First day of finals! Sunny and really warm today so even if the snow isn't good, we could enjoy the weather. Course conditions were like ground up snow cones with slush mixed it, not very good, but we were on snow! We had the 5km and 1km and 50 meter races with the long one awarding athletes at the end of the day.
With the canceled day, our schedule begame a bit more intense for the rest of the week, but we will handle it and the athletes don't blink and eye. The team did a longer pre race warmup on the course and had a chance to inspect conditions. The snow melt continued and in a few spots thy actually had to shush thru slushy water. Skating would be harder because the tilled skate lane was pretty soft. I felt like I'd never been on skis during my ski. Classic technique would be easier as the tracks were firmer. Everyone had a good ski and then it was onto the 1km trials.
We have a big crew in the 1km and 500 meter races, so there is a lot of organizing to be done. Coaches each have a role, start tent, staging, warm up and shuttling athletes to and from the start finish. That system has been going really well. We had 14 in the 1km, so it was constant action for an hour or two. All smiles as they slid into the finish line, looking up at the clock to see times, then to the cheering fans. I had the honor of meeting them at the finish chute, carrying their skis and being the first to congratulate them. Best job in the world! Lots of families there and they are so proud.
The big guns on our team did the 5 km later on a really tough course (warm snow) and one I wouldn't want to ski! We had 2 skiers in the classic and two in the 5km freestyle, meaning they can ski either technique. Usually it's mostly skiers, but classic would be okay this day. The course was harder than in the prelim but they still skied well, some with faster times! In the end, we ended up with 2 golds (freestyle race) and a bronze and 6th in a big division.
The 50 meter was also held and a nice crowd cheered them on. It may e a short race, but it's long in enthusiasm. Awards are to be handed out today, so the athletes don't know exactly how they finished, we decided to not them them and let them enjoy finding out on the podium. (2 gold, one silver).
Today ( Tuesday) is the 1km final, 100m trials and relay practice. ESPN is covering our gold medal 5 km winner, doing a story on his training (he's a superb runner), Marty Smith from ESPN is running and interviewing him today. Every see wide world of sports pieces on athletes? Now we get that same coverage, and it's amazing!
All for now...hope to have as Greta a day as yesterday!
