May 21, 2011 – After Arianna Follis ended her professional cross-country racing career following the 2010/11 season another top level Italian skier has decided to hang up her cross-country skis. Marianna Longa has announced her retirement from World Cup racing.

Longa, 32 years old from Livigno, made her World Cup debut in 2000 in Bormio. In February 2005 Longa took a break to take care of her son Michele but returned to the World Cup circuit for the 2006/07 season. In fall 2007 Longa surprisingly announced her retirement from racing for personal reasons. However, almost a year later she was back on the Italian team and had a successful comeback at the World Cup in Lahti, Finland.

Longa kept up her winning momentum the following season and at the pre-2010 Olympic World Cup in Vancouver in 2009 she scored her first podium placing second in 15km Pursuit. One month later Longa claimed the silver medal at the Nordic World Championships in Liberec, CZE, in the women’s 10km Classic. During the 2009/10 Olympic season Longa was not in the best shape and the Italian skier left Vancouver without a medal.

In 2010/11, her final season, Longa delivered strong performance at the Tour de Ski claiming third overall. At the Nordic Wolrd Championships in Oslo, Norway, Longa did not score a medal but demonstrated strong skiing with three individual and two team top ten results.

Read more about Marianna Longa’s career on Wikipedia HERE.

May 21, 2011 (Park City, UT) – Olympic champion Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) and cross-country ski star Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) headlined the list of honorees as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association announced its annual awards. Longtime Nordic combined official Joe Lamb (Lake Placid, NY) was selected to receive the Julius Blegen Award, the USSA’s highest honor for volunteerism, for his three decades of service to the sport. The awards were presented Friday evening at the annual USSA Congress in Park City, UT.

Kearney was honored with the Beck International Award as the top USSA athlete for the season. The Vermont native came off her Olympic title season to dominate her sport, winning both the overall and moguls titles in the season-long International Ski Federation World Cup. Along the way she won a sport record nine World Cups, including all seven individual moguls competitions. She also won two medals at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships at Deer Valley Resort.

“These awards mean a lot to me,” said Kearney. “The support of the USSA, including the volunteers and staff, have allowed me to have a great career and the most successful season of my life this past year.”

Randall was recognized with the Buddy Werner Award for leadership and sportsmanship. She finished third in the World Cup cross country sprint standings, an American women’s record, winning two events. She was recognized for her leadership in helping pioneer Fast and Female, an on-snow program to motivate young girls to cross country ski and live an active lifestyle. She was also involved with other athletes in raising support for Japanese relief efforts.

“I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be supported by so many amazing people,” said Randall. “I, in turn, am passionate about helping young girls discover the benefits of healthy, active lifestyles so that they can feel empowered and confident to chase their dreams.”

“Hannah Kearney’s passion to prepare to win allowed her to dominate her sport this season,” said USSA Executive Vice President, Athletics Luke Bodensteiner. “Kikkan Randall is a great role model and a leader in her sport. She is inspiring an entire generation of young girls by blazing new trails on and off the cross country tracks.”

Lamb, a 1972 Olympian and Lake Placid native, has had a major impact on his sport of nordic combined. His vision for building the sport in America and his international leadership played a key role in the success of the U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team over the past decade where the USA won 10 World Championship and Olympic medals.

Lamb grew up as an athlete in the spirit of sport that pervades the Adirondack village of Lake Placid. He went on to a long career in coaching and has been an advocate of youth sport for decades. With a vision for the future, he helped bring Norwegian athletes and coaches to Lake Placid to inspire local athletes, like future Olympic champion Billy Demong. In 1991 he was named to the International Ski Federation Nordic Combined Committee, serving for 15 years including a term as vice chairman. His work in the FIS not only helped the USA but was a key component in the modernization of the sport. He is a past recipient of the USSA’s Bud and Mary Little Award for his work within the FIS.

“Joe Lamb typifies the spirit of Olympism that fuels the passion in our volunteers,” said USSA President and CEO Bill Marolt. “His contribution over decades has made a really tangible difference in Nordic combined as a sport and had a direct impact on the medals won by U.S. athletes in the last ten years.”

The Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club was named USSA Club of the Year. U.S. Snowboarding Halpipe Coach Rick Bower (Park City, UT) was named USSA International Coach of the Year while Axis Freeride Head Coach Chris “Hatch” Haslock (Park City, UT) was named USSA Development Coach of the Year. Jeff Lange (Redmond, WA) earned the top honor as a USSA official with the Westhaven Award.

The Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club, under the leadership of Mark Cole, manages programs across a wide range of sports. The club was cited for its strong athletic success this past year in alpine and adaptive, and for hosting major events from grassroots Marriott Junior Championships to Audi FIS World Cup.

Haslock was cited for his efforts in creating a strong freeskiing program with Axis Freeride in Park City and playing a key role in the addition of skiing slopestyle to the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships. Bower, a former World Champion halfpipe rider, played a key role in a strong year for U.S. Snowboarding halfpipe riders, notably Olympic champion Kelly Clark winning an amazing nine major events.

Lange was honored for his more than two decades of service as an International Ski Federation technical delegate.

The awards were presented at the annual USSA Congress at the Park City Marriott.

2011 U.S. SKI AND SNOWBOARD ASSOCIATION AWARDS

Diamond Award
– Julius Blegen Award – Joe Lamb

Gold Awards
– USSA Development Coach of the Year Award – Chris Haslock (Park City, UT)
– USSA Coach of the Year Award – Rick Bower (Park City, UT)
– USSA Club of the Year Award – Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club
– Beck International Award (top USSA athlete) – Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT)
– Westhaven Award (top USSA official) – Jeff Lange (Redmond, WA)

Silver Awards
– Paul Bacon Award (event organization) – Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, Erik Skinner
– John J. Clair Jr. Award (service to USSA) – Bob Dart (Winter Park, CO)
– Bud and Mary Little Award (service to FIS/USOC) – Ted Sutton (Lincoln, NH)
– Buddy Werner Award (athlete sportsmanship) – Kikkan Randall (Anchorage)
– Russell Wilder Award (service to youth) – NASTAR
– USSA J. Leland Sosman Award – Dr. William I. Sterett (Vail, CO)
– West Family Award (USSA certified official) – Chris Seemann (Winter Park, CO)

Athletes of the Year
– Adaptive Athlete of the Year Award – Danelle Umstead (Taos, NM)
– Alpine Athlete of the Year Award – Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO)
– Cross Country Athlete of the Year Award – Kikkan Randall (Anchorage)
– Freestyle Athlete of the Year Award – Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT)
– Nordic Combined Athlete of the Year Award – Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO)
– Ski Jumping Athlete of the Year Award – Peter Frenette (Saranac Lake, NY)
– Snowboarding Athlete of the Year Award – Kelly Clark (Mt. Snow, VT)

Coaches of the Year
– Adaptive International Coach of the Year Award – Erik Leirfallom (Denver)
– Adaptive Domestic Coach of the Year Award – Mau Thompson (Winter Park, CO)
– Alpine International Coach of the Year Award – Forest Carey (Kingfield, ME)
– Alpine Domestic Coach of the Year Award – Pat Callahan (Aspen, CO)
– Cross Country International Coach of the Year Award – Erik Flora (Anchorage)
– Cross Country Domestic Coach of the Year Award – Jason Cork (Hayward, WI)
– Freestyle International Coach of the Year Award – Garth Hager (Red Salmon, WA)
– Freestyle Domestic Coach of the Year Award – Chris Haslock (Park City, UT)
– Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined International Coach of the Year Award – Clint Jones (Park City, UT)
– Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined Domestic Coach of the Year Award – David McCahill (Lake Placid, NY)
– Snowboarding International Coach of the Year Award – Rick Bower (Park City, UT)
– Snowboarding Domestic Coach of the Year Award – Jim Smith (Frisco, CO)

Clubs of the Year
– Adaptive Club of the Year Award – Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club
– Alpine Club of the Year Award – Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club
– Cross Country Club of the Year Award – Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center
– Freestyle Club of the Year Award – Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club
– Jumping/Nordic Combined Club of the Year Award – Salisbury Winter Sports Club
– Snowboarding Club of the Year Award – Stratton Mountain School

Complete bios of all 2011 award winners are available HERE.

May 19, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – In a recent interview with Stefan Kuhn the former Olympian told us he was going to be coaching with the Alberta World Cup Academy… he’s on board and already earning his spurs there as the Academy makes more changes as the AWCA is expanding. Read more in the Rocky Mountain Outlook HERE – and our interview with Kuhn HERE.

May 14, 2011   – Ever pay close attention to how a horror movie begins? A happy little group of people are hanging out in some deserted hotel, totally oblivious to creepy signs like bats flying around, leaks, hidden stairways…and then as soon as they go to sleep, the axe murderer comes out and there you go. So right now, I’m basically waiting for the dude with the chainsaw.

I’m currently staying at the totally empty Telemark Resort as it undergoes construction and remodeling, in preparation to house CXC team athletes. But we’re having a mini-camp now even though the construction isn’t yet finished. It’s super-duper fun being the only ones in the hotel, but at the same time, it’s also unbelievably CREEPY!

There are echoes and this dead, empty feeling, and I will NOT walk down a dark hallway by myself! That said, I’m super excited for our first CXC camp of the year – it’s just a short four-day camp to plan out the year, do some testing and technique work. But a camp is a camp to me and it’s always great to get together with my teammates.

Don’t get me wrong…I absolutely love having the hotel to ourselves. We roamed the hotel last night, popping wheelies in wheelchairs and exploring on the scooter I stole from my sister (she still doesn’t know, don’t tell her)!

It’s cool to see the hotel undergoing construction because it’s always neat to get the before and after picture. And they’re planning to create a sweet strength room, PT room, offices and the athletes will have the option of living in some of the rooms upstairs. I know there’s been some questions roaming around – people wondering if it’s actually happening, if the construction has been started yet. Well, I’ve seen it and it’s definitely happening! Cool beans.

I spoke to Rick, one of the partners, about what Telemark is going to look like in the future, and the big plans being made for the resort and I think it’s going to be sweet! There is already a golf course and a frisbee golf course (which has hosted multiple world championships). The lodge rooms are being redone and should be finished by next year’s Birkie.

There are already snowguns here and if it’s cold enough, they can be making snow by Halloween. There are weddings held here in the summer and the owners plan to put in more horseback riding and a mountain bike training area on the ski slopes. They’re also planning to put in Wi-fi that reaches all the trails, so people can use their ipods to navigate and figure out where they are on a map.

And one of the coolest parts? Up to two miles of “human propelled monorail” with 90 degree banked turns on a suspended track through the woods. Basically, you get on a bike in a car and depending on your biking skills you could get going up to 45 mph. So yep, I’m super stoked at what Telemark could become! There are some pretty big dreams getting laid out and some huge plans being made, and I’m hoping they all work out!

May 13, 2011 (New Gloucester, Maine) – 2010 Olympian Haley Johnson (Lake Placid, N.Y.) has announced her retirement from the U.S. Biathlon NationalTeam. Capping a 20-year career in ski racing and 14-year career in biathlon, Johnson had a season of personal bests in 2010-2011.

This season, Johnson reached personal best ski times and shooting percentages, qualified for the U.S. World Cups in Maine, qualified for the 2011 World Championship Team, competedin the Final World Cup in Oslo, Norway, where she had a personal best of three top 30 results in one week, which included qualifyingfor the prestigious final World Cup Mass Start (top 30 women). In Oslo, Johnson was one of two US Women – along with teammate Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID) –  who started in that Mass Start race. This was a historic achievement and benchmark for women’s biathlon in the U.S. Reaching personal best results continued as Johnson finished the year ranked 58th on the World Cup points list and qualified for the 2011-2012 Women’s A Team.

“I am honored to have represented Lake Placid and our country through US Biathlon nationally and internationally over the last 14 years. I am so grateful I had the right people at the right time in Lake Placid to inspire me to give Nordic skiing and biathlon a try. I would have never of thought I was making such a formative life decision. I look back on my career with only joy and appreciation for what I have accomplished and for all of those who have helped me along the way. I’dlike to thank everyone who’s been involved in the entire journey. I couldn’t have made it this far without the entire support system that I have,” said Johnson.

“It has been a pleasure to have Haley with the team,” said Jonne Kahkonen, head coach of the U.S. Biathlon women’s team. “For me, it was only this last year of her career, but I was thrilled that the year was the best of Haley’s career and especially the way she fought her way through to make it to the team at the World Championships in Russia, and further on to the World Cup final, and finishing off with excellent results there. Haley has been a perfect example of putting in the hard work to succeed in this tough sport and at the same time, committing to give something back to the community and the team that has been supporting her. It is a loss for the US Biathlon Team to let Haley go, but at the same time, it’s like always when there are changes it gives a chance for the younger athletes to ‘fill in the boots’ and to take the next step towards the international excellence,” he added.

“She called me last week and told me about her decision, and in one sense I was thrilled for her, that her career ended on such a very high note, getting to go in the World Cup mass start race [in Oslo], that’s just wonderful,” said U.S. Biathlon Association President and CEO Max Cobb. “At the same time we’re going to miss her terribly. She was part of the biathlon family for a very, very long time, and representing the sport and country and herself so well. It’s going to be a bit of an empty feeling without her on the team. If she’s ready to move on, I’m excited for her, and we talked about her willingness to continue to be involved in the sport,” added Cobb.

Johnson has moved to Colorado to pursue both personal and educational endeavors. “I truly believe in the next pursuits of personal excellence in other areas of life. I am looking forward to moving to Denver, completing my bachelor’s degree at the University of Denver, getting married and continuing to ski. My connection to skiing and biathlon will manifest in new ways over the next few years, and through this transition I am excited to help USBA in new and more supportive roles,” she added.

May 11, 2011 – Martin Koukal decided to leave the Czech national Cross-Country team and will take part in distance races next season.

World Champion in 50 km Free from Val di Fiemme 2003, bronze medalist in team sprint from Oberstdorf 2005 and bronze medal winner in relay from Vancouver 2010 decided to leave the Czech national team in favor of loppets.

32 year-old skier from Nove Mesto na Morave plans to return to World Cup racing in the 2012/13 season to be able to qualify for the World Championships in Val di Fiemme 2013 and Winter Olympic Games in Sochi one year later.

“I’ve been in the World Cup very long time and I feel I need a change. It will be a challenge and I like challenges very much,” said Koukal to the Czech media. “Koukal will take part in at least to training camps with the Czech national team and will race at the World Cup in Nove Mesto. I want to have overview about his shape,” explained Czech head coach Miroslav Petrasek.

May 10, 2011 – Check out this great interview with Swedish cross country skier Marcus Hellner as he reflects on winning Olympic gold in 2010 and Worlds in Oslo this year. He also talks about his off-season activities and plan to win the World Cup overall next season. Read the full Red Bull interview HERE.

May 10, 2011 – The double Olympic gold medalist Björn Lind has decided to step back from professional skiing. “Björn has been a great team member, a part of Team Exspirit’s successful premier season, his person, knowledge and experiences have been of most importance! Now we can only wish him good luck in his life after skiing!” said David Nilsson, Team Director Team Exspirit.

May 09, 2011 – With May and the traditional start of ski training season upon us, strength training conversations are picking up in pace. Discussions like these are clockwork. They abound every year. Instead of pulling out some new studies on strength, skiing and power, I thought I’d pull out the old training logs and see the multi-year trends I’ve followed through the years.

In April, strength makes up a solid chunk of my training volume. First off, the April training load is lower than the rest of the year. And two, I’m not worried about heavy legs or tired arms affecting my now non-existent specific ski training period. I get into the gym three to four times a week for all-around general strength work.

For one month a year I don’t follow a specific strength plan in the gym. Instead, it’s a little more freeform. My guide is remembering the little conversations I had with myself during the past season. Like, “Oh man, I have the horsepower for a top-end double-pole finish, but the chain from my upper core to my lower body is a little weak. Best to address this early on in next season’s preparation.” And now that the training season for 2012 is upon us, it’s time to act on these thoughts and impressions.

Skiers go into the weight room to turn strength into power, and as the big races approach, to turn this into ski-specific power. As the big races of the season loom ahead, work in the weight room gets more ski specific, and strength drills on skis take on a greater preference.

May, though, is not the time to place the emphasis on such priorities. In May it’s about addressing any lingering physical ailments you might have built up from so much repetitive movements, done over and over, day after day. Spring’s the time to recover. It’s also the time to make sure that the aggravating tendonitis in the elbow or Achilles is a thing of the past.

Once a week, I focus for two hours only on basic physical therapy inspired drills so I don’t spend at least this much time nursing along ailments through the meat-and-potatoes of the race season.

