candy.
Russians Celebrate – it’s their 40th anniversary of being in the news for doping infractions which take medals and money from the rest of the sport world – time to take a lesson from the Austrians?
Talk to you in a couple of days.