This weekend, the third period of SuperTour racing wrapped up on the east coast. This period of races consisted of a weekend of races in Lake Placid, NY followed by a weekend of races in Craftsbury, VT. Additionally, the North American World Cup selection period ended after last weekend’s races in Lake Placid.
The BSF Pro Team had another consistent two weeks of racing, with 8 top 10 performances in Lake Placid and 3+XX top 10 performances in Craftsbury. Notably, Hannah made the final in the Classic Sprint in Lake Placid, finishing 6th and Graham finished 4th in the Skate Sprint in Craftsbury. As always, the team is racing very consistently, and despite probably all wanting to be a little higher up on the results sheet, the team atmosphere and morale is great!
As anyone that follows the sport of Cross Country Skiing in the US knows, this year, for the first time in over two decades, the World Cup circuit is returning to the United States! On February 17th and 18th, Minneapolis’ Theodore Wirth Park Park will host a Skate Sprint and 10k Skate Individual start race. The week prior, Canmore, Alberta will host four races (two sprints and two distance races). As you can imagine, the goal for all of the Pro Team athletes was to qualify for these races.
Through a somewhat convoluted points system, that we will refrain from diving into, the team has qualified 4 of the team's 10 athletes to represent Team USA on the startline for these races!
Through the support of the BSF Organization, sponsors, and teammates, all four of the selected athletes were able to qualify to race at the world’s highest level. Both Erin and Logan will go into the races having started a World Cup race before, but for Graham and Reid, it will be their first time wearing the US Ski Team suit.
I speak for the entire team when I extend a huge thank you to the Bridger Ski Foundation and the greater Bozeman ski community! We could not have done this without your support.
Hopefully, everyone can tune in to watch the races live (www.skiandsnowboard.live).
Schedule:
February 9th: 10km Interval Start Skate (12:40 MST)
February 10th: Skate Sprint (15:00 MST)
February 11th: 20km Mass Start Classic (12:00 MST)
February 13th: Classic Sprint (13:30 MST)
February 17th: Skate Sprint (13:30 CST)
February 18th: 10km Interval Start Skate (11:30 CST)
For any super fans out there, the National Nordic Foundation has partnered with Podiumwear Apparel to make custom fan bibs for the Minneapolis World Cup. These bibs will bear the faces of each US athlete toeing the line in Minneapolis. You can find them here: https://www.podiumwear.com/team-storefront/nnf-us-fan-club-bibs/
All proceeds from bib sales will go back to the NNF and help fund their grant program. Most of which will help cover the expenses of the athletes racing the North American World Cups that are not members of the US Ski Team.
Logan will be racing in his custom Sauce Activewear hats at these races. His pattern can be found at this link: https://sauceactive.com/pages/logan-diekmann-x-sauce
All proceeds from the sales will go directly back to Logan and support his ski season.