May is also the time to build the foundation of strength. To do this, I focus on four core lifts. Twice a week I head to the gym and do these four lifts as the bulk of my weight room session. More specifically, I do these three-to-four sets of each of these lifts, with twelve-to-fifteen reps a time.

It’s a time for me to get back in touch with proper lifting techniques. To help me with this, I will enlist at least once the helpful eyes of an outsider. I may think I’m lifting from the hips, and keeping my weight back on the heels in my full squats, but sometimes perception has a way in getting in the way of reality. This is where the second pair of eyes from a video camera or your lifting partner comes in handy.

But what to focus on, you ask? Well, I asked the same questions to Zach Wetterford, US Olympic Training Center Lifting Coach (and former US Ski Team Lifting Coach) to get the skinny from someone who thinks about cleans, squats, plyometrics and strength-based plyometrics every day of the week. Here’s the technique pointers Zach has for the “Wetterford Four.”

Dead Lift into Clean

Key Points:

– Remember this is very explosive movement utilizing the hips, legs, back and shoulders.
– Keep the back tight and flat throughout the lift.
– The bar’s trajectory should move only in a vertical plane. Don’t swing it out and around; rather jump it straight up.

Squat

Key Points:

– Look straight ahead, keeping one’s head and chest up – this aligns the spine, protecting it from injury.
– Keep weight equally distributed between both feet.
– Push through one’s feet. Don’t get up on your toes!

Pull Down

Key Points:

– Maintain upper body in upright position, with a slight backward lean from the hips.
– Avoid jerky movements
– Keep shoulders down to stabilize scapula and isolate the lats.

Press

Four Lifts – all Coach Weatherford approved. Just remember to Keep it Simple. Get a coach to get the technique down. Emphasize multi-joint movements. Don’t substitute strength for sport training.

May 07, 2011 – Speaking of a workout, an athlete has only two ways to run it: correctly or incorrectly. Of course none of us investing precious time into regular training would like to belong to the “incorrect” group. Whether we are weekend warriors or high performance athletes, we want to reduce training errors to a minimum. The first step in this direction should be to set up a decent training plan. To do this we need to understand the leading concept of training – the supercompensation cycle.

Living beings have a gift – it’s called regeneration. Although we can’t re-grow a whole limb as some creatures can, we do have a considerable regeneration capacity. You bet if regeneration were not encrypted in our genes we could easily bleed to death just by scratching our knee. From this viewpoint, a workout can be considered as controlled bodily harm and “post-training regeneration” is not different from the scratched-skin healing process.

Physical activity, also called physical stress, disturbs visceral organism equilibrium (homeostasis). There is depletion of energy resources such as glycogen supported by working enzymes, hormones, or oxygen from red blood cells. There is physical damage such as micro-ruptures of muscle fibers, initiation of muscle, tendon and joint inflammation etc. This represents the first stage of the whole training process. To bring homeostasis back to the starting point, in other words to recuperate from the stress, we must pass through stage number two.

Common sense says it will be a stage of rest. There are several choices. One of them is complete passivity, one is another physical activity done at low intensity, and the most effective one is a mix of active regeneration and invasive recovering procedures.

During the rest stage, the human body is experiencing the process called adaptation, the process in which the organism prepares for a new experience (and for a new stress). With adequate earlier training, adaptation embraces glycogen restoration and increase of enzyme activity and hormone redistribution (some are inhibited, some excreted) and, in the longer term, muscle mass growth, enhanced muscular innervation, blood vessel multiplication, or blood volume increase including red cell multiplication.

Further there is an improvement of oxygen utilization as well as its economy, both enhancing respiratory capacity; next is cardiac hypertrophy increasing cardiac capacity; and, specifically in youth, there is bone growth stimulation and bone density increase. We should also not overlook adaptation at the psychological level such as improved tolerance of physical pain and of psychological stress, and enhanced self-control and willpower.

In reality if we train in proportion to our capacity and skills, correctly rehydrate and replenish food and its supplements during and right after a workout, and set an appropriate rest time for the post-workout recovery phase again accompanied by proper nutrients and hydration, then Mother Nature can work her miracles. What exactly is going to happen? The body remembers the last stress with which it battled. Not only does it compensate and return to its original state but it overloads to a higher level: the body supercompensates.

Supercompensation Curve

As we can read from the supercompensation curve, the actual training time (phase I on the curve) represents only a short fragment of the whole process compared to the remaining length of the post-training adaptation (phases II, III, IV). The following chart shows that individual recovery processes may take from a couple of minutes to many hours, even days. One of the shortest recovery processes occurs in muscles – lactic acid removal – and lasts just a few minutes. Other biological parameters show significantly longer recovery times, while the restoration of glycogen, the main aerobic energy resource, can extend the time of compensation (and then supercompensation) up to a couple of days.

This information raises a simple question: How much time it will take to complete one supercompensation cycle? But the answer is as unclear as searching for the winner of the chicken-or-the-egg competition. What we know exactly is the training time. At the one end, if the physical stress is concentrated in a couple of seconds (e.g. one sprint interval), than the recovery time is counted in minutes. In this case we can set as many repetitions as we will be able to recover within the selected time frame.

At the other end, a sustained workout may take a couple of hours, and the recovery time may take more than one full day of energy restoration. Moreover, the supercompensation cycle can be composed of a mixture of daily or weekly training sessions where the regeneration process will count weeks even months.

Generally the training program is a chain of supercompensation cycles. The secret of correct training is allowing the correct length of recovery time between workouts. Looking at the supercompensation graph, the best time to start the next workout is while performance is achieving the top of the curve or slightly after. Any athlete who hits the top of supercompensation many times in a row is a winner! In this case the athlete’s performance is steadily improving as shown below.

Appropriate supercompensation cycle repetition leads to a performance improvement

Conversely if subsequent workouts start before supercompensation occurs, then the insufficient recovery will lead the athlete to fatigue accumulation, overreaching and finally to overtraining.

In conclusion we may not have good news for you. There is no evidence of any existing device that can track the course of supercompensation nor catch its peak. There is only training (and coaching) experience, supported by auxiliary sciences, to help with estimating the correct time to commence the next workout. Isn’t sport great?

May 04, 2011 – Chandra Crawford has updated her blog documenting the flurry of spring activity during her off-season. She has been busy with Fast and Female events, fun cross-training activities, and a well-deserved luxury vacation in St. Lucia with Devon Kershaw. Also included in her May update are some great photos and a schedule of Crawford’s upcoming training camps and engagements. Read more at www.chandracrawford.ca. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/chandracrawford

May 04, 2011 – A group of Canada’s medal-winning cross-country ski athletes, who combined to win an unprecedented 25 medals at the World Championships, IPC World Championships, World Cup and IPC World Cup races this year, will celebrate a season of excellence by hopping on a luxurious 1926 CP train with a handful of distinguished guests for a tour from Calgary through the spectacular Rocky Mountains to beautiful Banff, AB, on May 5 as a fundraising event.

Alex Harvey, who teamed up with Devon Kershaw, to win the nation’s first-ever World Championship medal – a gold in the team sprint; Brian McKeever, who won three gold and one silver at the IPC World Championships; Ivan Babikov, who is one of three Canadian men to win a World Cup gold medal; Daria Gaiazova, who captured her first World Cup bronze medal this season; Olympian Perianne Jones, who finished this season with her strongest World Cup result of her career; along with two-time Olympian George Grey will all be on board the Canadian National XC Team Express on Thursday.

The unique fundraising experience will help Cross Country Canada deliver the resources Canadian athletes require to continue achieving podium results on the track to the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

May 03, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – Cross Country Canada has released its 2011/2012 season National Team and coaching staff roster on the heels of a record-breaking 2010/2011 campaign, which saw Canadian skiers achieve World Cup and World Championship medals. Look for the following list of racers to be making history on the snow next season and for years to come.

Senior World Cup Team
Head Coach: Justin Wadsworth
Coaches: Eric de Nys, Louis Bouchard
– Ivan Babikov – Foothills Nordic Ski Club, AB
– Chandra Crawford – Canmore Nordic Ski Club, AB
– Dasha Gaiazova – Rocky Mountain Racers, QC
– Alex Harvey – Club Nordique Mont Ste. Anne, QC
– Perianne Jones – Nakkertok Ski Club, ON
– Devon Kershaw – Ona Wa Su, ON
– Len Valjas – Team Hardwood, ON

Senior Development Team
Coaches: Louis Bouchard (CNEPH), Mike Cavaliere (AWCA), Eric Bailey (NDC-TB)
– Jess Cockney – Foothills Nordic/AWCA, AB
– Drew Goldsack – Rocky Mountain Racers/AWCA, AB
– Graeme Killick – Banff Ski Runners/AWCA, AB
– Alysson Marshall – Larch Hills/AWCA, BC
– Brent McMurtry – Foothills Nordic/CNEPH, AB
– Emily Nishikawa – Whitehorse/AWCA, YK
– Graham Nishikawa – Whitehorse/AWCA, YK
– Kevin Sandau – Foothills Nordic/AWCA, AB
– Michael Somppi – Lappe/Thunder Bay NDC, ON
– Frédéric Touchette – Club Nordique Mont Ste. Anne, QC

Junior Team
– Dahria Beatty – Whitehorse, YT
– Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt – Club de ski de fond Fondeurs-Laurentides/CVTC, QC
– Raphael Couturier – Commission de ski Nordique Skibec/CNEPH, QC
– Janelle Greer – Whitehorse/AWCA, YT
– Zach Holland – Banff Ski Runners/AWCA, AB
– Knute Johnsgaard – Whitehorse/CNEPH, YT
– Maya Macissac-Jones – Rocky Mountain Racers, AB
– Alex Mahoney – Rocky Mountain Ski Racers, AB
– Camille Pepin – Club Nordique M.S.A., QC
– Rebecca Reid – Black Jack Nordic/AWCA, BC
– Geoffrey Richards – Black Jack Nordic/CVTC, BC
– Martin Schrama – Banff Ski Runners/CVTC, AB
– Sébastien Townsend – Club Nakkertok Nordique, QC
– Alexis Turgeon – Club de ski de fond Skinouk, QC
– Michelle Workun-Hill – Club Nakkertok Nordique, QC

Para-Nordic World Cup Team
Head Coach: Robin McKeever
– Mark Arendz – Foothills Nordic, AB
– Jody Barber – Bulkley Valley Ski Club, BC
– Colette Bourgonje – Snobuddy Ski Club, SK
– Chris Klebl – Lifesport, AB
– Brian McKeever – Foothills Nordic Ski Club, AB
– Robin McKeever (guide) – Foothills Nordic Ski Club, AB
– Erik Carleton (guide) – Rocky Mountain Racers, AB

Para-Nordic Development Team
Coaches: Pierre Pomerleau, Robin McKeever
– Sébastien Fortier, Skibec/Hus-ski, QC

** National Development Centre teams will be announced when all information is available**

May 02, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – After more than 15 years of skiing competitively (seven of those years on the national team), Stefan Kuhn has retired from competitive cross country skiing. Heading into the 2011 Haywood National Championships this March in Canmore, AB, Kuhn knew it was going to be his last major competition.

Kuhn started racing with Canmore Nordic as a 10-year-old. From 1996-1998 he was a member of the junior national team, competing at the Junior World  Championships twice.

During his first season racing as a senior from 1999-2000, Kuhn tried to get a taste of what life would be like without ski racing full time. After a year of working part time as a chef, and training full time, Kuhn hung up his skis for a few years and turned to working full time.

But it didn’t take long for him to realize just how much he missed the sport, and soon after he decided that he wasn’t ready to leave skiing behind him just yet.

In 2005, Kuhn returned to racing with immediate success. After moving to Edmonton under the guidance of his friend Jack Cook, Kuhn quickly made a return to the upper echelons of XC racing in Canada, earning a spot on the national team in 2007.

The years from 2008 to 2011 proved to be the best of his career, as he represented Canada at multiple World Championships and – perhaps best of all – at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Looking back over his career, Kuhn says one of his fondest racing memories was “…being handed a silver medal by one of my heroes, Gunde Svan, at the pre-World Cup championships at Silver Star Mountain, in Vernon, B.C. in 1992.”

Following his return to skiing in 2005, he remarked that having good results at the 2006 Tour de Ski at Soldier Hollow gave him confidence that he could ski with the best. That confidence was further reinforced at his first European World Cup sprint in 2007 where he placed 12th, and where Canada had four skiers in the top 15.

Now with many years under his belt having grown up within the competitive ski community, Kuhn has seen a fair bit change for cross-country skiing in Canada. While he admits that awareness of the sport hasn’t increased dramatically, the “…funding has improved significantly for national team members.”

Perhaps the biggest difference is in the calibre and depth of racing in Canada. He admits that in his first year as a senior, breaking into the top 10 wasn’t much of a concern – it was the top three positions that mattered. Now he says it’s a lot harder to break into the top 10 at any national-level race in Canada.

No doubt the increased depth is the result of more investment in sending skiers to Europe, introducing them to the highest level of competition early, and on a regular basis.

As he steps back from the spotlight, Kuhn does have some advice to pass on to aspiring skiers. “The transition from racing in Canada to Europe is the hardest process to make as a skier,” Kuhn told SkiTrax.

“You’ve got to believe,” he continues, “You have to know that the hard work you’re doing is the same that everyone else is doing. You have to believe in yourself, your coach, and your program.”

Kuhn points to skiers like Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey as proof. “Before, we never thought we could beat them [the Europeans].”

Although Kuhn is stepping down from racing, he is not stepping away from racing. He has signed on to be one of the coaches with the Alberta World Cup Academy, which will keep him busy in addition to his work as a master chef.

Check out Kuhn’s site HERE.

May 01, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – While much of North America has already made the transition out of winter and into summer mode there are some die-hard ski areas that embrace superb spring skiing conditions and Canmore, Alberta is one of them. The latest report from Canadian National Teamer, Drew Goldsack, is that there’s “…incredible skiing in town, 40cms of snow fell Thursday night and the trails at the Nordic Centre are in incredible shape.”

April 30, 2011 (Ustaoset, Norway) – Jean Marc Gaillard (FRA) won the 38km Skarverennet on Saturday edging out Norwegians Chris Jespersen in second with Frode Andresen landing on the podium in third following a tight race to the finish. Gaillard’s margin was a mere 0.01 second at the line.

Norway’s Therese Johaug had a much easier time taking the women’s race by 7 minutes over compatriots Marit Bjoergen and Martine Ek Hagen. Warm conditions made for soft snow and challenging course conditions. “We could have raced in bikinis,” Johaug, who was 5th overall, told Norwegian TV station NRK.

The new pursuit-style race saw the women start first and the men 12 minutes later. Johaug established a strong lead and looked like she might run away with the overall win but she was caught with about 7km to go by Espen Harald Bjerke, Andresen,  Jespersen and Gaillard. Bjerke was dropped as they approached Ustaoset with Gaillard battling to the finish with the two Norwegians for the victory. “It was a fantastic experience,” Gaillard commented on NRK after the race.

The 38km Skarverennet, staged by the Geilo IL ski club, runs from Finse to Ustaoset and signals the end of the cross-country season.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

Men

1. Jean Marc Gaillard, France 1:44:07
2. Chris Jespersen, Byåsen IL/Team Manpower 1:44:08
3. Frode Andresen, Hønefoss SK 1:44:08
4. Espen Harald Bjerke, Lillehammer skiklubb 1:44:55
5. Emanuel Jonniere, France 1:49:51
6. Vincent Vittoz, France 1:49:51
7. Remi Andersen, Bækkelagets Spk 1:50:46
8. Petter Eliassen, Byåsen 1:51:25
9. Cristophe Perrialt, France 1:52:0
10. Kristian Tettlie Rennemo, Leksvika 1:52:53

Women

1. Therese Johaug, Nansen IF 2:00:33
2. Marit Bjørgen, Rognes IL 2:07:31
3. Martine Ek Hagen, BUL IL 2:10:03
4. Astrid Øyre Slind, Oppdal 2:10:30
5. Silje Øyre Slind, Oppdal 2:12:20
6. Marte Monrad Hansen, 2:12:28
7. Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, Heming IL 2:12:51
8. Marthe Katrine Myhre, Gjøvik Skiklubb 2:15:03
9. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Gjøvik Skiklubb 2:15:19
10. Ragnhild Haga, Heming IL 2:15:45

With files from FIS XC, Langrenn.com, Skarverennet

April 28, 2011 – Last October we reported that Russian skier Yevgeny Dementiev, who retired after testing positive for EPO during the 2009 Tour de Ski in Val di Fiemme, was considering a comeback in 2011-12. His two-year doping ban ends in August 2011 and according to his blog on eurosport.ru he’s planning to return this coming season reports skierpost.com. Not everyone agrees that two years was enough for Dementiev who won Olympic gold in the Pursuit in 2006 in Torino – read more in Langrenn.com here.

