January 24, 2013 (Liberec, Czech Republic) – On Day 4 of the 2013  U23/Junior Nordic World Ski Championships, Ragnhild Haga took home  the first gold medal for the ambitious Norwegian team winning the women’s 10km FR race. The men’s 15km FR competition was clearly dominated by the Russians as they won gold and silver.

Team USA’s Caitlin Patterson and Erik Bjornsen led the North Americans, placing 14th and 15th in the women’s and men’s competitions, respectively.

Kazakhstan also celebrated their first medal of the championships winning silver in the women’s 10km thanks to Anastasia Slonova, while the bronze medal went to Italy, courtesy of Debora Agreiter.

USA’s Sophie Caldwell finished 17th in the women’s race, with teammates Annie Pokorny and Elizabeth Guiney in 29th and 42nd, respectively. Heidi Widmer posted the top Canadian women’s result in 28th place, while Annika Hicks finished 37th, Andrea Lee placed 40th, and Marlis Kromm took 43rd.

Bjornsen’s men’s teammate Sam Tarling finished 39th in the 15km event, followed by David Norris in 50th and Eric Packer in 54th. Top Canadian man was Colin Abbott in 63rd. Patrick Stewart-Jones (CAN) finished 71st.

Women’s 10km Individual Free – Haga Scores First Gold for Norway
Fifty one women set off on the demanding course in Vesec on Thursday morning. The conditions were worsened by thickly falling snow and hard frost. Nevertheless, only two skiers failed to reach the finish.

“I am really satisfied. Today, it was a real exhausting race; I could not afford to relax. Two years ago, I triumphed at the junior world championship so I am happy that I managed to pick up on this success,” said winner Ragnhild Haga.

Haga literally flew through the course and left second-placed Slonova half a minute behind. She was especially strong in the second half of the race. It was the young Kazakh, however, who performed admirably after the unsuccessful first third of the race when she overtook seven competitors and got a well-deserved silver.

Anastasia Slonova: “I feel good after the race. I am really pleased with the result. We watched the weather carefully, so we were able to prepare the skis very well. It is a great achievement for us, indeed. We picked up on the successful performances during the World Cup competition which took place in Liberec few days ago.”

Debora Agreiter: “I do not know what I lacked for being the second placed. I guess I did not have enough strength at the end; after all, it was a difficult race. But I am still excited about the third place.”

Men’s 15km Individual Free – Russian Dominance
The strong Russians again confirmed their role as favourites of the cross-country competitions. The 15km freestyle was won by Sergey Ustiugov ahead of Evgeniy Belov. The bronze medal goes to Germany thanks to Thomas Bing.

Just before noon on Thursday, 84 competitors set off on an extremely demanding course in Vesec. Conditions were really difficult, as the skiers were slowed down by freshly fallen snow.

Ustiugov dominated the whole race and was the fastest at all split times. In the end he triumphed with a lead of nineteen seconds. The twenty-year-old Russian followed his great performance of last year at the WC in Turkey, where he won four gold medals. His countryman Belov won his second medal at these championships. On Tuesday, it was silver in the sprint.

“It is fantastic! I feel really wonderful. I achieved my goal: I was in first position for the whole race. I feel really happy,” rejoiced the confident winner Sergey Ustiugov from Russia after the finish.

Evgeniy Belov: “I am really satisfied with the result of the race. Today´s race was just a training for the next month – I will started at the FIS Nordic World Ski in Val di Fiemme in Italy, so I did not expect medal. That pleased me more.“

Thomas Bing: “I am incredibly happy. Today, it was a really tough race. I did not want to overvalue the start; I saved my energy for the end. And it was worth it: as time went on, I worked my way to the fourth place – thanks to the cooperation with Clementini from Italy, as well. And then, I got enough strength in the finish.”

Women’s 10km Free results HERE.
Men’s 15km Free results HERE.

Complete results are available at www.liberec2013.cz.

February 10, 2012 (Anchorage/Girdwood, AK) – Top-ranked Utah sits in familiar position atop the team standings after the first day of the Seawolf Invitational. But it was anything but a normal day on the hill for the RMISA schools here at Kincaid Park (Nordic) and Alyeska Ski Resort (alpine).

In a day where the Nordic and alpine teams competed a mere 40 miles from each other, the conditions could’ve have been more opposite. The Nordic freestyle races were held under ideal conditions while the giant slalom races were cancelled due to poor snow conditions.

Rain throughout the day Wednesday and mild temperatures overnight left about a six inch crust of hard snow at the Alyeska Ski Resort and conditions worsened throughout the day. The women completed one run and the men made it through about 20 skiers before race officials cancelled the remainder of the first run and both second runs.

Because the first run of the women’s race was completed, it will count as a race both for team scoring and NCAA qualification purposes. Because the men’s race was cancelled before the first run was complete, for the scoring of the Seawolf Invitational, Saturday’s slalom race will be doubled.

Utah’s Jamie Dupratt became the fifth different skier to win a GS race wih her first run time of 1:03.00. She beat out Alaska Anchorage’s Anais Urbain, who took second in a time of 1:03.44. Utah racked up 135 out of a possible 141 points by then finishing third and fourth as Julie Bordeau took third in 1:03.73 and Tii-Maria Romar fourth in 1:03.81. Colorado’s Erika Ghent rounded out the top five in a time of 1:03.87.

Utah’s 135 points topped host Alaska Anchorage’s total of 115 as the only two teams in triple digits. New Mexico (89), Colorado (86) and Denver (82) were all then within seven points while Montana State (73) edged out Westminster College (71) by two points.

