Swedish snow for British qualifiers
Scandinavia has been "suffering" from unseasonably warm weather this autumn and there is an almost complete lack of snow even in northern Finland. The Norwegian season opener in Beitostolen, which should have been held this weekend, was cancelled and for a while it looked as if the Swedes and Finns might have to follow suit. However, Bruksvallarna in Sweden decided they had enough man-made snow to be able to make a 2.5km track for the men's 15km and women's 10km freestyle races to go ahead. From a British point of view this was a relief as the races this weekend had been designated the selection races for British skiers wanting to go to the first Winter Youth Olympic Games to be held in January 2012 in Innsbruck. BNDS coach Roger Homyer sent this report on the men's race :
Scott Dixon and Calum Irvine raced in the senior 15km event at Bruksvallarna today. The race programme had been altered to accommodate the poor snow conditions and the junior age-category races were postponed for a week. Not a problem for those living close to Bruksvallarna but those of us who had purchased air tickets were committed to race this weekend even though it meant our juniors skiing with the seniors.
And what good fortune it was that we did come. A field that included top athletes from Sweden, Norway, Russia and France lined up for live screening on Norwegian and Swedish TV. Scott, in his first FIS race, went out 5th of 179 starters. A start interval of 1 minute meant it would be a long time before he would find out the result. He put his usual determination and drive into staying with the faster racers. "I hung in there in a group and was able to overtake and accelerate away on the last lap". Scott's 146 FIS points were more than good enough to achieve the BSS/BOA's qualification criteria for the WYOG.
Calum went out 15th in this high class field. He shot away on good skis for one lap but then felt his race went off the boil as he felt unwell for a couple of laps. "I was leading for the first lap but started to fall away. At the finish Roger asked if I had a good race - I replied that it could have been better!" But his "poor" race scored him 122 FIS points, again easily enough for WYOG qualification and only 2 points shy of the FIS World Cup entry qualification.
Tomorrow both Katy Homyer (GB Junior team) and Sarah Hale (aspirant WYOG competitor) go in an equally competitive women's senior race.