April 28, 2011 – The members of the Forum Nordicum have again elected the Queen and King of Nordic Skiing. The Norwegian Cross-Country world champion Marit Bjoergen and her countryman, biathlete Tarjei Boe were chosen as the Queen and King of the winter 2010/11 in the voting by sixty-one skiing journalists from America, Asia and Europe.

Bjeorgen won four titles at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo (NOR). Boe grabbed three titles of the IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS) and won the overall IBU World Cup standing.

Marit Björgen claimed victory in the poll with 553 points, ahead of the Austrian Ski Jumping world champion and World Cup winner Thomas Morgenstern (420 points). Bjoergen’s compatriot Petter Northug collected 237 points, finishing third.

Biathlete Boe won with 563 points ahead of last year’s winner Magdalena Neuner (GER), who got 453 votes. Finnish World Cup overall winner and world champion Kaisa Mäkäräinen took 3rd.

Among those receiving votes were 18 Nordic and 14 Biathlon athletes – read more about the Forum Nordicum HERE.

April 28, 2011 – U.S. Ski Team member Kikkan Randall is currently enjoying some well-deserved vacation time in Hawaii after a long competitive XC ski season, which included World Cup medals and a top 10 in the overall World Cup standings. According to Randall’s Twitter feed, she’s not slacking off and sitting on the couch. She has been staying active, spending a lot of time on the bike, as well as canoeing and paddle boarding. She recently cycled up one of Hawaii’s tallest peak, Haleakala at 3, 055m / 10,023 feet.

Follow Randall on Twitter HERE.

April 27, 2011 (Innsbruck, Austria) – As Innsbruck prepares to host the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games, Michael Stoneman visits the Austrian city for the Olympic Review to find out how the preparations are progressing.

With less than a year to go until the first Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), the Austrian city of Innsbruck is already buzzing with anticipation as it prepares to open its doors to the world’s finest young winter athletes. Walking around the cobbled streets of Innsbruck’s old town, it’s impossible to escape the picturesque Alpine city’s link to winter sports, with snow-capped peaks rising in all directions and the futuristic Bergisel ski jump towering over the entire city.

An Opening Ceremony in the Bergisel Stadium
On 13 January 2012, the Bergisel Stadium will play host to the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural Winter YOG, signalling the start of a world-class sporting spectacle that will draw to a close 10 days later. “Just five months ago we celebrated the birth of the Youth Olympic Games with Singapore 2010,” said President Rogge as the one-year-to-go countdown began in January. “Innsbruck 2012 will continue this momentum over 10 action-packed days of competition. These Games, in addition to making their mark on Olympic history, will be a memorable and inspirational event for all the athletes and countless numbers of young people around the world.”

Over 1000 young athletes
Innsbruck 2012 will bring together over 1,000 young athletes, aged from 15 to 18, who will compete in the seven sports on the Olympic Winter Games programme, including a number of events that have been created especially for the Winter YOG. Running alongside the sports competition programme, these athletes will also participate in a unique Culture and Education Programme (CEP) during the Games, which will employ a variety of fun and interactive initiatives to raise their awareness of the Olympic values as well as different cultures and topics such as sustainability, the arts and digital media.

A unique atmosphere
As in Singapore, IOC President Rogge expects the young participants from around the world to revel in the unique atmosphere of the YOG and take away memories that will last forever: “Only some of the athletes won medals, but all of them won new friends. Many of the athletes met and were inspired by Olympic champions, but each of them learned what it takes to be a champion, both on and off the field of play. All of them are richer for having come into contact with peers from so many different cultures and backgrounds.”

Less than a year to go
With less than a year to go until the Games begin, all eyes are on Innsbruck to see how the preparations are progressing. The IOC Coordination Committee for the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games, chaired by Gian-Franco Kasper, conducted its third visit to the city at the end of last year to see how the Organising Committee (IYOGOC) was making the transition from strategic planning to the operational phase of its plan. Having looked closely at IYOGOC’s plans, Kasper is confident that Innsbruck will deliver an unforgettable Games – not least for the athletes that will be taking part. “As the first winter edition, it will certainly be memorable,” he says. “However, the success will be measured by the positive experiences of the athletes themselves – who we hope will take back home their stories of the Games and share them with their friends, family and communities, encouraging and inspiring other young hopefuls.”

The countdown is on
Innsbruck previously hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1964 and 1976, and, with the countdown to the inaugural Winter YOG gathering pace, the Games have already brought a carnival atmosphere back to the city. In February, on the 35th anniversary of the last Winter Games to be held in Innsbruck, the city hosted a three-day Youth Olympic Games Festival, which saw thousands of young people enjoying a series of outdoor concerts and snow sports events, helping to build the growing level of excitement among the city’s residents as they look forward to next year’s Games.

“It’s a huge honour to be hosting the first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games, especially in Innsbruck where people know what it means to be an Olympic Host City,” explains Peter Bayer, CEO of Innsbruck 2012. “What I’m really looking forward to is when the Youth Olympic Flame finally arrives, because that’s when it all really starts. I’m also looking forward to seeing the youth of the world come together to celebr-ate their sports and their cultures. There is something magical about the Games and the atmosphere that will be created here will make Innsbruck an unforgettable place.” With the clock ticking and anticipation building, the countdown to Innsbruck 2012 is well and truly on.

April 27, 2011 – The Olympic Museum has just launched a photo contest in conjunction with the temporary exhibition currently showing at The Olympic Museum! There are many prizes to be won including a VIP tour of The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Other prizes include photo and/or video equipment. Please read the Group Rules on Flickr.

How do I take part?

It’s easy… take and share one or more photos that represent one or more of the Olympic values:

– Friendship through sport
– Respect through sport
– Excellence through sport

Participate in the contest HERE.

Please note that, on a regular basis and for a limited period of time, a random selection of photos submitted for the contest will be featured in the HOPE temporary exhibition at The Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

Contest dates: 31 March to 15 September 2011.

Good luck!

Learn more about the Hope exhibition HERE.

April 26, 2011 – Watch this special athletes’ edition of Wipeout Canada that features National Team XC skier Ivan Babikov pitting himself against 19 other great Canadian athletes. Babikov made it through to the final four and placed fourth overall. Scott Frandsen, Olympic silver medal rower, won the $50,000 grand prize. Watch this entertaining Wipeout Canada episode HERE.

April 21, 2011 – Was I ever wrong… I’ve been operating under the illusion that all of the prize money won on the FIS WCup circuit has been paid to the skiers by FIS. Hello Marty, the $160,000 CHF prize money for a two-race WCup weekend is coughed up by the organizers. In Europe and Scandinavia there are no lack of towns and cities waiting in line to host a WCup weekend. So these dollars are just another nail in the coffin for the likes of either of the North American countries to be able to ever host a WCup. So, what!?!?

Well, this changes the name of the World Cup to Europa Cup, and means in the future – which our skiers are now starting to figure out – will be spent in Europe all winter long. So, the only time we’ll be seeing the best US XC skiers will be at the Spring Series and Nationals in mid-to-late March.

I think Kikkan [Randall] and I know Kris [Freeman] will not be home next winter after the TdS and will pursue the full WCup. I’ve written this before, the US team was flat at both the Worlds and the Olympics, simply because they came home, didn’t go to altitude and were on there own for way too long.

They as a group decompressed way to much and went backwards in their racing fitness. For Kikkan, it is 9-10hr time change to go home and another 9-10 to go back – way too hard on her and even the shorter trips are hard on everyone. Also, a big factor of staying in Europe is that you probably cut your bad germ exposure by 75%!

This will be a consideration for the Canadians as well – to stay in Europe after the middle tour of the WCup is over. All the trips back and forth catch up with you, especially at the end of the season. The Canadian men were hanging on by their fingernails at the end of this WCup year.

A suggestion on where to stay (and it’s not Davos) is a great place that I know and the hotel there is just the best. I know the Kessler family at the hotel very well. Look into Alpe de Susi in northern Italy – they have it all – yes, the main component, altitude. They also have low altitude for speed work, huge trail systems, great snow and just the best weather. …oh, I have to mention the food – well, just go and find out for yourselves.

What Happened? Back in March this Canadian job posting was announced  HERE and from what I understand and hear it is now on the back burner. Due to the lack of upward movement in the skiers below the Canadian National Team it is hard to justify having a Head Coach and a Team Coach when you will only have 7-9 skiers (max) on the WCup team or however the top team is identified.

I’m not sure, but with some real digging, I think I could find that all the criteria wasn’t met by all the skiers that will be named. I have said numerous times these past two years that both NA teams are fragile – but talented.

Oh, I also heard that there were no applications for this position – good for CCC as they won’t have to back track on this one. Also, a good coach to skier ratio is considered to be 7-9 skiers – put on the harness Justin [Wadsworth].

The Missing Component – As programs across NA blossom and grow in their different ways, one of the missing components for all of our racers has been international racing content they can watch live on TV or the web. This is being solved as we now have the option to watch live stream broadcasting of all the big races on our computers. It sure means getting up early in the morning, though.

I’m sure they can be downloaded – legally or illegally as nobody seems to be looking yet. What a coaching and teaching tool/aid they could be. I’m sure it isn’t technically easy yet to capture the broadcasts but it will happen and this bodes well for our kids catching up with all the Euros who have been watching racing on TV for years.

The Changed Kikkan – In three years Kikkan Randall has gone from barely finishing the season in 2009 to only getting better as the season ran out of races in 2011. I’m looking at the Super Series as a measure – 2011 was easy for those last five races for Kikkan—all 1st places—-2010 was not bad with 3-1sts and a 2nd– and in 2009 she was a hurting puppy–missed one race, had a 4th, and 2-3rds—barely beating the locals (just kidding).

What is the big difference? In 2009 she did three distance races during her WC season out of 13-15 possibilities and in 2011 she had three distance starts in the first two weekends of the WC and a total of 12 distance starts in her WC season. She was 3rd in the overall WC Sprint Cup and was going faster as the season ended – no complaining about how sore her legs are as she did in 2009. Here is a formula that works. You only get into racing shape by racing. It is also how you stay in racing shape!

The World Cup Finals – Was a flop this year!!! What to do to make it exciting? I know they (FIS) are scratching their collective heads to try to make this series of races work. I think to make it fair you have to have  three titles – one for sprinting and one for distance and one for the overall –  isn’t that what the overall World Cup is predicated on? You have a race schedule, add the points up at the end, then you have an overall champion, a sprint champion and a distance champion.

So, why not go at it like this on the final weekend? Two sprint races – classic and skate and two distance races 10/10km and 50/30km classic and skate, techniques to be rotated from year to year. No premium points or times (no one understands them anyway) – prems are to be in $$$ at two places during the 50/30 – 25 km (M) and 15km (W)  and 45 km (M) and 25km (W) and to be $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000. This should pull the fields apart.

I would alternate the events from year to year sprint – distance – sprint – distance one year and then distance – sprint – distance – sprint  the next year. I also think one of the distance races should be mass start and one should be individual start each year and alternating.

I’m sure the “collective heads” can figure out how to make this work better. Use WCup points to figure out the individual and the overall titles.

Maybe it’s too simple, but it gives everyone a kick at one of the cans rather then being a distance leaning event as it is now.

Talk to you soon…
misterxc@aol.com

April 21, 2011 (Bend, OR) — Registration is open to the general public for the 2010 Oregon Spring Camp taking place May 26-30, 2011 (Memorial Day weekend) at Bend/Mt Bachelor, Oregon. Designed primarily as a master/citizen XC ski camp, junior skiers with a chaperone adult camper are also welcome. Due to carefully limited enrollment numbers, this camp is recommended only for skiers at intermediate and above skill levels.

Featuring on-snow morning sessions and a variety of optional events including dryland clinics, an evening training plan workshop, and ski specific physiology lab testing — the Oregon Spring Camp is one of the most unique ski educational events in the world.

Coaching for the camp will be led by J.D. Downing, Coach of the XC Oregon elite team and National Director of the American XC Skiers masters association. Downing will be assisted by a variety of local athletes and coaches.

With over 12 feet of snow base still reported at the 6300 foot elevation and spring Nordic Center operations continuing through June 20 this year, prospects for continued excellent spring skiing at Mt Bachelor for at least the next five weeks look promising to say the least.

Since 2001 Oregon Fall and Spring Camps have gained an international reputation as some of the best ski technique and fitness events in the world. Campers of all ability levels (including numerous National and World Masters champions) annually rave about their progress and information gained at Oregon Camps.

Highlighted by a fun and inclusive atmosphere as well as small group sizes, the goal of every Oregon Fall and Spring Camp is to give every participant the best possible experience to help further their enjoyment of the world’s greatest sport.

As with the traditional Oregon Fall Camp held every December, this year’s Spring Camp event will also offer the ability for campers to name the exact number and sequence of days they’d like to attend.

Complete information and registration materials for the Oregon Spring Camp can be found at www.xcoregon.org website.

CONTACT:
J.D. Downing, XC Oregon Coach/Spring Camp Director
jd@xcoregon.org

April 20, 2011 (Park City, Utah) – The following is the USSA’s list of nominations for the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. The nominations include those athletes who qualified based on published selection criteria. The USSA will announce the actual team roster later this spring, naming those athletes who accept the responsibilities of being a part of the U.S. Ski Team and who are planning to compete in the 2012 season.

Athletes nominated to the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Ski Team are:

U. S. Cross Country A Team

– Kris Freeman (Andover, NH; Waterville Valley BBTS)
– Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT; Stratton Mountain School)
– Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center)
– Liz Stephen (East Montpelier, VT; Burke Mtn Academy)

U. S. Cross Country B Team

– Noah Hoffman (Aspen, CO; Aspen Valley Ski Club)
– Simi Hamilton (Aspen, CO; Sun Valley SEF)
– Tad Elliott (Durango, CO; CXC Team)
– Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN; CXC Team)
– Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, WA; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center)
– Ida Sargent (Craftsbury Common, VT; Craftsbury Green Racing Project)

U. S. Cross Country D Team

– Skyler Davis (Jericho, VT; Stratton Mountain School)
– Erik Bjornsen (Winthrop, WA; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center)

April 20, 2011 (Mexico) – The very first thing I did after getting to our hotel in Mexico? Ran to the BEACH!!! I ran into the water, almost tripped over coral, and nearly squashed a stingray in the process. And almost choked to death on saltwater. Oops! It definitely took a while to adjust to the Caribbean – it’s not quite like the lakes back home. It’s BETTER! My family and I spent just over a week in the Riviera Maya, Mexico, and it was the perfect way to unwind after a long race season.

We spent a day sailing on a catamaran to the beautiful Isla Mujeres, and skin diving over coral reefs. I even saw some baby sea turtles! At the end of the day, we had enough wind to unfurl the spinnaker; an extra sail that we attached a swing to. As the wind caught the sail, you rose in the air and got swung around – sometimes very unpredictably! We definitely witnessed some wipeouts, although I didn’t get any on camera. However, if you caught the wind just right, you could get pretty high in the air, and the view was totally awesome.

We also went exploring the ruins of Tulum; an old Mayan village on the coast.

We also went on ziplines through the jungle…

But the best part was getting to skin dive in a cenote! Turns out Mexico has about 95 miles of freshwater rivers…but it’s all underground! The rivers flow underneath a layer of limestone, but when the stone erodes and caves in it creates a cenote; a sinkhole. The water stays right around 25 celcius year-round – perfect for swimming in. We went exploring and saw gorgeous stalagmites, stalactites, and other rock formations.

We also explored the streets and buildings in Playa del Carmen.

We spent an amazing amount of time in the water – swimming, body surfing, snorkeling, and above the water in kayaks and hobie cats.

My sister and I tried to learn how to windsurf. Well, we DO know how to windsurf…thoretically. Putting it into practice was slightly harder! I got pretty sore after falling off the board so many times, but it was totally worth it.

It was a wonderful vacation and now I’m looking forward to a few more weeks of chilling out before winding things up for the summer!

April 19, 2011 (Kamchatka, Russia) – FIS World Cup overall winner Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) won the 18th annual 60km Avacha Marathon in Kamchatka where she is recuperating. Kowalczyk promised organizers she would return and kept her word showing up at the start line despite being in the middle of her rest period.

“The first 30km of the race were pretty tough for her,” commented Alexander Wierietielny, Kowalczyk’s coach. “Later in the race she did not have any problems.”

Kowalczyk dominated the Avacha Marathon for her second consecutive win and like last year donated the prize money to the local sport club for its development. She’ll spend one more week in Kamchatka and then will return to Poland to spend Easter with her family.

Read more HERE.

