August 19, 2015 (Aure, Norway) – The U.S. Cross Country Ski Team will kickoff its 2015-16 season on wheels. Eight members of the team are training in Norway in anticipation of this weekend’s three-day Toppidrettsveka roller ski competition, which will feature a World Cup-caliber field. It’s the first year the Team has been invited to the prestigious summer stage race.

The annual Toppidrettsveka is a huge event in Norway featuring a weekend of activities including roller-ski stage races and an uphill running race with thousands of spectators expected.

“Toppidrettsveka is especially important for the athletes to practice multi-stage racing and recovery strategies in advance of the Tour de Ski and the Canadian World Cup Finals tour,” said Head Coach Chris Grover. “The head-to-head racing is ideal for the Team right now and provides needed feedback on technique progress and fitness halfway through the preparation season.”

The U.S. Cross Country Ski Team’s best are in Norway at a camp that started out wet last weekend but has turned into some beautiful days in Aure, just outside of Trondheim on the Norwegian west coast. Among the athletes in Norway are Olympians Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK), Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN), Caitlin Gregg (Minneapolis, MN), Liz Stephen (E. Montpelier, VT), Sophie Cadwell (Peru, VT), Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT), Simi Hamilton (Aspen, CO) and Noah Hoffman (Aspen, CO).

“The camp here in Norway is going great,” said Randall. “This has turned out to be a beautiful place to train—a really nice training environment with three prepared meals a day and restful accommodations. We’ve been doing a lot of training right out the door, up and down beautiful roads right along the fjords.”

The roller ski tour will feature four stages over three days, beginning on Thursday. Day one in Aure will feature an uphill run in the morning with a full classic sprint in the afternoon. Day two moves to Knyken for a 15k skiathlon. Saturday’s finale is in Trondheim for a 15k classic pursuit.

The first three stages will be scored World Cup style (100 points for a win, 80 for second, etc.). In the pursuit finale on Saturday, the field will be seeded based on rankings, with skiers getting a half-second lead for every point.

In its opening weekend, the Team had a chance to get out onto the course. “We’ve toured the hill climb course already and I think these races are going to be really fun,” said Randall. “It will be especially nice to get a check-in on where our fitness stands with other top World Cup athletes at this point in the summer.”

The team also had a chance to get out onto the water with a fishing charter set up by the event organizers. “It’s been awesome to have some fun in between training sessions,” said Jessie Diggins. “I’m loving the Norway camp so far! We have been lucky with some sunny days this week and the roller skiing along the fjords is both beautiful and exactly what we were hoping for in terms of rolling terrain. We did some fishing and bridge jumping! I need my adrenaline fix every now and then, so this got me pretty psyched on life.”

Andy Newell is loving the trip as well. “So far the camp has been beyond expectations. My goals for coming over to Norway in August are to work on high-speed, high-quality training and give us a chance to measure up to some of the other national teams,” commented Newell. “This is a new style of camp for the U.S. team and for a lot of us this will be our first try at any big rollerski competitions. It’s still a lot different than snow skiing so we are not focused too much on the results, but at the same time there will be so many fast skiers here from around Europe. It’s definitely a goal to perform well.”

Head Coach, Chris Grover, echoes the team’s enthusiasm. “Toppidrettsveka is especially important for the athletes to practice multi-stage racing and recovery strategies in advance of the Tour de Ski and the Canadian World Cup Finals tour. The head-to-head racing is ideal for the Team right now and provides needed feedback on technique progress and fitness halfway through the preparation season,” added Grover.

Results and information are available here.

Toppidrettsveka Schedule (Central European Time)
Thursday, August 20 – Aure, Norway
10:00 a.m. – Uphill race
2:30 p.m. – Classic sprint prologue
4:30 p.m. – Classic sprint quarterfinals
5:20 p.m. – Classic sprint semifinals
5:50 pm – Women’s classic sprint finals
6:00 p.m. – Men’s classic sprint finals

Friday, August 21 – Knyken Ski Center/Orkdal, Norway
3:15 p.m. – Women’s 15k skiathlon
4:00 p.m. – Men’s 15k skiathlon

Saturday, August 22 – Trondheim, Norway
4:00 p.m. – Women’s 15k classic pursuit
5:00 p.m. – Men’s 15k classic pursuit

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