2007 World Cup
Rybinsk, Russia
1.4km Skate Sprint

The waiting time between races always seems to move so slowly! It seemed like we had already been in Europe for weeks when Andy, Torin, Pete, Roar and I left Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday to travel to Russia for this weekend's World Cup races. Training during our week long camp in Davos had gone really well and I was just itching to race again! Travel was supposed to be smooth on the way to Rybinsk, Russia, just a couple flights to get to Moscow and then a 4.5 hour bus ride north. Not the case! As we boarded the flight to Moscow in Stockholm, Roar ran into some visa issues and was unable to accompany us. Then, when we arrived in Moscow everything was in Russian and we stumbled around trying to get through customs, pickup our bags, find our transportation, etc. Thankfully, our attachŽ Oksana greeted us outside baggage claim and helped us find the bus to Rybinsk. The bus was jam packed with the Italian team and we spent the following 8 hour bus ride watching American movies dubbed over in Italian, courtesy of Christian Zorzi. The bus ride was long and dark, and a little uncomfortable with only one bathroom break midway through. Finally, approaching midnight, we arrived at the Demino resort and crawled into bed.

Our Russian adventure continued the next day as we set out to inspect the course. In the same boat as the rest of Europe, the Yagoslav region was hard hit by warm conditions and no snow. So, in order to "cobble" together a course, massive teams of volunteer military personnel made a 2.5km loop, first by laying down a trail of giant ice cubes cut from the Volga river nearby, and then covered with smaller ice cubes and then snow. It would might have been a decent trail had it not started raining. The food was quite interesting as well, with some of the meat dishes unidentifiable, squid in the salad, and instant coffee at breakfast.

Saturday was the distance race, a 15km mass-start skate for women, and a 30km for men. I decided to skip the distance race to be rested for the sprint. Conditions were getting pretty nasty as the rain continued through the morning and then turned to snow. Even though we weren't racing, Andy, Torin and I were out on the course with the rest of the racers testing skis. I found a fast pair of skis for the soft and wet conditions, surprisingly a new pair I had just received from Fischer in Russia. Then I set off to complete my pre-race workout. I took a fast lap around the sprint course but was a little unsettled to find my body feeling tired and heavy. The course was challenging, with two gradual climbs leading into a long, steep hill and then a wicked fast downhill before a slightly uphill finish. I shrugged off the tired feelings and finished my workout. By the evening, after going for a short jog in the dark with Andy, I felt better.

During the night I dreamt about the race. In my dream, I finished third in the qualifying round, and was just getting into the heats when I woke up. "Third place," I thought to myself, "that would be cool."

The morning routine went well. I had some cereal with warm milk, bread with honey, and instant coffee for breakfast. All of the US team, the four of us, were staying in a little house about ten minutes by foot from the venue. So we loaded up our backpacks with a bunch of gear and walked over to the stadium. Pete had worked hard overnight to prepare all our skate skis for testing. The weather had cooled down significantly since our ski the day before and conditions were totally different. Now the track was firm, with some places still icy and other places covered in a light dusting of fresh snow. The varied conditions made ski testing difficult, but after a few laps I narrowed my selection down to pair 990. Pete helped confirm the decision and then I set off on my warm-up. I was relieved to find that the tiredness from the day before was mostly gone and my body felt fresh and ready.

Andy and I had both been drawn as bib #1 for our respective fields. So, as soon as Pete completed the final touch ups on my race skis, I hustled over to the start. None of the race officials really spoke English but I was able to figure out where to get my transponders (timing devices) put on and where to drop off my warm-ups. The other girls were trickling in as I strapped on my skis and double-checked my pole straps. Then I stepped up to the start gate. The starter said something in Russian as I watched the clock tick down to 10:00:00. Just as the clock hit the zero, I took off out of the gate. The announcer was still in the middle of my introduction.