April 16, 2011 (Norman Wells, NT) – Fast and Female hosted its second Northern Youth Empowerment Weekend in the Norman Wells, Northwest Territories on April 8, 9, and 10, 2011. A total of 46 female skiers between the ages of 9 to 19 from nine NT communities were joined by six ambassadors, three instructors, nine chaperones and 10 volunteers for this unique weekend aimed at inspiring and motivating aboriginal girls in cross-country skiing. This year’s event had a special focus on encouraging youth participation in the Sahtu region.

Throughout the weekend, participants had the opportunity to get first-hand instructions both on and off snow from former National Ski Team member and Northwest Territories athlete, Sarah Daitch, and 4-time Olympian, Sharon Firth. Biathlon expert Lindsey Bolivar and former NCAA athlete, Claire Rennie, were also on site with other elite instructors to share their wisdom with the girls.

On Friday, participants gathered for a welcome dinner, a team poster making session, and a leadership workshop for the teens. The younger participants enjoyed a gymnastic lesson compliment of NWT Gymnastics Association.

Saturday’s activities focused on technical cross-country skiing drills, followed by a Zumba dance lesson from Fit 2 the T, and a yoga class. The youth also had a presentation by Olympian Sharon Firth about her journey from the trails of Inuvik to the world stage in cross country skiing.

The weekend-long camp concluded on Sunday with a community ski day and a distance ski challenge to the Norman Wells Ski cabin.

“I learned so many things this weekend,” said Annah Hanthorn, 16 years old. “The camp reminded me how many people have supported me in my sport and helped me learn more on my ski technique. I also learned more yoga moves and even how to Zumba dance. The key ideas I am taking home with me are to encourage others in my sport, to spread the LOVE and to be reminded of the encouraging words I heard from the ambassadors,” she added.

Fast and Female’s programming is intensely focused on working with girls in sports and exposing them to inspiring female athletic role models. In doing so, Fast and Female hopes to increase the retention of girls in sports. As it currently stands, girls are six times more likely to drop out of sports than boys. It is believed that this ratio increases when girls are living in remote communities and face smaller peer groups to support them in their athletic endeavors.

“There is a need for a critical mass of girls to keep the kids skiing together and having fun,” affirmed local event organizer Karen Johnson. “I remember wishing when my girls were in Jackrabbits that enough girls would stay skiing that the kids could flow together into the next level of ski programmingŠ Luckily for me and my girls, that wish has come true.”

“Boys get lots of opportunities to go out for events, but there is very little for girls in the community,” admitted Krista Kerr, a teacher from the Dene community Lutsel K’e. “This event does not require the numbers that team sports do, so it gives girls the chance to participate and travel”.

Jennifer Waterhouse, a teacher from Deline added: “Its always great when the youth in our community get the chance to visit other communities, meet other youth and get exposed to healthy activities. I know the Deline girls had a great time and this weekend has inspired me to build our ski program.”

Thanks to the support of many sponsors, participation to the event was free, including travel, accommodation and food. The small group of participants was selected on the basis of personal merit, motivation and athletic commitment.

In fact, the 2011 Fast and Female Northern Youth Empowerment Weekend was made possible thanks to valuable event-specific partners such as First Air, the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Sahtu Divisional Education Council, the NWT Ski Division, the Colville Lake School Board, the Sport North Federation, the Norman Wells RCMP, the Jokabeca Foundation at The Calgary Foundation, Sorpotimist International, and the Ski North Program. Fast and Female’s national sponsors – including Best Buy, Buff Multifunctional Headwear, Clarins Canada, Cold-FX, and Cross-Country Canada – also provided valuable resources to make this event possible.

“I take great pride in the fact that there are no financial barriers for girls to take part in this event,” added Daitch. “This is especially important for girls from isolated communities. The sponsors who contributed to this event have changed lives and we are greatly thankful for their support.”

Subsequent to this most recent Fast and Female event, the growing organization concludes a busy winter season which saw nine events and a reach of 875 girls across Canada and the United States.

In the coming weeks, Fast and Female will be announcing its event schedule for the Spring and Summer.

April 14, 2011 (Quebec City, QC) – Canmore, Alberta’s Devon Kershaw was announced Tellement Sport’s Male Athlete of the Year after the Canadian XC ski star logged a breakthrough season in which he won his first ever World Cup event during the FIS Tour de Ski. Kershaw was among a strong line-up of Canadian male athletes, including team mate and 2011 U23 Sprint World Champ, Alex Harvey. Click HERE to view the video (in French).

April 14, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – Walt Disney once said ‘if you can dream it, you can do it’. I’m not sure he was referring to a trip around the world, becoming dogsledders, salt mine workers, or alpine racers, but on Mar 4, the Canmore Nordic Ski Club Track Attack skiers did just all those things and more.

The day started with some face painting in the team room where four teams emerged – Team Moustache ‐ with great looking moustaches I might add; Team Whiskers – the cutest group of puppies around with long black whiskers; Team Snowflake – with very fashionable snowflakes on their faces (including one unibrow); and Team Polar Bear – wearing great looking bears. Thrown in there were a few painted flags on faces and well, you can probably picture it, these kids were ready for action.

There were three events that the teams competed in – the Yukon Quest Dog Sled Challenge; the Siberian Salt Mine Relay; and the Holmenkollen Downhill Quest. The dog sled challenge saw the kids become puppies (they sure loved to bark) and complete a team pursuit race, complete with pit stop, gear change and technique change. The Salt Mine Relay was lots of fun and saw the kids complete a continuous relay where every skier on each team completed a leg of diagonal striding, double poling, and step doubling poling. The downhill quest was a terrain park downhill sprint tournament complete with timing, heats, roller coaster bumps, and speed. Events were timed and great prizes were awarded for team spirit, an aggregate award based on results and technique, and participation awards from Cross Country Canada. Polar Cup(cakes) and lots of cookies, snacks, and hot chocolate were enjoyed by all – thanks to our fabulous parents for contributing those. Thanks also to parents and coaches who did the organizing and help guide the around the world adventure.

The energy and imagination of the event matched the enthusiasm and smiling faces of the kids having fun on skis.

The ski tournament is becoming an integral and important event in the yearly calendar of the Canmore Nordic Track Attack skiers. Last year’s Ski Rodeo and this year’s Polar Cup are going to be hard to top. But something tells me that the world may need to be saved in 2012 by a group of strong, fit, skiing superheroes! No need to worry, I have a feeling that a group of 50+ superheroes will arrive just in time at next years event!

Results HERE.

April 13, 2011 (Beaupré, QC) – From April 22 to the 25, spend Easter at Mont-Sainte-Anne for the last ski weekend of season 2011! For the occasion, the resort will be hosting its official ambassador Alex Harvey, Cross-Country skier and world champion, while Easter bunny and themed activities will entertain families and friends.

– Easter, BBQS, Hot Tubs, Maple Treats and Spring Skiing Don’t miss out on the last weekend of the Spring Madness Festival, where smoking BBQs, outdoor hot tubs, inflatable games and mini-golf will be taking place at the base. Mountain-side, make sure to stop half-way through La Pichard run and get a tasty maple treat ($)!

– Saturday April 23 – Alex Harvey Autograph Session Cross-Country ski world champion Alex Harvey, who will be at the resort from 1pm to 3pm for an autograph session. Come meet him at the base where he’ll be to talk about his experience. Also, mingle with other fans while a medal-shaped cake will be served as a nod to his amazing performance in Norway last March. Everyone is welcome to come shake hands and congratulate him in person for his exploits.

– Economical Easter Holiday You’re dreaming of a last ski weekend getaway? Mont-Sainte-Anne offers a lodging package including 3 nights and ski days at the resort, for the price of 2. Starting at $72 per person, per day. Certain conditions may apply. Call now at 1-800-463-1568.

April 12, 2011 (Chelsea, QC) – Check out this video of exciting race action with spills and thrills from the 1st Annual Nordix Fortune Cup Cross Country Ski Cross and Super Sprint, presented by XCZone, Madshus, and Natural Fitness Lab at Camp Fortune on Saturday.

April 11, 2011 (Rovaniemi, Finland) – Here are more great photos from this past weekend’s 2011 Tour de Barents won by Petra Majdic (SLO) and Jean-Marc Gaillard (FRA). The event featured amazing racing with Gaillard winning the tour by only 0.2s over teammate Maurice Manificat. The tour also held an emotional and historical component, as it marked the retirement of Slovenian star Majdic, along with Pirjo Muranen (FIN) and Jaak Mae (EST).

Read more HERE.

April 11, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – Paris Glove of Canada Ltd., the premier manufacturer of Auclair racing gloves, will supply the nation’s best cross-country ski athletes with lightweight racing gloves as part of an eight-year deal struck on Tuesday with Cross Country Canada.

The longest-standing partner of Cross Country Canada, dating back nearly 40 years to the 1970’s, Paris Glove of Canada has contributed more than $500,000 in product and financial support to Canada’s cross-country ski athletes, and will continue to do so through the 2018 Games.

“Canadian athletes are proud to be able to compete internationally using Canadian-designed Auclair gloves, knowing they have the financial backing of a Canadian company,” said Davin MacIntosh, executive director, Cross Country Canada. “It is our goal to continue producing podium results, and ultimately, to have the gloves of our Canadian athletes touching a gold medal on the international stage.”

Auclair, the premier sport and outdoor division of the family-owned company, is recognized worldwide for its unflagging desire to create highly technical winter-sport racing gloves that deliver unmatched performance.

As part of the agreement, Auclair has worked closely with athletes and coaches of Cross Country Canada to develop better product that meets the specific needs of each athlete to ease their journey to producing medal-winning results.

In addition, the deal also guarantees annual financial support for the team. Paris Glove will also continue to actively promote racers in advertising and marketing campaigns.

“Paris Glove is excited to be the official glove supplier of Cross Country Canada,” said Peter Monk, president, Paris Group of Companies. “As the national leader in technical handwear, we will continue to find innovative ways to better the equipment for Canada’s cross-country ski athletes in order to help guide, and develop, them into medal-winning athletes.”

April 08, 2011 – Andrus Veerpalu’s B Sample has tested positive for Human Growth Hormone, finally confirming the rumours of alleged doping that first began to circulate about the Estonian when he retired from the sport on the eve of the Oslo 2011 Nordic World Championships, according to ERR News.

The announcement was made by the Estonian Ski Association yesterday. At the press conference, the two-time Olympic Champion maintained his innocence and denied knowingly taking any banned substances.

Read the article HERE.

April 08, 2011 (Jyväskylä, Finland) – World Champion Matti Heikkinen has made Salomon’s complete ski, boot, and binding system his choice. The 27-year-old Heikkinen has chosen to become a Salomon complete athlete in what should be the peak years of his career. Heikkinen states, “Salomon as a company shows today the greatest potential to develop the near perfect equipment which is necessary to achieve my goals.”

At the recently completed 2011 World Ski Championships in Oslo, Norway, Matti was crowned World Champion in the 15km Classic. In so doing, Matti brought to Finland its first victory at major competition in over 12 years. This medal complements two bronze medals he won at the 2009 World Championships.

Matti aims to use his World Championship success as a stepping stone for his country and himself to reach much grander skiing goals. He continues to be outspoken advocate for the sport and is working to find ways to build a successful future for Finland in the sport. Personally, he believes the change to Salomon will aid him to become a more consistent figure on the World Cup podium in 2012 with continued success at the 2013 World Championships in Fiemme, Italy the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia and the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden.

Salomon’s Racing Services Director, Bertrand Regard, is pleased and excited that Matti has found Salomon’s complete system his best choice. Regard states, “We are pleased that more and more World Cup skiers are seeking out Salomon for their ski, boot and bindings needs. If you do the same thing you get the same result. If you wish to make improvement, change is not only good, it is necessary!”

Salomon, as the Nordic brand that develops each and every aspect of the development, integration and production of its skis, boots, and bindings is uniquely capable of rapidly developing and delivering the state-of-the-art concepts and technologies. An endless list of advancements in its boots and bindings since 1979 has delivered a comenserate endless list of Olympic, World Championship, and WorldCup success by athletes selecting its product. And in just seven years since the inception of its first racing ski, Salomon has developed and delivered three complete generations of WorldCup winning skis, an impressive feet.

We at Salomon are already preparing for the 2011-2112 World Cup season just 210 days away. We are excited to see what the changes by Matti’s and all of the athletes will deliver as we continue to rapidly bring our advancements in the technology to the sport so all skiers can better glide through winter.

Fallow all Salomon Nordic action at SalomonRacing.com and Facebook/Salomon-Nordic.

April 07, 2011 (Golden, BC) – Check out this video featuring a wide range of cross country skiing opportunities in beautiful Golden, BC as well as great post-skiing options. Keith and Heather Nicol recently visited and happened to be there for their popular Huckleberry Loppet. If you are looking for a great place to stay check out the Cedar House Chalets. Also look for an article on skiing in Golden in an upcoming issue of SkiTrax Magazine.

April 06, 2011 – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is considering ending its practice of collecting B samples in an effort to save both time and money according to AP. WADA director general David Howman notes that common criminals are being sent to jail based on one bodily sample, but doping cheats are getting an easier ride because both the A and B samples must test positive before they are tried for doping. “Sport really is on its own in collecting two samples,” he said.

Read more HERE.

April 05, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – Following the conclusion of the World Cup racing season, I made one last stop over in Sun Valley, Idaho for the final domestic races of the winter. With five races in 7 days, it was a busy couple of weeks.

The first race was the 30km US National Championship. It was a challenging mass-start race of four laps around a tough 7.2km loop. I took the lead halfway through the race and despite some gnarly cramps in the final 10km managed to take my 16th US National title. The next four races were contested as a mini-tour, with cumulative times and an overall champion.

In the opening race, the 2.8km skate prologue, I skied to a 16 second victory in just over seven minutes. The second race of the tour was a 10km classic mass-start with some cash bonuses up for grabs. I skied from the front once again, taking all four preems and held off some strong challengers in the last kilometers for another victory. After a day off we were back at it with classic sprints. The sun was hot and the snow was slow but I felt great and skied to the win. I did manage to get a wicked sunburn on my arms in the process. The final race was a 4km skate hill climb up Dollar Mountain. I started with over a minute lead, but pitted myself against the clock and skied all out to take the stage victory and the overall. In total I won six golden belt buckles over the course of the week. It was the perfect end to my best season to date.

Before leaving Sun Valley I got to help lead an awesome Fast and Female ski day, enjoying ski drills, dancing, yoga and healthy eating with over 70 girls. Now the season is over and it’s officially time for some R&R. Enjoy spring everyone!

Quote of the Day:
“To get to the end of the season and still feel strong in back to back races is a good feeling. But now, I am ready for vacation!”

What’s Coming Up:
VACATION!!

For more news and photos check out the new www.kikkan.com

The Full Story – Season Wrap up from Sun Valley
The 2010-2011 ski season has now come to a close with the final domestic races in Sun Valley, ID. Here’s a little update on how it went…

US National 30km Classic Championships
The first races contested in Sun Valley were the 50km and 30km US National Championship races. The men went first on Saturday, and endured some gnarly weather through seven laps of a challenging course. Thankfully, the weather dramatically improved for the women’s race on Sunday.

The race was mass-start with the women skiing four laps. My fellow US teammate Morgan Arritola led much of the first two laps, setting a brisk opening pace that quickly strung out the field. I took over at the end of the 2nd lap, initially planning on only leading for a few kilometers. However, the lead pack was now down to just five skiers and no one else was willing to lead.

Towards the end of the third lap, Maria Graenings (a Swedish skier skiing for University of Utah) and I began to pull away. Going into the final lap I began to feel twinges in my arms and hips of cramps coming on. I took several Coke feeds to try and stave off the cramps, but through the lap my muscles began locking up more and more.

I kept pushing the pace as Maria was still right on my tails and amazingly, junior standout Jessie Diggins was only 10 seconds behind. Up the last two climbs my arms and hips were cramping like crazy but I was still able to keep my tempo up. Heading up the “South Bench” climb in the last 2km, I was finally able to shake Maria and get a gap of 10 seconds which I held until the finish. With only one shot at a US National title this season, I was happy to take the win.For the next hour, I fought off continuing cramps and even my fingers wanted to curl up into my palms.

We got a rest day following the 30km, to prepare for the start of the SuperTour Finals 4-stage mini-tour.

2.8km Skate Prologue
With my hips and triceps still sore from the cramping, I was glad to switch to skating for the start of the mini-tour. At just under 3km, the prologue event is a challenging event to pace, especially with the altitude factor of 6600 ft.

