Alaska Update – Day 3

Today was the opener for 2010 US National Championships. The women competed in a 1.4km course and the men on a 1.5km course. The women were out of the gate first during the qualifier, with Kikkan Randall putting up a fast time, qualifying over 8 seconds ahead of the rest of the women’s field. DNSC Athlete AliciaRose Pastore had a strong qualifying round, finishing 96^th overall, 18^th J1. She was also the 2^nd junior from RMN.

The women’s rounds went much the same as the qualifying. Kikkan totally dominated each heat, skiing easily to victory in the A Final.

The men’s qualifier was awesome to watch! Former RMN skier (and Middlebury Alum) Simi Hamilton won the qualifier by half a second over Garrott Kuzzy (also a Middlebury Alum). Those two were 5 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. DNSC Alum Tad Elliott skied an awesome qualifier placing 36^th overall and making the U23 sprint heats.

The men’s rounds saw a few crashes, including one in the finish stretch. All the skiers in the top 30 were competitive and no one was able to ski easily into the final. The way the course was set up, starts were very important. If you didn’t come out of the start well, you would have to be content with staying at the back over the top of the big hill. In the final round, Simi got out fast and lead the entire way to the finish, maybe earning himself a spot on the US Olympic Team.

Tad had an awesome U23 A Final, making his move from the middle of the pack on the last small climb, double poling to the inside of the corner at the top of the hill. This set him up for a good position coming into the finish stretch, where he sprinted it out against Dylan McGuffin, winning by a foot throw at the line!!

Full results for the sprints can be found at www.durangonordic.org

I’m looking forward to the 10/15km Freestyle distance race on Monday!