First race was in Zwiesel, Germany aka the glass blowing capital of the world. The week in Austria had hit me hard with a cold/sore throat and I was still feeling sick the morning of the 15 k classic. After skiing a warmup with some faster zone 3, I decided the intensity wouldn't make anything worse. The first lap was pretty conservative for me but I still managed to have a good split going by our coaches. Each lap after I was able to improve on my time by 2 - 3 seconds with 14 seconds on the final lap. In the end I won jr. and was 5th senior to Len Valjas who dominated the mens field, giving us two runs through the Canadian anthem. FIS points were also amazing that day, earning a miniscule 34.39! (lower is better)
here are some pics.
classic race (photo credit sandau.ca)
hat hair during the Canadian Anthem (photo credit sandau.ca)
2nd place didn't show
After Zwiesel we headed south to Schilpario, Italy for the next set of OPA races. Despite not getting snow since November, there was a good meter of dry fast snow. The races were put together as sort of a "mini tour" where your positioning in one race would handicap your start for the next one. It started with a classic sprint followed by a 10 k classic and finishing off with a 15 k skate.
The classic sprint went pretty well for me and I was able to qualify in 8th and moving down one position to 9th through the heats. The course was ok for me with a massive climb the first half of the race followed by a speedy switch back downhill and a longer than I would have liked double pole finish into the stadium. I was always in 1st or 2nd cresting the climb but would drift back slowly in the double pole finish.
In the end I was more than happy with the result because if I were to lose a few more positions I would have been out of the series with too much time to make up. I ended up starting the next day 27 seconds behind the leader. After about 3 k I was able to close that gap and began to sit in behind the leaders. The pace began to really increase towards the end and many of our lead pack dropped off leaving 6 of us. I was able to hold on till then end, finishing 5th just 10 seconds of the leader and securing a spot beside the podium.
Next day, the 10 k skate, I was able to make up the 10 seconds on the first hill and began to ride behind the leaders. The pace was quite slow and the lead group began to get bigger with people making up time on us. I moved to the front and began to push the pace along with Thomas Bing (5th at world jrs.). Between us we were able to lean out our group to 6 guys which made me much more comfortable for the sprint finish. On the final climb before the stadium one of the italians went for it, breaking the group down to four, two italians, Bing and me. Going into the finish I stepped in behind the italian who had won the day before but I guess he didn't really have anything left so I broke away from him and sprinted to the line with Bing and Federico, finishing 3rd, but still within a second of 1st. The medal ceremony was legit with glass shooting star trophies, basket full of cheese etc. and 100 Euros!
(photo credit Eric Bailey)
Anyway thats it for OPA, next update Nationals!
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