I was the last woman to start. I used the opening kilometer on the flats to build into my pace and carried good momentum into the main stair-step climb called “Hammer.” When I hit the base of the hill I got a split that I was in the lead by 2 seconds. As I made my way up the steps, I focused on keeping a good rhythm. I got splits that my lead was increasing. The hill was tough for sure, but I came over the top quicker and feeling better than I had anticipated.

Legs definitely a little stiff, I managed to hang on around a tight, technical turn at the bottom, which was tough to navigate in the flat light conditions. I hammered the rest of the way up and over the final hill and drove hard into the finish. The race was over in less than eight minutes. When the results came in, I took the win by 16 seconds and took the lead in the overall mini-tour standings. If only all races were just seven minutes!

Two down, three to go.

10km Classic mass-start
Right away the next day we contested a 10km classic mass-start race. The men raced first and by the time we raced, the sun was coming out and the temperature was just starting to change. I opted to go on some stiffer skis for better glide.

For this race there were four preems of $100 each up for grabs at intermediate points along the course. We would be racing 3 laps of 3.3km. From the gun, I found myself at the front of the pack and even though we started at a pretty relaxed pace, no one else wanted to lead. So I settled into a good rhythm over the first lap. As we approached the first preem line, I expected some racers to come up along side and sprint for the bonus. But no one challenged and I took it. Heading into the 2nd lap, I kept the pressure on over the flats and skied with quick tempo up the climbs. For the 2nd preem at 5km, again no one challenged and I took it.

By the end of the 2nd lap I had started to open up a small gap on a couple chasers. I was still feeling good and determined to keep the pace honest. When I hit the main climb however, the effort finally started to set in. The sun had come out so my skis no longer had solid kick, and I was definitely fighting off fatigue.

The chasers were coming hard but I managed to hang on to my lead and cross the finish line for the win. I immediately collapsed into the snow and lay there for a few minutes. Man it felt good!

Three down, two to go

There was one more rest day before the final two stages of the mini-tour, which I spent scoping out the hill climb course, hanging in town with friends and doing some shopping at the Lululemon showroom run by my good buddy Kate Whitcomb.

1.5km Classic Sprint
The Sun Valley I remembered from my first trip here 11 years ago finally showed up for the sprint with icy, frozen tracks in the morning and then turning to slow slush by early afternoon. To keep the tracks intact as long as possible, no one was allowed on course except for the coaches. So I did my warm-up without a course preview and didn’t really get a chance to completely test my skis before the start. I just had to trust our wax guys and go for it!

This time I was the first racer on course. The tracks were fast and icy. I double-poled aggressively around most of the course and then hit the climb. My skis were a little bit slick and I really had to pull with my arms to make it up and over. I almost lost my balance coming around the final turn, but made it safely to the finish. I was immediately frustrated with the way I had skied the uphill but it was good enough to head on to the quarterfinals as the top qualifier.

By the time the heats started two hours later, the icy tracks had turned to slush and it was faster to ski outside the tracks. I won both my quarterfinal and semifinals by always making a strong move on the uphill. The sun was beating down and it felt hot!

Just before the final, our wax team decided to make a last minute switch from klister skis to Zeros to try to improve the glide in the slow snow. I just had to cross my fingers that it would work!

I decided to try and take the lead from the gun and push the pace the whole way. Double-poling through the slush, I could feel the others on my tails. When I hit the climb I just started running as fast as I could go. I kept pushing all the way to the line and crossed in first. I turned around to see my roommate for the week, Chandra Crawford coming in right behind me. High five!

We then watched the men’s final and soaked up a little more sun. It finally felt like spring!

Four down, one to go!

4km Skate Hill Climb
And then finally it was down to the last race of the mini-tour, and of the season, the skate hill climb up Dollar Mountain. While I enjoyed a big lead over 2nd place, I still wanted to race all out and end the season knowing I gave it everything I had. We didn’t get to enjoy the sun like the previous day, but that might have been a good thing because the trail stayed relatively firm and fast. The men raced first.

My strategy for the race was to start off controlled, build momentum into the base of the main climb and then maintain tempo up the climb and over the final rolling bench at the top. I executed the plan well coming into the long grind and was surprised to still be feeling pretty strong halfway up. Approaching the last 50m of the saddle however, the full-body burn set in. It took extreme focus and internal coaxing to keep fighting the fatigue. Everyone was screaming and cheering and then at last the finish was in sight. Those last few meters weren’t particularly pretty, but I made it to the line and dropped down onto the snow. As I lay there, chest heaving, I could finally smile and enjoy the conclusion of the season.

The finish area was pure carnage as the bodies of spent skiers lay everywhere. My APU teammate, Kate Fitzgerald, had pushed herself so hard that she had to be escorted down on a sled! Chandra (who had skied the race in a Lady Gaga outfit) and I enjoyed some sweet tele turns to get back down the mountain. I realized that I am ready to ski downhill for a while!

The awards wrapped up just as the rain started to fall. A big thank you goes out to Rick Kappala and the SVSEF team for putting on some great races! The rest of the day was dedicated to celebrating – first with my APU team, and then with everyone – a wonderful and memorable season.

To cap off my stay in Sun Valley, I got to help lead a Fast and Female event on Sunday. We had 23 ambassadors (including 7 Olympians) leading 70 girls ages 7-19 through ski drills, dancing, yoga and inspirational stories. The sun was out, the stoke was high, and everyone left with a big smile. It was a great way to wrap up the season!

Now I’m on my way to Whistler with Chandra to participate in a Lululemon Ambassador Summit. It’s going to be a fun couple of days of inspiration and personal development before I head back to Alaska.

In the next few weeks there will be a lot of reflection and evaluation about the season, and of course planning for next year. But for now it’s time to kick back, relax and have fun!

It’s been really fun to be able to share this season with you. Thank you for all the encouragement and support! I wish you all a happy spring and cheers to going for broke again next year!

Cheers,

Kikkan

April 03, 2011 (Khanty Mansiysk, RUS) – Canada’s Brian McKeever continued his dominance of the IPC World Championships despite having a new man in front guiding him to the top of the podium.

The 31-year-old McKeever of Canmore, Alta., teamed up with childhood ski friendErik Carleton of Calgary, to win the gold medal in the men’s 10-kilometre visually impaired skate-ski race at the IPC World Championships on Sunday in Khanty Mansiyski, Russia. The Canadian duo, who grew up skiing and racing together in Alberta clocked a winning time of 24 minutes, 28.5 seconds.

“We skied a good controlled race from start to finish,” said McKeever, who was competing in his first IPC competition since winning three gold medals at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. “Having not raced on the IPC circuit this year there was some stress and uncertainty coming into this competition. That is now gone, and we can focus on skiing hard and enjoying the rest of the events.  Erik skied smoothly and we worked well together.”

With his brother Robin McKeever, who has guided him to 10 Paralympic medals including seven gold, forced to the sidelines with a torn ACL, the younger McKeever tapped on the shoulder of longtime buddy in 33-year-old Carleton to fill in and carry the torch at the IPC World Championships.

“We had a good plan to ski controlled, and see where the competition was in relation to us,” said Carleton following his first race. “We stuck to the plan and it worked out.”

Carleton and the younger McKeever were introduced to skiing at the same time when they signed up for a Jackrabbit ski program in Calgary. The two began racing together at the age of 13, and the friends became roommates when they moved to Canmore after eventually qualifying for the National Development Team.

McKeever and Carleton were joined on the podium by Russia’s Nikolay Polukhin and Andrey Tokarev, who locked up the silver with a time of 25:14.3. Mikalai Shablouski, of Belarus, guided Vasili Shaptsiaboi to the bronze medal at 25:48.5.

Canada had a stellar day in the middle distance cross-country ski races on Sunday with two athletes also finishing fourth and one in sixth.

Jody Barber, of Smithers, B.C., had an excellent race finishing just 16 seconds out of a podium spot in fourth place. The 2010 Paralympian clocked a time of 16:23.6 in the women’s five-kilometre skate-ski race in the women’s standing division. Poland’s Katarzyna Rogowiec won the category after posting a time of 14:54.3.

Chris Klebl, of Canmore, Alta., also stormed into fourth spot. Klebl, who joined the Canadians from the American program this year, narrowly missed the podium in the men’s 10-kilometre sit-ski race. Klebl clocked-in at 24:57.0. The men’s sit-ski division was won by Russia’s Irek Zaripov with a time of 24:31.0.

Six-time Paralympic medallist, Colette Bourgonje of Saskatoon, rounded out the Canadian charge. The six-time Paralympian finished sixth in her first race of the season after posting a time of 14:11.2 in an extremely tight women’s five-kilometre sit-ski race.

Liudmila Vauchok, of Belarus, won the women’s sit-ski race with a time of 13:48.0.

Complete results HERE.

April 02, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – Kris Freeman (US Ski Team/Waterville Valley) started with a four-second advantage over Simi Hamilton (US Ski Team/Sun Valley SEF) at the Sunday morning SuperTour series final 15km Freestyle Hill Climb event, and, after letting Hamilton pull even in the approach, soloed away on the climb of the Elkhorn Bowl to the top of the Elkhorn lift on Dollar Mountain for overall victory.

Kikkan Randall (USST/APU), on the other hand, started with an 83-second margin over Jessie Diggins (CXC), and lengthened her lead all the way to the wire to win over Holly Brooks (APU) in second, with Diggins finishing third.

Men’s  15km FR Hill Climb
In the men’s race, Freeman, Hamilton, Drew Goldsack (Canadian NST/AWCA) and Noah Hoffman (USST/Aspen) started out within 16 seconds. The gaps closed up and the group was virtually together by the end of the undulating terrain leading up to the ascent.  At that point, things started to spread out  Freeman, Hamilton, (finishing 18 seconds back), and Hoffman, 22 seconds back, stayed in that order, but Goldsack moved backward one position, ending up in fifth place at 38 seconds.

Hamilton told SkiTrax post-race, “The pack behind Bird and I caught up with us just before the saddle, then we skied together until about 30 seconds up the climb. It just separated from there. I don’t think anyone wanted to try any tactics or anything, it was just a suffer-fest”

He continued, “The first long climb up to the corner was very skiable and felt under control. Then when we went around that corner I think everyone got hit with that wave of lactate . . . I know I did for sure.

“From there up it was only a couple of minutes, and just a question of making yourself hurt.  I’m happy with my second place (overall) and pretty psyched about the week in general.  I’m motivated to work hard over the summer.”

The next pack to hit the trail consisted of six men within 12 seconds of each other, from fifth place to 10th place – APU’s Lars Flora (started at 33 seconds), Canadians Stefan Kuhn and Brent McMurtry, Michael Sinnott (SVSEF), Tad Elliot (CXC) and Canuck Kevin Sandau (all started at 45 seconds).  This group came together before the climb, then strung out as they ascended.

Elliott was the class of this group, skiing away from his erstwhile companions and overtaking Goldsack as he dropped back from the lead group, ending up fourth to the top. McMurtry, Flora and Sandau came out of the Elliott group to finish 6-7-8.

“We skied the whole base together,” said Elliott.  “Lars was motivated today because whoever won between him and Brian Gregg (CXC) got a couple of thousand dollars for the SuperTour season win. Lars was pulling well, and he gave me a great tow into the climb, and then I made a move and was gaining time on Noah and Simi and Kris but didn’t have enough to catch them before the top.  Congrats to Simi – he had an awesome day.”

Was there any jockeying within your group on the climb? “No, everyone was just so tapped out at altitude going up something that hard. . . it was good being a little guy from altitude.”

Was it as hard as advertised?  “For sure.”

Elliott’s ascent time of 12:46 was 11 seconds faster than Freeman’s climb (12:57.1).  Brian Gregg (12:57.5), Noah Hoffman (13:03) and Glenn Randall (13:05) rounded out the top five in the hill climb results.

It couldn’t be said that Freeman dominated the week, as he was back a ways in the prologue, and failed to qualify in the sprint after a tumble.  However, with his performance on Dollar Mountain he showed that he’s still the man to beat in the US.

Hamilton put in a superb effort, losing only 14 seconds to Freeman, and holding off the “Hoff” to secure the runner-up spot.  His prologue performance and his qualifying round performance in the sprints were both top-notch, though he did not make the “A” final. If he works on the endurance side of his performance – as he has declared – he could develop into a fine all-rounder.

Hoffman and Elliott showed themselves to be the class of the young senior men, placing fourth and fifth in the overall.  Over the week, Hoffman placed 5-6-7-5-4 (50km, prologue, mass start, sprint, hill climb) and 3rd in the overall;  Elliott was 10-3-5-42-1 and 4th in the overall.  Between them they had only one result out of the top 10.

Women’s  Hill Climb
In the women’s 10km Freestyle race Randall started with a big lead, and padded it, adding 37 seconds of comfort between the base of Dollar Mountain and the top of Elkhorn to finish two minutes clear of Holly Brooks.  Brooks had started six seconds behind Diggins but caught her on the approach and laid another 34 seconds into her on the ascent. Utah’s Maria Graefnings was a minute and eleven seconds behind Diggins.

Brooks shared her thoughts with SkiTrax post-race. “Jessie and I skied the first half or so together, then about one-third of the way up the steep section I made a decisive move and tried to open up a gap.  And I was able to do that.  It was a bit longer (than I anticipated) toward the end, and once again I wondered if I had gone too early, (as she had in the 10km classic mass start).  The finish line kept eluding me, but [finally] I got across it.  It was an awesome day.

“I thought the pace was a little relaxed at the beginning,” Brooks continued, “Which was maybe a smart way to do it.  In the middle of the climb I felt like I held a good pace, but at the top, I think everyone was falling apart.  It was ugly. I hope there’s some video out there because I think we all looked like a bunch of beginners.”

Kate Fitzgerald also with APU was fifth, moving up from the seventh start position by overtaking Canada’s Chandra Crawford (Canadian NST/Canmore) and her APU teammate Sadie Bjornsen. Fitzgerald went way beyond her limit, staggering the last few strides toward the finish line, planting her poles between her legs and immediately collapsing the moment her toes reached the line.  She received some medical attention at the top, was bundled in warm clothing, and given a ride down the hill on a snowmachine.

Randall – surprise, surprise – was the winner of the hill climb time competition.  She gained 32 seconds on overall runner-up Brooks.  Chelsea Holmes (Sugar Bowl Academy) was third-fastest up the hill, followed by SVSEF’s Nicole DeYong and Fitzgerald.  Diggins climb time was eighth-fastest while Graefnings was 12th best.

For the week, Randall won the National 30km Championships, the Prologue, the Mass Start 10km and all four preems; she won the sprint and had the fastest qualifying time, and on the final day had the fastest time to the top of the mountain taking the overall Sprint Series mini tour finale overall as well. She topped out in podium and money.

Brooks proved again that she is strong and not easily discouraged. Although she did not win any stages, and though she had a less than hoped for result in Friday’s sprint, she showed that she starts every race with a clean slate and a fresh mental approach, and is always ready to attack.

Diggins was extremely impressive, finishing in the top three in every event except the sprint (5th) where she appeared to have slow skis. Young and petite, she has put together a spectacular season that no one would have predicted.

Although she has been on the radar screen for a while, she made a quantum leap this year, achieving national and international results that surpassed her trend line. The rate of improvement that she displayed this year will be very difficult to duplicate, but even a little steady improvement over the next few years could put her in a rarefied field.

The Sun Valley race organization did an outstanding job with the event.  Event Director (and SVSEF Cross Country Program Director) Rick Kapala and his crew found the perfect balance of informality and structure for the Spring Series.  Despite some challenges from the weather (heavy snow, cold, wind, heat, rain – you name it) and a stadium at Lake Creek that is not easy to access, the quality of the race organization was high.  All the events got a big thumbs up from racers, coaches, spectators and volunteers.

Brooks summed it up:  “It’s been really fun. I think it would be unanimous to come back to Sun Valley next year if Rick and the crew would have us. The organizers here have done a great job, it’s been great weather – even though I’m feeling a couple of raindrops now (as she was standing at the top of the Elkhorn lift after the finish).  It’s been a great week.”

Hill Climb Results HERE.
SuperTour Mini-Tour Final Standings HERE.

SuperTour photos HERE (pls check back as more photos are uploaded)

April 02, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – The women’s sprint went more or less according to form, but the topsy-turvy men’s race produced a start list for Saturday morning’s hill climb that no one would have predicted.

The big upset of the day was Kris Freeman’s (US Ski Team/Waterville Valley) failure to qualify for the heats. Freeman, the mini-tour leader, fell on the final bend before the home stretch, a location where a number of skiers had problems, and was 5.12 seconds too slow to make the top 30 cut, ending up in 46th place. Tad Elliott (CXC), third overall in the mini-tour coming into the sprint, also failed to qualify finishing 42nd, 4.03 seconds out.

