November 24, 2013 (Beitostølen, Norway) – Team USA made their 2013/14 race season debut in Beitostølen, Norway this weekend and came away with their first victory courtesy of Kikkan Randall in the women’s skate Sprint. Adding to the team’s strong start were Sadie Bjornsen’s 5th in the 10km classic individual start race, Liz Stephen’s 6th in the 10km FR individual start, Andy Newell’s 6th in the men’s Sprint, Noah Hoffman’s 7th in the men’s 15km FR individual start, Holly Brooks 12th in the 10km FR plus five women qualified in the women’s sprint. We caught up with Randall, Hoffman, Newell, Diggins and Head Coach Chris Grover for their take on the racing this weekend…

Women's Sprint podium © FIS

Kikkan Randall

Noah Hoffman

Andrew Newell
I was feeling ready to race leading into today although I hadn’t done a real skate sprint since New Zealand – I was looking forward to it. This course wasn’t too easy because of the wind but it definitely wasn’t a World Cup course either with less climbing, only taking us about 2.5 mins. So I knew I was going to have to be quick in qualification and aggressive in the heats.

I tried to stay near the front my quarterfinals and semis in order to stat out of trouble and also get some room to punch it on the uphill which was the main goal. My fitness and speed were feeling good so I think I was able to push a high pace in the heats, but just didn’t have my usual kick at the end… this tends to be a recipe for a Lucky Loser spot, which is what happened to me today.

Going into the final the wind was really starting to pick up and we all stayed together up and over the final uphill but my legs were just a little too heavy to challenge in the lanes and a German skier and I duked it out for the 6th spot.

I’m just happy I was able to get in a few hard heats today and help prepare for the World Cup season. I wasn’t feeling great in the finishes but it’s still early and I want to be skiing my best in January and February. I’m confident going into the first World Cups but also not feeling much pressure. The first sprint it part of a mini tour, and then we have a double-distance weekend in Lillehammer… so these next two weekends are also building type races that will hopefully get me ready to rock once the real sprints start going off.

Jessie Diggins
I am happy with my form since  training all summer has gone really well and I’ve been working on some technique things – smoothing out my strides and working to be more efficient. It felt great to get in a race yesterday and kick off the season, and I’m happy with how it went, especially since this is just the start of the season! It doesn’t feel any different than any other year, since every year everyone trains their butts off whether it’s the Olympic, the World Champs or the Word Cup; it seems to me like everyone has the race spirit for every weekend, which makes it really fun!

Chris Grover
We’ve had a good week here in Beito. As usual, we are using this first week in Scandinavia to get acclimated, get some quality time on snow, and get in a few race starts before the World Cup. Beito has been excellent for all of these things. Great races for Sadie, Liz, and Noah considering that they are just getting their feet under them over here. More to come tomorrow in the sprint.

Sorry I missed your call today. It was a busy day racing and then we moved down to Oslo with the Team for travel to Kuusamo tomorrow. We are feeling very satisfied with our race weekend in Beito. For sure nobody was at their best, but almost everyone had at least one solid race, and it was an excellent tune-up for the start of the World Cup season. Look for the US to build momentum throughout the first weeks of the World Cup season.