Hailey Swirbul
Hailey Swirbul’s decision to race at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships instead of the Tour de Ski in Europe is paying off.
Swirbul, a native of Aspen, Colo., who lives in Anchorage and represents the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center, cruised to a 19-second win Monday in Houghton, Mich., by covering the 10-kilometer freestyle interval race in 27 minutes, 32 seconds.
The national championship is Swirbul’s fourth to go along with three she won in 2020 (also in Houghton). Swirbul has spent much of the last three seasons on the World Cup circuit but decided to delay racing in Europe this year to focus on domestic competition.
The 2023 national championship will also feature a classic sprint on Wednesday and a 20K mass start classic race on Friday. A freestyle sprint (not a national championship event) concludes the race series on Saturday.
Dozens of Alaskans, from high schoolers to professionals, representing their Alaskan clubs or college teams have traveled to the competition in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
In the women’s 10K, Anchorage native Jessica Yeaton placed seventh while Kendall Kramer of Fairbanks was 10th.
APU’s Hailey Swirbul (middle) on the podium from the 10K freestyle at US Nationals. Photo courtesy APU Nordic Ski Center
In the men’s race, David Norris won the silver medal in 25:02.8, just 2.5 seconds behind U.S. winner John Steel Hagenbuch of Dartmouth College. Norris, at age 32 one of the older racers at nationals, is originally from Fairbanks, skied for many years at APU and now coaches and races in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Norris, the Mount Marathon Race record-holder, was a mainstay on the World Cup for several years and is now contesting more skiing and running competitions in North America while also coaching athletes at the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club.
The overall men’s winner was Andreas Kirkeng of Denver University in a dominant 24:27; as a Norwegian Kirkeng was not eligible for the American podium.
Two University of Alaska Fairbanks skiers, Mike Ophoff of the Czech Republic and Joe Davies representing Great Britain, placed fifth and sixth overall, respectively. APU’s Garrett Butts was seventh (and fourth American).
Full results can be found here
The website www.nordicinsights.news is providing comprehensive nationals coverage with Anchorage’s Gavin Kentch reporting on-site.
Brennan moves up in Tour de Ski
Rosie Brennan of APU took seventh on Sunday in a 10K classic pursuit at the Tour de Ski in Val Mustair, Switzerland.
Starting 14th (her place in the tour-opening freestyle sprint the day before), Brennan steadily moved up throughout the four-lap race held at an elevation of about 5,000 feet in above-freezing temperatures.
Rosie Brennan
“The altitude and gradual climbing played to my strength and I was able to settle into a steady pace and pick people off,” Brennan email to multiple media outlets. “I made up some good ground early but in the later part of the race, the leaders turned it up a notch so my overall time didn’t make up quite as much ground as I had hoped … but there were lots of good signs and a race I (am) very happy with.”
Brennan’s racing is a bright spot for the U.S. as her teammate Jessie Diggins of Minnesota, initially a contender to win the seven-stage Tour, has struggled the first two races by finishing 40th in the sprint and 30th in the 10K pursuit.
Several Alaskan men are also racing. Hunter Wonders, in his first Tour, moved up from 80th in the sprint to 53rd by the end of the 10K pursuit. Distance specialist Scott Patterson of Anchorage also improved going from his 94th-place starting spot to 59th. Meanwhile, Gus Schumacher of Alaska Winter Stars slipped from 50th to 62nd while sprinter JC Schoonmaker (formerly of the University of Alaska Anchorage) dropped from 26th to 88th.
After a travel day on Monday, the Tour continues Tuesday in Oberstdorf, Germany, with a 10K individual start classic followed by a 20K freestyle pursuit on Wednesday.
Atkinson wins Tuscobia 160
At the Tuscobia Winter Ultra in northern Wisconsin, former Fairbanksan Brian Atkinson shattered the previous record in the 160-mile ski race.
Atkinson, now living in Janesville, Wisc., finished the out-and-back course on snowmachine trails in 31 hours, 14 minutes. That knocked 6 hours, 20 minutes off the previous ski record (most participants ride fat bikes while others travel on foot and only a few attempt the course on skis).
Atkinson has one other big win on his resume, as he claimed the 2019 White Mountains 100-miler north of Fairbanks in 12 hours, 28 minutes, the fifth-fastest ski time in race history.
Atkinson is not the first Alaska-connected athlete to win the Tuscobia 160: in 2016, Fairbanks’ Danny Powers finished first in 51 hours, 36 minutes as the only ski finisher.