February 01, 2012 (Sochi, Russia) – With the first event at the 2014 Olympic venue in Sochi now over SkiTrax caught up with a number of North American skiers to get their take on the sprint course, the venue and their race in the 1.3/1.8km FR Sprints.

Kikkan Randall (USA) – 1st
A successful day in the snow here at the World Cup test event at the “Laura” cross-country venue for Sochi 2014!  It’s been a challenging week for me.  Upon arrival I came down with a cold that went directly into my lungs. So I spent the first three days here inside sleeping, resting and watching movies.  It was really hard not to be out skiing and checking out the courses.

Finally started feeling a little better yesterday and got out for a tour around the sprint course. Was hoping I would be healthy enough to race today. Thankfully I woke up today feeling better yet.  The warmup felt pretty hard and it took a while to wake up my body again, but I felt strong in the qualifying round.

With the course being pretty short and fast, I wasn’t sure what the best tactic was going to be.  I looked at this race as an experiment to try some different strategies in preparation for next year.

The women’s course here is a good one, I like it.  It skis deceptively tough.  We’re at over 5000ft of elevation up here and you really feel the burn going up the main climb.  There is not much rest and you have to keep working the whole way.  I like the technical turns and the long finish stretch.  I think it’s a very fair course that will be sure to provide a lot of action next year!

Our skis were really fast today and that was certainly an important part of our good results as a team!  It was key to have good glide coming down into the stadium and I think we had some of best glide out there today.  This really gives us confidence in our whole team–athletes, coaches and service staff, for next year.

In the final I worked hard out of the start to get the lead and control the pace.  I was able to stay in front all the way to the stadium and was happy coming into the final curve to still have good energy in the legs.  I was able to find a good sprint gear coming down the homestretch and it felt really good to take the victory.

Super proud and impressed by my teammates today, 5 girls and 2 guys in the top 21!!  That’s a new record for us!!  I am going to sit out tomorrow’s skiathlon to rest up and make sure my sickness is totally clear.  I hope to race the team sprint on Sunday.

Ida Sargent (USA) – 6th
It was a great day for the USST!  Seven in the top 21 in the finals and seven in the top 17 in qualification! I like the course here.  It’s short but hard and technical and there isn’t much recovery out there so you’re working a lot. I was 17th in the qualification which was a PR in skate qualification. I often struggle qualifying so after that round I had a good feeling for the day. In the rounds I tried to ski at or near the front and was very happy to make the final! I was pretty tired by the time that heat came around but it was still an awesome day for me. We had very fast skis today too! Looking forward to the pursuit on Sunday!

Jessie Diggins (USA) – 15th
I didn’t get a good start off the line and it was such a short course with one good line skied in that it was very difficult to pass. I wasn’t super pumped about not being able to play my tactics better since I felt super good and had great energy, but that is sprint racing! Super proud of the team and there were a lot of PR’s set down today!

Holly Brooks (USA) – 16th
I was a bit skeptical coming into today with the short, 1.2k course. I usually need 3+ minutes in order to have a good qualification so I was shocked when I crossed the finish line and Sadie yelled to me, “Holly you’re 6th!!!” (I ended up 7th after all finishers). It was my best sprint qualifier and my best FIS point race – 15.11 !!

We had a great team practice on the course yesterday and strategized a bit – it seems to have paid off since five of the USA ladies qualified in the top 17! Our waxers obviously did a fantastic job on our skis because with such tight times, skis really mattered…. my Salomon boards were rockets and I felt like I was able to hold my tuck quite long on the last downhill and save some energy for the final sprint to the line.

Unfortunately three of the USST ladies, Jessie, Ida and myself were all in the same heat. I was slow off the line and got a bit boxed in from the start. The course is so short and relatively easy that it was hard for anyone to ski away. Also, with the new snow falling, it was impossible to make a pass on the outside – whenever you got out of the draft line and/or into the new snow in was dog-slow. This allowed people to control the race from the front.

