Before last Sunday, Liz Stephen isn’t sure if she had ever been to the top of Mount Mansfield’s Toll Road, which winds for 4.3 miles up 2,564 vertical feet in Stowe, Vt. Didn’t matter. The 6th Annual Race To The Top Of Vermont was another hill climb, and Stephen had a goal of winning, setting a course record and beating mountain bikers in the process.
In an effort to ring in 2013/2014, we’re kicking off our second-annual elite team preview – now called “The 12.” Starting with the Craftsbury Green Racing Project and proceeding in no particular order, we’ll profile 12 of the biggest powerhouses in U.S. cross-country skiing throughout the next several weeks. Don't worry, we'll get to Canada, too.
Whether it's the first meters of a mass start or the final stages of a head-to-head sprint, a strong double-pole can be critical to the outcome of a race. Ida Sargent shares an interval session that has helped her make recent gains.
Ida Sargent made a breakthrough this season when she cracked the top-ten for the first time Kuusamo, Finland, and then topped it in February by making the A-final in Sochi, Russia. Next year she wants to be back there as part of the U.S. Olympic Team. "If you’re not excited and fired up thinking about it, you probably shouldn’t be training for it," she says of the Games.
The U.S. and Canadian national teams currently in Bend, Ore., for their spring camps had an unstructured training session at Mt. Bachelor this weekend. Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation nordic director and 3-time Olympian Dan Simoneau snapped photos of junior skiers and World Cup athletes alike ski laps around the trails.
Liz Guiney, Andrew Dougherty and Pete Hegman join the 2013-2014 Craftsbury Green Racing Project roster.
Sadie Bjornsen and Ida Sargent capped excellent seasons by sharing the FasterSkier Breakthrough Skier of the Year Award, while Erik Bjornsen took the men's title.
The U.S. Ski Team formally announced its 2013-2014 nominations on Monday, and seven women in total were named to the squad. In contrast to the men's team there were no cuts, and the addition of Sophie Caldwell reflects an expected expansion of the U.S. women's World Cup quota by one more spot in both distance in sprinting.
Kikkan Randall expanded her SuperTour Finals lead on Saturday at the Auburn Ski Club, skiing to a commanding win in the stage three classic sprint. Ida Sargent took second and Sadie Bjornsen finished third. Our footage of the heats.
Ida Sargent made herself a favorite in Saturday's classic sprint, her last race of SuperTour Finals, putting it all on the line and giving Kikkan Randall someone to chase. Randall prevailed and extended her lead over Sadie Bjornsen, who was third.
It's been a week since World Cup Finals wrapped up in Falun, Sweden, and the dust has more than settled on the international season. The American women had their best run yet: World Championships gold, all six athletes in the top ten at some point and another sprint crystal globe in the bag. When asked to recall their personal season highlights, these were among the moments they pointed out.
With the conclusion of Period IV of the 2012-2013 season we tally who's in and who's out of the coveted Red Group in the most recent World Ranking Lists, from the American and Canadian perspectives.
Kikkan Randall did just what she needed to on Sunday, finishing 7th in the 10 k skate pursuit with the second-fastest course time to hold onto third place in the overall World Cup standings. Three other Americans finished World Cup Finals in the top 30 to end the season "better than I could have imagined," Randall said.
Kikkan Randall led three American women into the top-30 in the third stage of World Cup Finals on Saturday, a 10 k mass start classic. With 19th place on the day she moved into 15th in the mini-tour, and if she maintains that position in Sunday's pursuit she'll be able to hold off Marit Bjørgen in the overall World Cup standings.
The American women were back on form on Friday for the 2.5 k prologue at World Cup Finals. Kikkan Randall led the way with a third-place finish, and behind her in seventh and eighth, respectively, Holly Brooks and Jessie Diggins were ecstatic to have confidence-building races towards the end of the season. Liz Stephen was 20th for a total of four women in the top-20.
Before Andy Newell got a medal for finishing fifth in the overall sprint rankings this season, the race that took place in front of the Royal Palace in Stockholm was not quite what the U.S. was looking for from the final sprint of the year. Newell led the way for the men 11th but was aiming for the finals. Ida Sargent posted the top women's finish in 20th and Kikkan Randall was 22nd.
The disappointment of World Championships now well behind her, Sadie Bjornsen led the American women in the Lahti, Finland, 10 k classic with another personal best: 18th place, six notches better than her previous high water mark. Liz Stephen and Kikkan Randall tied for 28th to put three American women in the top 30.
Sadie Bjornsen notched a career-best ninth-place finish in the Lahti, Finland, freestyle sprint on the same day her teammate, Kikkan Randall, secured the crystal sprint globe for the U.S. "She almost stole the show, in a way," said USST women's coach Matt Whitcomb. Seven American women in all competed on Saturday; Jessie Diggins followed Bjornsen in 25th.
The World Championship 30 k wasn’t the perfect race for the American women, but all things considered Liz Stephen and Ida Sargent were satisfied with the effort it took to ski a race that was dictated by slow, saturated snow, 50-degree heat and tricky waxing conditions. Stephen was 16th and Sargent finished 25th. Jessie Diggins DNF after an early crash and Kikkan Randall did not race.
The classic sprint at the 2013 World Championships was preceded by promise and excitement for the Americans, but when only three out of seven starters advanced to the heats on Thursday and none moved past the quarterfinals the team was left feeling frustrated by slippery skis. Kikkan Randall and Sophie Caldwell each finished fourth in their quarterfinals to place 19th and 20th, respectively, and Andy Newell was 21st after placing fifth in his heat.