SOLDIER HOLLOW NORDIC CENTER — The first two distance skate races held here today came down to a final-lap move up the final hill, the outcome still in doubt until well less than one kilometer from the finish. The first two races did not have John Steel Hagenbuch in them.
In lap four out of six in the men’s 20-kilometer mass start skate race at 2024 U.S. National Cross-Country Championships, the Dartmouth and U.S. Ski Team athlete followed David Norris on an exploratory foray ahead of what was at the time still a sizeable chase group. Norris ultimately faded, perhaps not aided by perhaps less than optimal skis; Steel Hagenbuch did not. It was less an aggressive, all-out attack on his part than a continual increase of pace, until no one else could follow.
Thus freed from the madding crowd, Steel Hagenbuch proceeded to ski the final laps solo for the win, which he took in 46:35.8. The man is a V2 machine, and he used those skills today to devastating effect. His margin of victory at the finish was a full 40 seconds over Tom Mancini of the University of Utah; considering the caliber of athletes in this field, it felt like about four minutes. It was a bravura performance from the 22-year-old.
Steel Hagenbuch cruised across the line after the sixth 3.33-kilometer lap, looking in complete control. He waved a pole, pointed to the Dartmouth logo on his left bicep, and coolly saluted. He had more than enough time to proceed to the edge of the finish area and hug his mother before anyone else came in. It was at once very cool and very wholesome.
Mancini, who is French, was followed across the line by his Utah teammate Joe Davies, a Brit, in third overall (+54.7). Close behind them, Peter Wolter of Sun Valley (+1:00.0) held off Elijah Weenig of the University of Denver (+1:01.5) for the final two spots on the American podium in fourth and fifth overall. Michael Earnhart (USST/APU) came in in sixth (+1:06.1), after initially trying to cover Steel Hagenbuch’s move, then doing a frankly impressive job of recovering after falling back from the unstoppable object that is Steel Hagenbuch on a V2 course.
Wolter was not surprised by Steel Hagenbuch’s performance today.
“If I had to bet on one person winning this race, it probably would have been Johnny,” Wolter said soon after his finish. “He’s a V2 monster, and this is a V2 course. I knew he had it in him, so no surprise.”
Nor was Wolter surprised by the efficacy of Steel Hagenbuch’s winning move.
“I’ve seen him do it before, and he’ll do it again,” Wolter said plainly. “There’s a reason he popped the 13th on the World Cup this year. Skate in particular, he’s a nasty skate skier. Very talented, really powerful.”
Wolter, 25, and Steel Hagenbuch, 22, both from the Sun Valley area, have a history that types less as rivalry than as bromance.
“I’ve grown up skiing with him,” Wolter said. “And it used to be that he looked up to me, and now… I don’t not look up to him. I look to him for how to skate ski really well, and often when I skate ski I think about his technique and try to emulate it.”
The feeling is mutual. “Good day with my brother Peter Wolter 💯,” Steel Hagenbuch wrote on Strava after the race, alongside a clip from the Ride of the Rohirrim scene from Return of the King.
“Always a good day with @peterwolter by my side ❤️🔥,” he later wrote in an Instagram story, sounding similar themes.
[Break: everyone go watch the Ride of the Rohirrim linked above, because, my god it’s so good.]
Back in the Kingdoms of Men, Wolter characterized his race as “hard.” He added, “I thought I was maybe gonna fall apart, I had some people breathing down my heels coming back down this hill. But I was like, One hill, go until it hurts so bad I can’t do anything. That’s what I did, and it worked out. Enough. I mean, it sucks to not be on the overall podium, I want that money, but second American, no complaints.”
Okay, but what comes after going up that hill until it hurts so bad you can’t do anything? Another 800 meters of race course, including a very long false flat to the finish.
“Just stay on your feet” Wolter said, when I asked him what he was thinking at that moment. “I was pretty confident there wasn’t anybody too, too close behind. So I just knew I needed to keep it tight, hold it together, and ski smooth into the finish. And once I got halfway up the finish straight, I could turn around, like, Okay, I think I got this in the bag.”
Wolter joined what seemed to be the entirety of the one-time lead pack in being stoked for Steel Hagenbuch at the finish over his win.
Steel Hagenbuch was also not surprised by Steel Hagenbuch’s performance today.
“I wasn’t surprised” that his move worked as well as it did, he candidly stated. “I was maybe anticipating having to have a sprint at the end, but it worked out that way. It was tricky conditions today, maybe people had trouble with skis, but I had great skis.”