Diggs and I were in a photo finish for 3rd and 4th in our heat with her taking it by one 100th of a second. I was disappointed to end the day after the quarterfinal but considering that it was my best qualifier and my best sprint final place to date, I’m really happy. It’s awesome to have a good experience at the Olympic venue, on the Olympic course – or what we think is the Olympic course – and be able to leave here with a great vibe. Kikkan took the win easily which points towards success one year from now and Ida had her first appearance in the A-final! As I team I think we skied well so we’ll leave here with good feelings and a specific work-list for the up-coming training season.

One down, two to go!

Sadie Bjornsen (USA) – 21st
Today was exciting and fun. I had a really good qualifier, by far the best I have ever put together. The heats were interesting because I was in the first heat, so we were sort of the rabbits. I wasn’t sure where to ski, and what tactics to use on this new course. I had a slow start after missing a pole plant on the line, so that put me in the back of the pack, and I found there was no-where to pass from there. It was still an exciting day for me though. It is fun to see that I have the strength to ski on this Olympic course, but the next step is learning to tactics of racing on World Cup. I look forward to hopefully getting some experience with that this year.

I also have to say I was so proud and happy to be part of the US Team today. We have all been raising the bar and pushing each other for the past two years, so it was exciting to see things pan out really well today. I know some of us felt like our days were cut too short in the heats, but all in all it was a huge day for the US women! Even more exciting times to come for sure!!

Sochi Sprints – Men

Devon Kershaw (CAN) – 8th
Today was a step in the right direction and I am happy with it, but I still can’t seem to react to that big pace change which has traditionally been my strength. This has been a great dress rehearsal for us. It is another World Cup, but the whole vibe is at a different level. Everyone is very diligent because the next time we are here it is the big show. We have one week to dial it in and I’m thrilled to be here.

Lenny Valjas (CAN) – 20th
It was great to ski the Olympic sprint course today. I learned a lot about the way the course skis. I made some tactical errors today which kept me from moving on to the semi final. This course seems to suit my style of skiing well. I can’t wait to race here again next February.

Andy Newell (USA) – 13th
I’ve been recovering from a little bit of a cold so I was actually pleasantly surprised with how good I felt today. The course is for sure really tough and it has been snowing non-stop so the conditions weren’t super fast. But I’ve had success in the past on long sprint courses so I wasn’t too worried about it. In qualification I felt decent but it definitely felt like a shock. because of my cold last week I wasn’t able to do any hard intervals in the last 10 days so after the qualification I was hurting a little. Got a good puke in, so I wasn’t feeling too great leading up to the heats but once we got started I actually felt pretty good.

I was up against Petter [Northug] so I knew there were going to be a lot of tactics involved. Looking back I should have been more aggressive on the big uphill. For sure I had the energy and the speed on the uphill to pull past Northug and the Russian but instead I held back for the finish. If I could do it again I would have made a move on the hill. Either way I’m still feeling good even though I wasn’t able to make the finals today. I’m looking forward to the classic sprint in Davos and of course world champs.

Simi Hamilton (USA) – 17th
Yes, a good day for the team, especially for the ladies. I was happy with how I qualified and thought that I skied the course with a well-established plan which helped me execute my pacing well. It is an extremely tough sprint course – both very long (1.8km) as well as being very hilly. There are two main climbs, each about 90-seconds long. The second climb gets quite steep at the very top and is primarily 90 seconds of V1-skiing.

I think looking back at my quarter final, I made a tactical mistake of trying to lead too much. I wanted to make sure that I was skiing comfortably and relaxed, which is why I led for the first 1km, but I think I pushed the pace a bit too hard (that was the fastest heat of the day) and I paid for it on the 2nd long climb.

In hindsight, I should have tried to slip into 2nd or 3rd and conserve energy throughout the first part of the course before covering the attack on the long climb. In the end, I was the first spot out of the lucky loser positions, so it is a frustrating result, but I am encouraged with getting my qualifying speed back and I know that my fitness throughout the heats will improve in the next couple weeks leading up to World Champs.

Matt Whitcomb – US Women’s Coach
It’s really exciting to have success like this in Sochi at our first test event here. It’s particularly telling of what our team can do after sustaining a beating in the relay two weeks ago in France. We didn’t spin our wheels at all, we just got back up and focused for this event. I’m really proud of these girls. It’s great to see Kikkan get a win and Ida have her first final event and to get five girls in the top 17 in qualifications. We flexed our muscles today and it was really exciting to watch.