I took a few quick V1's to build momentum and then switched to V2. The course turned left and headed up the first gradual section. I hugged the left side of the trail to avoid pits of soft snow. The grooming was not as smooth on the outside and I scrambled along a little off balance. Over the top of the hill I sailed under a spectator bridge and dropped into a low tuck. The downhill wasn't too fast or long, but a slight chance to recover. The snow was churned up by ski testing before the race and I broke into a quick free-skate to keep speed. But then the snow changed back to a hard surface, with a covering of fresh snow, and started up a gradual climb. The speed immediately slowed and I had to switch to a powerful V2. I had to work hard for every stroke, my arms and legs were starting to burn. Then the steep uphill. I switched to a jump-skate and carried myself up the hill chanting "on, off, on, off" in my head to keep a quick tempo. One more push over the top sent me sailing back down the other side at a high speed. I stayed in a low tuck, following a parallel track that had been skied in during the warm-up, until the very last second before the bridge. I rose up as I came around the corner and pounded in my poles into the snow. A quick flat and then a slight bend to the right to enter the final 100m. Carrying good momentum I settled into the far left lane and pushed the final few meters. I slid my foot across the line at the last second and skidded to a halt in the finish pen. I took a quick look around to watch the next skier coming in. She was a ways back, which seemed kind of odd. (I was later told that I had actually started 15 early, at 10:00:15 instead of 10:00:00, thus explaining the gap). When final qualification results came in, I was 9th fastest. Into the quarterfinals!

Time in between qualification and the heats was just long enough to cool-down, change clothes and get a short rest. There was a big building with reserved rooms for each country to hang out in. I drank some sports drink and sucked down a Powergel to replenish my energy stores, and laid on the floor listening to my iPod as I thought about race strategy. With the steep uphill and fast downhill on the course I was unsure of what position I wanted to take. I resolved to figure it out as I got on course. Half an hour until the start of my quarterfinal, I began warm-up #2. This time, just enough movement to get the body warm again.

I started in quarterfinal heat #4. Current overall World Cup leader Virpi Kuitunen took it out hard and I tucked into second. As we made our way into the steep climb I was a couple meters back. I jump skated hard and midway up the hill I was right on Kuitunen's tails. I didn't want to be leading a train going down the hill so I made sure I got the draft. The speed was high coming off the bridge and as we came into the finishing lanes I pulled up even for the lead. Just needing to qualify I stayed just close enough to come in for a solid second place. When I had safely crossed the line, I looked back to see the other races a ways behind. Cool. Moving on.

I ran my skis back to Pete for touch-ups and then jogged around to clear lactate. There was a big screen right in the stadium area and I watched the men contest their quarterfinals. The big downhill was proving to be very decisive. Skiers would be leading at the top of the hill, sometimes with a gap, and then invariably would be sucked up and passed on the downhill. Torin skied a courageous race, getting out front to avoid being pushed around, but was caught on the final stretch and missed advancing. Newell had a tight heat and made it on to the semi's. In no time at all, I was back on the start line.

There were some big names in my semifinal and I knew it would be challenging. We had to double-pole for the first 20m and then we were able to skate. This made it a little chaotic getting onto the course. Thankfully I had a fast start and got myself into second as we rounded the first turn. This time however, skiers challenged from the right and by the time we got to the steep hill I was more or less in fourth. Katerina Neumannova stepped on my ski and I stumbled for an instant. I didn't panic and just stayed right on the tails of the skiers ahead. Going over the top and back down the hill, I was still in fourth, but thinking to myself, "perfect, wait for the big move, here it comes, go!" I used my momentum to sling-shot around the other skiers and I skated hard to the inside of the final turn. I cruised into first and powered all the way to the line, winning the semi and advancing to the A-final. Wow, that was really cool!

Psyched to make it to the A-final for the first time, I jogged back to the start and jumped around to stay loose. Pete took my skis, for a few more touches, and met me back at the start as I stripped off my warm-ups. I was feeling fired up! The fans in the stands were going crazy, they had been all day. Whether there was a race going on or not, or whether there was a Russian skier doing well or not, they were on their feet, cheering, waving flags, chanting and singing. It was so loud!

