Though temperatures hadn’t dropped much at Soldier Hollow on Thursday, things felt different. The pure blue skies that had been a reliable fact of life at this year’s US Cross Country Ski National Championships (US Nationals) were clouded over as skiers took to the course for Skate Sprint qualifying. Temperatures hovered just below freezing creating fast, abrasive, consistent snow. The result was consistent wax conditions between morning qualifying and afternoon heats.
Men’s Skate Sprint
Two years ago, when US Nationals was last held at Soldier Hollow, University of Colorado Sophomore, Will Koch, qualified first in that year’s Classic Sprint. Things on Thursday were the same: again Koch qualified in the top position. Two years ago, Koch had skied out in the quarterfinals. On Thursday, things felt different . . .
Skiing from the first quarterfinal heat, Koch held the pack together from the front, glancing side-to-side as he marked any surges from his competitors. Time and time again—through quarterfinals, semifinals, and Finals Koch had a response. Though things would wax and wane in a Men’s final that featured 2021 Classic Sprint runner-up Logan Diekmann (BSF Pro Team), last year’s Sprint Champion Kristoffer Alm Karsrud (Northern Michigan University), John Steel Hagenbuch (Dartmouth Ski Team), Michel Earnhart (Alaska Pacific University), and Florian Knopf (University of Denver), Koch would hold off all-comers, putting in a final burst to put bib #1 into position #1. Just behind Koch was Logan Diekmann, edging out John Steel Hagenbuch to complete the Men’s Overall podium.
The Men’s field had winnowed down over the course of heats that tended to be raced faster and faster throughout the day. The Soldier Hollow course, with its downhill finish and steep climbs, should theoretically be a very tactical one, but its length—and its location 6,000ft above sea level—seemed to lead to a more outright version of sprint racing, where maneuvering gave way to pure stamina on the day. Koch’s first quarterfinal had been a relatively lax affair early on, but subsequent heats would start the heated action earlier and earlier within the course. The third quarterfinal featuring Tom Mancini (University of Utah), Graham Houtsma (BSF Pro Team), Florian Knopf (DU), and Kristoffer Alm Karsrud (NMU) would push from wire to wire to pull two lucky losers into the semifinals. Mancini and Houtsma advanced 1-2 in the heat, while Knopf and Karsrud would contest a chaotic final sprint that saw them both claim semifinal spots. Both semifinals also featured more aggressive tactics, with the second semifinal seeing the top junior performance of the day, as Trey Jones (CU) sprinted to fourth place in the heat. Jones was joined on the junior podium by quarterfinalists Fin Bailey (Stratton Mountain School) and Murphy Kimball (Alaska Winter Stars).
Women’s Skate Sprint
Tactical nuances were evident in the Women’s Skate Sprint field throughout the day, but they tended to be more subtle than definitive, fast-surging, field-breaking pushes. The Sprint Final, which featured top qualifier Haley Brewster (University of Vermont), Karianne Olsvik Denegrud (UU), Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS), Alex Lawson (Craftsbury Ski Club), Tuesday’s classic champion Tilde Baangman (Montana State), and Mariel Merlii Pulles (University of Alaska-Fairbanks) did show that those nuanced tactics had an effect. Sonnesyn led from the front of the field, with UU’s Dengerud marking her through the first set of hills. The pair had, at points, appeared to open a gap, but the rest of the field surged as the race went into the final climb to make for a closely contested race in the finishing straightaway. Emerging from that pack was University of Vermont’s Haley Brewster, who would work the long downhill into the finishing stretch to put herself within a group that featured Dengerud and Sonnesyn, and then use the final stretch to challenge their place at the front. That led to an exciting final sprint between four skiers in which Dengerud narrowly came out on top. Sonnesyn would follow in second, and Brewster would round out the Overall podium in third place. Behind them, Alex Lawson had created space to take fourth place on the day, and to step onto the American podium in third place behind Brewster and Sonnesyn.
Sonnesyn’s second place Overall delivered her first American National Championship (she had finished runner-up in the 2020 Skate Sprint at US Nationals in Houghton, Michigan). It also marked the first time that UU’s Dengerud, a native Norwegian, stepped onto the top spot of the podium at US Nationals.
Earlier in in the day, Dartmouth Ski Team’s Ava Thurston was the only junior to advance to the semifinal before finishing 12th on the day. Thurston was joined on the junior podium by quarter finalists Nina Schamberger (UU) 19th on the day and in second, and Sofia Scirica (Middlebury College) 29th on the day and in third.
Snow Likely for Friday’s 20 k Mass Start Skate
A front developing over the Wasatch is headed towards Soldier Hollow ahead of the 20 k mass start skate race that will mark the finale of US Nationals on Friday. That left for an anticipatory mood around wax cabins, the Heber Valley, and the US ski community. When Soldier Hollow first hosted a National Championship in 2006, 36 skiers completed that year’s mass start skate race, then a 30 k. On Friday, the field is likely to be four times that size. With an American ski community that has been largely starved of snow, the scene is set for a race that will be a reminder of the joys and the revelry that this winter sport of skiing can bring.
Full Skate Sprint RESULTS
Tobias Albrigsten contributed photos to this coverage of US Nationals. A full gallery from Thursdays Skate Sprint is available on his website here, and you can follow him on Instagram @UntraceableG.
Ben Theyerl
Ben Theyerl was born into a family now three-generations into nordic ski racing in the US. He grew up skiing for Chippewa Valley Nordic in his native Eau Claire, Wisconsin, before spending four years racing for Colby College in Maine. He currently mixes writing and skiing while based out of Crested Butte, CO, where he coaches the best group of high schoolers one could hope to find.