Andy Newell (USST/Stratton) qualified first, 3.53 seconds ahead of Simi Hamilton (US Ski Team/Sun Valley SEF), Drew Goldsack (Canadian NST/AWCA), ranked second in the Spring Series coming into the qualifying round double-poled his way to the eighth qualifying position, and looked like he might be putting himself in position to leapfrog Freeman.

Stratton Mountain School OJ, Skyler Davis, qualified third, Brent McMurtry (Canadian NST) fourth, Stefan Kuhn (Canadian NST) fifth, Mike Sinnott (SVSEF) sixth, and Swede Simon Persson (Åre Skidgymnasium) in seventh.

The tracks for the qualifying round were rock hard and icy, motivating several skiers to forego wax and double-pole on their skating skis. Making that choice were Sinnott, Goldsack, Persson and Jess Cockney (AWCA) in 15th amongst others. Those who double-poled the qualifying round were not planning to double-pole in the heats, as the sun was out, the temperature was climbing, and the handwriting was on the wall – the course was going to slush up before the heats started.

As strange as some of those qualifying results were, things had only begun to get weird. The Canadians, with three of the top eight qualifiers, only advanced Kuhn to the semis – and their wax did not look super. So, Goldsack and McMurtry failed to take advantage of their opportunity. Then Hamilton placed third in his heat but advanced as a lucky loser.

Quarterfinal winners were top-seeded Newell, Noah Hoffman (USST/Aspen – 24th in qualifying), Sinnott in a very fast heat over Kuhn and Swede Oskar Kardin, Tim Reynolds (Craftsbury Green – 22nd in qualifying), and Dartmouth’s Eric Packer (18th in the qualifications). A surprising semifinalist coming out of the first heat was Michigan Tech’s Petter Sjulstad who had placed 30th in the qualifications at 0.06 ahead of 31st-place Brian Gregg (CXC).

Newell and Hoffman went 1-2 in the first semifinal, and Sinnott and APU’s Lars Flora (qualified 12th) did the same in semi number two. Through the first two rounds, these four appeared to be the strongest skiers.

The major casualties of the semifinals were Hamilton, who placed fourth and was relegated to the “B” final, and USSA SRNC classic sprint bronze medalist Skyler Davis. Hamilton and Davis salvaged a little by going 1-2 in the “B” final.

So, Freeman had opened the door, but one by one, Goldsack, McMurtry, and Hamilton had declined to step through. Hoffman was the only skier in the “A” final who had a chance to get with Freeman.

The final started with Newell out in front, as he had done in each of his previous two heats. Sinnott and Flora, who were duking it out for the SuperTour season-long sprint title, were skiing side-by-side about 10-15 meters back. About 150m before reaching Coaches’ Climb Sinnott bade farewell to Flora and put on a big move, reeling in Newell in short order.

Later Newell told SkiTrax, “Mikey came flying past me on the flat there and I tried to hang on, but he skied the hill really well and carried his speed to the finish.”

As the grade steepened on Coaches’ Climb Sinnott put on a monstrous move with a furious tempo reminiscent of Sweden’s Emil Joensson. Newell attempted to follow, but could match neither the stride rate nor the speed of the determined SVSEF skier. As they skated around the left turn at the top and dropped down Waterfall, Sinnott had a solid 10 meters, which he expanded all the way to the finish, eventually winning by 6.7 seconds over Newell.

Not the predicted outcome.

Sinnott replayed his strategy in a post-race interview with SkiTrax. “I’ve trained here for 20 years, and I knew how to ski that hill. It’s a tricky one, but if you come into it right you can keep your momentum. I was looking ahead to Newell the whole time – that’s where the race was.

“I’d gotten boxed out (earlier in the heat), but like I said, my skis were fast, so when I got a clear lane I went for it. I had great skis and I was still pretty fresh going into it. I figured I’d put it all on the line there and see what happened on the downhill.”

On his battle for the SuperTour season-long sprint title with Flora he commented, “We both knew what was at stake, and we were keeping our eyes on each other. It’s been fun. Lars and I were teammates on the Factory Team a few years ago and I’ve always had a fun time racing with him.”

Flora’s take: “All day we were watching each other, in the qualifying, in the quarterfinal, and in the semifinals and finals (head-to-head in the last two). It was fun. In the final he was in another league. He just dominated and he deserved to win the $2,000 (for the season long sprint title.)”

Sinnott’s strategy in tomorrow’s hill climb: “Don’t die.”

The winner’s dominance was made evident by taking a close look at the final bracket results: his winning time in the third quarterfinal (3:36.8) was the fastest time in the rounds, his winning time in the “A” final was the second fastest time in the rounds, and his winning time in the semifinal was the sixth-fastest time in the rounds.

After the race Newell added, “I’m pretty tired. I wish I was in the kind of condition where I could defend my mini-tour title from last year (in Maine), but unfortunately that’s not the way it is. The season has had some highlights, like Stockholm. But now I’m here to support US skiing and my club, Stratton.”

How much did the conditions slow down from the qualifying to the heats? Sinnott’s fastest heat time was more than 34 seconds slower than Newell’s qualifier winning time of 3:02.65 – almost 19% slower.

Freeman, despite his morning crash, will start first in the hill climb tomorrow at 9am. Hamilton, who could have been the first starter had he advanced to the “A” final and skied well, starts second at 0:04, followed by Goldsack at 0:11 and Hoffman at 0:16.

Things really get busy then with six skiers starting in 12 seconds: Flora-0:33, Kuhn-0:39, McMurtry-0:40, Sinnott-0:42, Elliott-0:44 and Sandau-0:45. Five skiers start between one and two minutes after Freeman.

The hill climb course starts at the base of Dollar Mountain, then heads across the hill and uses some of the golf course terrain to reach the base of the Elkhorn lift, then starts the major ascent, climbing up Elkhorn Bowl to the summit ridge, the going onto the back side of the hill before finishing up on a cat track at the top of the Elkhorn lift.

The final climb, beginning at the bottom of Elkhorn, ascends about 160m/520 feet; there’s about 90m of climbing between the start and the bottom of the Elkhorn lift.

Because warm temperatures the last few days have affected the solidity of the snow, it is still possible that the course may be changed on Saturday morning, with some of the golf course terrain removed, and a portion of it replaced by a short loop around the base of the Dollar Mountain alpine lifts. The deciding factor will be if the course can support pole baskets.

Women’s Sprint

Compared to the unpredictable nature of the men’s sprint, the women’s race was almost boring. Only two skiers outside the first 12 advanced from the quarterfinals, and the first five finishers in the “A” final had all qualified in the first eight.

As expected, Kikkan Randall (USST/APU), was the top qualifier in 3:28.13, a full 4.13 seconds ahead of Ida Sargent (Craftsbury Green) and 4.87 ahead of Chandra Crawford (Canadian NST/Canmore Nordic). No other women were within 10 seconds of Randall.

In the first of the women’s quarters, top qualifier Randall skied clear and led from the gun, to win by 4.7 seconds over Dartmouth’s Sophie Caldwell.

Maria Graefnings (Utah), who mentioned the other day her recent lack of sprinting due to the college schedule, won the 2nd quarterfinal – the fastest heat of the day – ahead of Holly Brooks (APU), in the fastest time of the elimination round.

Heather Mooney (Stratton) was third in the third-fastest time of the heats, but she did not advance because the Lucky Losers were determined by qualifying times. Fourth-place Morgan Smyth (APU) had the fourth-best time of the heats, and Nicole Deyong (SVSEF), in fifth, had the sixth-best time of the heats.

Jessie Diggins (CXC) won the third heat over a surprising Becca Rorabaugh of APU. CXC’s Jennie Bender topped Hannah Dreisigacker (Craftsbury Green) in the fourth heat, with Sargent advancing from third place as a Lucky Loser. APU’s Sadie Bjornsen won the last quarter over 23rd-fastest qualifier Sara MacCarthy (U of Utah). Canada’s Crawford was third but advanced as a Lucky Loser.

Both semifinals bifurcated into two groups of three, with no doubt about who was going to the “A” final and who would wind up in the “B” final. Randall, Graefnings and Caldwell came out of the first semi and Bjornsen, Crawford and Diggins from the second.

In the “B” final Sargent topped her Craftsbury Green teammate Dreissigacker, with MacCarthy taking third ahead of Rorabaugh. Brooks and Bender walked it in.

Randall led from the get-go in the “A” final, and pushed the pace up Coaches’ Climb, with only Crawford making a serious attempt to follow. Graefnings came on strong at the finish to overtake Bjornsen, while Diggins, right on their tails heading down Waterfall, lost ground all the way to the finish, ending up fifth.

The women’s heat times were considerably slower than their qualifying times. Randall’s best time in the heats, 4:19.1, was almost 25% slower than her qualifying times. Graefnings fared a little better – her best heat time of 4:14.9 was only 15% slower than her qualifying time.

Randall continued to pad her bank account, snagging $200 for the fastest qualifying time in addition to the first-place money. After the race she said, “I really feel like I wanted to empty the tank here [in Sun Valley] and go out and see what I could do.”

Regarding Crawford making a late surge, Randall confided to SkiTrax, “I knew I couldn’t let down going to the line. She’s a great fighter and she’s usually really strong on those finish stretches.”

“What a fun day to be out racing,” an enthused Crawford told SkiTrax.  “In the final, I really wanted to stick on Kikkan as long as possible. I had a move in mind, to attack, but . . . from 10 meters back, it’s more of an attempt to catch up.

“She had an amazing tempo running up the hill [Coaches’ Climb]. She poured it on like an Emil Joensson tempo, and you know what that looks like. It’s a real advantage for North American skiing for us to have someone so strong on the international circuit for us to mark ourselves against.”

Looking toward the Hill Climb, she noted: “I’m weak on climbing and really bad in slush, so it’s a perfect day to get out there. It’s exactly what I want to do more of.”

At 9:30am tomorrow, Randall will take off with an advantage of 1:23 over Jessie Diggins, and 1:29 over Holly Brooks. Graefnings is at 2:19, then Sadie Bjornsen and Chandra Crawford start together at 3:16.

When asked about her big lead starting out tomorrow’s pursuit start hill climb, Randall said “It’s a big hill – anything can happen. It’s a great way to finish off the season.”

Sprint Results HERE.
Sprint Results w/brackets HERE.
SuperTour Standings after Sprints HERE. 

SuperTour photos HERE (pls check back as more photos are uploaded)

April 02, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – My winter’s over although here in the Bow Valley, you’d never now it. I should rephrase: my 2010/11 competitive winter is done. Looking back, I am thrilled with how the overall year played out.

If you would have told me that at year’s end I would be on the World Cup podium four times, win my first World Cup, win a World Championship gold medal and finish in the top 10 overall (World Cup standings) I would not have hesitated to verbalize that you’d be nothing short of nutty, buddy. Before I reminisce too much and this thing morphs into nostalgic drivel, I should fill you in on how the season ended.

World Championships: Oslo
How fortunate am I? Last season I got to race at an Olympic Games in Canada and the following year the World Championships were held in the mecca, the birthplace of skiing Norway.

What makes Norway a special place to race? The amazingly beautiful women by the thousands? Maybe, but it’s also the most inspirational, exciting and historical place you can race in this gig. I distinctly remember watching the 1994 Olympic Games and the 1997 World Championships on old VHS tapes back when I was young and struggling to believe that the sea of screaming red and blue were actually thousands and thousands of super-fans out trail side for a CROSS-COUNTRY SKI RACE LIVE?!? Being able to compete in such an event in Norway was a dream come true for me. Nowhere in the world can you find atmosphere like that in cross country skiing.

1.5km Free Technique Sprint (24.02.11)
What wasn’t so fortunate was my first race in front of the thousands upon thousands of passionate fans. The skate sprint. Good lord. After feeling flat and racing badly in Drammen, I was hoping I’d be a new man and feel amazing four days later in the sprint. Well, that didn’t transpire. It was too short an outing for me as I didn’t even advance through qualification.

I was crushed to see the result especially since I had won a skate sprint this season. I was 0.02 seconds too slow to crack the top 30, and ended up finishing in the worst place EVER for a sprint race: 31st. Argh. Still digesting our prep, I wasn’t sharp enough when that day came, and ended up being a spectator (not by choice) in a race I was so keen to perform well in.

30km Mass Start Pursuit (27.02.11)
Following that dismal sprint, I’ll admit it – I wallowed. It was a big disappointment. Luckily, the next challenge came quickly in the form of the 30km pursuit. One positive from the sprint was that it was another opportunity to wake up the body and I was feeling better and better with what almost felt like every passing hour. As most championship pursuits are known to be, the race itself was tactical.

The courses in Oslo are really tough but that didn’t stop us men from skiing tactically, marking everyone and keeping the pace super chill for most of it. As is fairly standard in championship pursuits – nothing happened in the classic. Early in skating Alex launched quite the little move, getting upwards of 18 seconds at one point off the front for his 7km solo mission in the lead.

The pack was disorganized, and I actually thought for a while that Alex was going to steal the win because of it. That didn’t transpire. The gap was erased with a lap (3.75km) to go and then with the pack back together the name of the game was trying to get into a good position for the last 800m. I knew that, yet I still went to the front at about 2.5km to go and started to pin it. With all the corners and shorter climbs, it did nothing except stretch the pack out into a line. It wouldn’t have been so bad had the guys following me not sling-shotted by me on a long descent with 1.25km to go, but that’s what happened and in the most critical part of the course I found myself in bad position. Oops.

I felt great but got stuck in heavy traffic… I all but watched as Vylegzhanin and Northug sprinted up the last hill with 800m to go and ski away for the medals as I bashed and thrashed through bodies behind. That was frustrating. When the dust settled, I had to settle for 9th, a shade over 6 seconds from the win. I beat myself up for my costly tactical error (going to the front too early), but the positive thing was that my body finally felt good. WAY better than it had been feeling for the sprint and Drammen. Thank God.

15km Individual Start Classic (01.03.11)
Psych! I didn’t do it. But that was no easy decision. The 15km was the race (along with the team sprint) that I had been training for, dreaming of, and focusing on all year. I LOVE that race. The next shot at a championship 15km classic is in Sochi. Yes, cross-country skiing is weird.

As hard as it was, Justin [Wadsworth] and I decided the day before that with the team sprint happening the day after the 15km and having just completed the 30km two days earlier it was just too tight to be 100% guaranteed that the body would be ready. Took the risk and went for broke, putting all our eggs into the team sprint. I knew we had a great chance for a podium in the team sprint with Alex, but what made it hard was I knew I had a great chance for success in the 15km as well.

Team Sprint Classic (02.03.11)
Boom! The decision to skip the 15km classic worked out better than I could have ever imagined. Not only did we hit the podium – we (Alex and I) became World Champions. For the first time in Canadian history, the Maple Leaf stood above the rest at the Nordic Ski World Championships. It was crazy. I still cannot believe it!

It took Canada over 100 years to win our first World’s gold (Norway has won over 100 gold medals at the World Championships?!) yet I have a feeling we won’t have to wait another 100 years to win our next one. It was one of those days that I had been dreaming of my entire career and to win in Norway, in front of thousands and thousands of screaming fans was unreal. It didn’t make up for being 4th and 5th last year at the Olympics at home, but man it was close.

Yet, it almost didn’t happen. On the first lap of my semifinal, my ski popped off and flew backwards. Somehow in the congestion of bodies my binding lifted allowing the ski to shoot behind me. I was dumbfounded and couldn’t believe it. I distinctly remember thinking shit. Just like that, we’re out and I didn’t get to do the 15km?!! ARGH!

I tried to stay as calm as I could, went back 15m, grabbed my ski and reattached it. Then, with my heart pounding and nerves squeezing my chest, I started chasing after the pack, which was at that point about 10+ seconds up the track.

It was so freaking hard, but thankfully I managed to get back on (to the pack). The semis were terrible for me after that I was hurting badly. The effort coupled with the adrenaline dump through my system left my body and mind feeling like overworked play-doh.

In the final, my nerves settled and things came back around – I felt great again. On the last lap, the Finn, Jauhojaervi jumped Northug and I on the big climb and caught me off guard. He put a sizable gap into us and neither Northug nor I could get back to him. I came into the exchange right on Northug’s tails for 3rd and Alex had the perfect opportunity (with Hattestad) to sit in and let Norway pull back the gap to Finland.

That’s what happened. Alex let Hattestad chase, they all caught the Finn and next thing you know Alex out-sprints the 2009 double World Champion to give Canada our first gold. Yeah buddy! To see him coming out of the fog in first place was surreal. We met the king, did a ton of media and just like that Alex was knighted on the spot the new crown-prince of Quebec. (Kidding but its bananas how famous Alex is in Quebec. His phone has mystically been grafted to his ear which I’ve heard is helping!)

