A brave new world awaits World Cup skiers for Period I on the cross-country World Cup. The scheduling is the easy part, three race weekends reduced from four for Period I. The racing in Lillehammer, Norway, has been postponed due to Covid-19 precautions.
In an email to FasterSkier, Cross-Country Program Director Chris Grover wrote the following when asked about the team’s protocols if an athlete tests positive for Covid-19.
If someone in our group tests positive the first step is notifying all responsible parties (the OC and the regional health authorities, U.S. Ski & Snowboard medical staff, the FIS Cross Country staff), then beginning the process of isolation/quarantine and contact tracing. We have a number of protocols that are in place to keep the entire team from possible exposure, including but not limited to keeping our distance from other teams and general public, establishing pods of athletes and staff for the purposes of training, eating, transport, waxing, etc. The basic pod is the person’s roommate. A secondary bigger pod might be the World Cup Service Team, or a men’s and women’s training group, which can allow us to identify different transport and training times for different groups. One challenge of course is that we have a husband and wife and a boyfriend and girlfriend during Period 1, which means that crossover between pods and groups will happen. But the idea is that if we have someone contract Covid, the entire team is not exposed. We’re very lucky to have a lot of concrete protocols designed by our U.S. Ski & Snowboard medical and sports science team. We also recognize that no program will be foolproof, and each individual must make very good decisions since all of our actions not only impact ourselves, but the entire team. – Chris Grover
Canada will not be sending athletes to Period I.
“After weighing the risks associated with international travel as numbers of COVID-19 continue to increase globally, Nordiq Canada has decided not to send a team of cross-country ski athletes to the season-opening World Cup races prior to the holiday break,” Nordiq Canada wrote in a press release.
Period I on the Cross-Country World Cup and U.S. athletes slated to begin each race are noted below. Athletes who declined start rights are not listed and athletes unconfirmed as alternates are not included.
Stop # 1: Ruka, Finland
- Classic sprint
- 10k/15k Classic
- 10k/15k Freestyle Pursuit
U.S. Women Starting: Rosie Brennan, Katharine Ogden, Hailey Swirbul, Caitlin Patterson, Sophie Caldwell, Jessie Diggins, and Julia Kern.
U.S. Men Starting: Gus Schumacher, Simi Hamilton, Logan Hanneman, Kevin Bolger, JC Schoonmaker, Scott Paterson (alternate), Adam Martin (alternate).
Stop #2 Lillehammer, Norway Postponed
Stop #3 Davos, Switzerland
- Freestyle Sprint
- 10k/15k Freestyle
U.S. Women Starting Sprint: Sophie Caldwell, Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Rosie Brennan, Hailey Swirbul, Hannah Halvorsen (alternate), Katharine Ogden (alternate).
U.S. Women Starting 10 k Freestyle: Jessie Diggins, Rosie Brennan, Julia Kern, Hailey Swirbul, Katharine Ogden, Rosie Frankowski (alternate), Sophie Caldwell (alternate).
U.S. Men Starting Sprint: Gus Schumacher, Simi Hamilton, Logan Hanneman, Kevin Bolger, JC Schoonmaker, Tyler Kornfield.
U.S. Men Starting 15 k Freestyle: Gus Schumacher, Scott Patterson, Adam Martin, Simi Hamilton, Ian Torchia (alternate)
Stop #4 Dresden, Germany
- Freestyle Sprint
- Freestyle Team Sprint
U.S. Women Starting Sprint: Sophie Caldwell, Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Hannah Halvorsen (alternate).
U.S. Men Starting Sprint: Gus Schumacher, Simi Hamilton, Logan Hanneman, Kevin Bolger, JC Schoonmaker, Tyler Kornfield.
