December Update
World Cup Period 1
The Nordic Skiing World Cup kicked off the season in Ruka, Finland, on the last weekend of November. Alayna Sonnesyn, Kevin Bolger, and Zak Ketterson were there and ready to go.
The weekend included a 10km classic individual race, a classic sprint, and a 20km skate mass start.
Zak opened the weekend with a personal best since 2022, finishing 14th in the 10km classic. He followed that up with another personal best on Sunday, placing 9th in the 20km skate mass start.
Alayna earned a personal best for November with a 27th-place finish in the 20km mass start.
Kevin had a very strong classic sprint qualifier, finishing just outside the top 30 in 35th place. Overall, it was a very inspiring and strong first weekend of racing for all three athletes.
Results from Ruka are found here: RESULTS
The second weekend for Alayna, Kevin, and Zak took place in Kevin Bolger’s second home, Trondheim, Norway. Zak continued his strong form with another top-30 finish, placing 23rd in the 10km skate race. Kevin followed closely behind with a 33rd-place finish in the same race.
Results from the Trondheim World Cup are found here: RESULTS
The final weekend of Period 1 World Cups takes place this upcoming weekend in Davos, Switzerland, where Luci Anderson will also be joining the team. That means four Team Birkie athletes on the start line this weekend!
Results will be found HERE.
Zak Ketterson, Alayna Sonnesyn and Kevin Bolger in Ruka, Finland right before the season kicked off.
The Biathlon World Cup has also featured two Team Birkie athletes. Paul Schommer and Luci Anderson spent two weeks racing in Östersund, Sweden. Paul will continue racing this upcoming weekend in Hochfilzen, Austria, before heading to the final races in Annecy–Le Grand-Bornand from December 18–21.
Highlights from the first two World Cup weekends included a strong 5th-place finish for Paul as part of the men’s 4×7.5km relay, as well as a 32nd-place finish in the 20km individual competition on December 3. For Luci, highlights included a 16th-place finish in the women’s 4×6km relay, along with significant improvements over last season.
SuperTour Weekend 1
The first two weekends of SuperTour racing were originally scheduled to take place in Fairbanks before moving on to Anchorage, Alaska. Due to extremely cold temperatures, both race weekends were relocated to Anchorage.
Adam Witkowski with a good weekend - here during the Skate 10km placing 13th. Photo credit to Anna Lengel.
Team Birkie was on site, and highlights from this past weekend of SuperTour racing included Adam Witkowski’s 3rd-place finish in the classic sprint qualification, as well as strong performances in the Sunday 10km individual start skate race by Morgan Richter (14th) and Gretta Scholz (15th).
Other notable results included:
Saturday Classic Sprint
Gretta Scholz 19th
Taiga Moore 20th
Adam Witkowski 27th
Morgan Richter 27th
Skylar Patten 34th
Roger Anderson 38th
Eli Gore 44th
Henry Snider 46th
Benjamin Boelter 56th
Joseph Walling 58th
Sunday 10km Skate Individual Start
Adam Witkowski 13th
Morgan Richter 14th
Gretta Scholz 15th
Skylar Patten 35th
Henry Snider 38th
Roger Anderson 45th
Taiga Moore 53rd
Joseph Walling 60th
Benjamin Boelter 62nd
Results are found HERE.
Morgan Richter skiing into a personal best of 14th in last Sunday’s 10km Skate race. Photo credit to Anna Lengel.
Gretta Scholz with a strong weekend, here skiing into a 19th in Saturday’s classic sprint. Photo credit to Anna Lengel.
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