Sick. Boo.
Little did I know that the team sprint would be my last race of the 2011 World Championships. I woke up sick the morning of the 4x10km relay. Then my health got worse for the 50km which I sat out as well.

I missed the two most iconic races, and a chance of a lifetime to compete in front of 100,000 stoked Norwegian super fans, 20,000 of which camped out on course in tents to save their spots. Argh. I was so congested and rocking a sore throat, feeling terrible. In vain I tried for a miracle recovery, logging more time in bed than I thought possible to no avail. The Championships were over for me.

Spring World Cups (Lahti, and the Sweden Mini-Tour (Stockholm/Falun)
I was still quite sick when I arrived in Finland and it took me until Thursday to feel even halfway decent. The Lahti World Cup weekend didn’t go well. First up was the 20km pursuit where I felt amazing in the classic portion, only to lose a crazy amount of time and drop out of contention in the skate portion finishing a disappointing 22nd. Sunday’s sprint was no better. Actually it was worse, battling slippery skis in the qualifier on a really heavy/hard course found me outside the top 30 failing to advance to the _ finals.

Sunday night (the night after the sprint) I was greeted with a surprise, just not a happy one. I had an epic sore throat ravaging my being. It was as if tiny men with scalpels snuck into my mouth, jumped down the inside of my throat and started cutting it with fanatical-gusto. The following day I saw a doctor in Finland who then informed me that I had a throat infection (similar to Strep throat) and put me on antibiotics. Awesome.

Racing while taking anti-biotics isn’t something I’d recommend, and the mini-tour didn’t go well on my end. In the Stockholm city sprint I was able to qualify for the _ finals (barely). I picked classic skis (for a classic sprint) but most people opted to double pole (using skate gear no grip wax = faster skis) for both the qualifier and my 1/4 final, and that proved to be a mistake. I felt fine racing (surprisingly) out there, but I got totally dusted on the flatter terrain by the double polers. Turns out skate skis were WAY faster. I learnt something: work hard on my double poling so I can sack up enough to try it in a World Cup quali next season and not get decimated on the flatter/descending terrain like I did this year.

The last three races of the season were spectacularly below average as well seems my body was ready for it to be over and coming off a cold and a throat infection I don’t know what I was expecting (ok, I expected WAY more). First up was a 3.3km classic prologue. It was dumping snow and conditions were terrible. I paced it like a sissy, giving up 10 seconds in the first 500m (seriously) and while I was cooking for the last 1.5-2km, I had left too big a hole to clamber out of. The costly pacing error left me in 22nd.

In the pursuit the following day, things again didn’t go my way. I felt great in classic and terrible in skate (I picked the wrong pair of skate skis, which were so, so, so slow through the soft/slushy conditions) to finish that day a disappointing 26th. The final race of my season was a 15km skate handicap start and it didn’t go well either. Starting alone, I went out fast trying to erase a 23-second deficit to a group ahead of me and get in their draft. I came within 6 seconds of getting on a good ride (Vittoz and Freeman), but soon after I consequently blew up quite badly and struggled home to take 27th in the mini-tour.

Not quite the 10th place in the Kuusamo mini-tour, or 7th place in the Tour de Ski and looking at the year’s standings it seems that I was lucky that World Cup points were not awarded for time in the handicap start because I was in a tight battle with the French skier Jean-Marc Gaillard (who was 9th overall) and while I raced poorly, he raced pretty well in Falun.

Now I’m finally back home in Canmore, surrounded again by the Rockies. I haven’t been resting yet the snow is too good here at home and I always train into April before taking some real time off without training for a few weeks to let the body heal up (usually down south somewhere to replenish the vitamin D!). May 1st is fast approaching and with it another training season where I’ll need all the energy I can get!

I am still feeling decently good (although yesterday and today I’m paying for my big ski touring days and a little fatigued) and I’ve been skiing at the Nordic Centre (there’s so much snow up there) and backcountry skiing like crazy.

I toyed with the idea of going to Spring Series down in Sun Valley, but after so much traveling I couldn’t will myself to pack a bag three days after getting home and drive 14 hours to Idaho and I am really enjoying the serenity and snow in the high Rockies right now and I’ve had some fantastic days on the randonee gear.

That’s the word.
D

PS: Everyone asks what’s up with the air guitar? Back in 2006 when Chandra shocked the world and won the Olympics she did this…

So, when I won in Toblach, I had to do this…

So, it was just the natural thing to do when Alex and I won. I almost felt like I was in a real band as we both shredded our imaginary axes together. I hope that by the time I’m done, the CCC offices are plastered with Air Guitar shots. First though, I’d better rest up and be ready to train like a banshee starting in May.

April 01, 2011 (Finland) – The 2001 Finnish Doping Scandal from the World Cross Country ski championships is in the news again this week with a new trial and new allegations in the Finnish press. It has now been alleged that one of the skiers who was caught for doping – Jari Isometsa was offered 1 million Finnish marks to take on all the blame for this doping scandal.

This is just the latest episode in a scandal that has tarnished Finnish cross-country ski results for the last 20 years. This story could form the basis of a great soap opera script if it wasn’t so sad. To try to figure out what is happening it is a good idea to take a look at the time lines involved in this scandal and the main characters.

In 2001 Jari Isometsa was caught for using a banned substance – blood volume expanders (a substance used to hide the use of EPO) after one of the individual races at the World Championships in Lahti. At the time he said that he had acted alone. After further testing of other skiers on the Finnish team, five other skiers – Harri Kirvesniemi, Janne Immonen, Myka Myllyla, Milla Jauho and Virpi Kuitunen also tested positive for the same substance. All of the skiers were stripped of their medals and given suspensions. (Virpi Kuitunen came back a few years later and won the overall World Cup).

The head coach of the team at the time Kari-Pekka Kyro was directly implicated and also suspended. Other coaches and team personnel and administrators including Anti Leppavouri, Jari Piiranen and Pekka Vahasoyrinki were also implicated but their roles were never proved.

In 1998 the Finnish news agency FNB was convicted of libel for stories that they distributed implicating these three administrators.

The new trial that is starting now is to try Leppavouri, Piiranen, Vahasoyrinki and Rasanen for perjury during the 1998 libel trial.

Already there have been some startling admissions and allegations. Mika Myllyla has already admitted to using EPO. Kyro, the coach of the 2001 team has also re-surfaced claiming that the Finnish team was doping in 1997 in Trondheim for the World championships and in 1998 for the Olympics in Nagano. He is reported to have said that another skier, Jari Rasanen, had to be “drained of blood” before the World Championships in Trondheim because it was the only way to lower his sky-high haemoglobin and hematocrit levels because of abuse of EPO.

Kyro claims that all three team leaders knew of the extensive drug use and that he received a bag of EPO and growth hormone from Vahasoyrinki. Rasanen has stated that Kiro is just out for revenge and that the allegations are not true.

The trial is expected to last until June and several witnesses including Harri Kirvesniemi and doping researcher Tapio Videman are expected to testify.

While some of you may believe that they don’t care anymore about something that happened 10 years ago, this scandal in 1991 changed cross-country skiing and leveled the playing field for all North American skiers.

Prior to this case, while there had been a few isolated doping cases, there had never been such widespread publicity in cross-country skiing for doping. It showed the world that there was a doping problem in the sport and that something needed to be done to clean up the sport.

The impetus from this case carried over to 2002 and Salt Lake City where Johan Mulhegg (GER) and Russians Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova were also stripped of medals after positive doping tests. It carries over even today with the positive tests from Russian skiers and others in the past few years.

It also proved that skiers like Beckie Scott and Sara Renner and coaches like Marty Hall were not crying wolf when they protested against doping.

The fight against doping continues in cross-country skiing as well as all other sports. The more publicity that there is for doping cases like this the better, as far as I am concerned. The general public needs to know the truth about what is happening. And the young skiers need to know that if they train hard that there is a chance to be one of the best in the world.

I couldn’t say that in the 1980s and 1990s when I was coaching the National team because we knew that doping was rampant in the sport, but we had no proof. Now the proof is out there, and the IOC, FIS and WADA are serious about cleaning up the sport.

There is no better time to be a young skier than right now. Sure there is still doping in cross country skiing, but much less than in the past. More and more skiers are getting caught. That is not a bad thing for the sport, but a good thing. It is much better than before 2001 when the sport governing bodies hid their heads in the sand.

Read more in Langd.se HERE.
Read more in Langrenn.com HERE.

March 31, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – Here’s a mix of quotes from many of the skiers following Wednesday’s 10/15km mass start classic races as they shared their thoughts with SkiTrax on their performance and the upcoming classic sprints scheduled for Friday. Read what Jessie Diggins (CXC) told us when we asked her if she’s looking forward to the sprints….and not suprising Kris Freeman (US Ski Team/Waterville Valley) isn’t thrilled about them.

Men’s Quotes:

Tad Elliott (CXC)
“It was really good. That has to be my best classic race to date. Awesome skis. My skis were SO good! In the double-pole sections and downhills, if I had been dropped a little bit (on the previous climbs) I could just sit in and recover because my skis were really fast.”

Herring-boning the last time up Coaches’ Climb: “That was operator error (not bad skis). I was really tired. I was herringboning because I thought it would be better than (staying in the tracks) slipping and using my arms.”

Did he see Hoffman and McMurtry go down: “I was so pinned I didn’t see them (go down), . . . I saw McMurtry and Hoff on the ground. I felt bad because earlier I kicked McMurtry’s ski and he broke his pole, and it took him a while to get his pole, and then he got back in there and I was happy to see that. You don’t like to see somebody go out the back because of a problem like that when you cause it. Then I saw him on the ground with Hoff. He’s a good dude, he’s okay with it. He says that’s racing . . .”

Steady pace: “It felt fairly steady. It was hard for me on the climbs, but easy, well, not easy, but easier, on the flats because my skis were so good – I felt like I was surging. It was a fairly steady pace, which was nice. It was nice that it broke up and we had a solid Canadian and young US boy pack (Elliott and Hoffman). It was fun to ski with the Canadians.”

Overall? “I’m going to guess I’m fourth. I know Goldsack will be up there, but I gained some time on some guys today.”

Kris Freeman (US Ski Team/Waterville Valley)
“I wanted to get up front and build a good lead. When I was in front I was able to get the preems without having to sprint for them which was nice. But as has been a little bit of a trend for me I . . . didn’t have as good blood sugar control as I normally do, which I think is an effect of the altitude. I am planning to do a lot more altitude training this year to address that and figure out what’s happening exactly. My blood sugar was a little high and I think it made me explode a little bit over the last few kilometers.”

“It was kind of like the 50K – I got the gap without really trying on the top of Willy’s Climb. I came down the hill, and I looked back and saw I had five seconds and said, ‘I’m gonna go for it now.’ I felt really good until Willy’s Climb on the last lap. I felt like dog doo on Willy’s the last time up, and started skiing defensively at that point. I suspected that my sugar might be high at the finish. From testing over the summer whenever I get much over 250 my lactate goes up with it, and I was over that.”

“I need to fine tune it (my dosing strategy), and I’ll do that over the summer.”

Matt Gelso (SVSEF):
Were you the first SVSEF finisher? “Yes I think I was.”

“I was a little bummed because I fell about halfway through the second lap and lost the chase group (that I had been skiing with). I got back up and chased down six or seven seconds which cost me some energy and (contact with) that chase group.

“I fell right on that corner at the bottom of Willy’s – fell on my butt, and I lost a few seconds and it cost me.”

Happy with your race? “Overall, yes. I thought I was going to blow up after the first lap and a half, but I managed to hang in there, so I guess I must have some shape.”
“I think most of the people who beat me today were already ahead of me, so I hope I moved up in the standings.”

Friday’s goal: “I tend to have trouble qualifying sometimes. I’m not that fast out of the blocks – I’d probably be faster doing a sprint qualifier right now than on sprint morning. I’d like to be in the top 10 for sure.”

Drew Goldsack (Canada NST/AWCA)
“I was happy with the race. It was a hard, hard last lap. A lot of pushing the pace out there with different guys on the front. I was glad that I had a little bit left in the tank for the last two hills (Hammer and Coaches’ Climb). I was happy that it was enough. I was basically going as hard as I could.”

Did he look over his shoulder? “Not really. You can kind of hear whether someone is behind you, and I didn’t hear anyone, so partway up the last hill I was pretty sure I had second place.”

You were ahead of the crash? “Yes, that’s the other bonus of being in front. People have shaky legs and it’s hard to keep it upright in the last lap.”

Pacing? “It was fairly even. When Kris went off the front it slowed down a bit and people relaxed a little bit, and then I think it was Hoffman who went to the front and set the pace for a while, but generally it was steady and hard.”

Did anybody try to go with Freeman? “I tried, and maybe I was the only one to stick on him. I knew I was going to pay for it when I took the first preem from him. I didn’t even try to slow down. He came right by and we ended up with a little bit of a gap. He put in a few really hard kilometers and it was a bit too much for me.”

Kevin Sandau (Canada NST/AWCA)
“I’d like to say that I was following (Goldsack’s final surge), but Drew put on a pretty good surge there and I was just hanging on, trying to maintain with the group. There was a tumble up there (in front of me on top of Coaches’ Climb) which put me back behind Drew. I got a bit lucky there and was able to hang on to third.”

Graeme Killick (Canmore Alberta)
“I spent most of the race catching up. I got sort of a bad start. Every time the tracks would narrow I’d get squeezed back farther. I must have been in 40th or something like that. It wasn’t until the start of the second lap that I started to move up through the field. I was able to catch them (the chase pack) the last time through the stadium.

“At first I just sat in, but it was hard because then everyone started gunning up the hills. I was able to recover pretty fast and I felt good on the final climb here. For a while I was stride-for-stride with Drew, hoping for a medal, but it turned into chaos from that point on with a couple of crashes.

“I was totally happy to be able to catch up with the group and then be competitive with the group”

Simi Hamilton (US Ski Team/Sun Valley SEF)
On the 15km: “I think I’m still trying to figure that distance out. Especially with a mass start – I haven’t had a lot of experience with mass-start racing. I’m generally happy, but it could have gone better. I didn’t feel very good the first lap, but felt better the second and third laps. I tried to just stay relaxed and ski smooth. I picked up some time on the last two laps (note: he had the 9th-fastest last lap). We’ll see what happens Friday and Saturday”

Looking Forward to the Classic Sprint ?

Freeman – the Tour leader:
“I never look forward to sprints. They are long, painful days, but I think my chances are as good as anyone’s. Obviously Simi, Newell, Drew and Stefan (Kuhn) all have a little bit more of a claim as sprinters than me, but if I make the “A” final I’ll be happy on the day.”

Referencing his excellent Tour de Ski sprint performances: “If you look at my FIS points they were way better than any I had ever put up before, and I was racing against Emil Jonsson (so it wasn’t due to a weak field). My sprinting is getting better. Those were the first times that I have qualified, so I’m getting some confidence in it. . . . The qualification is always the problem.”

Goldsack:
“I’m Definitely looking forward to the sprint. I think it’s a good course for me – it plays to my strengths. There’s a nice fast finish which I definitely like to see. And it’s a hard climbing course.”

Killick:
“I’m hoping to hold my position – not lose too much. I have the odd really good sprint so we’ll see. Classic is usually better for me. We’ll see how it goes.”

Looking forward to the hill climb he opined “I don’t know whether I am (looking forward to it) or not. It’ll be my first hill climb. I’ve never done a hill climb – or a prologue. That (the prologue) was a shock yesterday, so I’m thinking the hill climb might be more of a shock.”

Hamilton:
“Last year at this time I had a good classic sprint. I hope it’s good, fast conditions. I like the sprint loop a lot. . . . I’ve done a fair amount (of sprinting at altitude). A lot as a junior, and a couple of the World Cup sprints aren’t super high, but somewhat close to this (elevation) – maybe 4000′ or 5000′. It will be a strong field with Andy (Newell) and Mikey (Sinnott).”

Women’s Quotes
(Unfortunately Kikkan Randall’s (US Ski Team/APUNSC) quotes were lost in cyberspace.)

Maria Graefnings (University of Utah)
On not being able to hold onto Randall on the 2nd lap: “I think it’s a combination of both (three races in four days, and Randall’s pace). I was really tired, and Kikkan was really strong, but I wanted to try (to stay with her). I blew up a little bit, but I’m satisfied anyway.”

Did she try to stay with Holly and Jessie when they caught her? “Yeah, I tried, but I couldn’t (stay with them). I was tired. It was a good race anyway.”

