Would the GRP’s Jack Young leverage his local knowledge to win on Friday? Photo - Phil Belena.

As much as sports fans love an underdog story, especially during March Madness, top seeds often have earned that position. Such was the case at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center today in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Friday's combined field had at least 31 racers that had earned at least 1 World Cup start, 15 of which had made the heats in international competition. Would that depth combine with a variable course, evolving in the warming spring sunshine to create upsets?

Men's Field

Ben Ogden's statement of intent was readily apparent from the qualifier, as he took close to 3 seconds out of US Ski and Snowboard teammate Gus Schumacher in 2nd. The top 12 qualifiers contained 9 of the 10 starters who’ve made heats on the World Cup (BSF ski coach Andy Newell was the US male World Cup top 30 finisher on the outside of this stat).

The sprint course in Craftsbury was challenged by weather as over a quarter inch of rain fell between mid-afternoon Thursday and midnight. While the rain stopped, the front’s warmth had persisted well into the early hours of the morning, only dropping below freezing around 4:00am. Grooming was only able to get race groomed starting around 7:00am. “The course was crazy,” Ben Ogden reported. “Soft and slushy in some places, firm and icy in others.”

The course’s difficulties kick off with a hard left hand turn at the course’s low point, immediately before the primary climb, before it rolls back towards the stadium where another uphill offers a chance to make or consolidate one’s separation. Craftsbury GRP’s John Schwinghamer’s visited the ditch of that corner in his quarterfinal, and others’ days - while most were not as dramatically ended - were impacted by that same turn and transition.

The racing quickly distilled to the high seeds in the semis, with only GRP’s Keelan Durham, Joe Lynch and Utah’s Zanden McMullen being outside the top 12 qualifiers to advance. GRP’s Jack Young and Team Birkie’s Kevin Bolger, the 6th and 7th qualifiers respectively, lucky losered their way into the finals - along with the top qualifiers Ogden, Schumacher, Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) and JC Schoonmaker (APU).

While the heats were mostly won by higher seeds punching it on the last uphill to the line, saving as much energy as possible, the finals demanded racers ante up earlier. Ogden explained. “Quarters and semis, I was trying to do it on the finish hill, but in the final, I pushed it on the first climb,” Ogden explained. “I felt I had some legs the other boys didn’t, so I figured I might as well go for it.”

And go for it Ogden did. “Ben made the gap thru the soft stuff,” said Schumacher. “Over the top I tried to close back, because I knew if I was with him going over the top, he’d carry me in – but he’s obviously really good at that stuff and just stayed on the gas.”

JC Schoonmaker explained: “Ben pulled out the same tricks he used to get that silver medal as he did on us today. He's super strong, and he did really well.”

Ogden led Schoonmaker home after gapping him and Schumacher. “I didn’t know what it looked like behind me, but JC was really close and had a really good finish. He was skiing really well,” said 3rd placed Schumacher.

Men’s podium:

1 – Ben Ogden 03:12.11

2 – JC Schoonmaker 03:13.74

3 – Gus Schumacher 03:15.83

Results

Photos (coming soon)

Men’s classic podium (L-R): Schoonmaker, Ogden, Schumacher.

Women’s Field

Erin Bianco (BSF Pro Team) threw down in the women’s qualifier, pulling a gap of over 3 seconds to 2nd placed Katie Weaver (Alberta World Cup Academy), with another 3 seconds back to Lauren Jortberg (CNEPH/Mansfield Pro). The internationally experienced field featured 14 starters with World Cup starts, including 5 having made heats – and that’s to say nothing of biathletes that were dipping their toes into racing without guns.

The heat progression was quite similar to the men’s side, with the course and competition creating a semi- and finals that were chock full of top seeds. Semis had 3 qualifiers outside of the morning’s top 12, and finals bore a strong resemblance to the men’s side, as qualifiers 1-5 were joined by Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt of the Alberta World Cup Academy – Weaver’s teammate and fellow soon-to-be retiree.

Jortberg opened the final the same way she’d opened all the heats and semis to that point, charging to the front to take control of her position on the downhill into the left and its subsequent climb. “In my quarter and semi, I’d kind of gotten a little bit slingshotted out of the corner, so for the final, I’d try to be in 2nd or 3rd. I was in 2nd and kind of ended the day off the trail.”

While Jortberg was evaluating what went awry, Bouffard-Nesbitt had launched out of the pack on the uphill and teammate Weaver had tucked in behind. “I didn’t want to take any chances, so I just tried to push as soon as we hit the climbing section,” said Bouffard-Nesbitt. “I was just trying to stay in front. If anyone was going to pass me, I was going to make them work to pass me.”

“I tucked in behind Olivia and we got a bit of a gap on the field,” Weaver said. “We pulled up beside each other in the lower stadium and my tactic was to go as hard as I could, make a move on that last climb and then double-pole it all the way home.”

“Katie is the best classic sprinter I know – just phenomenal. She hasn’t had as many chances on the World Cup as she deserves, but she is world class,” complimented Bouffard-Nesbitt. “She showed that and gapped me over the top. I kept hammering into the finish because I felt some of the other girls were going be coming up on me and I took a look back and there was no one, so got to celebrate with my teammate Katie.”

Emma Albrecht of BSF Pro rounded out the podium behind the celebrating pair of Canadians.

Weaver summed up her win: “I’m really grateful I got to feel the sensation of winning a race one last time. I’m really happy about today and it was amazing to share it with my teammate Olivia.”

The day was perhaps short on upsets, but what a storybook finish to a classic sprinter’s career.

Women’s Podium

1 – Katie Weaver 03:51.33

2 - Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt 03:53.05

3 – Emma Albrecht 03:55.96