2024 Spring Series/SuperTour Finals: Results, Schedule, Streaming, and More

By Gavin Kentch

This winter’s last hurrah of official high-level domestic ski racing comes to Spirit Mountain, in Duluth, Minnesota, this Thursday through next Tuesday. There will be four races held over six days, the first of them “just” a SuperTour and the final three of them national championships. There is, in fact, snow at the venue, conditions are currently well below freezing, and the races are set to be held as originally planned. Here’s what is happening when.

Spring Series/SuperTour Finals, Duluth (current time at venue: Central Time)

Where are results?

Results for all races may be found here. Click through into individual races for live timing while races are occurring.

Is there streaming?

Yes, because Midwest (seriously though, well done CXC). You can find streaming for all Spring Series races here.

Who is racing?

A lot of Midwestern college skiers. Most high-level club skiers in this country. Some but not all World Cup skiers.

Keeping in mind the caveats that (a) I’m looking at a start list here rather than actual starters and (b) only the start list for Thursday’s 10km classic is currently available, I see a full slate of athletes from local schools St. Scholastica, Michigan Tech, and Northern Michigan. Largely complete rosters from APU, Bridger, and Craftsbury. Some athletes from each of SMS, Sun Valley, and Team Birkie. More skiers than you might think from Dartmouth and Utah, but few from other NCAA ski teams. Plus plenty of folks from across the border in nearby Thunder Bay.

Boldface names not on tomorrow’s start list include Jessie Diggins, Rosie Brennan, Julia Kern, Gus Schumacher, Sophia Laukli, and Kevin Bolger. Laukli and Bolger remain based in Europe; Bolger raced in the Swedish national champs earlier this week, while Laukli was back to work on the ski treadmill at Holmenkollen. Diggins has publicly said that she is going home to rest. Brennan also needs a break. Schumacher’s first stop post–World Cup Finals was Washington, D.C., to advocate on behalf of Protect Our Winters; I do not know offhand whether his next stop will be Duluth or Anchorage. Kern has had a rough season and has battled illness for months. Plus Ben Ogden has been out with mono since Canmore. It’s a long season.

What are the courses?

The ones you would expect, actually. Following a brutally warm winter in the Midwest, the announcement came on March 8 that the venue would indeed host Spring Series as scheduled, but that all races would be staged out of the top of Spirit Mountain alpine hill to take advantage of more snow there.

A week later, however, Bruce Adelsman posted to the invaluable SkinnySki trail reports section, “After a full walkthrough of the snowmaking loops, organizers have decided the original courses are largely intact and are planning to use them. Work will be done to shore up thinner areas, utilizing the large base of alpine snow. So all races are expected to happen on the snowmaking trails at the lower chalet, off Grand Ave.”

Race organizers confirmed with me earlier this week that the Spirit Mountain Nordic Center trails will be used for all races. They shouted out the alpine hill for closing for the season last Saturday, allowing groomers to move snow onto the nordic trails and stadium where necessary, and anticipated “great conditions” for the next five days of racing.

This photo is a screenshot of an Instagram story from the venue from earlier Wednesday. Looks pretty nice!

Here are the four different courses that will be used this week, in race order (click on any image to enlarge):

What are athletes racing for?

Pride, to be sure, just like every time someone puts on a bib and steps to the line. Plus club bragging rights for the team sprint. But also there is prize money: for the 10km classic SuperTour race, from $750 for first place down to $100 for sixth. And for the three national championship races, $1,200 for first, $600 for second, and $300 for third for each race (divide this total multiple ways for the team sprint).

Athletes will also gain points good toward the overall SuperTour standings. The overall SuperTour leader from the end of the previous season has historically received World Cup starts for all Period 1 races in the following season; this criterion will presumptively apply to the 2024/2025 World Cup season as well.

Michael Earnhart (APU) is currently leading the men’s overall SuperTour standings by a nearly insurmountable margin. On the women’s side, Margie Freed (Craftsbury) has a much smaller lead over Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS) and Alex Lawson (Craftsbury). You can find current SuperTour standings here.

Finally, athletes’ individual finishes are also good for points toward the NNF Cup, which, NNF notes, reflects the robust work that U.S. ski clubs do in supporting U.S. athletes’ development. The University of Utah won this honor last year, receiving $3,000 in prize money from NNF for its efforts. Going into this year’s SuperTour Finals, APU leads these standings marginally ahead of Utah, 711 points to 707. Bridger sits third with 664 points. You can find the NNF Cup standings here.

What notable foodstuffs did Duluth bring into the world that I learned about from my Wikipedia research for this article?

Both pizza rolls and pie à la mode, although there are conflicting histories surrounding the development of the latter.

In conclusion, here is a user-submitted photo of Totino’s Pizza Rolls from Wikimedia Commons. I am a Very Serious Reporter.

Enjoy the races, everyone.

You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in year one of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year two of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter to American cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, this season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.