RUKA, Finland (Nov.29) - Ida Sargent (Orleans, VT) skied to a fifth place finish in the cross country classic sprint World Cup opener Saturday, earning a career best individual finish. Norway’s Marit Bjoergen won her 67th career World Cup, finishing just ahead of Kajta Visnar (SLO) and Maiken Caspersen Fall (NOR.) In the men’s competition Eirik Brandsdal (NOR) took the win. Simi Hamilton (Aspen, CO) was the top US Men’s finisher in 26th place. Sunday the men and women will race a 15k/10k individual classic event.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Ida Sargent (Orleans, VT) skied into a fifth place finish in the classic World Cup sprint on Saturday.
- Sargent progressed through each round as the ‘lucky loser,’ having one of the fastest two times in the round among those who didn’t qualify in the top two of their heat.
- The U.S. qualified five through to the rounds.
- World Sprint Champion, Jessie Diggins missed out on qualification due to an untimely fall.
- Marit Bjoergen (NOR) won the women’s race over Kajta Visnar (SLO) and Maiken Caspersen Falla (NOR).
- Eirik Bransdal (NOR) held off a hard charging Petter Northug (NOR) and Sondre Fossli (NOR). Norway swept the top four men’s positions.
- Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) led the USA in qualifying in 12th, but was knocked out in the first heat to finish 16th. Simi Hamilton (Aspen, CO) led the U.S. men in 26th place.
QUOTES
Ida Sargent
It was a fun day out there but a hard day. I’m grateful to start off the season with a strong result. The best part was that all my teammates were in the stadium waiting for me to finish.
Conditions were really tricky, glazed and blown out but over the tops of the hill they were really powdery. There was not really any perfect wax. You had to make it work. But overall our techs did a really good job.
Jason Cork, Coach
It was cooling off as the day went on. It was a mix of klister, klister covered, hairies. The skis were tricky. –
It was a good start to the year. We were happy with the way it worked out. You always have to clean up the skis at the end of the day, but getting five in the rounds in the first big competition makes that much easier!
We’re looking forward to seeing what the whole crew can do tomorrow in the distance races. Noah (Hoffman) hasn’t had a big competition yet so that will be fun to watch. Sadie (Bjornsen) finished well here last year so it’s exciting to watch her.
RESULTS
