Rosie Brennan
From Kincaid Park to Lake Placid and from Germany to South Korea, Alaskans found mixed success on cross-country ski trails in recent days.
In Oberhof, Germany, Anchorage’s Rosie Brennan maintained her No. 3 ranking in the World Cup overall standings by placing 10th in a 20-kilometer classic race and recording the fourth-fastest qualifying time in a classic sprint race.
In Gangwon, South Korea, Anchorage teenagers Elias Soule, John Lohuis and Noa Kam-Magruder make up Team USA’s entire boys biathlon team at the Youth Olympic Games, where things kicked off last Thursday with an opening ceremonies featuring K-pop stars and a parade of athletes.
In Lake Placid, New York, Luke Jager of Anchorage dominated at the Eastern Cup, where he and Michael Earnhart of Eagle River finished 1-2 in both Super Tour races there. Renae Anderson, their teammate on the APU nordic team, won one of the women’s races.
And right here in Alaska, about 400 high school skiers filled Kincaid Park trails Friday and Saturday for the annual LynxLoppet and about 100 skiers of all ages competed Sunday in an AMH Anchorage Cup race. Among Sunday’s events: A turn-back-the-clock wooden ski division topped by Alaska Sports Hall of Fame member Nancy Pease.
World Cup in Oberhof
Brennan, 35, was part of a strong effort by the U.S. Ski Team in a classic sprint race Friday in Germany. Nine Americans raced and eight advanced to the heats, including Brennan and APU teammate JC Schoonmaker.
Brennan was fourth fastest in qualifying, followed by Minnesota’s Jessie Diggins — the World Cup women’s leader. In the heats, Brennan was knocked out in the quarterfinals and placed 21st, and Diggins went out in the semifinals and placed ninth.
The big news for the Americans came courtesy of Vermont’s Ben Ogden, who made it to the men’s finals en route to a sixth-place finish. Schoonmaker’s day ended in the quarterfinals with a 21st-place finish.
In Saturday’s 20K mass-start classic, Brennan and Diggins were among the women’s race leaders through 16 kilometers. A strong finish gave Sweden’s Frida Karlsson the win in 51 minutes, 33.6 seconds. Brennan wound up 10th, 14.3 seconds back, and Diggins was sixth, 9.5 seconds back.
In the men’s 20K, APU skiers Gus Schumacher and Scott Patterson lagged behind in 44th place and 51st place, respectively. Erik Valnes led a 1-2-3-4 finish for Norway in 46:03 — 2:32 ahead of Schumacher and 3:03 ahead of Patterson.
Gus Schumacher
It was Schumacher’s first race since an illness forced him out of the Tour de Ski earlier this month. He was riding high after a career-best fourth-place finish in a sprint race in Switzerland — the fourth of seven races in the Tour — but was too sick to compete in the final three races.
His return to racing felt good, Schumacher said in a statement from the U.S. Ski Team.
“My muscles are feeling sharp and my breathing is feeling strong, which I’m super encouraged by. Maybe not quite where I was before, but that doesn’t feel far off,” he said.
Patterson’s 20K got off to a challenging start — he broke a pole early in the race and played catch-up the rest of the way.
“Today was a little tough for me,” he said in remarks shared by the U.S. team. “I crashed about 1.5K into the race and broke a pole. From then on I was fighting to get back up, but ended up picking off stragglers more than getting up to where I wanted to be. However, my energy was good and I felt like I skied the large hill quite well each time.”
In a hard-fought battle in the 4×7.5k men's relay, the USA squad including @ZakKetterson, @august_schu, Scott Patterson and Ben Ogden cross the line in 13th overall.
Now, we rest!#stifelusskiteam pic.twitter.com/0zmkkS6fx3
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) January 21, 2024
Schumacher and Patterson were back at it in Sunday’s 4×7.5-kilometer relay race. They teamed up with Ogden and Zak Ketterson of Minnesota for a disappointing 13th-place finish in the field of 15.
Earlier this season, Schumacher, Patterson and Ogden were part of a fifth-place finish that marked the best relay result in two decades for the U.S. men. This time, they were 93 seconds behind Norway, winners of a thrilling finale that saw Johannes Klaebo cross the finish 0.1 seconds ahead of Italy and 0.8 seconds ahead of another Norway team.
Super Tour at Lake Placid
In New York, Alaska men were the Norway of the Super Tour races.
Luke Jager
In a classic sprint race on Saturday, four APU skiers made it into the men’s final. Jager, the fastest in the qualifying round, beat Earnhart by less than one second for the victory. Hunter Wonders finished fourth and Garrett Butts was sixth.
In Sunday’s mass-start 10K, Jager led a 1-2-3-4 finish by Alaskans. His time of 24:32.3 put him 13.22 seconds ahead of runnerup Earnhart, who was followed by Wonders in third place (17.02 seconds back) and David Norris in fourth place (22.16 seconds back).
In women’s competition, Anderson claimed the sprint victory by a huge 5-second margin and then placed ninth in the 10K. Hannah Rudd, a former UAA skier, placed sixth in both races.
Lynxloppet, Anchorage Cup at Kincaid
The Lynxloppet high school pursuit race at Kincaid Park was a showcase for youth in the girls competition. Four sophomores and one freshman claimed the top five spots, with Service High sophomore Olivia Soderstrom leading the way.
Soderstrom won Friday’s 5.6-kilometer classic race by nearly 39 seconds and widened her lead to 82 seconds in Saturday’s 5.3K freestyle pursuit to win in 33:54.4.
Second place went to East sophomore Rose Conway, followed by South sophomore Lilian Cox, Soldotna freshman Kathryn Cox and Colony sophomore Breeze Buchanan.
West High’s Blake Hanley, who won in 28:37.0, was the only thing preventing a Kenai Central sweep of the boys podium. He won the first stage by 35.5 seconds and was fastest in the second stage to win by a total margin of 46.1 seconds.
Behind him were three Kardinals — second-place Chase Lake, third-place Greg Fallon and fourth-place Jack Lake.
Adults took to the trails Sunday in the Kincaid Classic, the third race in the AMH Anchorage Cup Series. Karl Danielson (49:07.5) and Jenna DiFalco (55:40.6) each won by more than a minute in the 15K classic, while other titles went to Adam Lewis (37:14.9) and Sue Forbes (41:00.6) in the 10K classic and Elias Clark (17:52.3) and Sylvie Kastning (19:04.9) in the 5K freestyle.
A handful of skiers strapped on wooden skis for a 3-kilometer old-school race. Pease, one of Alaska’s best mountain runners of all time, was the overall winner in 10:30.2. Next was Samuel Temiz in 10:38.7.
Youth Olympic Games in South Korea
Alaska’s three biathletes are among 1,802 athletes from 78 nations competing in the week-long mega-event for teenagers.
Trouble in the shooting range Friday put them out of medal contention in the 12.5-kilometer individual race, which features five targets in each of four shooting stages. Soule missed five out of 20 shots to place 31st, Lohuis missed six to finish 35th and Kam-Magruder missed seven to place 48th.
In Saturday’s mixed relay, Soule paired up with Emily Campbell to finish 28th.
Biathlon competition continues in Korea with a 7.5K sprint race Tuesday and another mixed relay Wednesday.