Period 1 & 2 Recap

December 5, 2024 - January 19, 2025

Period one and two in the books! The season kicked off in December in Lillehammer, Norway and Ruka, Finland followed in January by Klingenthal, Germany and Eisenerz, Austria. These first two periods have flown by! I wanted to post a quick recap before Period Three kicks off tomorrow in Schonach, Germany.

Period One

The season started out with a bang in Lillehammer, Norway where I was selected to compete at my first World Cup! This was an incredible experience and without a doubt the highlight of my career thus far. Debuting in Lillehammer was extra special as the place where I have lived and trained these last few years before moving to Trondheim this past fall. I was also super glad to have my mom there who flew all the way out from Anchorage to watch the races.

The competition consisted of a standard 10km Gunderson event on the 90-meter ski jump on Saturday, followed by a 7.5km Compact Race off the 120-meter on Sunday. I knew the Compact was better suited to my strengths on the XC course, but first I had to get through Saturday’s competition. The jumping was not quite what I was hoping for, so I started pretty far back in the pack, but was able to ski up to 55th place. The Compact started off similar to the day before, but starting only a minute and a half behind the leader, I knew the XC race was my chance to score points. With some incredibly fast Atomic skis, and some patient strategizing, I was able to ski my way through some big packs skiing up from 56th to 43rd and fighting for a top 40 finish in the final sprint. I missed out on points by three seconds, but I was extremely happy with how the race went, and how close I had come to scoring.

Unfortunately, because I was unable to score points, I was not chosen for the following World Cup in Ramsau, Austria, so it was time to head back to Ruka, Finland for the first Continental Cup (COC) of the year.

The competitions in Ruka went well, continuing the trend of fast races with my teammate Erik Lynch and I both boasting top 10 ski times on the cross-country course. The ski jump in Ruka is tricky, and we all struggled to tame the beast. Thanks to the XC racing I was still able to come away from the weekend with a personal best COC finish of 21st place on day one and a close 25th place on day two. After Ruka it was time to head home and recover after three back-to-back weekends of racing. (I had hopped in a Norwegian Cup Race the weekend before Lillehammer WC to get a competition under my belt).

Home for Christmas

Going home for Christmas was a welcome break from the five months I had been in Europe. I had not been home since late July, so spending some time with family and friends back in Anchorage was well overdue. Sadly, some tough conditions in the backcountry prevented us from getting out for our annual Christmas break - backcountry adventures, but we settled for skating at Westchester and alpine skiing at Alyeska mountain in Girdwood. Neena and I also celebrated our 21st birthday on winter solstice. New Year’s Eve presented an incredible northern lights show that I don’t think will ever be topped. Like someone had just flipped a switch, the northern lights burst into action at 12:40am on January first in a spectacular display that lit up the sky (see picture below). The trip home was only sullied slightly by contracting bronchitis which forced me to take a brief break from training. It was great to be back in Alaska again, but after 10 short days, it was time to head back to Europe for Period 2.

Period Two

The second period kicked off with the second Continental Cup of the year in Klingenthal, Germany. This time Erik Lynch, Henry Johnstone, and I were joined by a junior from Steamboat Springs, Colorado named Arthur Tirone. Arthur, after getting disqualified from the first two days of competition, would unfortunately have to wait until the following weekend for his COC debut, but he was a great addition to the team. Also joining us from the States was our coach, Michael Ward. The Klingenthal event was a tripleheader with competitions on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I competed on Friday, but the body still wasn’t quite up to 100% after the bronchitis, so after a slow race I had to settle with 34th. I was glad to still score some points but was frustrated by the slow recovery from being sick. Saturday’s jumping event was cancelled due to high winds, so the jury used the provisional competition round (PCR) instead. I was unfortunately disqualified along with Arthur in the PCR, so we cheered on Erik and Henry from the sidelines. Sunday’s competition was also cancelled due to high winds after about an hour of delays, but because the PCR had already been used, they were unable to hold the event. Arthur and I elected to do a time trial to get some hard effort from the weekend. On Monday, we piled in with the Norwegians and headed for Eisenerz, Austria for the next COC.

The jumps in Eisenerz are situated in a beautiful valley framed with steep, pristine mountain ranges and alpine passes. The conditions were perfect with sunny days, and hard fast snow which we enjoyed touring through on our off days. Far removed from the nearest city, and light pollution, we also enjoyed the stargazing on our evening recovery jogs. While we drove with the Norwegians straight from Klingenthal to Eisenerz, Michael and Arthur had taken the van to Munich to pick up Kai Mckinnon, Ella Wilson, and Haley Brabec who were joining our team for the women’s Continental Cup that weekend. Kai McKinnon had never competed in a COC before and blew all expectations finishing 6th and 4th on the two individual days.

Waxing for Friday’s competition was difficult to nail with teams gambling on how long the valley would stay in the shade. The skis were running slow on the first day when I finished 39th, but the team absolutely nailed it on Sunday when Henry and I skied up into the top 30 finishing 23rd and 27th respectively. Saturday’s event was a two-person team sprint. Each athlete did 5 laps of a 1.9km course tagging off to their teammate after each leg. Arthur and I partnered up to finish 18th as the top American team. After Sunday’s race we piled into the van and headed for Munich where we said goodbye to Michael and the juniors. On Monday we met up with Erik Lynch and drove to Seefeld for some much-needed recovery. Seefeld is one of my favorite spots on the circuit, and we enjoyed our brief time there before driving to rainy Schonach, Germany on Wednesday afternoon.

The racing hasn’t been quite where I know it can be in period two, but the trendline is looking good. The body is feeling healthy again after the bronchitis and spirits are high! It’s a good reminder that no season is perfect, and that there will always be ups and downs. The most important thing is to roll with the punches and have trust that your base is strong enough to get you through periods of sickness. The whole team is stoked to kick off period three here in Schonach im Schwartzwald aka “The Black Forrest” Germany, and I’m looking forward to some fast racing and some better results. 

PERIOD THREE LET’S GO!