Rogla, Slovenia –Saturday was a day of career bests for U.S. cross country ski racers in Rogla with classic technique distance racing in heavy new snow. The U.S. Ski Team’s technicians delivered the skis with Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) setting the pace finishing 11th, followed by Holly Brooks (Anchorage) 19th and Liz Stephen (E. Montpelier, Vt.) 22nd in the 10k, with Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.) kicking off the day in a brilliant 24th in the men’s 15k – all career best classic distance finishes. Norway’s Petter Northug and Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk took the wins.

“It was a big day for U.S. cross country skiing,” confirmed Matt Whitcomb, the U.S. Ski Team’s Head Women’s Cross Country Coach. “Newell fired up the team with a best ever distance race, finishing in the distance points for the first time ever (not counting prologues). All four girls backed him up with best-ever classic distance results.”

“I told myself I had to score a top 30 in distance during the first period in order for me to stay over and race the Tour de Ski so I was stoked that I was able to pull that off today,” said Newell. “I’ve worked a lot on my distance skiing in the past two years so it’s encouraging to see it start to pay off and to be able to feel comfortable skiing with the top distance guys – at least in classic for now.”

Randall’s result was her career’s best non-sprint classic, but her 11th place result dropped her from third to fourth in overall World Cup standings.

“Today was another solid distance race for me and my best ever in classic. I had a great first two laps and was sitting in fifth halfway through,” said Randall. “I faded a bit over the second half but was still able to keep fighting in the top 10.

“I got a surprise attack by Latemakki from Finland just before the line for 10th which was a bummer. But it just goes to show you must fight with everything to the line!” Randall added.

Event organizers had scrambled in the last week to put down a track of hauled in manmade snow. Overnight they saved the race by managing over 20 cm of fresh new snow.

“Last night is snowed 20 cm. While the OC (organizing committee) did a great job making this World Cup actually happen,” explained Whitcomb. “The new snow made the conditions a bit wobbly, paired with managing strong gusts of wind. Today was a fighter’s race.”

“It did snow a lot last night which made for some challenging conditions,” confirmed Newell. “The course had less climbing than what you would hope for on the World Cup but the soft conditions, wind and slower new snow made it so that there was a lot more striding and kick double pole out there than most of us were expecting.”

U.S. Ski Team technicians scurried to deliver outstanding classic skis in difficult conditions to give the athletes a shot at career best classic finishes.

“The service staff made world class skis today, and I think it’s also important to point our how well that team within the team is working,” Whitcomb added. “It is amazing to watch the dynamics of a team when its members begin to truly work together – for each other. We’re in a good place over here. It’s a team that really feels an elevated level of support from back home. That is actually an important piece of our success moving forward.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Cross Country Ski World Cup
Rogla, Slovenia – Dec. 17, 2011

Women’s 10k Classic

Men’s 15k Classic