December 05, 2014 (Lillehammer, NOR) – Canada’s Alex Harvey and the USA’s Sadie Bjornsen kept North American hopes alive as the only skiers to advance through the qualifications today at the first mini tour of the season, round #2 of the FIS XC World Cup in Lillehammer, for the 1.3/1.5km skate sprints. Sergey Ustiugov (Rus) and Marit Bjoergen (Nor) topped the fields.

Kikkan Randall © Nordic Focus

The big surprise today was that US star and reigning Sprint Cup 3x crystal globe winner, Kikkan Randall (43rd), did not qualify “… the first time since spring of 2009 (I believe)” wrote Randall – see full comments below. Randall’s male counter part on the US team, Andy Newell, also didn’t advance (34th) but the squad was buoyed by the return of Sophie Caldwell who has been recovering from a second broken elbow suffered during a fall at a training camp. Caldwell was 61st on the day but things are looking up for the Vermont skier.

Sophie Caldwell is back © Nordic Focus

The Canadian team was also shut out as Perianne Jones was 33rd and Emily Nishikawa was 76th. Other Americans include Ida Sargent in 52nd, Jessica Diggins 55th, Liz Stephen and Caitlin Gregg 78th. On the men’s side Jesse Cockney (Can) was 34th, Len Valjas (Can) was 45th, Erik Bjornsen (USA) placed 58th, Simeon Hamilton (USA) was 59th, Devon Kershaw (Can) placed 64th, 94. Graeme Killick (Can) 94th and Reese Hanneman (USA) was 99th.

Here’s what Randall had to say about her race today…

A quick report from today’s WC Skate sprint in Lillehammer, the first of 3 races in a mini-tour…

I was looking forward to today’s race as the first skate sprint of the season.  Unfortunately my race shape is not quite 100% yet, and, in combination with battling a cold this week and possibly some tough skis for our team today, I missed advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time since spring of 2009 (I believe).  

I was bummed not to feel strong today as it was an exciting course with the type of challenging climbs that I usually love.  We had temps right around freezing and some new snow falling intermittently throughout the morning.  The climbs got sugary but overall the mostly man-made course held up quite well.

It was a tough day for the whole team.  Our one bright spot was Sadie Bjornsen advancing through to the quarterfinals where she fought hard but couldn’t quite make it on to the semis.

While this is not what we were all hoping for today, the good news is we get right back at it tomorrow with an individual start skate race.  5km for the women, 10km for the men.  I always love another chance to get out there and fight again!

Thanks for watching!

Cheers,
Kikkan 🙂

Women’s Qualifications here.
Men’s Qualifications here.