By Gavin Kentch
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KINCAID PARK, Anchorage — The snowpack was thin but the field was deep in Anchorage, where the 20-somethingth running of the Alaska Nordic Cup kicked off the high-level North American race season on Saturday morning. First held in ca. 2004, the Alaska Nordic Cup is essentially an early-season dual meet between the state’s two NCAA ski teams, the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Alaska Anchorage (APUNSC, which is also based in Anchorage, just down the street from UAA, is not an NCAA-affiliated program).
The race weekend has gradually become more formal over the years, to the point that this year’s edition was held as a FIS race, with an ancillary citizens race following. (Editorial note to organizers: More racing is good, and more accessible racing is also good. Thank you for this.)
The official name for this weekend’s contest was the Anchorage Winter Start Race, a title with a long history. Here is a news story from 21 years ago Saturday describing the November 2004 version of same, that year held on the Hillside ski trails on the other side of town.
“Even without the National Teams,” wrote Cory Smith during George W. Bush’s first term, “Anchorage was able to rely on its impressive amount of local talent (University of Alaska Anchorage team, Alaska WinterStars, Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center (APUNSC), and several former Olympians) to hold a top-level event.” Plus ça change.
Smith added, of a race won by APU head coach Erik Flora over then–assistant coach Frode Lillefjell, “The USSA points race penalty was approximately 62 points (estimated) for the men — not bad for a race with three coaches in the top five (UAA coach Trond Flagstad was fifth, between two of his top athletes).” Shots fired.
Time passed. Erik Flora remains the head coach at APU. Trond Flagstad is once again the head coach at UAA. Neither man raced on Saturday, which saw a 10-kilometer interval-start skate race, though each had a son who raced, and raced well. Both men and women covered the full 10km this year; that is a change from 2004. Or from 2022.
In 2025 racing, Ari Endestad (APU) was the fastest man across the line on Saturday, in 24:19.6, followed by Ben Dohlby (UAF, +3.8) and Hunter Wonders (APU, +20.5) in second and third. Oskar Flora (APU, +31.9) was the top U20 athlete, finishing fifth overall.
It was the first career victory in a FIS race for the 24-year-old Endestad. The FIS points penalty here was a healthy 66.77; this was a robust field.
In the Alaska Nordic Cup standings, Dohlby, Philipp Moosmayer (7th overall), and Gabriele Rigaudo (9th) were the top three men for UAF, with Corbin Carpenter (13th), Matt Seline (14th), and Hermod Bangstad (17th) leading the way for UAA.
Rosie Fordham (UAF/Australian National Team) paced the women, covering two laps of the grinding, low-on-recovery course in 27:31.3. (Cite: I raced it, if slowly. It was hard, and skimpy on recovery. And other, much faster people said that as well, so that’s not just age talking.)
Fordham was followed on the overall podium by Novie McCabe (+22.3) and Renae Anderson (+1:00.7), both of APU. Mia Stiassny (APU), in fourth (+1:36.1), was the top U20 finisher.
Fordham was followed by teammates Piper Sears (14th overall) and Victoria Myers (20th overall) as the top skiers for UAF. UAA’s top distaff finishers were Marit Flora (6th), Hedda Halvari (7th), and Constance Lapointe (10th). UAA finished the first day of racing with a 68-second lead over UAF in the Nordic Cup standings, based on the cumulative times of each team’s top three finishers per gender.
Sunday morning brought a 7.5-kilometer interval-start classic race, covering two laps of a roughly 3.7km course. Course preparation was highlighted by some of the first set classic tracks in Anchorage this winter; groomers have been doing yeoman’s work with what we have, but there just has not been that much snow yet. That said, conditions were imho superb considering the limited snowfall.
Renae Anderson had the fastest time for the women on Sunday, claiming her second career victory in a FIS race (she was previously first in a classic sprint at a Lake Placid SuperTour in January 2024). Her winning time was 21:15.9. (Disclosure: The following day Anderson would coach me at APU Masters practice, because Anchorage is a very small town sometimes.)
Rosie Fordham was once again on the podium, this time in second overall (+23.7). She was followed by Anabel Needham in third (APU, +56.4). Stiassny, sixth on Sunday, was again the top U20 woman.
Marit Flora (4th overall) led the UAA women, followed again by Lapointe (5th) and Halvari (8th). UAF’s top three finishers were Fordham in second, Sears in 11th, and Myers in 24th.
