By Noah Eckstein
And we’re back! After nearly two weeks away (but man, the racing at World Juniors and U23s was a damn good substitute), ski racing fans could finally rejoice with the resumption of World Cup festivities at the storied venue of Falun, Sweden, earlier Friday.
Some time away from racing did little to slow down season-long favorites, especially as form and motivation stretch toward the season’s zenith at World Championships, which start in Trondheim on February 27th. Just as Linn Svahn returned with a vengeance to take a dominant win in the women’s race, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo took the men’s classic sprint with the precision and panache that are his signature, finding a race gear even after what he told FIS was “eight days on the couch” following recent illness. Adding a fine point to the bubbling Sweden–Norway sprint rivalry in recent weeks, the Norwegian men made it a sweep, with Erik Valnes and young gun Oskar Opstad Vike joining Klæbo on the podium.
Gathering again in central Sweden after wrapping up pre–World Championships training camps in Sjusjøen, Norway, and Passo Lavazè, Italy, the American men started the day off well with Zak Ketterson, JC Schoonmaker, 18-year-old Murphy Kimball, and Kevin Bolger all qualifying for the heats. Despite some bold moves and big skiing in the quarterfinals, none were able to advance further.
Falun is a championship-caliber venue, and its sprint course is anything but soft. From the start, it kicks hard up a long, multi-stage climb to the high point. Next comes a curving descent into a second, shorter climb. This hill’s crest played host to several games of chicken today because the following descent rewarded those in the draft and punished those out front. A low tuck then carried athletes to the final turn–roller–turn complex that then dropped them into the finish straight.
In the first quarterfinal of the day, Bolger lined up alongside both Klæbo and Valnes. Not shying away from the star power in his heat, the American skied right alongside Klæbo at the front for the whole first half before putting in a huge dig over the second crest to take a small gap down the back side. A small gap wasn’t good enough, and Klæbo knifed by on an inside line, followed shortly after by a slingshotting Valnes. Bolger came home in fourth in the heat and 19th overall, by far his strongest World Cup sprint result so far this season.
After failing to qualify for any heats during Period 1 this year, Bolger has been scrambling to both find form and snag discretionary starts when and where he can. After some strong results at the Swedish National Championships — seventh in the skate sprint and tenth in the 20-kilometer mass start classic — he was thankful to have been tapped to race in Falun.
“I’m just happy to be back on the World Cup,” he wrote to Nordic Insights, “and all I can do is try to race fast — I have nothing to lose. Swedish champs was fun. I had some great results and I’m happy with where my body is right now — fingers crossed I can get more opportunities.”
His top 20 today certainly won’t hurt.
Kimball, having qualified in 22nd to make his first-ever World Cup heats, lined up in quarterfinal two. Not quite able to hang onto the furious pace set by Swede Edvin Anger at the front, he ended the day 28th and absolutely thrilled.
“Qualifying felt amazing,” Kimball related in written comments to Nordic Insights. “At first, I didn’t believe it — I thought I read the board wrong. I felt super strong and paced super well. I was in Falun last year for the U18 trip and I absolutely love it here. Everything about it is just really cool and I love the weather here because it reminds me of home in Anchorage.”
Kimball was racing on the U18 trip last year because he was, well, under 18 years old at the time; he will not turn 19 until this summer. He is presumptively the youngest American male ever to make a World Cup sprint heat, and previously became the youngest American male World Cup starter of all time when he raced in Canmore a year ago Monday. It took him only five career starts to make the World Cup heats.
Today’s result makes for a solid turnaround for the University of Alaska Anchorage freshman; in Kimball’s previous start, a World Juniors classic sprint in early February where he had qualified in 12th and was among the favorites on the day, his race was effectively over moments after it began when he slipped coming off the line and spent the rest of the heat playing catch-up, failing to advance and finishing 26th on a day when he would have wanted more. Sometimes you just have to keep on showing up.
In the fourth heat, Ketterson, clearly feeling good after qualifying in a career-best 11th (!), wasn’t scared off by Bolger’s ultimately futile effort to push the pace early and attempted something similar. Gunning up the main climb, he took a small gap into the descent and continued to lead up and over the second hill. The draft inevitably kicked in on the run-in to the finish, though, and Ketterson was swallowed up by the pack. He finished fifth in his heat and 22nd overall.
When asked what he was focusing on in his blazing qualifier, Ketterson homed in on an oft-forgotten component of the discipline: pacing.
“It was my best qualifier so far!” he wrote to Nordic Insights. “I think I just managed my energy really well. I often ski the first part of the course really well and lose time in the end, but today I managed to hold my speed into the finish which was fun.”
Vibes are good in advance of World Championships. “I feel really great about my fitness,” Ketterson wrote. “We had an amazing camp in Sjusjøen last week and I was able to really charge up some energy.”
Schoonmaker, racing in heat five, had an unfortunate tangle with Norway’s Matz William Jenssen that took them both out of contention. He came home fifth in his heat and 23rd overall. Nonetheless, he finished the day feeling positive about his current form and preparation.
“My body felt good after a little break and camp in Sjusjøen,” he wrote to Nordic Insights. “Nice when you can react well after some time off like that and feel like the body has some good energy. Camp was great, super relaxing and sweet skiing. Good times.”
He also, for the sportsball contingent, weighed in on the blockbuster Luka Dončić/Anthony Davis trade still shaking the basketball world. “I’m a Cavs fan but I do enjoy cheering for the Lakers too,” wrote the California native. “Seems like they’re gonna be set up for a while now and it just baffles me that they were able to acquire Luka, who’s a generational talent. Will be fun to watch him paired with LeBron for sure!”
Back to the world of skiing, the finals was stocked with typical podium fodder as well as a couple newcomers. Klæbo, Valnes, and Even Northug, all of Norway, as well as Frenchman Jules Chappaz, are no strangers to a World Cup sprint final. For the other two men, though, this was a fresh experience.
Seemingly coming out of nowhere was Czech skier Jiri Tuž. Just 20 years old and in his second year on the World Cup, Tuž qualified a profoundly unexpected fourth — he had been “only” tenth in the classic sprint qual at World U23s last week, in a weaker field — then proceeded to prove it wasn’t a fluke by picking apart both his quarterfinal and semifinal. Employing the same sort of full-gas, high-tempo approach that Ben Ogden has dabbled with in the past, Tuž twice managed to grab a large gap on the main climb and maintain it all the way to the line.
In the finals, his luck and energy ran out and he crossed the line a distant fifth, but this was still a personal best of epic proportions. Alongside Kateřina Janatová’s recent run of strong results, things are looking bright for Czech skiing.
And Vike, 21 years old and racing in just his sixth World Cup, advanced easily through the heats before skiing a canny final to ride Klæbo and Valnes’s tails onto his first World Cup podium.
Scarily for the rest of the world, the Norwegian sprint juggernaut continues to grow deeper.
Even Northug was relegated to last in the heat for an egregious lane change into Chappaz. And notably absent from the final was Anger, who got slingshotted so badly in the first semifinal that he may never lead over the top of a hill again. He will surely be smarting from it over the next few weeks, and the sprint in Trondheim should be spicy.
Americans Luke Jager and Zanden McMullen didn’t make the heats, finishing 41st and 52nd, respectively.
Racing continues tomorrow with a 10-kilometer interval start classic. For the American men, registered starters are Will Koch, Zak Ketterson, Luke Jager, Zanden McMullen, JC Schoonmaker, and Gus Schumacher.
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 years one and two of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year three of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter toAmerican 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, last season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