Steel Hagenbuch’s week has been marked by an upward trajectory in both health and performance. After finishing “only” tenth in the 10km classic on Tuesday, he marked yesterday’s skate sprint podium by stating that he was skiing into things and continuing to improve.
And what happened then?
“Pack skiing in these kind of slower conditions today, it was predictably staying together a fair amount in the first three laps,” Steel Hagenbuch recounted. “I just tried to conserve as much energy as possible and ski in the back. I gave my dad almost a heart attack when he saw me skiing in twentieth place.
“Then David [Norris] kind of started turning the screws a bit on the fourth lap, and I kind of moved up in position behind him. And then it seemed like he maybe reached his limit a bit, and then I kind of just kept skiing at the same pace he was skiing at, and didn’t really look back for a bit. I then had a decent gap, and kept going at that pace. … I was really happy with the race today, and can get set for the rest of the season.”
Steel Hagenbuch will not be racing in Sunday’s SuperTour classic sprint; he is back to Hanover and Dartmouth, where classes already began earlier this week. Carnival Season kicks off a week from today (for nordic) at Craftsbury with a classic sprint.
Jack Lange wins juniors race over Tabor Greenberg and Matt Seline
The junior men’s 10km skate was the only one of four races today that I did not watch in person. I apologize for this; I was at home taking a nap, because load management.
With the significant caveat that I am only looking at splits here, my likely reconstruction of the race is that Jack Lange (Dartmouth) did not bite on an all-time lap-one flyer by Kieran Kaufman (FXC); skied with a large pack through lap one; at some point in lap two put in a move, which distanced him from a chase pack led by Matt Seline (University of Alaska Anchorage); then skied strong but controlled over lap three to stretch his lead, ultimately coming in with an emphatic 17-second victory over first Tabor Greenberg (Green Mountain Valley School) in second and Seline in third (+20.4).
This is where I note that Lange, a sophomore at Dartmouth, has skied with Steel Hagenbuch, a junior at Dartmouth, for the last two seasons. Some apparent similarities in their race strategy may not be a coincidence.
Lange is, I suspect, currently at the team naming banquet at the Zermatt, along with basically all the rest of American junior skiing. I may be able to update this article with his thoughts, rather than just my speculation, later tonight or tomorrow.
Update: Lange graciously wrote back to me at 11 p.m. on Friday night. Long days for everyone this week. Here’s his take on his race, in writing to Nordic Insights:
“The race stayed in a large pack for a while (not sure about Kieran Kaufman but I didn’t see anyone go off the front). I took a large tumble going down the hollow on the first lap, lost the glasses but poles stayed intact. I got back in the lead pack pretty quickly and didn’t panic.
“The front pack stuck together through the sprint hills on the second lap when Wes lead a little attack. I caught back up to Wes and then attacked on the cabin hill. I had planned this move out the night before with Brayton [Osgood, Dartmouth coach] and am super happy with how it came together and the move I was able to make. After putting a few seconds on the field over the top I just suffered through the 3rd lap maintaining and extending my lead. After seeing Johnny make a similar move during his race, I felt very confident in my plan and was really happy with how it all came together.
“Our team is really special and it feels so exciting to be part of a group of driven athletes. The incredible support I’ve received has been instrumental in my success, ranging from Brayton’s expert guidance on tactics and exceptional waxing, to the unwavering encouragement of my parents cheering on the sidelines. Additionally, the camaraderie and mutual drive for excellence shared among my friends, teammates, and competitors truly embodies the spirit of the American ski community. This collective effort and inspiration are what make achievements like this possible.
“I’m happy with how the race went today, this one has been on the goals sheet for a while and it will take me a minute to process. I feel like I have become a lot more confident holding my position in mass starts and being able to ski smooth, big and relaxed in packs. I also have been working on making attacks more definitive; I’m proud of what I put out there today.
“I’m really looking forward to putting on an American suit and putting all of these skills to use overseas. International racing is a different game and I really hope that this American team can bring confidence to these races and turn out some solid results.”
Saturday is an off day from racing here at Soldier Hollow. Sunday brings a classic sprint that, if history is any guide, will likely have a slightly reduced field relative to the first three races that were national championships, but will nonetheless be quite competitive. The article on today’s women’s races will also be posted tomorrow.
— Gavin Kentch
So far as I can tell, I am the only media outlet interviewing athletes at this year’s national championships. This coverage is happening only because I paid my way to travel down here from Alaska for a week-plus reporting trip. If you would like to support these efforts, you can find my GoFundMe here. (This is still last year’s fundraiser, sorry, because I’ve been busy; the money all goes to the same place.) Thank you for your consideration, and thanks for reading.
