March 14, 2013 – Petter Northug – Say or think what you want about this guy, he is one hell of a racer and he is totally focused on maximizing his effort in every race. The stunt he pulled off in Drammen, double-poling the sprint course four (4) times, may not have been an option for very many of the other racers. Which also surprised me, that more skiers didn’t go to double poling the course once they went into the heats. It was cool to watch his strategy play out in the last heat as it came down to the last few hundred meters – his skis gave him the decisive advantage He wins the 50km this weekend in Oslo.

Babikov – his last race at the Worlds, a DNF in the 50km, and then off to Canada to be with his family for a week and a few days…and now back for the 50km in Oslo this weekend. Oh, just happened to be sick while he was home in Canmore. Is this a DNS or a DNF weekend in Oslo – it’s just his kind of race – tough course, mass start and skating technique. Those 8-hour jet lags will kill you. Hope he isn’t going to wreck a great season!

Koos – That’s Torin Koos, the outlaw skier, who has had international success over the years, a bit spotty, but has now re-inserted himself into the USST sprint team considerations for the Sochi Olympics next year, with his 18th place finish in Drammen on Wednesday. He and Newell would make a good sprint relay team – top 5 easily. Now it is up to Koos to keep it going straight ahead – he tends to be his own worst enemy in being focused on one goal. In his favor is that he can go fast when he gets it together and will make the squad a better team.

Impessive in Drammen – Kowalczyk’s footspeed – if any of the other ladies want to beat her in a classic sprint this is definitely an area they’ll have to improve in. Northug’s double pole – when he puts that pedal down all the other guys can just step aside and watch.

Not Impressive in Drammen – The course…yet the two Eurosport announcers, Dave Goldstrom and Mike Dixon, declared the course as being one of the better, if not the best, sprint course on the WC circuit. It can’t be much of a classic sprint course if the winner just double pole his way around the whole course. Also, who was the genius who came up with the sharp little hill at the finish line. That created a mess a number of times and may have influenced the actual out come of some of the heats. Quite the log jam – or should that be ski jam.

If this was an experiment – it was a failure – not to be done again.

Kikkan Randall – has managed her way through a rough patch quite nicely these past couple of weeks – some sickness, wearing down- but was more than capable of finishing off the Sprint Cup again for this year and sneaking herself into 5th place in Drammen. Do we see her in the 30km this weekend in Oslo?

Talk to You Soon!

misterxc@aol.com