As we lined up for the final, I got first lane choice. First choice! Ahead of Olympic champions and World Cup winners. I was so ready to compete against the best in the world! There was no place I would rather be. The starter called us to the line, a slight pause and then the gun. I dug my poles into the snow and took off. I had a good start and coming out of the lanes I was able to work my way into third. The whole pack was together, skiing two a breast and three deep. I stayed to the left, just behind Kuitunen. Russian Natalia Mateeva and Italian Arianna Follis were just ahead on the right. As we came down the first short downhill there were some attempts from the back to move up. Neumannova came up beside me. The steep hill loomed. Afraid I would be stuck behind Kuitunen going up the hill, I tried to move to the right, but Neumannova was there. I tried to go up the middle but got tripped up and stumbled. I eventually made my way over to the right and near the top of the hill a lane opened up in front of me as the other skiers went left. I jump-skated hard and worked my way back up close to the leaders. I tucked myself into third going over the top of the hill. Again, I thought to myself, "perfect position, here comes the draft, wait for it, ready, zoom!"

Coming onto the bridge the pack fanned out, with the draft bringing the rear skiers up with the leaders. I went for the inside again, but this time it was blocked. So I quickly transitioned to the right as we approached the finishing lanes. Follis was there. I had to move farther out and take the far right lane. I turned on the jets. My legs felt like giant springs as I V2'd as hard as I could. At the line, I stretched my foot out and crossed off-balance. The crowd was roaring. I took a few moments on my poles and then glanced at the big screen. My name was there with FF by it, Foto Finish. I could be 2nd, 3rd or 4th. No matter, holy cow, that was awesome. A minute or so later, the final results, third place! BRONZE MEDAL! MY FIRST WORLD CUP PODIUM. (And the first World Cup XC podium by an American woman). Wahooo!

We all exchanged congratulations. I watched the replay of the finish in slow motion. Follis of Italy had won, Claudia Kuenzel-Nystad of Germany had out-lunged me by an inch for second place! So close! Next came the flower ceremony. It was an amazing feeling to step up on the podium and wave my skis and poles at the crowd. We were presented with a large bouquet of flowers, a teddy bear and a certificate. A bunch of pictures were snapped, I couldn't stop smiling.

Following Claudia's example I tossed my flowers and teddy bear up into the crowd to a thunderous applause and then stopped to sign several autographs. Immediately after that there was a press conference. Most of the journalists were Russian so a translator was there to relay my answers in Russian. Then we were whisked off to doping control. Unfortunately there was only one person doing the paper work so it took almost 2 hours to get that done. I had a nice chat with Arianna and drank lots of fluid!

When I got out of doping control, Pete was in the process of packing things up. I had to give Pete a big thank-you as he did an incredible job with our skis! We had to catch a van back to Moscow within the hour so it was a whirlwind to get showered, packed and loaded up. We drove for an hour or so before stopping at a McDonalds. Since there were no Subways in sight, I had to settle for a cheeseburger. It actually tasted really good! Over the next couple hours I got to call home and wake up my parents, and coach Erik, to tell them the news. When my mom answered, she asked how the race went. I said "pretty good." Then a few moments later I casually dropped in mention of my third place, and she went crazy! Fun to mess with the parents!

We made it to Moscow five hours later. Then, the next morning we flew to Talinn, Estonia, where we rented a van and drove to Otepaa for the next World Cup stop this coming weekend. Our Russian adventure was over like that. It almost seems like a dream. Unfortunately Estonia does not have much snow either, so we are patiently waiting for the race crew to put in a man-made loop.

I was unable to gain access to internet while in Russia and my cell phone didn't work either. So it was really fun to be able to open up my computer Monday afternoon and receive emails from everyone! The best part of a big accomplishment is sharing it with everyone! Thank you so much for all the well wishes.

Now the waiting begins again. This time only a few days. On Sunday, a World Cup classic sprint here in Otepaa. I can't wait!

As you know, stay tuned!

Cheers,
Kikkan :)

Anchorage Daily News Article: Dream Finish puts Kikkan in world class by herself

US Ski Team: Randall Sprints to First US Women's Podium

FasterSkier.com: Randall Sprints to First US Women's Podium

TeamToday: Russia. Three top 20. Kikkan top 3.

PS If you are interested in watching coverage of the World Cup races, be sure to check out the World Championships Sports Network, a new website that offers international race footage to North American audiences for the first time. Go to www.wcsn.com/skiing and click on the x-country tab to see what races are available for viewing! (I've been using this site and it's awesome! I highly recommend!).