2007 World Championships
Sapporo, Japan
Freestyle Team Sprint

Less than twenty four hours after the conclusion of my sprint day, it was time to get back onto the course for the team event. The men's semifinals were scheduled first, which meant there was no time to inspect the course. Instead of doing a full warm-up skiing (the course was closed), I spent the first 20 minutes spinning on a stationary bike. It was hot and stuffy riding inside the wax cabin, and I was relieved to finish my warm-up outside. The wind was blowing steadily as I made several laps around a very short 300m warm-up loop. My body felt fresh and I was excited to see what Laura and I could do.

Fifteen minutes before start I pulled on my Speedo racing suit (which was more of a struggle than I anticipated) and headed down to the stadium. The first women's semifinal was cruising by. We were to start in the second semifinal. Several of the US coaches and staff were there in the stadium to take our warm-ups. It felt like we had our own entourage! I sprinted back and forth to stay warm, clicking my boots of the floor of the stadium. There was a slight delay as we waited for the first semifinal to finish. Laura and I talked strategy. Our goal was to finish in the top five to be able to advance to the final, trying to conserve energy if possible. It was going to be tough! At last, Laura and I did our final good luck fist-tap, and she headed to the start while I checked in to the exchange zone.

The start was clean and Laura tucked into the back of the pack. In the distance I could see the skiers going up the first hill, the pack was close together. As they went out of sight, I turned my attention to getting the snow out of my boots. The Salomon guy was there to help dig out the snow with a screw driver. I clicked into my bindings as the first skiers were entering the stadium. Stepping into the exchange zone, I looked up to see where Laura was. She was off the back in about eighth place. I had some work to do!

The tag was good and I shot off onto the course to catch the pack ahead. I hung to the right side of the track as I headed out of the stadium, avoiding the ankle deep slush. By the bottom of the first climb I was regaining contact with the leaders. I settled into a quick rhythm, trying to ski relaxed. Over the top of the hill I moved into fifth place and readied for the turn ahead. The other girls were tensing up and starting to snow plow so I took the turn wide and came out the other side with more momentum. Continuing up the outside of the next climb, I made my way into fourth, finding firmer snow. Then we all headed down into a sharp right hand turn. Again, there was massive snow-plowing, so I took the outside and carried more speed into the next flat. Coming back into the stadium, I tucked in behind the leaders and just held our position to the exchange zone. I tagged off to Laura with our team back in the race!

While Laura skied her second lap, I handed my skis over to the wax techs and jogged around to loosen up. I could feel the burn in my legs and my breathing was still rapid. A few moments later, I was back into my skis and over to the exchange zone. I could see the race underway on the big screen in the corner of the stadium. I looked for Laura. She had dropped a couple places, but she was holding in there! The leaders came through, and then I stepped into position to receive the tag from Laura. As she approached I started double-poling to build momentum. Once I got the firm tap on my back, I bolted out of there.

We were now in sixth place, but the other teams were just ahead. The snow was getting more and more churned up, and it was loose and soft. I used quick movements to keep from sinking in to far. Over the first climb and the second, I jump-skated hard to get back into contact with the leaders. I made it around the downhill turn without incident and by the time we came through the stadium I had made it onto the tails of the fifth place team. I tagged off to Laura and hoped she could keep us in contention.

The break before the final lap was agonizingly short, only long enough to jog a few steps. I shook my legs from side to side to try and work out the lactic acid. The leaders were already cresting the second hill as I clicked back into my bindings. The top four teams had broken away but Laura was hanging just a few meters back from the Italian team in fifth. Yeah! We still had a chance!

The Italian team tagged off just a few seconds before Laura slapped my back for the final exchange. I took off after their anchor, Arianna Follis. The soft snow made the going tough, but I was pouring all my effort down the trail. As I hit the first hill I started immediately into the quickest jump-skate I could manage. Midway up the hill I was making good progress, gaining ground on Follis. But as we crested the top, she suddenly came alive again and I found nothing in my legs to respond. I dropped into a low tuck and skated hard around the next turn desperately trying to get a little closer. Coming up the final hill I was pushing as hard as I could go, my legs screaming with pain. But Follis was not letting up and the distance remained the same.

I wobbled a bit coming around the tight turn and had to come up out of my tuck. Then I free-skated frantically back toward the stadium as I was running out of time. The coaches were yelling and I was giving everything. Dipping under the roof of the dome and into the final 200m, the gap was just out of reach. I sprinted hard but only managed to maintain the distance back. I crossed the finish line in sixth position, 2.7 seconds back from fifth. Unfortunately, there were no lucky loser spots up for grabs today. Our day was done.

Because our semifinal had been faster than the previous heat, Laura and I were given 11th place overall. We watched the final races from the sideline, confident that soon we will be in there too. This was the first time Laura and I had teamed up for a sprint relay together and we know we at least have room to improve in our exchanges! The team sprint will surely be a good event for us in the future!

With the conclusion of the sprints, it is now time to leave the Sapporo Dome and head out to the distance courses. I have a break tomorrow while the men race, and then I will be racing in the 7.5km/7.5km Skiathlon on Sunday. With the mass start format, it will be a great chance to race head to head with the world's best!

Until then!

Cheers,
Kikkan :)

Narrow miss for Randall at World Championships

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!).