Hunter Wonders (APU) was the fastest man in the classic race, completing two laps in 18:08.6. He was followed by Erling Bjørnstad (+28.8) and Henry Skjønsfjell (+38.4), both of UAA. Vebjorn Flagstad of Alaska Winter Stars (+42.0), in fifth, was the top U20 athlete.
The third UAA finisher on the day was Hermod Bangstad, in eighth overall. Top-three UAF men were Dohlby (7th), Moosmayer (9th), and Cole Flowers (13th).
UAA won the 2025 Alaska Nordic Cup, by just under five-and-a-half minutes after two days of racing. It was UAA’s second victory in a row, though UAF retains the all-time edge in the series.
“Historically, UAF has won the Alaska Cup more than UAA has,” wrote UAA volunteer assistant coach Adam Verrier following Sunday’s race. “I don’t have all the statistics on hand, but I know we’re behind them in the overall tally.” And if Verrier doesn’t know, no one would (possible exception: John Estle).
Results: Saturday skate | Sunday classic | FIS results | citizen race results
Beitostølen
More briefly for the Norwegian opener, since I wasn’t there and I’m trying not to be massively Alaska-centric but also I can’t add too much value to this results rundown from a distance: Klæbo won the classic sprint on Friday, of course, despite a cornering technique in the qual that… prompted some discussion. “🟨,” read the comment on the above post from one @jcorkski, for example.
(I see a written reprimand to Erik Valnes for obstruction from the men’s heats. This page does not have detailed results for the qual; the official FIS version of same does not reflect any jury actions.)
Second across the line in the classic sprint were Ansgar Evensen and Erik Valnes. Zak Ketterson was 27th in the heats, following a sterling mark of 12th in qualifying.
It was largely more of the same in Saturday’s 10km interval-start classic: Klæbo first, Valnes second, and Didrik Tønseth third. Ketterson was 30th, and pleased enough, writing on Strava, “Believe it or not, my best distance result here so I’ll take it 😁.”
There were some upheavals on Sunday, a 10km interval-start skate, where Einar “biathlete” Hedegart took the win (the Norwegians had thoughts on this). Andreas Fjorden Ree was second, with Iver Andersen third. No Americans raced on Sunday.
On the women’s side Kristine Stavås Skistad won the classic sprint, which is also largely not a surprise. She was followed by Hedda Bakkemo and Ane Appelkvist Stenseth. Lexie Madigan of the U.S. was 58th, which is… not bad, actually, for a biathlete doing a classic sprint qual. Your move, Hedegart.
Heidi Weng led the way on Saturday, winning the classic race by 2.3 seconds ahead of Kristin Fosnæs. Julie Drivenes (remember that name) was third.
On Sunday, finally, Drivenes took the win, followed by Karoline Simpson-Larsen and Heidi Weng. Drivenes has two top-30 World Cup finishes to her name, the last one coming two years ago. There are a lot of good skiers in Norway. And development paths are non-linear for skiers just about everywhere.
Gällivare
And finally, moving east to the Swedish opener, which was in a different country and a different venue but featured precisely the same three-race program on the same three days. Maja Dahlqvist won Friday’s classic sprint in Gällivare, with Jonna Sundling second and Nadine Fähndrich third. Not sure if World Cup women’s sprint or domestic race. (The rest of the final was made up of Moa Lundgren, Moa Ilar, and Emma Ribom, so, yeah, the joke works.)
The 10km classic on Saturday saw Ebba Andersson take a convincing win, with Ilar in second and Fähndrich again third.
Finally, Sunday’s 10km skate saw Andersson take a slightly narrower win, followed by Sundling in second and Ilar in third. These are some skiers who had a good weekend of racing.
The big story out of Gällivare for American ski fans was JC Schoonmaker (USST/APU), with Kevin Bolger (Team Birkie) as the subhead. Both men lit up the classic sprint qual, finishing 4th and 13th, respectively in a deep field. They were then 7th and 26th in the heats. In the next day’s 10km classic, Schoonmaker was 8th, with Bolger 23rd. Strong weekend for both men.
Turning to the rest of the field: Anton Grahn won Friday’s classic sprint, with Edvin Anger second and Jesper Persson third. In Saturday’s 10km classic Anger moved to the top step of the podium, with Leo Johansson second and phenom Alvar Myhlback third. And in Sunday’s 10km skate, finally, Johan Ekberg, a man with just four World Cup starts to his name (best finish: 35th), took the win, with Johansson again second and Gustaf Berglund third. See above, re: development paths.
World Cup racing begins on Friday in Ruka, when a 10km interval-start classic race kicks things off. A classic sprint follows on Saturday, then a 20km mass start skate on Sunday.
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