December 01, 2013 (Kuusamo, Finland) – American Noah Hoffman is on fire delivering a resounding performance today with the fastest time in the men’s 15km FR Pursuit on the final day in Kuusamo at the Ruka Triple. The Aspen, Colorado skier closed down a 1:02 deficit to join the leaders at around the halfway mark and skied his way to 9th at the finish, and into the record books as the winner of the day, for his first quasi FIS World Cup victory.

Noah Hoffman © Sarah Brunson/U.S. Ski Team

This past April Hoffman underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder and while the recovery process has gone  smoothly and he’s regained strength and range of motion, the real test comes on snow. Last weekend he placed 7th in the men’s 15km FR in Beitostølen, Norway and now the Hoff has thrown down the gauntlet with a superb top podium performance.

“I’m pretty excited and happy with the way I skied. Skiing to 9th at the mini tour is a big improvement over last year. It’s not a full World Cup win but I’ll take it for sure. I’m really happy with the way my preparation has gone this year and I’m looking forward to keeping things rolling,” the Hoff told SkiTrax.

“Things didn’t unfold the way I thought,” he continued. “My plan was to ski conservatively for the first three laps to conserve energy and initially I settled in behind Ivan Babikov who started ahead of me as he’s a great skier. But I was wary of gaps forming and decided to close down the first one as it’s really hard if you end up on the wrong side of a break.”

Sundby © Nordic Focus

As Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby, the eventual winner, and Russia’s Alexander Legkov and Maxim Vylegzhanin drove the pace Hoffman kept his cool and continued to advance like a veteran. Peter Northug (NOR) was there as well with Marcus Hellner (SWE) also positioning himself for a potential strike.

But Hoffman played his cards wisely and was in charge the whole race. “I saw some more splits happening ahead and moved to close them down and was able to latch on to another train… things just came together and soon I was with the leaders. I felt good and was happy to still have energy until the finish. I knew it would get tougher at the end and I made a small tactical error that put me back from 3rd or 4th place to 13th in our lead group, and it was too much to regain my position at that stage,” he explained.

On the final lap Legkov attacked and only Sundby and Vylegzhanin could stay with him as they upped the pace. Behind Northug and others began to fade as Maurice Magnificat (FRA) tried in vain to bridge. On the final hill it was Sundby who showed he still had the legs as he knew he had to crest the last climb first to lead-in to the final left hand turn before the finishing straight.

Noah Hoffman © Pam Doyle file photo

Behind Hoffman stayed strong with the group of chasers as Sundby powered to Ruka Triple victory with Legkov running out of steam as Vylegzhanin passed him in a final surge to catch his Norwegian rival but settled for second. The Hoff cruised in taking 9th in the mini tour along with 5,000 SF and 50 points for his stellar efforts as the winner of the day.

Babikov ended up 37th, Alex Harvey (CAN) was 43rd, Kris Freeman (USA) was 58th with Devon Kershaw (CAN) in 66th, Jesse Cockney (CAN) was 87th, Andy Newell (USA) 88th, and Mike Sinnott (USA) finished 93rd.

“I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped me recover…I owe a huge amount to the incredible sports medicine staff on the US Ski Team for getting me back to 100% so quickly and my coach John Callahan, for almost 10 years now, who is managing my program,” added Hoffman.

Men’s 15km Pursuit results here.
Men’s 15km Pursuit Winner of the day here
Overall Ruka Triple results here.