Hi there!
Last week I got back from my trip to Norway for the U23 World Championships, and am writing to offer my perspective on that trip.
The trip kicked off for me with flying from Bozeman through Salt Lake City, and Amsterdam, all the way to Oslo. The travel went relatively smooth on the way there, which was really good because it is such a key part of a race trip in Europe. If you have a tough travel day, your bags might not arrive which can complicate things a bit. An extra long and stressful travel day can also put you at a higher risk for illness.
Upon arrival, I was feeling a little less than 100% healthy and had to be extremely strategic over the next few days to avoid getting sick. I took some extra rest, and shifted my training a bit. I was a little concerned that I might after the effort of racing, but I got lucky and stayed healthy the whole trip and after.
Going into the trip I knew I was going to start the 20k skate mass start and 10k individual classic. A few days into the trip I was offered a start in the skate sprint, which I was stoked to accept. After all three races, it was also decided that I would race the 3rd leg in the mixed relay, which was a 5k skate.
Working with the wax techs on a championships trip like this is always a pleasure. I was really happy that Andy was able to come to support me and the rest of the athletes as well. He has a ton of experience and knowledge about figuring out ski choice and testing, which helps make us faster.
Throughout the race week weather was mostly excellent, with nice sunny days for all of the U23 races and just one cloudy day for the 10k classic.
In general, my skis were great, especially in the 20k skis were notably good and certainly better than the skiers around me which made for fun racing. Another ski highlight for me was that Murphy Kimball raced the junior sprint on a pair of my skis.
Overall, this trip to Norway was really cool. I gained some great experience with racing in Europe and in such a competitive field. One major takeaway for me was that even though the field is pretty deep, we are not that far from the top and it is certainly not out of reach.