“I’m more of a distance skier. I will try to sprint, but I haven’t sprinted a lot lately because I’m in college and we never sprint. I’m going to give my best. It’s going to be fun.”

Morgan Arritola (US Ski Team/Sun Valley SEF)
“It didn’t feel great. I’m tired for sure. I just kind of kept skiing my pace. I had a terrible start and kind of worked up from there. Another hill or two and I might have moved up another place.

“I got behind a crash and just had a terrible start. But that’s the way it goes.”

“My body’s pretty toasted (from a long season in Europe), but that’s okay. A couple more races and then you get to relax.”

Mind still strong for racing? “Working on it. Lifting mental dumbells as we speak.”

Hillclimb: “It should be a hard course. I haven’t seen it yet, but it should be hard”
“You never know (if you’ll do well), but I hope so.”

Holly Brooks (APU)
Third today: “Yeah by half a ski-length”

“Yeah we had super skis, and that’s kind of my favorite pitch (Hammer and Coaches’ Climb) where it’s kind of medium pitch striding. I thought that was a good place to make a move, and it turns out that that was just a little too early. I died after that. My legs were pretty tired coming down the big hill into the hairpin turn at the bottom. Then the sun came out for the last hill, and I think that’s where Diggins got me. I was close at the finish, but I wasn’t able to pull in front of her at the end. She got me.”

“It was a great race out there, a good pack, the course skied really well.”

“People kept changing tracks trying to get a good line. For a while we tried changing leads, and no one wanted to take the lead. We were all kind of like ‘Okay, Kikkan, you take it.”

“As nice as it would be to get a preem, I think we all know the consequence of putting in an all-out sprint at altitude – it would be really costly. And if we were to try to make a surge we’re going against maybe the best sprinter in the world (Randall), so the chances of getting a preem today were slim to none.”

Becca Rorabaugh (APU)
Moved from 11th to 9th in the last km: “I think I caught them on the gradual uphill at the top of Coaches’ Climb. I found a little extra juice I guess.”

Your best race here? “I think so. It’s my best place. I think I was tired, I died off a little bit in the middle (of the race) and had a little something at the end so that I could get back into the top 10, which is pretty good.

Jessie Diggins (CXC)
Where did that big move in the last half a km come from? “I don’t know! Everyone was cheering really loud, and it’s hard to give up when everyone is screaming at you, so you just have to give it everything you have. The skis were fantastic, and I wasn’t slipping so it came together.”

When Holly was really pulling away: “I didn’t think I was going to catch back up. I was like ‘all right, three seems to be my number this week, so this is sweet.’ I was just trying to hang on and ski smooth and give it everything I have.”

Looking Forward to the Classic Sprint ?

Diggins
When Diggins was asked whether she was looking forward more to the rest day or the sprint, she thought for a moment then declared: “Saturday’s hill climb.

Rorabaugh:
Looking forward more to the rest day or the sprint on Friday? “That is an interesting question. I don’t know. For me a classic sprint with all that double-poling could be a bit difficult.”

Graefnings:
“I’m more of a distance skier (than a sprinter). I will try to sprint, but I haven’t sprinted a lot lately because I’m in college and we never sprint. I’m going to give my best. It’s going to be fun.”

Brooks:
“Looking forward to it very much . . . and to the rest day.

March 30, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – It was “back to the weekend” at the  Lake Creek Trails in Sun Valley on Wednesday, as Kris Freeman (US Ski Team/Waterville Valley and Kikkan Randall (US Ski Team/APUNSC) both set a solid, steady tempo that no one else could sustain in their respective races, and cruised to comfortable victories.

Randall garnered $900 on the day, taking $500 for the win, and winning all four sprint preems – two at the top of the Hammer Climb, and two in the stadium at the end of laps one and two.  She also consolidated her position on top of the mini tour standings, with 15 bonus seconds added to her victory margin, and to her existing 20+ second lead.  It’s going to take a huge effort from someone to make the chase for the top spot in the tour standings.

Freeman, second yesterday in the Prologue, moved into first in the Tour rankings, with a definitive victory, despite having some blood sugar problems in the final 3km, which he attributed to the altitude.  The Waterville Valley skier  picked up $800, missing out only on the first stadium preem.  Approaching the sprint line, he and Canadian Drew Goldsack (Canada NST/AWCA) picked up the pace while skiing adjacent to one another, but when Goldsack upped the ante about 20m-30m before the sprint line, Kris backed off and let the Canadian take home the US C-note.

Jessie Diggins (CXC) was second, coming back on APU’s Holly Brooks after Brooks had blown up the chase group with about 1.5km to go while ascending Hammer. Diggins overtook Brooks after the Horseshoe, on the return ascent of Coaches Climb, and barely held off the APU skier in a 75m double-pole shoot-out.

The men’s chase pack was two-thirds Canadian, with Goldsack, Brent McMurtry (Canadian NST), Kevin Sandau (Canada NST/AWCA) – 2nd in the 50km on Saturday – and Graeme Killick (Canmore Alberta) comprising the group, along with Americans Noah Hoffman (US Ski Team/Aspen Valley SC) and Tad Elliott (CXC) of the US. Goldsack put in a big move on Hammer during the final lap skiing away from his erstwhile companions, then held his gap up and over Coaches’ Climb to cement the runner-up position.

Sandau, McMurtry, Killick and Hoffman had started to ski away from a herring-boning Tad Elliot on Coaches’ Climb with less than 1km to go, but Hoffman and McMurtry went down in a tangled heap after cresting the summit.  During the several seconds that they spent disentangling, Sandau and Killick skied away from them, and Elliott took advantage of the opportunity to close the five-second gap, and then some, and move into fifth place.  At the finish Elliott was about 10 seconds ahead of McMurtry and Hoffman, who sprinted for sixth and seventh.

Meanwhile, Simi Hamilton (US Ski Team/Sun Valley SEF), wearing bib number one signifying his tour leadership, was back in 13th place, 1:09 behind Freeman.

Freeman said that, as in Saturday’s race, he just found a solid pace and kept it there.  On Willy’s Climb on the North End on the second lap, he said he found himself with a gap and just kept going, but didn’t make a special effort to surge and expand the gap.  From that point onward he was never threatened.

Goldsack was very pleased with his effort, and was especially happy to be able to ski in a pack with three of his fellow Canadians.  He said that when Freeman went he tried to go with him for a short while, but soon thought better of it and backed off.

Fourth-place Killick, originally from Fort McMurray, Alberta, got caught out in the early going.  He said that when the tracks reduced after the start, and then again shortly thereafter, the pack was squeezed backward from the leaders.  He found himself back in 20th place or worse, and had to chase for more than a lap-and-a-half to make the five-man chase group a six-man group.  He rejoined right at the foot of Gnar, and the pack surged a little at that moment, but he was able to hold on.  Killick was also a beneficiary of Hoffman and McMurtry’s misfortune.

Elliott, whose best results have always been in skating, said it was his best classic race ever. He hung with the main chase group until things strung out up Hammer, then was able to close things up a little. Going up Coaches Climb he was herring-boning (which he attributed to “operator error,” not bad wax) and losing time.

Because he was redlining it he didn’t see Hoffman and McMurtry go down in front of him, but when he saw a writhing pile of lycra beside the trail (Hoffman and McMurtry) he made the most of his chances.

Hamilton was reasonably satisfied with his 15km race, which he avers is a difficult distance for him.  He believes that with a top performance in the sprint he can reap some substantial time bonuses and move back among the leaders entering the hillclimb on Saturday.

The women’s chase group was very similar in composition to the 30km chase group, with Maria Graefnings (University of Utah),  Brooks and Diggins forming the core of the group. Sadie Bjornsen (APUNSC) was there early, but dropped back and faded to seventh, behind APU teammate Kate Fitzgerald.

Morgan Arritola (US Ski Team/Sun Valley SEF) had what she described as a “terrible” start, but patiently and steadily worked her way back up through the strung-out line of racers, and eventually joined the chase group.  She wasn’t super-happy with the race, but was glad to see what she felt was a little improvement from the prior races here.

Randall said she just kept a steady pace and didn’t need to surge to get her gap.  Once she had the gap, it was never seriously threatened, although Holly Brooks appeared to be reducing the margin very slightly when she launched an attack on the last trip up Hammer.

Brooks said in retrospect that she went too early, then got tired before the finish which allowed Diggins to close a substantial gap, and shortly thereafter overtake Brooks.  Diggins said that when Brooks went away on the big climb that she was thinking “I seem to be number three in these races, so third place isn’t that bad.”  However, her skis were running well, and she again exhibited a tremendous will to compete, which brought her back to Brooks’ tails, and then to second place by half a ski length.

Graefnings tried to go with Randall on the second trip up Hammer, but couldn’t hold the pace, and suffered for the effort later, dropping from second place at that point to fourth, which was where she finished.  She said that the surge definitely hurt her, but she was glad that she made the effort, and learned by testing herself in that manner.

There is a rest day on Thursday, during which skiers will be able to recon the Dollar Mountain hill climb course, as well as take a look at the sprint course at Lake Creek.  Friday’s sprint begins at 9:00AM with the qualifying round.

When Diggins was asked whether she was looking forward more to the rest day or the sprint, she thought for a moment then declared:  “Saturday’s hill climb.”

Women’s 10km Classic results HERE.
Men’s 15km Classic results HERE.
Mini Tour Standings after 10/15km Classic HERE.

March 30, 2011 – Check out this video by Plum TV featuring shots of last weekend’s US XC Ski National Championships 30/50km Classic races in Sun Valley, Idaho, along with an in-depth description of the event and explanation of the USSA SuperTour by Travis Jones, Cross Country Olympic Development Coach for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation.

Click HERE to view the video.

March 29, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – Catch some of the race action at the recent 2011 Canadian XC Ski National Championships held in Canmore, AB courtesy of SkiGo Canada featuring video clips from the site plus racing on Thursday and the last Saturday including the Junior men’s 30km and Senior men’s 50km finishes.

March 29, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – Alaska’s Kikkan Randall (US Ski Team/APUNSC) took the lead in the first stage of the Spring Series SuperTour winning the 2.8km free-technique Prologue. Randall had a substantial margin of more than five seconds per km (16.4 seconds) over teammate, second-placed Holly Brooks. Jesse Diggins (CXC) continues to turn head taking third, at 19.3 seconds. With bonuses of 15, 10 and 5 seconds for the top three places, Randall will start the second stage with 31.4 seconds in hand.

Simi Hamilton (US Ski Team/Sun Valley SEF) had nearly as dominant a performance as Randall, topping Kris Freeman (US Ski Team/Waterville Valley) by 9.3 seconds over 3.3km, giving him a lead in the final mini-tour standings of 14.3 seconds. CXC’s Tad Elliott was third at +10.6 in front of a tightly packed group that included Canucks Drew Goldsack (Canadian NST/AWCA) at +11.3 and Brent McMurtry (Canadian NST) at +16.9, with Noah Hoffman (US Ski Team/Aspen Valley SC) in sixth (+17.8). Behind Hoffman the next eight skiers were within 5.1 seconds. The US’s top sprinter, Andy Newell (US Ski Team/Stratton Mt School) was seventh.

The South Bench climb was removed from the course for the Prologue and replaced with the Hammer – a solid A-climb with a fast twisting descent into a 180-degree turn at the bottom before heading up Coaches’ Climb, the last major ascent on the course.

Hamilton, who represents the Sun Valley SEF ODT, had never before raced on these trails: “I’ve skied at Galena a fair amount, but yesterday was my first day out here (at Lake Creek). It was awesome. It lived up to my expectations.”

He was quite pleased with the result. Although he has gained most of his palmares as a sprinter, he said he’s been working on his endurance to improve in distance events. And this was more of an endurance event than a sprint.

“I think my fitness has come a long way this year on the distance side of things, but I still have that top-end speed as a sprinter, which helped a lot today. I skied this race almost like a distance race. I built into it, and tried to ski big, with a lot of power.”

Talking to SkiTrax about next season Hamilton confided that he isn’t sure if he’ll be doing the Tour de Ski next winter. He said he’ll evaluate after the fall, but if he’s ready… “When it comes around next year I’d love to jump into it.” He still thinks Wednesday’s 15Km will be a big test, describing the distance as “hit or miss” for him.

Is he looking forward to the final stage hill climb on Dollar Mountain? “I’m psyched, really psyched . . . for the ski down!” More seriously, he said he enjoyed the hill climb at last year’s Spring Series, and thinks there will be a large crowd lining the hill to cheer on the skiers.

Freeman was in about fifth place two-thirds of the way up the Hammer, but said that he gained back four to five seconds on the rest of the field just on that climb, and also gained over the last uphill and the final kilometer – which he was able to do because of his pacing plan.

According to Freeman, he’s still learning how to ski prologue races. This was his third prologue event – after the Tour de Ski and the World Cup finals – and his approach is evolving.

“The first one I did I just went as hard as I could at the start, which lasted about halfway into the race, after that it was just a pain-fest. Today I was focusing on doing the last uphill (Coaches Climb, a smaller uphill than Hammer) really well, and I think that’s where I put some time in on a lot of the other skiers. That paid off well. You gotta pace it. It’s like running 3,000 meters – you can’t go out like it’s a 400.”

Freeman felt like his effort equated to a World Cup top 30 result, and he rated Hamilton’s performance as a top-15. He was effusive in his praise for Hamilton and his performance. According to Kris, this was clearly his (Freeman’s) best effort in a prologue, especially on the heels of a 50km (72 hours earlier).

Tad Elliott, competing in his first prologue, was at the other end of the spectrum. When asked whether he paced or went for it right out of the gate, he said he went flat out from the gun. “I knew I was having a good one in the beginning, because I felt like I was gliding really well. I was gaining on Drew [Goldsack] and got a split that I was even with Simi at the top of the hill. But I lost time from there to the finish.”

“I put the hammer down right from the get-go. I knew it was (only) eight minutes, and I knew it was a hard course, but I thought I wouldn’t blow up in eight minutes, but I did blow up. I really liked the big climb . . . but liked it less at the top than at the bottom.”

The one-second margin between him and Freeman was a “close but oh so far” amount. Elliott said he’s never beaten Freeman in a distance race, and that’s a big goal for him.

In the women’s competition Randall was strong throughout the course, and had a big margin at the finish. “The course skied really nice – better than I thought it would. It was a good mix of a lot of gradual, some good uphills and fast downhills,” Randall told SkiTrax in a post-race interview.

When asked if she would be going for the premes in Wednesday’s mass-start she was non-committal, saying only that, “It will be fun to mix it up.”

Brooks, a self-described “generalist” was reasonably satisfied with her effort in the short (eight-minute) effort. “Nobody likes to be 16 seconds behind, but if it’s 16 seconds to someone like Kikkan, I guess that’s how it has to be.”

She said she skied steady but “just couldn’t find the top end,” but determined that that feeling was a result of coming to altitude.

“You know, it’s funny, you’re out there, and I was like ‘Oh I just can’t find that top end,’ but I think that’s just how altitude feels. You don’t feel your best, you just kind of struggle, and it feels okay, but you have to remember that relative to the rest of the field, you’re probably feeling okay, and it can still be really good.”

Jesse Diggins (CXC) almost caught Nicole DeYong (Sun Valley SEF), who started 30 seconds in front of her. Diggins said her skis were fast – a two-edged sword, keeping her right on the edge on the descent of Hammer but overall it was “It was a good day.”

She added that she is very much looking forward to the Dollar Mountain hill climb stage on Saturday. She is the only skier thus queried so far who sounds jazzed for it.

The starting positions in the start grid for Wednesday’s mass start 15km for men (3x5km) and 10Km for women (3×3.3km) will be assigned based upon today’s results.

Brooks commented, “Tomorrow will be interesting with a three-lap race (3×3.3km). I’m a little curious to see how that downhill skis in a mass-start. It could be really exciting. I hope there will be a big group of coaches with some extra poles there (on the corner at the bottom of the descent from Hammer), and maybe an extra ski or two.”

Hamilton is looking forward to the mini-tour format as a test. “…I hope so (that I can stay up near the front in the mini-tour). The 15km is kind of a hit-or-miss distance. If it [the snow] sets up really nice tonight and it’s fast, those conditions tend to treat me a little better. We’ll see. I’m going to go out and have fun and ski a smart race.  If things go well, I’ll still be up there [near the top of the standings].”

Live timing results for Women HERE.
Live timing results for Men HERE.

March 29, 2011 (Quebec City, QC) – Listen to this heartwarming CBC interview with Alex Harvey, one of Canada’s top XC skiers on the history-making men’s National Ski Team. Harvey and Devon Kershaw are blazing the way for men’s XC skiing in Canada with two top-10’s in the overall 2011 FIS World Cup standings.

Listen HERE.