Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) © Nordic Focus
February 13, 2014 (Sochi, Russia) – Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) fought through the pain of a broken foot to win the gold medal in today’s 10km classic interval start competition in Sochi, Russia. In the silver position for the second time these Games was Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla (SWE), while Norway’s Therese Johaug (NOR) scored the bronze.
Team USA’s Sadie Bjornsen (USA) logged the top North American result in 18th place, followed by Sophie Caldwell (USA) in 32nd, Ida Sargent (USA) in 34th, Holly Brooks (USA) 35th. Brittany Webster (CAN) was the best Canuck in 42nd, while team mates Dasha Gaiazova (CAN), Amanda Ammar (CAN), and Heidi Widmer (CAN) finished 44th, 55th, and 57th, respectively.
“Today was super fun because it was one of those days that you really had to push your mind and your brain,” said Bjornsen after her race. “It was warm and soft just like Eagle Glacier and really challenging courses today. That last kilometre-and-a-half into the finish is where you kind of were makin’ or breakin’.”
Sadie Bjornsen (USA) © Nordic Focus
Conditions were warm and spring-like with an ambient temperature of 12 C and a snow temperature of 0 C, making waxing tough. Kowalczyk was in the lead from the get-go. At the first interval, it was the Polish dynamo, followed by Marit Bjoergen (NOR), and Johaug. By the second interval, Kalla had moved into third ahead of Johaug, while Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) skied in fifth and USA’s Bjornsen held 15th. The third interval saw the virtual podium remain unchanged, but Saarinen moved ahead of Johaug.
On the fourth interval Kowalczyk remained in the top spot, but Kalla took over the silver medal position, followed by Johaug and Saarinen as Bjoergen dropped to fifth and Bjornsen skied in 18th.
Bjornsen took us step-by-step through the final minutes of her race and what was going through her mind: “…I knew all that was left was a kilometre-and-a-half up and I just tried to sort of numb my brain – not listen to anything besides the rhythm of ‘pole, pole, pole,’ so that’s what I kept trying to tell myself going up the hill. Coming over the top you know that every second is places and so just trying to push it all the way to the finish.”
Sophie Caldwell (USA) © Nordic Focus
“…I never really listen to splits much because I have sort of a unique strategy for how to pace it. I got a split half a kilometre in that I was 15 seconds out, so I tried to not listen to those things and just remember how I want to ski the race.”
For Sophie Caldwell (USA) in 32nd the conditions were crazy, “I felt really good in the beginning, I tried to pace myself, I knew it was a tough course, with a little bit of altitude, so I tried to start out a little conservative, I think I but it definitely caught up to me at the end but over all I think it was solid. It’s crazy conditions here – the warmest and softest I’ve skied in a long time, but they did a great job at keeping it simple, so I was able to stay relaxed though it was a relatively seamless process, choosing skis.”
Ida Sargent (USA) © Nordic Focus
Just behind Caldwell in 34th was fellow American, Ida Sargent who commented, “I was having flashbacks, to two or three years ago when it was hot and slow and slushy, so it’s now how I’ve been skiing the past couple of weeks, so it’s a bummer for that to happen today at the Olympics, but that’s what makes ski racing exciting. *laughs* You never know what’s gonna happen.”
Brittany Webster (CAN) © Nordic Focus
Canada’s Brittany Webster in 42nd loved the sunshine and found it tough but fun, “It was hard racing in these conditions but I love it. I love the weather, the 10 degrees and the sun. It’s awesome but I did have cramping issues. I think I was just a bit maybe dehydrated or over hydrated…the first 5km for me were really tough because as soon as I started climbing my legs were cramping so that was strange. But following the descent and shorter climbs I was able to breathe it out which made it a lot better. The conditions made it little hard to stay on my feet – thick and soupy – I crashed twice but I really found it fun out there.
We also caught up with Canada’s Dasha Gaiazova who commented, “This was the kind of race where you really had to work everywhere – even on the downhills. The snow is just so slow. I needed more glide. I had plenty of kick but definitely not as much glide as would like. Those who had better glide did better in all the sections. It was definitely a difficult one for me but at the same time I don’t do very many 10km…the last one was in Linzerheide (Swi) at the Tour de Ski and that was awful. I think I was third last in that race…that was almost two months ago.I really wanted to race today just because it is classic – I love classic – but I didn’t have many expectations for today, I just wanted to really push it so I’m relatively happy. Of course I wish I could have been little faster and hopefully next week for the relay and the team sprint it’ll be better. So cool to have my grandmother here”.
Amanda Ammar (CAN) © Nordic Focus
Canada’s Amanda Ammar in 55th talked about the tough day on snow and her tough arrival to Sochi including broken skis, “I mean, already it’s a tough course, and then you add the hot weather and the slow conditions, so it made for a mentally tough day and our techs did a great job. It was hard today, I’m struggling at these Olympics as I’ve had quite a rough lead in you know with my skis getting broken when I was travelling from St Petersburg. There was a lot of stress leading up to the Games, so you know I’m just trying to do the best I can and push the hardest I can. I did that today but I think the results will not please me when I see them. Life is just trying to adapt.”
Heidi Widmer (CAN) © Nordic Focus
The last word goes to Canadian Heidi Widmer in 57th who loves Gong Show conditions but admitted that today was one tough day at the office. “It was ‘survival of the fitness’ out there today…a real Rickyism from the Trailer Park Boys. It was really hard and I was honestly was out there fighting the entire time. I had nothing left in my legs and just did my best to find a rhythm. They didn’t salt the course today and the more Gong Show the conditions, the more fun it is for me, as everyone’s battling the same challenge. I put my best out there, but unfortunately it was dead slow. These are the kind of races where you’re just thinking that you can’t wait until you have an opportunity to train and just use this as motivation to get better for next time.
Results here.
Results detail here.
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