Thanks to open borders at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships at Kincaid Park, the field of racers is filled with international skiers. Many of them are turning in top results.

Thanks to a long-standing policy that only U.S. racers are eligible for national titles, a number of Americans are getting upgrades when it comes to medals and prize money.

And so Anchorage’s Luke Jager is a national champion in the classic sprint even though he finished second in the men’s finals Saturday afternoon.

Jager, a three-time national champ in the classic sprint (he also won gold medals last year and in 2023), was part of an all-Alaska medals stand.

Michael Earnhart of Eagle River grabbed silver and Murphy Kimball of Anchorage took home the bronze, even though Earnhart placed third and Kimball placed fifth in the six-man finals.

The medal was especially sweet for Kimball, who is all of 18 years old.

“I’ve trained every day to be on a podium with them,” Kimball said of Jager, 24, and Earnhart, 22. “I’ve looked up to them since I was in the 6th or 7th grade and I was watching them in the Junior World Championships.”

On the women’s side, three foreign athletes and three Americans qualified for the finals, which meant all three Americans were guaranteed medals even before the race started.

Skiers from Sweden and Estonia finished 1-2, with Erica Laven of the University of Utah leading the way with a dominant win. Mariel Pulles of Estonia — a UAF graduate now training in Minnesota — placed second.

Then came Stanford freshman Sammy Smith of Idaho, a multi-sport star who has represented the United States on national teams in both soccer and skiing.

Her third-place finish landed her on top of the podium, which she shared with silver-medalist Erin Bianco of Montana, who placed fifth in the finals, and bronze medalist Nina Seeman of Dartmouth, who placed sixth.

Jager, a 2022 Olympian who will turn 25 later this month, was the dominant skier for most of the day.

He was the fastest by far during the morning qualifying round, covering the 1.4-kilometer course in 2 minutes, 56.23 seconds. In an event where fractions of seconds often separate skiers, Jager was 2.01 seconds faster than the No. 2 qualifier, UAA’s Erling Bjoernstad of Norway.

Jager went on to win his quarterfinal and semifinal. In a fast semifinal that featured five Alaskans, Jager clocked the fastest time of the day — 2:53.28 — to edge the University of Denver’s Andreas Kirkeng of Norway by .02 of a second. Those were the only sub-2:54.0 times of the day.

Jager and Kirkeng are the top two men through two races in the championships, which continue Sunday with a 20-kilometer mass-start classic race. In Thursday’s 10K freestyle, Kirkeng finished second and Jager fourth.

Saturday was a strong day for Alaskans, especially the men.

Six Alaska men were among 12 semifinalists, with Jager, Earnhart and Kimball advancing to the finals. Garrett Butts of Alaska Pacific, Cole Flowers of UAF and Erling Bjoernstad of UAA did not advance.

Three Alaska women made it to the semifinals, though none advanced to the finals. Kendall Kramer of Fairbanks finished 10th and Anchorage skiers Renae Anderson and Marit Flora placed 11th and 12th, respectively.

In the morning qualifying races, Alaska men set the pace in every age class — Jager in the senior division, Bjoernstad in Under-23, Kimball in U-20, Noa Kam-Magruder of the Alaska Winter Stars in U-18 and Jack Leveque of the Winter Stars in U-16.

Kimball, 18, is a UAA freshman who last season made his World Cup debut at age 17 — an amazing feat. He’s still doing amazing things.

His qualifying time of 2:59.17 was the fourth fastest of the morning. Only six men broke the 3-minute mark in qualifying, a group that also included Earnhart, who was sixth-fastest with a time of 2:59.54.

The championships conclude Sunday with a 20-kilometer mass-start classic race for senior-level racers. The men start at 11 a.m. and the women at 12:30 p.m.

Junior-level racers will go 10K, with the men going out first at 2 p.m.

There’s another race Tuesday – a freestyle sprint. Though it’s not a national championship race, it is a Super Tour event and could factor into the naming of the U.S. team for the World Championships next month in Norway.