Report from Race Day 1

The first day of competition at the World Junior Championships in Stryn, Norway was dominated by largely by Russia and Germany. Some very warm temperatures, over night sleet and morning showers made for some tricky waxing conditions. The wet snow and temperatures above zero meant wax technicians were madly cracking the tops off the klister tubes and searching desperately for the warm powders. The race was contested on a 5km loop with most of the climbing done in three bursts at the 1.5km mark, 3km mark and 4km mark. The course was challenging but quite ski-able with no really steep up hills or technical downs.

The women's 15km Classic race was won comfortable by the 2003 15km bronze medallist, Irina Artemova of Russia, in 46:12.6. Battling the rain and the very slow conditions Artemova took the lead around the 7km mark and was never contested. The battle for second to eighth place was a lot more exciting though. The group of seven girls jostled for position throughout the race and were still in a fairly tight bunch with 2.5km to go but the long climb at the 3km mark of the lap proved to be make or break time for the girls and the two German girls took command up the long climb breaking up the field. They went on to fight it out for the two minor placings, Antje Dittrich in 46:23.4 then Marion Ruf in 46:28.3. The big surprise was the Cechoslovakian girl who wearing bib number 50 literally skied from the back of the field into fourth place only 8 seconds off a medal!

The men's 30km was a lot less exciting. The rain stopped and it was a balmy +3.5 degrees. This meant fluid intake had to be frequent and skiing in a bunch was essential to save energy. Three skiers made an early break on the field, at the 2.5km mark they were already 8 seconds up on the next bunch and by the half way point had a 30 second break on the next skier. The lead pack consisted of the two highest ranked skiers in the field, a German and a Swiss, and bib 15 a Russian. In the wet conditions it was difficult to make up time and these three skiers remained uncontested by the rest of the field for the remainder of the race. The German did a lot of the work early but by the 22.5km mark it had appeared he had spent his biccies as the Swiss and Russian had dropped him and opened up 7 second lead. The Russian broke away from the German on the last hill and won by 12 seconds.

Ben made a nervous start, jostling for position around the 30 mark over the first 2.5km then slipping back to around 50th from the 5km to 15km mark of the race. He took a fall in the third lap getting his ski stuck in a course maker and then broke a pole about a kilometer later. Suprisingly this didn't unsettle Ben, it helped him to focus and he seemed to help him find his rhythm. Ben had struggled to find a bunch to ski with doing a lot of work on his own. Over the last 15km he looked like a different skier though. Ben began to ski more comfortable and gradually started picking his way through the field skiing strongly over the last 15km to pick up around 10 places to finish a gallant 41st place out of 76 starters.

Ben was pretty satisfied with his race. He felt he has skied pretty well, despite the shakey start and that his skis were pretty fast with good grip considering the conditions.