January 19, 2012 (La Clusaz, France) – Following Saturday’s 10/15km CL we caught up with a number of North American skiers for their take on the course, the venue, the tough waxing conditions and their race. Meanwhile, for Sunday’s relay the Canadian teams are both out – the men are not racing because Devon Kershaw is battling with food poisoning and the women are short one skier, “…all candidates as preparing for next weekend’s Worlds trials and are not available,” said Head Coach Justin Wadsworth.

Andrew Newell (USA) – 28th 15km CL
I was happy with the way things went today and, although I’ve scored distance points in Prologues this year, this is my first time in the points in a 15km. Conditions were tough for the girls race for sure because it snowed a little last night and then warmed up. But once the guys started racing it seemed more stable and consistent throughout the course. I went on harries and it looked like most of the other racers were also on harries. There were some decent hills out there but I have struggled with my kick in my last few distance races so today I went with extra kick – I think it worked out. I was able to save my arms a little on the up hills so double poling the flats was easier.

Andrew Newell (USA) © Nordic Focus

Because of the tough course and the little bit out altitude here I definitely didn’t want to start too fast so it was my goal to not try to move up too much on the first lap and ease into it. I think that strategy worked out well and I was stoked with the way my body responded. Although I gear most of my training toward sprinting, distance racing is very important to me. I’ve always wanted to be successful in all types of races and will continue to try and improve my longer distances as much as I can. The plan for tomorrow is Me, Noah, Tad, Simi. Again, the courses will be tough but I think if everyone skis well we should hold our own. There is a chance I’ll be skiing the first leg at Worlds so I’m looking forward to practicing it tomorrow.

Noah Hoffman (USA) – 68th 15km CL
I had a disappointing race today. I had a good seed because asthe last member of the seeded group so I had a good start and was in good position after one lap. However, the pace was really tough for me and I wasn’t comfortable. I started struggling and got dropped by the pack. I’m not sure why my form wasn’t as good as I was hoping, but my energy is good and I’m looking forward to tomorrow and Sochi in a couple of weeks. I also fell on the second to last downhill and lost a bunch more time, but that was not the defining part of my race. Tomorrow we are having Newell scramble, I’ll ski second, Tad will go third and Sim will anchor. My skis were good today; almost the entire field was on rubb skis, including all three U.S. men.

Liz Stephen (USA) – 15th 10km CL
Conditions were a bit tricky out there today, but my wax tech, Oleg Ragilo nailed it. He is from Estonia and has been working with our team last year as well as my first few years on the ski team. He is awesome, and I am really lucky to be able to work with him and also with the great team of techs and coaches that we have. With a small team, it takes all hands on deck to make good skis, and our guys never seem to slow down for a second. I mean, they penciled in a 10 minute lunch break between our race and they didn’t even get to it today. These are some seriously hard working dudes and they deserve a real standing ovation for their work already this year.

I’m not sure I ever expect things to unfold a certain way in a race. Each day is so different, each course, each condition, who is feeling good, what team is going to nail the wax. I just get to the start line and put my racing head on and go race.

I, of course, wanted to get into the top 10 today, especially once I saw how close it was. I tried like hell to catch with them on the second to last hill on the last lap and died pretty hard over the top of the hill. I had to kick some wax from the bottom of my ski but was so low on energy that I had to take a few walking steps first. I lost a lot of the time which I had made up, but better to try than not. Top 10 is close, which is fun, and it is attainable on the right day.

The recovery week in Predazzo was super mellow and just what I needed and the five days here before today’s race was awesome too. We got some sun, ate some pizza, hung with our team’s strength coach who came to visit us for four days after the Tour in Predazzo and it was just a perfect 10 days of recovery for me. I am happy with my form after taking a week off from the circuit and am excited for our training week in Les Seisies, France next week before heading to Sochi!

The relay tomorrow should be a blast and I am really looking forward to it. We have an awesome group of girls, all racing fast, which makes picking the team hard, but we will go with the same order of girls from our Gallivare relay earlier this season and see how it goes! Relay leg warmers and glitter will be seen out there for sure, as well as some fired up ladies!

Kikkan Randall (USA) – 32nd 10km CL
I believe my form is still quite good. I didn’t feel 100% today but I felt decent. The race was going relatively well through two laps and my skis ended up being a major distracting factor today. I think my rest period post-tour was good and this weekend, no matter how it goes results wise, will be a good training component for the buildup to World Championships in the next few weeks.

