Hanneman Proclaimed Winner After Newell’s Late-Lane Change in SuperTour Finals Sprint

As for the official decision, technical delegate Bill Rogers said Newell was issued a competition suspension for obstruction, something that wouldn’t affect other races this week.

“Basically we had the jury made a decision based on evidence, Andy Newell protested that and so we did have a closed jury meeting, which involves interviewing both the athletes and then separately meeting to go over the evidence,” Rogers said.

The process itself involved calling the athletes and their coaches to the table, which convened outside then moved into a private meeting inside the timing trailer, to review video and photos. Hanneman argued that Newell skied over his skis: “They have pictures of video of him just mobbing all over my gear,” he said.

Newell couldn’t say whether there was contact or not, but said he made a point to get far enough ahead of Hanneman to make his lane change.

“I also changed two tracks over instead of one so I wouldn’t block him,” Newell said. “I guess according to the video he stands up a little bit, but I am barely even going near the tips of his skis, if they did at all.”

The process itself, according to Newell, involves the jury asking each skier involved “was is it intentional or not, is the first question … and it was obviously not intentional,” he said. “And then, was there an advantage or not? And that’s kind of the shady area. It’s not like Reese lost much time, he did maybe stand up for a second and so if you call that an advantage or not, I don’t know because it didn’t really affect the outcome of the race.”

Hanneman said the jury asked about contact first, to which he said, “Absolutely. Was it intentional? That’s more up to [Newell], I have no clue. But to say you accidentally switched tracks? That doesn’t happen. … I felt like once he made that move that kind of decided the race. It seems like they made the right decision even though I wish they didn’t have to make that decision at all.”

Newell knew that because his previous infraction at World Cup Finals last weekend was a technical warning, equivalent to a yellow card on the World Cup (for skating while changing lanes in a classic sprint), it wouldn’t affect anything at SuperTour Finals. Plus, the season was over after these races in Anchorage.

The penalty cost Newell $650 dollars in prize money, plus the $100 he and his coaches had to put forward to protest. At the end of the day, he made $100 for sixth place, which the protest fee negated.

On the flip side, Hanneman took home an extra $250 dollars for the win ($750 for first as opposed to $500 for second). It was the SuperTour leader’s second victory in national-caliber classic sprints this season after he won his first national title at U.S. Cross Country Championships in the classic sprint in January.

But he also knew what the other side of a jury decision felt like. In December, Hanneman was disqualified for skating in a Besh Cup classic sprint — which he initially won.

“I know that it’s not fun but when you do something that’s questionable, like when I skated in Besh Cup, I was like, well, I shouldn’t have done that and know I know,” he said. “You need that to reinforce … Andy needs to know that he can’t make a move like that because it’s not fair racing. You have to some checks like that to keep people in line.”

According to Rogers, “Unfortunately, obstruction in sprints is common. I think it’s very normal.” He declined to explain how the jury made their final decision and the evidence they considered in the process.

At the end of the day, Hanneman was a champion and the 20-year-old Saxton had one of the best races of his career in second — up there with his runner-up finish in the skate sprint at 2014 nationals. He finished 4.74 seconds behind Hanneman (who ultimately won in 3:25.56) and held off Kornfield by 1.49 seconds.

For Kornfield, the 2012 national classic-sprint champion, third stood as his best race of the season. He finished 4 seconds ahead of O’Brien, who ended up fourth, and 13 seconds ahead of Blackhorse-von Jess in fifth.

Saxton said Hanneman and Newell took off toward the bottom of the hill, over the first roller on the way up to the finish. He was caught in the far left lane in fourth and unable to go with them. Despite the fact that he thought he could’ve stuck with them to the finish, Saxton said he was happy with his result — even if it was third at first.

“I haven’t felt this good all year. This was an incredible feeling,” Saxton said.

“Andy and Reese threw down World Cup qualifiers today so that’s pretty awesome,” he added, referring to Newell’s top time of 3:19.52. Hanneman was 2.6 seconds back in second and Blackhorse-von Jess advanced to the heats 4.09 seconds behind Newell in third. Saxton qualified fourth (+7.4).

Saxton went on to win his quarterfinal (as did Newell), as well as the first semifinal by 0.24 seconds over Newell.

“It’s pretty cool for me to get to race against Andy [and] experience that for the first time,” Saxton said. “[Watching him in the quarterfinals] it was incredible dichotomy between him and the other skiers. He’s so relaxed. It’s not that there technique is bad, but it’s just this innate tightness. There’s a laboredness in their movements.”

So to beat him in the semifinal was fun.

“In my semi, we went side by side up the hill, so it was cool to feel that pace and feel the turn of pace,” Saxton said. “It was exciting.”

Hanneman bested O’Brien in the second semifinal by 0.83 seconds. O’Brien and Simi Hamilton (SMST2/USST) also won their quarterfinals, but Hamilton placed fourth in the second semifinal, 2.6 seconds behind Blackhorse-von Jess in third, and did not make the final.

“Reese is skiing incredible,” said Saxton, Hanneman’s roommate in Europe last year, shortly after the finish. “I could not be happier for that guy.”

— Nat Herz contributed reporting

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