World Junior and U23 Championship Update

While the race courses in Tarvisio, Italy are sprouting green grass and flowers, the backup site in nearby Fusine is still holding a meter of transformed snow. The mountains surrounding the venue are straight out of Lord of the Rings and look like they hold the capacity to bury the ski stadium with a quick slough of snow. It is going to be a great event. Currently, however, we are unable to train on the race courses until Sunday morning, though US coaches were spotted yesterday poaching the closed trails to get a closer look. Pat filmed the sprint course today on video so the athletes can put a vision in their sights, and tomorrow the plan is to have the sprinters walk the trail.

We’ve been in Italy for three days. We are 17 athletes and 6 coaches strong currently, and on the 11^th our PT (April), our wax pilot (Andrew Johnson--arriving from the Engadin Marathon) and the rest of our 24-athlete squad arrive. With the small exception of a couple athletes doing battle with jetlag, we are healthy and are training well, resting hard, and eating a lot. A second-dinner, where athletes can eat a bowl of cereal and some fruit before hitting the pillow is in motion so they can keep their glycogen stores fueled around the clock.

While the 50-year rains pounded us for the first two days in unrelenting fashion, the team chemistry has not been challenged. Today, the low-pressure system was kicked out of town and the mountains revealed themselves. The athletes are eager, fired up, and working together towards the goal of becoming the best racers they can be.

We have big guns on this trip, and they are loaded for bear.

World Junior:

Alexa Turzian

Rosie Brennan

Liz Stephen

Jennie Bender

Liz Habermann

Sadie Bjornsen

Parker Tyler

Karl Nygren

Matt Gelso

Tad Elliot