Andrew Gardner: You've just popped a huge result. What do your successes in Canmore do to your confidence / training / etc?
Garrott Kuzzy: The week in Canmore had both positive and negative aspects. The skate sprint was a highlight, but the Pursuit race shows there’s still a lot to work on. I think the 15km skate is the best reflection of my fitness right now, as the time gaps in that race were similar to where I’ve been finishing this season on the domestic scene (1min + off Babikov, 20 sec + off Freeman). That gives me confidence going over to Europe that I’m capable of holding my own. My classic skiing needs work at the moment, so I’ll be spending some time on that before the next races.
AG: Just how fast are those World Cup guys skiing? How would you describe it to developing skiers?
GK: These guys are fast, but I’m certain that World Cups can be won clean. The top World Cup skiers are skiing fast due to hard work, proper rest and recovery, and solid support. Each skier has a specialty and knows how to take advantage of it: Boerre Naess, for example, has a strong double-pole and used that to win the classic sprint by double poling on skate skis (which, I’m guessing, will become very common for classic sprints). There are also sprint and distance specialists on the World Cup, but there’s so much to be learned from each discipline. . .I wouldn’t recommend specializing while you’re still developing. Two years ago, a good sprint day for me was qualifying for the heats in a SuperTour sprint. In mass starts, you need the endurance to hang with the pack until you throw down in the final sprint.
AG: Any wild new stuff from the high end of the ski community that you'd like to share?