The conditions were surprisingly tricky and variable. Ski testing before the race went relatively smooth and I headed to the start feeling pretty confident about my skis. First lap they worked great, 2nd lap was a little bit of icing and then 3rd lap was a big battle. I liked the course, it was challenging but still skiable at a fast pace. The fans were good.

Did things unfold as you expected? Definitely not! My plan going into the race was to find a good rhythm on the 1st lap, dig in and move up on the 2nd lap and then try to hold good speed in the final lap. Everything was going about as expected until the 3rd lap. I was getting tired but still moving well and picking up places. But with 3km to go my skis were icing badly, making stilts of snow on the bottoms of my skis. I crashed once and had to stop once to slide my skis across each other to clear the snow.

I know today’s hard effort will be good prep for tomorrow. I know I have to ski technically a little different in these conditions to try and help prevent the bad icing on my skis. I’m confident that we have another shot at getting the skis dialed in better tomorrow and my body and shape still feel in a good place.

I haven’t heard for sure what the plan for the relay is but I think we are going to repeat our order from the Gallivare relay. Holly is rested, Liz and Jessie were solid today and I am motivated to ski a strong relay leg for our team.

Jessie Diggins (USA) – 24th 10km CL
I was pretty psyched with the pace since we were at altitude – it wasn’t a crazy wild start and I think that this was the closest I’ve ever stayed to the main pack! I was pretty amped up from adrenaline at the start because with less than three minutes to go I realized I’d grabbed the wrong poles and had two different spare ones, with loops instead of handles. I ran back to the start area looking for my poles but ended up grabbing a spare Canadian set. So when the gun went off, my heart rate was already in L4! I wasn’t skiing with any one person for long but mostly trying to hang with the pack as long as I could.

It was a tricky waxing day for everyone because you wanted to be able to kick but then pretty much everyone was icing up and getting stilts on their skis over the tops of the hills. Once I got a system for double poling while smacking the snow off my skis, I was able to ski the hills with more confidence. After the Tour I got sick, so after not being able to ski and then just getting healthy, I was excited to be on snow and racing. I was psyched on today, and even more pumped seeing Liz have a great one, and I’m excited (as always!) for our relay tomorrow.

Dasha Gaiazova (CAN) – 27th 10km CL

Sadie Bjornsen (USA) – 28th 10km CL
Today was a very fun and exciting race, but somewhat frustrating at times. I could see from the start that conditions were tricky, so I am thankful the wax techs really tried so hard to find something that would work! My race started out very well with the first lap, but then my skis started icing for the third and fourth lap. There were points that I was standing on stilts, and other points that I was simply trying to double pole straight up the hill to keep my skis moving. These challenging waxing days are always frustrating to yourself as the racer, but then after the race, you find that everyone was having problems as well. I think today you either had skis that were working or skis that were testing your patience and perseverance. Today, I was in the second category but I am also very excited for how things went considering. My body felt great on that first lap when things were working so I can’t wait to start racing some more here on World Cup. It is my first distance race back, and I would consider this my first “real” distance points. Canmore was my first points, but it wasn’t a full world cup field, so I come away from today very happy!

I am finally starting to feel that I have no more jet leg in my system or heavy legs, so that too is very exciting. It will be very nice to have the supertour spot for these next weekends of World Cup racing because I will get opportunity after opportunity to work my way up throughout the weekends! I missed some racing early this season while I was getting back to 100%, but now it is time to jump in between the other US girls momentum and follow them! I am very excited for the girls relay tomorrow. Even though I will be standing on the sidelines cheering our team is a six woman relay team, and I believe in those girls 100%. It should be a great day!

We now have a week off from racing before heading to Sochi so it will be nice to finally get a little break after this period of racing in Utah and jumping overseas!

Ida Sargent (USA) – 29th 10km CL
Great to have four girls in the top 30 today in the mass start!  It was a tough race. The conditions were super variable out there and I was walking on stilts in a few different sections but it was fun to keep fighting and anytime I’m in the points is a good day. I caught up to the pack that the US girls were skiing in on the first lap after starting in the back but then my skis iced and I had to stop and kick them off. That was the biggest low of the race for me but then I stayed positive and had fun picking people off when I could. I could always see Jessie and Sadie but couldn’t bridge the gap. It was some interesting snow and the wax techs did great trying to get skis that would work throughout the course. I was also excited that after a long break from a distance race (Canmore was my last one) that the body still feels really good. Looking forward to a relay day tomorrow!  I’m not racing but can’t wait to see them kick some butt!