The BSF Pro Team recently competed in Lake Placid, New York, and Craftsbury, Vermont, during the third period of Super Tour races. Athletes were competing for crucial national ranking points that will qualify them for World Cup and European Cup races later in the season.
On January 29th and 30th, Mt. Van Hoevenberg (host of the 1980 Olympic games and future host of the 2023 World University games) showcased their newly built championship courses. Challenging climbs and single-digit temps set the stage for two days of racing.
In Saturday’s classic sprint competition, the BSF Pro team put five athletes into the top 10 with Lauren Jortberg in 5th, Logan Diekmann 5th, Erika Flowers 6th, Reid Goble 8th, and Hannah Rudd 10th. “I’ve been really happy with the steps forward this team has made in classic racing this year” reports coach Andy Newell. “We spent a lot of training sessions this summer grinding out classic technique and specific strength workouts, it’s cool to see the hard work pay off on these challenging Van Hoevenberg courses”.
Sunday’s skate mass start 10 kilometers was a true test of fitness and speed with cold, hard-packed racing conditions. The men’s race was tough and tactical. Finn O’Connell spent most of the race at the front pushing the pace before just missing the podium by less than a second. Graham Houtsma had his best Super Tour distance race of the season placing 12th, less than a minute off the winner Johnny Hagenbuch from the Sun Valley Gold Team.
The challenging climbs and technical downhills of the new FIS courses provided a great opportunity for the BSF Pro women to shine once again, putting three women in the top 10. Erika Flowers had a blazing fast last kilometer of the race skiing up into 4th place, with Hannah Rudd and Mariah Bredal not far behind in 8th and 9th.
The team spent the week recovering and traveling to Craftsbury, Vermont, a historic eastern venue known for high quality races and its remoteness. The team hunkered down in an 1800 Farmhouse, getting out the door for daily training and avoiding a massive Nor-easter that dropped 14 inches of snow the night before Friday’s skate sprint race.
Lauren Jortberg showed she can race in all conditions as she posted the 2nd fastest qualification time and finished the day on the podium! Lauren’s 2nd place finish, behind US Ski Team member Katherine Ogden, was her best finish of the season and will put her in contention for World Cup starts later this month. On the men’s side Graham Houtsma continued his upward trajectory with a season-best 4th place qualification and 10thplace finish. Logan Diekmann made the most of the soft, deep conditions finishing 7th.
To cap off the weekend skiers competed in a two-day pursuit. An individual start classic 10k followed by a skate 7.5k/10k pursuit start (based on how they finished the day before). Mariah Bredal showed her consistency near the top fishing 6th in the classic and 7th in the skate. Erika Flowers posted the 3rd fastest skate pursuit time, jumping up 4 spots to finish 9th. On the men’s side Finn O’Connell continued his streak of 4th place finishes while posting the 2nd fastest skate pursuit time. Reid Goble found his form again jumping back into the top 10, finishing 8th with the 4th fastest pursuit time. The results sheet climber of the day was Simon Zink who after a disappointing classic day skied from 59th to 35th!
With Super Tour period three in the books the BSF Pro Team is looking great and continues to show amazing consistency. “Our momentum continues” states coach Andy. “We will return to Bozeman for a few weeks of training and to re-group for the last push of the season. We have some big races coming up including the American Birkie, international racing opportunities, and Super Tour finals in Whistler.”
Finn O’Connell and Logan Diekmann sit in 5th and 6th on the cumulative national ranking list with Hannah Rudd, Erika Flowers, and Mariah Bredal in 6th, 9th, and 10th. These results will likely qualify several BSF Pro Team members for international World Cup and European Cup races in March.
