James Southam won the individual sprint SuperTour race in Bozeman today, finishing ahead of Eric Strabel, Kevin Hochtl, and Colin Mahood in the final.
Full results here
Today's race had a small field entered, but plenty of top skiers. Race volunteers worked very hard around the clock to get the course covered with snow, including making some snow and pulling snow from nearby areas.
Conditions were cold for the race. The course was in a big field, not much terrain except for a few little bumps, gradual long rises, and tons of really cranky corners. This meant that tactics were crucial to racers' success. The finish included a steep hill about 250m before the final finish straight, which racers came into with a lot of speed, meaning that they were able to V2 up the whole thing. But that made the final finish sprint longer and harder than usual. Racers with great fitness seemed to have an advantage at the end.
