Europe and Holiday Update
Racing in the final sprint race in Idre, Sweden
Happy Holidays from the road!
With a cliffhanger as the end of my last email, I can now end the suspense. I did make it to Oslo and competed in Idre, Sweden for a series of IBU Cup races the first week of December. The races in Norway were ultimately canceled due to a lack of snow and warm temps preventing snow making, leaving only the races in Sweden for the Scandinavian block. It was a whirlwind of traveling, training, racing and traveling again. My racing saw a mixed bag of results as I figured out a difficult range approach and struggled to find consistent shooting. But as experience has shown me, the tough races are where you learn the most!
Now I am currently in Craftsbury, Vermont preparing for another set of trials races in a couple days. US Biathlon has the IBU Cup team come home mid December for on-snow trials to compete again for a spot on the European team. This is great for giving more opportunities to qualify for domestic racers and keeps high level racing in the US, but does result in a ton of travel for those coming to and from Europe and leaves no US presence at the IBU races in Italy this week.
In other notable news! I am very excited to announce I am now an athlete ambassador for Darn Tough Socks and can truly say they are the best socks I have ever used. Handmade in Vermont from high quality wool with a lifetime guarantee and really cool designs in a ton of styles. It was a no brainer for me. And thanks to US Biathlon, I am also sponsored by Rudy Project Glasses, another great brand of high quality product and especially meaningful to me since they were my first ever sponsor when I was racing as a teenager. I truly believe in representing brands you actually love, use and stand with even if they didn’t give you product for free, and both of these companies are that for me. Plus, everyone knows how important taking care of your feet and eyes is, no matter the level of activity or sport you are participating in.
Below is a quick report on the races in Sweden! Happy Holidays!
Testing new skis before the races start
Racing in the individual 20km in sugary conditions
Training under the lights at 9:30am on the range
What I can only assume is shrimpy cheesy paste
Scandinavian Race Report!
As I am sure you know, this time of year in Scandinavia is a dark time to say the least. Being the sun loving, Colorado born-and-raised westerner I am, this was a tough aspect to spending a few weeks there. And along with the darkness, I assumed it would be full-on snowy winter as well, but this was not the case. Infact, as mentioned before, the races in Norway were canceled due to lack of snow and the venue in Idre, Sweden was in full artificial blizzard almost the entire time we were there thanks to an army of snow guns.
This was the setting for our training and racing there. The race courses were 100% artificial snow on a pretty hilly course. The temps and humidity due to the snow guns made it damp and difficult for the snow to bond, turning the hills turned into ankle deep sugar by the end of every session. Imagine skiing up sand dune like conditions - very energy intensive. Though, the trail conditions actually made me excited because I enjoy adverse conditions knowing it will be different and fun and comes down to my attitude more than anything.
When it comes to racing, as always in biathlon, skiing is only half of it. Idre has one of the toughest range entries any of us had ever skied, including our team leader (a 16 year veteran of the World Cup). The 500 meters leading into the range were all uphill, ending with a steep climb up and over a bridge into a technical and tight S-turn, then immediately onto the range. I never quite figured out how to come into the range ready to shoot because skiing the range approach well took so much energy and attention.
In combination, the squirrely skiing conditions, tough range approach, darkness and being soaked through with mist from snow making all over the course made for some of the most interesting and uncomfortable races I have ever had. It allowed for me to try different things, learn a ton and ultimately be pretty dang proud of putting everything I had on the line for every race.
Here in Vermont, we arrived to warm rain and are once again on a limited loop of artificial snow for all training and racing though the temps are finally dropping. Limited skiing is unfortunately the reality of racing these days and without artificial snow, we would have almost no racing guaranteed. It is pretty wild to see how things are changing, and they are changing fast. None-the-less, we are still racing and going to race hard while we can and I am grateful for the venues putting in so much work to make snow and keep the sport alive.
Happy Holidays!