skiathlon - skitrax

8/10/2019 Skiathlon - skitrax

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Faced with extreme wind and blowing snow, athletes had to compete against theelements as well as each other in Skiathlon races at the NorAm World Junior/U23 Trialsevent hosted by Highlands Nordic. The competition runs January 8 th -11 th and acts as theselection races for World Junior and Under 23 Championship teams. Qualifying athleteswill have a couple weeks to make final preparations at home before travelling to

Kazakhstan on JANUARY XX. While the younger athletes compete for spots on thoseteams, seniors continued to battle for Continental Cup points to earn themselves WorldCup and B Tour starting positions.

The first race of the day saw the Senior Men take to 3.75km loops, making four roundsin classic and four rounds of another 3.75km loop in skate to complete the 30km event.Graeme Killick (Ptrarmigan, AWCA-NST) was first across the line in a time of 1:31:24,winning his second consecutive NorAm Skiathlon ahead of first-year U23 skier Scott Hill(Team Hardwood, NDC Thunder Bay), who finished 47.5s behind Killick. The podium wasrounded out by Michael Somppi (Lappe, AWCA-NST), who finished 51.3s off the paceafter leading much of the earlier parts of the race.

Graeme Killick

On the raceIt went really well yesterday skiing a nd testing the track was very windblown and Ithought it would be really difficult to break away from the group today, which we tried acouple times today, me and (Michael) Somppi. He gunned it up the first climb on thefirst two laps and I was trying over the top but the group kept coming back, but on thefinal (classic) lap I able to start cruising a little faster on the flat sections leading into thehill then lengthen the hill out a bit and I was able to make a small gap then double poleas hard as I co uld for the rest of the lap and was able to hold it.

(In the skate) I kept the power on the whole time and just trying to keep a steady pace.I wasnt sure what the group would end up doing, because going around the skate it wasespecially soft and wind blown so I wasnt sure if they would just catch me right away orwhat would happen I just kept the power on and skied a 15km individual race and wasable to put in a few seconds every lap.

Looking forward

(On the World Cup) I was just shy of a top 30, within 25s in one race, but Im still justgetting a taste of what its like to race close to the points. My first goal from here is toget to Rybinsk, Russia and get some World Cup races in and see from there.


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Scott Hill

On the raceThe race went as I had hoped, as planned. The pace never got to hard at all, and with

the wind the group stayed together for most of the classis then slowly split up throughthe skate. I was in the chase pack for the majority of the skate race then was able tobreak from the pack with about 2km to go. I made a fairly decisive move, no one reallymade a huge effort to try to go but everyone realized it was the time of the race whereif moves were going to be made, they had to be made there, so the pace just increasedwit h the whole chase pack at that point.

On qualifying versus pre-qualifying for World Juniors last yearI think the excitement will be higher after qualifying closer to the actual World U23races so Im hoping that will result in some better races than last year.

Results

1. Graeme Killick 1:31:242. Scott Hill* +:473. Michael Somppi +:514. Knute Johnsgaard* +1:025. Colin Ferrie* +1:02

* Under 23

In the womens 15km Skiathlon, it was top female distance skier Emily Nishikawa(Whitehorse, AWCA-NST) who took the top spot over Under23 skier Cendrine Browne(Fondeurs-Laurentides, CNEPH-NST) in a time of 50:37 (19.9s ahead of Browne) afterskiing together for the first half of the race. In the battle for third, Andrea Dupont(RMR) pulled away from teammate Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Fondeurs-Laurentides, RMR)to claim third.

Emily Nishikawa

On the raceI had a good race, Cendrine was really strong today as well, she was right on my heels

the whole time which was good. I struggled a bit with the kick so I used a lot of energy inthe classic and then I used what I had left in the skate to go as hard as I could.

It was really windy out there today. I probably could have conserved more energy if Iwasnt leading the whole time but sometimes thats how it goes, I knew I was feelingstrong today so I was out in the lead the whole time but there were definitely somemajor headwinds and I could barely see where the trail was because it was a completewhiteout in front of me when the wind picked up.


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Looking forwardIts great to be back in Canada, racing NorAms is always a fun time and its nice to seeeveryone again. Ill be racing the NorAm next weekend as well, in Canmore, and thendoing a bit of training at home there. Im going to skip the Rybinsk World Cups andprep are for World Champs and the races after too. Theres lots to look forward to for

the rest of the season.

Cendrine Browne

On the raceI started really well with Emily, I was relaxed and it was hard with the wind but I foundit really fun the condiditons were really hard today but it was a good race, a good dayfor me, I had great skis in both classic and skate so it was a good race!

She *Emily Nishikawa+ pulled away from me on the first skate lap, then I caught up butshe pulled again in the first uphill so I lost her there and I couldnt catch up. I lost bothmy contact lenses and couldnt see anything so it was pretty hard, but yah, it was good.

In preparation for World U23 ChampionshipsWe (CNEPH) will go to the United States to race to prepare ourselves and continueskiing.

Results1. Emily Nishikawa 50:372. Cendrine Browne* +:19.93. Andrea Dupont +1:364. Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt* +1:545. Dahria Beatty* +1:55* Under 23

The junior races proved to be very exciting, with athletes in contending foropportunities for a spot on World Championship teams and international racing, thefirst NorAm of the New Year always showcases the younger athletes on top form.

The Junior Men were first to take to the trails, 20km the journey, and a sizeable packformed for the first couple turns of the 2.5km loop. As the racers came in to the

transition, Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (Fondeurs-Laurentides) and Alexis Dumas (Skibec,CNEPH), both of whom were on last years World Juniors team, had established a 20slead over David Askwith (Georgian Bay, NDC Thunder Bay).

In the early parts of the skate leg, Askwith and Zachary Cristofanilli (Orford, CNEPH)both started to pull back time of the leaders, but as the race progressed were unable tomake up the deficit. Cristofanilli had a strong skate ski and was able to pass Askwith to


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take 3 rd position while the top of the podium was decided in a sprint finish which sawDumas getting the better of Izquierdo-Bernier by 1s.

Results

1. Alexis Dumas 1:11:162. Ricardo Inquierdo-Bernier +:13. Zachary Cristofanilli +:384. David Askwith +1:105. Eduoard Reed-Mtayer +1:54

The last NorAm event of the day was the Junior Women who raced a 10km Skiathlon. Ashorter race often requires more aggressive tactics; Maya Macisaac-Jones (RMR) set theearly pace, extending her lead over chasers Katherine Stewart-Jones (Nakkertok) andAnne-Marie Comeau (MSA, CNEPH) by 20s and 38s respectively, at the transition.

Macisaac- Jones early pace may h ave been too much, given the slow conditions, as shewas quickly caught and passed by her pursuers in the first skate lap. Comeau had aremarkable skate leg, splitting the 5k nearly a minute faster than the second fastestskater in the field, to win the race ahead of Stewart-Jones who finished second.Macisaac-Jones was able to hold on for third place, just ahead of Marie Corriveau(MSA).

Results

1. Anne-Marie Comeau 41:272. Katherine Stewart-Jones +:343. Maya Macisaac-Jones +1:244. Marie Corriveau +1:295. Sophie Carrier-Laforte +2:20

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