February 07, 2015 (Almaty, Kazakhstan) – The USA’s Scott Patterson took home another solid top-20 result with his 15th place finish in the U23 Men’s 30km (15CL/15FR) Skiathlon today as Magne Haga of Norway got the win he hoped for at the U23 Nordic World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Scott Patterson (USA) © USSA

Patterson’s teammate Patrick Caldwell from Vermont also had a fine day finishing 20th while the top Canadian was Whitehorse’s Knute Johnsgaard just out of the points in 32nd. American Kyle Bratrud was 37th, Ben Saxton finished 41st, Canuck Colin Ferrie was 44th, Scott Hill was 45th and Quebec’s Raphael Couturier was 48th.

Haga chased down France’s Clement Parisse and made a great tactical coming out of Parisse’s draft on the downhill as they came into the stadium to edge out his rival by a mere 0.6 second for the win. Parisse was unable to hold off the Norwegian and settled for the silver while Russia’s Dmitriy Rostovtsev took the bronze at 2.6s behind.

U23 M Skiathlon podium © FIS

According to US Coach Bryan Fish, “The conditions made the courses more demanding today.  The snow has continued to thin each day making the courses very dirty.  Also, the overnight temperature was 8C warmer than the previous days, so the courses didn’t firm up like previously in the week.”

We caught up with Caldwell and Patterson post race for their comments on the day.

Patrick Caldwell © USSA

“It was a slushy and muddy 30km today. Our skis were really good on the classic leg. I struggled to keep pace during the first 15km (classic leg) but tried to work my way back up in the skate leg. My transition from classic to skate was pretty slow, nothing major just had some trouble unclipping my bindings. I am really psyched with the result from today. That was a tough race and I’m excited to have had a good race. Shoutout and HUGE thanks to NNF for all their support for this trip! Gearing up to head home early tomorrow morning,” Caldwell told Trax.

Scott Patterson (USA) © USSA

Interview with Scott Patterson (USA)

How were you feeling on the start line ?
SP: I was surprisingly calm on the start line. I figured that I had done everything I could to prepare, now it was just time to go out and enjoy my last race of U23s.

Walk us thru today’s race – how were the conditions and your skis during the classic leg ?
SP: The classic race conditions were quite interesting.  We were racing on straight klister as the temperatures had increased significantly during the last couple days. With a thin snow pack to start, the warmer temperatures made the course extremely dirty and quite sticky. It seemed as if there were only a few millimeters of snow separating our skis from the mud. Even so, my skis had amazing kick, but the klister was definitely a bit draggy.  Looking back, I should have taken more time to dial in my kick and reduce drag. Due to the skis, I spent most of the classic leg yo-yoing in various packs slightly back from the lead before picking off a few people towards the end. After feeling mediocre for most of the classic, I was ready for a change of rhythm with the transition to skate.

USA's Ben Saxton leading Canada's Colin Ferrie (USA) © USSA

Did you know you were in the top 20… ?
SP: I could see the entire race in front of me for the classic, but really had no clue other than just a rough estimate of where I stood.  Once on the skate course, that lack of information turned into an information overload as every coach, wax tech, and many of the athletes out there gave me my placing.  Also along several of the sections of the skate course, there was good visibility so I even had a measure of the distance up to the leaders.

Talk about the skate leg where you moved up a couple of spots.
SP: Coming out of the transition, my legs were feeling quite tired; however, a quick recovery down the first hill along with skis that felt fast then boosted my energy level back up and I immediately set out to catch the groups in front of me. This rate of ascent quickly dwindled when we arrived on the sun baked portions of the course. In retrospect, I probably should have selected a different pair of skis, but I made the best of the pair I had.  About one lap in I caught up with an Italian and a lap later we were joined by a Russian from behind.  This little group of three stuck together up until the final spring with some lead changes and a few people picked off. At several points during the race I was  struggling to keep up with the other two as I couldn’t compete on the downhills. My skis also defined the sprint as the course drops down one final hill into the stadium and I was left a little to far behind to duke it out with the Russian and Italian.

Kyle Bratrud © USSA

Did your results meet your expectations ?
SP: The results did not meet my expectations going into the race, but these expectations were tossed out the window in the classic portion.  Instead of racing for result, the race expectations became a goal to survive.  Needless to say I survived and even managed a decent result (even though I feel pretty terrible now).

Would you do anything different if you could redo the race ?
SP: Redoing the race, the big thing I would do differently would be to make further efforts to dial in my skis.  I think with good skis, I could have raced up to my expectations.

Full results here.