Cross-country ski racing is never a cakewalk, with competitions that demand hours upon hours of preparation and hard work from participants. But the low-snow conditions in Rumford, Maine are presenting an extra-big headache for everyone involved in the 2011 U.S. National Championships. As the clock ticked down to the start of the event’s opening race on Sunday, organizers were hard at work preserving and augmenting the remnants of the snow on the course—and they were...
It seems like every second year, U.S. Nationals comes out on the losing end of its battle with Mother Nature. In 2007, the first of two years that the event was hosted in Houghton, Michigan, there was barely enough snow to ski on. And in 2009, the first of two years in Anchorage, Alaska, most of the races were cancelled due to a debilitating cold spell that left temperatures far below the FIS legal limit...
It seems that conditions in Rumford will be old transformed snow with old powder mixed in. The snow will be heavily machined and old. Overnight temps will be around 10F and highs around freezing and warmer at the end of the week. Be sure to have plenty of HF Moly, HF Red, HF Yellow, JetStream Red, and JetStream Yellow on hand for the week! The Classic Sprint on Sunday looks to be an interesting day...
With U.S. Nationals looming, there’s quite a collection of domestic skiers who think they could ski to a podium finish in the biggest races of the year. Besides the eternal glory of winning a national championship, there’s more on the line: for seniors, the races will be their best shot of earning low National Ranking List (NRL) points, which will qualify them for World Championships, and for younger skiers a strong result could mean a...
With 15 titles over the past decade, Kikkan Randall has turned the U.S. National Championships into something of a one-woman show. In the 2010 edition, which was held in her hometown of Anchorage, she swept all four events—collecting nearly $5,000 en route to wins in two distance races and a pair of sprints. This year, the country’s fastest women will assemble at Black Mountain in Rumford, ME. But when the first event of the championships...
TRUCKEE, California – “The hope is that in the future, this can become a team on par with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, CXC and XC Oregon,” said Ben Grasseschi, the head coach of the newly established Far West Senior Farm Team based in Truckee, California. The squad’s mission, to create a premium senior race team, is partly a personal goal for Grasseschi, who himself was left dangling after his collegiate skiing career. “I...
Most of his competitors train full time; Martin Rosvall, 32, works full time. In March, Rosvall was 15th overall at the Vasaloppet, after having led the podium finishers large portions of the way from Sälen to Mora. No small feat for an amateur.
One by one, the favorites crumbled in the men’s classic sprint. The first to go was Garrott Kuzzy, who went down coming into the backstretch in his quarterfinal. Illness quashed Simi Hamilton’s hopes. And as he led his semifinal heat, Chris Cook took himself out on a downhill corner. When the snow finally settled, it was a Swede, Erik Soederstrom, who remained standing. A sophomore at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) hailing from Ostersund,...
For four days, the big story here in Anchorage has been Kikkan Randall, who won both races held here on Saturday and Monday. But beneath Randall on the result sheet is where the drama has been unfolding, as a handful of women are fighting tooth and nail for coveted spots on the 2010 Olympic team. The narrative was no different today. In the 20k mass start classic race, Randall again skied her way to victory....
After Tad Elliot skied his way to a second place finish in yesterday’s 15k freestyle, the cross country cognoscenti didn’t quite express the same degree of confusion as they did over Tyler Kornfield’s fourth place in the sprint. After some solid racing at last year’s West Yellowstone SuperTours and a trip to the U-23 championships, Elliot has a little more name recognition. But it’s safe to say that there probably weren’t many people here in...
The wax today was LF Moly followed by HF Blue/Red mix followed by JetStream Blue/Red mix. Mixing the two JetStreams is uncomplicated. Either rub one block on and then the other block and rotocork them in together or sprinkle one powder on and sprinkle the other powder on and iron them in together quickly followed by rotocorking them. JetStream Moly was also really good. Notice that the winners of both races were in third place...
It wasn’t the same kind of power that Kris Freeman used to propel himself to top-ten World Cup results this winter, but it was enough. With an effort that “would have just barely scored World Cup Points,” Freeman skied his way this morning to the national championship in the 15k skate in Anchorage. After contracting the flu over Christmas, Freeman said that he’s “been trying to build his way back up ever since.” Today’s effort...
Video preview of the 10/15k distance course for tomorrow’s races with SuperTour Distance Champion James Southam. ANCHORAGE – Three tough climbs, two or three times. That’s what’s in store for the racers here who will tackle the U.S. National Championship 10/15k distance freestyle race tomorrow. With temperatures warming and a difficult but straightforward course, there should be nothing to hinder the strongest athletes from rising to the top. Currently the course is groomed very firm, but...
Who the heck is Tyler Kornfield? That’s what a sizable portion of the U.S. skiing community was left asking yesterday, as the 18-year-old skied his way to a fourth place finish in the freestyle sprint national championship. Though the name may be unfamiliar to many around the country, Kornfield is known around Alaska as the 2009 state champion in the 7.5k classic race. When he signed to ski at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF),...
FasterSkier photographers Rob Whitney and Nat Herz were out on the trails yesterday shooting photos of the races at U.S. Nationals in Anchorage. Check out these pictures of the qualifiers and the heats!
While the $1,200 check for the winner of each race isn’t anything to complain about, the real prize awaiting competitors at the end of the 2010 U.S. Nationals isn’t the money. Instead, it’s a spot on the U.S. team for the Olympic Games in Whistler, which kick off a little more than a month from now. Currently, the U.S.’s quota for the Games stands at eight, and just who gets the last few positions (most...
In the women’s freestyle sprint at the 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships in Anchorage, it was never a question of who, but rather how much. After a dominating eight-second win in the qualifying round, Kikkan Randall skied her way to an easy victory here this afternoon over Rebecca Dussault and Laura Valaas. Though Randall’s margin of victory dwindled slightly as the day went on, she was never seriously challenged by any of the competitors...
After four years in college, Simi Hamilton isn’t supposed to know how to sprint. Try telling that to Mike Hinckley. With 500 meters to go in the freestyle sprint at Kincaid Park in Anchorage, Hinckley made a huge move on the field, passing Hamilton on the outside of the last significant hill on the course. After finishing second last year, it looked like Hinckley had this one in the bag. But on the ensuing downhill,...
ANCHORAGE – With two days two go before the opening of the 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships in Anchorage, Alaska, FasterSkier brings you a preview of the 1.4/1.5km freestyle sprint course where the racing will unfold on Saturday, the first day of competition. Mike Hinckley gives the tour of the course. An Anchorage native, Hinckley spent his last four years skiing for Denver University, earning second-team All-American honors at the NCAA Championships last year...
2009 US Short Distance Nationals began with a bang for the CXC athletes in Anchorage, AK Nationals: Day 1 (or is it day 3?) Forecast for Anchorage, Alaska on Monday, January 5: High of -2° F. This is what we’d been waiting for all weekend! The first two days of the 2009 National Championships were spent going through the pre-race motions. Coaches ironed layers of blue hardwax and cold powder. Athletes consumed plates of pasta...