Men’s 10K Freestyle podium. Photo by Matias Saari.
Halfway through Sunday’s Winterstart SuperTour finale, Michael Earnhart found himself in 21st place with slim chances of emerging victorious at Kincaid Park.
The necessity of passing 20 of North America’s best Nordic ski racers amid swirling wind was not how the Eagle River native envisioned the 10-kilometer mass start freestyle event unfolding.
Representing the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center, Earnhart’s predicament resulted after a passive first half as he tried to conserve energy in the crowded pack and not crash or break gear.
“(But) I kind of overdid that and just slipped way too far back,” said the 21-year-old, whose number 12 bib also placed him several rows behind the leaders at the start. “On lap two I was like ‘I gotta get things together.’”
With potential World Cup starts at stake, Earnhart began picking his way through the field but remained in eighth place with barely two kilometers to go. That’s when Canadian Sasha Masson attacked and forged a lead on the second trip up the imposing Gong Hill. Masson, a native of Whitehorse, Yukon, left a group of gasping skiers in his wake.
“On Gong I thought I was in a good spot and then the guys ahead of me really started to slow down,” Earnhart said. “(I thought) If I want a chance at the win, I gotta get around them now.”
Michael Earnhart (left). Photo by Matias Saari.
Earnhart surged around the chase pack and caught Masson on the Lekisch Loop, which featured a final sizable climb and ensuing downhill.
“So I took the lead there, which got me a little nervous,” Earnhart said. “I didn’t like leading with people in my draft, but I just trusted my fitness and skied as hard as I could and it worked out.”
Earnhart held a narrow lead entering the homestretch at Kincaid Stadium and powered through a piercing headwind to secure the first victory for an American male in the four-race series (Canadians won the previous three events). Earnhart’s time of 24 minutes, 27.8 seconds was three-tenths of a second faster than Reid Goble of Montana’s Bridger Ski Foundation and four-tenths ahead of Masson.
With the win, Earnhart — who placed third, fourth and fifth in the other races in the Anchorage SuperTour — moved into the overall lead in the series standings. That earns him the opportunity to contest the Tour de Ski, a seven-race series beginning Dec. 30 in Toblach, Italy.
“That’d be a pretty aggressive thing to do for my first World Cups, so I might look at just going to U.S. Nationals (in January in Utah) … but that’s a discussion I gotta have with my coach,” Earnhart said minutes after Sunday’s race concluded. “Right now I’m just happy to win.”
Women’s 10K Freestyle podium. Photo by Matias Saari.
The women’s 10K was equally dramatic as 10 skiers entered the homestretch with a chance to win.
Canadian Sonjaa Schmidt of the Whitehorse Ski Club, after boldly taking the lead as the course horseshoed around to the gradual uphill finish straight, took top honors in 28:09.5.
“I came around that corner and there was just a brutal headwind,” Schmidt said. “At first I thought I messed up, but then I really pushed hard right to the line and I was really glad I made that move earlier on.”
Nine other racers finished within 6.4 seconds, including Kendall Kramer of Fairbanks, who placed fifth and top Alaskan in 28:11.4.
Schmidt prevented a clean sweep by Samantha Smith, the Sun Valley (Idaho) Ski Education Foundation racer who won both sprints and the 10K classic earlier in the week. Smith placed 11th on Sunday.
Kramer, a senior for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks, said the large field and windy conditions helped keep the front pack together. Kramer actually led for about two kilometers, including when the group passed through the stadium after the first of two laps.
“I felt good. I didn’t know if I could maintain it or not, but I figured I’d try,” Kramer said of leading.
The lead pack of the women’s 10K freestyle, including Kendall Kramer (bib 111) on Gong Hill. Photo by Matias Saari.
Kramer appreciated the additional intensity the SuperTour provided compared to the college racing circuit.
“SuperTour is really cool because you get to see all the pro skiers and it’s a little higher stakes because there’s money on the line,” she said.
Kramer, like most of the other top domestic skiers, aspires to qualify for World Cup races February 17-18 in Minneapolis, the first time the premier global Nordic series has landed in the United States in 22 years.
“Making Minnesota World Cup would be so cool, but I’m not sure what it takes to do that,” said Kramer, who has raced internationally at the Junior World Nordic Championships and other major competitions.
Racers gushed about the efforts of the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage, which executed a successful Winterstart SuperTour Series and the weekend’s Besh Cup junior races amid an abundance of snow, wind and, at times, cold.
“I think the organizers have done a really nice job and the community in Alaska is just awesome,” Masson said.
Full results can found here.