From Ahvo’s Vantage-point: Last Update from Kuusamo with Videos

Greetings from Central Finland (where the temp was a balmy -25C upon waking up this morning)! The sun has set on the Nordic Opening and everyone has packed their bags and headed either to the next races or homeward.

As a final wrap-up, the weekend was packed with lots of action. The Nordic Opening is one of the only places where you can see Nordic skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined all in one weekend in the same area (the stadium and jumping hill are right next to each other and schedules (barring unforeseen delays because of temperature or wind) are such that one can take in pretty much every event). The Nordic Opening is also a great place to connect with representatives from our favorite skiing-related companies, to see old friends and to make new friends/connections. It’s too bad that the action only lasts 3 days. I guess we just have to go back next year!

The US Ski team had an excellent weekend (I am sure many of you have already read the official reports). It was great to see so many solid performances in spite of the cold temperatures and a little bad luck (Freeman’s broken pole in the skate race yesterday).

Ahvo got in a few more interviews on Saturday (our internet connection got goofy so I didn’t post them earlier – maybe the air was too cold for mobile services…?).:

Leena Peltonen and Silvano Barco from REX

The stadium during the sunday skate race.

During the races, Ahvo caught the action on the steepest hill on the course (which the skiers climbed multiple times during the race) while I hung out in the stadium doing my attaché thing start lists in hand (while having a technique discussion with another attaché). Make sure your sound is on so you can hear how cold and dry the snow is… ahhh winter!.

Marit Bjorgen

Kikkan Randall

Nordic Opening, Men’s 15 km skate, Uphill

Men’s 15 km skate, Early in the race (with a glimpse of Kris Freeman)

Men’s 15 km skate, lead group

Stadium videos and pictures were at a minimum this year (frozen fingers and batteries, camera swapping, fences that were 15cm higher than last year, being too caught up in the action to watch it from behind a lens….). Nevertheless, here are a couple of the stills that I got from my position in the stadium: