January 30, 2016 (Lake Placid, NY) – David Norris of APUNSC used fast skis and slick tactics to take his first Supertour win ever in the 1.5km Freestyle Sprint in Lake Placid, while Kelsey Phinney of Middlebury College took her first win on the women’s race. Norris bested his teammate Eric Packer on the final downhill despite having fallen behind the lead pack at the top of the course, which included a long climb out of the start to the high point of the course followed by a long descent into the finish. Akeo Maifield-Carucci of Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF) was third. Finney used similar drafting tactics to take the women’s win ahead of birthday girl Caitlin Patterson of Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) and Annie Hart of Stratton Mountain School T2 (SMST2).

Elite men's podium © Mike Matteson

Norris, whose best results in the past had been in distance classic events, said he was lucky to learn the tactic he would use for the semi and final early in the quarterfinal, where he glided from fourth to first on the descent into the stadium. “I got a good draft in the quarter and move up from third or fourth in the lead and that seemed to work, so I stuck with that for the day and could always find a way to get through,” he said. “The skis definitely helped. I was able to use the people I was racing with to draft.” Packer, the classic sprint winner from US Nationals earlier this January, finished second, gaining valuable Supertour points along the way. His nearest competitor in the Supertour standings, Brian Gregg (Team Gregg/Madshus), finished fourth in the final after making the lucky loser spot twice.

Coming into the final fast descent, the pack was led by Maifield-Carucci followed by Alex Turgeon (Can), Packer, and Norris in that order. Packer and Norris managed to find the extra speed and came into the final 100-metre stretch with a small gap. Norris found the inside lane and held off Packer at the finish, while Maifield-Carucci pushed Gregg to the outside.

Maifield-Carucci, who graduated from Harvard this May and has since been training in his hometown of Bozeman with the BSF team, also credited fast skis with allowing him to get on the Supertour podium for the first time ever. “My goal was sitting not leading,” said Maifield-Carucci, who will race the sprint at U23 Worlds later this year. When he surged past the fading Turgeon at the high point of the course, he said he thought he had lost the race. “I was like, ‘dang it’” he said, “But I guess it worked out better than expected. Our skis were good.”

Kelsey Phinney © USSA

The women’s final race played out in a similar fashion with a tight group of five jockeying for position on the final descent. With distance specialist Chelsea Holmes in the lead, the four pursuers tried to find their way around her. Phinney, an NCAA skier, whose breakout race came last March at the Supertour Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho where she finished second behind US Ski Team racer Sadie Bjornsen, said that she tried not to think about the big names she was going against today.

“It was kind of a blur,” she said of her first ever Supertour  win, “I put in a good effort around the [final] corner. Once you see the finish line all you can think about is to ski your heart out.” She was greeted at the finish by her teammate Annie Pokorny, who just began racing for Middlebury after a stint with SMST2. Finney also noted that making the mistake of leading and of getting pushed to the outside of the final corner in her quarter and semi finals helped her realize she needed to be patient in the draft for the final 200 metres.

Caitlin Patterson, who turned 26 years old today, said that despite qualifying in first, she knew the final would be a different game. “I didn’t have a sense of how many of us it was until we got to the bottom…It was a little dicey for a bit. Kelsey got around everyone right when we started to corner. I was able to keep the inside line. I didn’t realize the others were right there until I watched the video that they had online.”

Patterson, who added to her Supertour overall lead, picked up $500 for second place and $250 for the qualification win, said that she will have no wild parties to celebrate her birthday tonight. “It will be a low-key evening,” she said, “My teammates are making me a cake, but trying to disguise it. It seems pretty chocolate-y with zucchini and coffee and maybe some peanut butter frosting.”

Men’s results here.
Women’s results here.