My house in ANCHORAGE, Alaska, a short drive from the venue, because it is cold outside and I am lazy — The only thing slower than the skate sprint course at Kincaid Park, in the opening week of the 2023/2024 SuperTour, is the classic sprint course. While qual-winning times on Tuesday were 3:07 for the men and 3:39 for the women, the best marks in the skate sprint qual Saturday morning were 18 to 20 seconds faster, up to 3:25 for the men and a hair under 4 minutes for the women.
244 athletes raced in the U16 and up field today, on a combined SuperTour/Besh Cup day that sees the nation’s fastest senior athletes race alongside local juniors competing in Alaska’s JNQ series.
There were roughly 350 people on the combined entry list for Saturday (counting athletes in the U14 and younger age classes). They were treated to another day of wintry conditions; the weather station currently reports temperatures of 15° F and north winds of 10mph. “Feels like 3.9° F,” the site cheerily informs me. Thanks, Kincaid.
Of hundreds of athletes out there today, no one covered the 1.4-kilometer sprint course faster than Murphy Kimball (Alaska Winter Stars).
Kimball is currently a senior at West Anchorage High School. He is 17 years old, per his public FIS profile. For Anchorage readers of a certain age, yes, that was his mother, Jenny Naylor, winning the 50km Tour of Anchorage in 1998 and 2000, and his father, Will Kimball (also a two-time OTQ marathon participant), winning the 2005 Mayor’s Marathon.
Murphy Kimball’s time on Saturday morning was 3:25.34. Julien Locke of Canada (Black Jack Cross Country Ski Club/Nordic Pulse), the overall winner in Tuesday’s skate sprint, was second in the qual, 0.75 seconds back. Hugo Hinckfuss (University of Colorado, +.92) was third, Logan Diekmann (BSF, +2.90) fourth, and Michael Earnhart (APU, +3.88) fifth.
A 3:37 made the heats. At least one current member of the U.S. Ski Team and one current member of the Canadian National Ski Team did not make the heats. D-I college skiers finished in the 70s. (Yes I know that people may specialize in distance skiing rather than sprinting, I’m being dramatic here.) It was slow out there.
Similar themes prevailed in the women’s field, as Canadian Katie Weaver (Alberta World Cup Academy) led the way in 3:59.84. There was a strong international flavor at the top of the results sheet, as Weaver was followed by Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt of Canada in second (Fondeurs–Laurentides, +1.98), Mariel Merlin Pulles of Estonia in third (University of Alaska Fairbanks, +2.66), Karianne Olsvik Dengerud of Norway in fourth (University of Utah, +5.07), and Erin Bianco of the U.S. in fifth (BSF, +7.85).
30th place in the qual, Katey Houser (Montana State), finished in 4:26.05.
The open heats start in Anchorage in roughly five minutes, at 1 p.m. local time. The junior heats “basically start at midnight,” one athlete noted sardonically on Strava.
For fans following along online, and/or timing their drive out to Kincaid to watch in person, you can find a full heat schedule here. Senior women’s final is at 2:20 p.m., with senior men’s final starting at 2:30 p.m. Junior women’s final is at 3:58 p.m., and junior men’s final is at 4:10 p.m. U16 finals start at 5:02 p.m., and U14 finals at 5:30 p.m.
The last race of the day will be the U14 boys final, scheduled to start at 5:42 p.m. Sunset in Anchorage today will be at 3:40 p.m. (the capacious Kincaid stadium and surrounding snowmaking loop is well lit). Thank a volunteer.
Results: qual | open heats | junior, U16, and U14 heats | heat schedule
— Gavin Kentch
