Davos World Cup

Davos World Cup weekend has been on my mind and my list of goals for  many years. A 30 km freestyle interval start race at altitude is an ideal race for me.  This past weekend I had the fortunate opportunity to finally compete in this race for the first time.    One of my goals is to finish in the World Cup points, which are awarded to the top 30 finishers in each race.   This is a standard accomplishment for our US women, but has been a challenge for US distance men.  Last year, Simi Hamilton was the only US skier to score distance World Cup points with a 26th in the 4 km prologue in the Tour de Ski.  Last year I finished 35th in the Holmenkollen World Cup for the next best world cup distance result for the US last year.  Last weekend, Noah Hoffman finished 25th in the 30 km Skiathalon for our first men's distance points of the year.  On Saturday I finished 65th, 3 minutes and 21 seconds off of my goal.  My US teammates were not pleased with their finishes either at 52nd, Noah Hoffman and 67th Kris Freeman.  We all agreed that our skis were good and in the mix, we simply were not.  I honestly felt that my race effort was similar to the West Yellowstone Super Tour, and so begins the analysis of what actions and processes can be taken to improve.  Although I am not pleased with my result I still smile about how much I enjoy the process of becoming better.

Thank you Marcel Hilger for the great race photos

Analyzing the split times from the race I skied pretty consistently, although loosing a bit more time each lap in the final 15km.

Arriving in Davos

Solo Training Camp my first few days on the ground with the Swiss Cows

Testing skis with Coach Tom

Another one of my goals for the week was to help Caitlin regain her form.  She did not disappoint with a top 20 finish in Saturday's 15 km.  She also noted that we finished about the same percentage back from the leader, but that the Men's field has more and tighter competition.  We finished with 65 and 68 FIS points respectively which is calculated on percent back from the winner.