Meanwhile in Anchorage, the women’s 5K interval start freestyle race started the days action and Colorado won the race impressively taking the top two spots individually. Eliska Hajkova won by 20 seconds over her teammate Joanne Reid with a time of 13:52.5 compared to Reid’s clocking of 14:12.8. Reid edged out UAA’s Jaime Bronga by six seconds as her time of 14:18.8 closed out the podium finishers. New Mexico’s Clara Chauvet (14:21.5) finished fourth while Utah’s Maria Graefnings rounded out the top five in a time of 14:30.6.

The Buffs tallied 120 points while Utah (105) and New Mexico (103) both hit triple digits and Alaska (98) just missed the mark. Montana State (90) and Denver (75) rounded out the team scoring.

On the men’s side in the 10K freestyle race, Montana State’s David Norris completed a successful double loop of the course in a time of 24:28.6, topping Colorado’s Rune Oedegaard by about 14 seconds (24:42.5). Oedegaard edged out Utah’s Miles Havlick, who closed out the podium in a time of 24:47.5. Denver’s Andrew Dougherty finished fourth in 25:12.9 with Montana State’s  earning fith place in a time of 25:19.1.

Montana State edged Utah in the team scoring for the race, 119-116, with Colorado (107) right on their heels. Denver (92), UAA (84) and New Mexico (73) rounded out the team scoring.

In a meeting of alpine coaches after the conclusion of the crazy day, it was decided that an extra qualifier race will take place in Montana ahead of the RMISA Championships. The men will get a make-up race while the women will earn a seventh race to help qualify for NCAA Championships.

The schedule in Montana will now begin on Wednesday, February 22, with slalom races that were originally scheduled for the following day. Those RMISA Qualifier races along with Thursday’s giant slalom make up races will both be FIS-U sanctioned. The RMISA Championships will then begin Friday with giant slalom races and conclude Saturday with slalom races. The RMISA Championships are not an FIS-U race but are sanctioned by the USSA.

Full results HERE.

January 27, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – Canadian National Team skier Kevin Sandau wanted to be in the top 10 in today’s men’s 15km Free Race at the U-23 World Championships in Otepaa, Estonia, and when the race was over he had turned in a stellar performance finishing 5th with a time of 36:04.8. Mission Accomplished!

”My goal today was a top 10, so I’m ecstatic about the result,” Sandau told SkiTrax post-race. “I started out the race conservatively so I could really push the final lap and finish strong.”

The USA’s Noah Hoffman also skied well today making the top ten finishing in ninth. The Aspen, CO native turned in a time of 36:42.4.

It was a Russian podium sweep as Evgeniy Belov took top honours as expected in today’s race, claiming the victory in 35:26.3, a comfortable 16.1 seconds ahead of his teammate Pavel Vikulin. Completing the hat trick for Russians today was Raul Shakirzianov placing third at 23.4 seconds behind Belov.

For Belov this marked the best day of his career so far after he was second last year in the interval start event at the FIS Junior Worlds. Reflecting on his win he told the FIS Press Service, ”My classical technique is better than my free, so I was prepared for a tough fight today. I had to speed up at the finish. All four laps were good for me. I want to win more medals here in Otepaa.

“I am familiar with this track because we have had training camps here,” he added. “And I also competed here last week at the World Cup.”

Another wonderful story played out with the skiing of the UK’s Andrew Musgrave. The hard-working athlete who has been training in Norway had the fastest time in the first lap but then lost some time to the Russians. At day’s end Musgrave had turned in an admirable performance finishing sixth one spot behind Sandau.

Demonstrating both smart and savvy skiing Calgary’s Sandau was very impressive. The skier-based out of Canmore-who grew up on the trails in Kananaskis Country told SkiTrax described his race.

“My first splits were top six, and by the half way point I was skiing around third. I still felt pretty fresh, so I was able to maintain and push myself further. I caught teammate Michael Somppi on my final 3.75km lap and he stuck with me until the finish, so he really pushed me till the end.”

Reflecting on an exciting, motivating day Sandau added, ”Before coming here I had my sights set on a strong pursuit race, so I’m really hoping for a podium spot on Monday.” The way he’s skiing that could well become a reality.

“The race today was hard. The course was technical and demanding,” the Hoff related to SkiTrax by email. “You had to constantly be working. I didn’t feel great, and I had a tough second lap.

“Then the German Andreas Katz caught me, and I was able to hang on him for the rest of the race. We caught Tad [Elliott] and the three of us skied together. It was really helpful to be able to follow Katz. I’m looking forward to watching some sprint races over the next couple of days. I think there is potential for some great results. Then the pursuit on Monday should be fun as well.”

Other North American finishers included Michael Somppi (CAN) 14th in 37:03.7, Tad Elliott (USA) in 19th with a time of 37:18.3, Jesse Cockney (CAN) in 27th stopping the clock at 37:36.2; in 32nd place was Graeme Killick (CAN) in 37:48.6, the USA’s Alex Treinen placed 35th in 38:04.9, and David Norris (CAN) in 39:03.0 was 46th.

“Awesome day for Sandau,” said an elated Eric de Nys, Canadian coach, “He skied consistent and strong. Michael Somppi and  Emily Nishikawa also had very strong races which was great to see.  Overall, today was a fabulous day and we know we have our strongest races still to come so we’re looking to build on these results.”

Full Results HERE.

January 06, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – Yesterday saw the action continue in Rumford, ME at the US XC Ski Nationals with the 10/15km Classic individual start races. In the women’s event, it was Sadie Bjornsen (APU) who grabbed the title, while team mate Lars Flora secured a second victory for APU in the men’s competition. Check out these great photos of yesterday’s races.