The top name on the men’s side was no surprise: Gus Schumacher. The 19-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska captured his first career Senior National Championship today in the 1.5-kilometer skate sprint in Houghton, Michigan.
Schumacher (USST/AWS) qualified in second at 3:10.85, behind JC Schoonmaker (UAA) in first (3:08.88). Schumacher won the second quarterfinal, and the second semi in a smoking time of 3:04.16.
Post-race interview with Gus Schumacher
The men’s final shook out with Schumacher in first (3:02.95), Ben Saxton (SMST2) in second (3:03.88), and Bill Harmeyer (UVM) third (3:04.84).
Norway’s Kjetil Baanerud (NMU) placed fourth (3:05.33), Canada’s Julien Locke (CNST) placed fifth (3:05.77), and Thomas O’Harra (APU) sixth (3:07.32).
Post-race interview with Ben Saxton
Post-race interview with Hailey Swirbul
For the women, the day’s fastest qualifier, Hailey Swirbul (USST), also won the skate sprint final in 3:36.47. Alayna Sonnesyn (SMST2) was second (3:36.81), and Caitlin Patterson (USST/CGRP) third (3:37.32).
This was Swirbul’s first career Senior National win and podium. She placed fourth last year in Craftsbury at Senior Nationals in the 20 k mass start skate and sixth in the skate sprint.
Canada’s Cendrine Browne skied to fourth (3:38.32), Erika Flowers (BSF) fifth (3:38.36), and Laura Leclair of Canada sixth (3:39.84).
Racing continues tomorrow with a 10 k/ 15 k interval start skate race.
We will be updating this article throughout the day.
Jason Albert
Jason lives in Bend, Ore., and can often be seen chasing his two boys around town. He’s a self-proclaimed audio geek. That all started back in the early 1990s when he convinced a naive public radio editor he should report a story from Alaska’s, Ruth Gorge. Now, Jason’s common companion is his field-recording gear.
