Full article and photo credit: Fasterskier.com

The end of the World Cup season comes fast and furious, and right until the end the racing is hard-fought. The top finishers of the 15 k freestyle pursuit at World Cup Finals may have been predictable and spread out, but the effort was by no means easy, for the leaders or the rest of the field.

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Kevin Sandau (CAN) finished the pursuit 35.7 seconds behind Newell in 37th, moving up a place from his starting position and posting the 34th-fastest time of the day. This is Sandau’s first World Cup 

Finals experience, so the series was both a career first and career best.

Throughout the pursuit, Sandau benefitted from working with Eirik Brandsdal (NOR) and Fabio Pasini, the two starters in front of him.

“It was definitely better than just skiing on my own or no one wanting to work together,” said Sandau. “I think it was best case scenario — it turned out really good. When one died, we just alternated.”

Sandau finished 5:43.0 behind the winning time.

The World Cup season over, his next stop is Canadian Nationals, which have already begun in Quebec.

“I feel like the season is pretty much a wrap,” he said of leaving Europe. “It’s nice to wrap it up officially in Europe and then we jump on a plain at 6:00 am [Monday].”

With the early flight and inevitable jet lag, Sandau said his first few races back home should be “interesting — I might not be in the peak shape that I would like to be in, but it will be like the second way to finish off the season.”

Though there is still racing to go, the 23-year-old is already thinking about coming back to Europe next year for an even better season.

“This is a really good group of guys to be hanging out with,” said Sandau of the Canadian team. “Three of them on the podium — the energy is just crazy high. It is one of the best years to be on the World Cup with these guys and next year is going to be even better.”

“I hope to race with them again here.”

Men’s results.

Matthew Voisin contributed reporting.

Norway's gotta be one of the best places to race in the world. Besides the pretty spectacular ski trails around Oslo and at Holmenkollen, it seems like Norwegian spectators have a soft spot for Canadians. From start to finish on Saturday's 50km at Holmenkollen Park, there was no end to the shouts, "Go Canada Go!".

"Yikes." - that's how last weekends 30km skiathlon in Lahti, Finland can be summed up for me. After catching a cold in the final few days in Seizer Alm, my energy levels took a steep dive and remained low long after I got over the sore throat and runny. Upon arriving in Finland and skiing on the race trails, my body felt like dial-up internet yearning for some DSL. Come race day I was playing everything by ear, and after a hard warm up I figured the body was reacting well enough to give it a go. I didn't make it far into the race. Coming into the stadium at the 11.25km mark of the classic leg I pulled the plug and put a DNF (Did Not Finish) next to my name on the results sheet. With a serious lack of "oomph", or anything for that matter, it turns out my body wasn't quite ready to get back into racing yet.

 But that was last week.

 Fast forward to now and I'm less than 24 hours away from racing the 50km Holmenkollen World Cup here in Oslo, Norway. The body is feeling recharged and ready for a race that has been on my bucket list for this season. This is my first time in Norway, and let's just say the Norwegians love their Nordic skiing. With thousands expected to be lining the 8km loop tomorrow here at Holmenkollen, it sure will be quite the thing to witness. (I'll be packing earplugs just in case) 

Holmenkollen Ski Jump mixed in with the fog, which I feel like they get a lot of

I’m back in Europe - Italy to be exact. After wrapping up the Canadian NorAm Circuit last week, I grabbed the FIS Regional spot, giving me starts in all the March World Cups, including the Finals in Sweden. Rewind back to my last update, I had just finished racing at Callaghan Valley near Whistler and was in tight contention for this trip to Europe. Using the best of 8 races, it was a battle royale between club/sprint/teammate Brent McMurtry and I. After finishing 1^st at the Western Canadian Championships in Canmore, and 2^nd a couple weeks later at the Eastern Canadian Championships near Ottawa, I was able to lock up my spot to Europe and the opportunity to race the last three weekends of World Cups.

It seems like my brain is starting to function again after a few rough days of jet lag. I'm back in the snowy homeland after my three week stint in what could almost be described as Europe during the spring. Kuusamo, Finland was my last stop on the trip with some world cup mini-tour action. In the end I finished 73rd, jumbled back in the pack but gained some good insight and experience in my 3rd, 4th and 5th world cup experience. Insert race breakdown:

Day 1: Classic Sprint

Well, there had been quite a bit of emphasis in training over the summer to improve my short distance and sprinting speed, but this wasn't exactly the race to best gauge how things fared. Not to say that it wasn't a fun race. The course in Kuusamo was to my liking, with some good  steep climbs and little of the double pole stuff. I'd say of the sprint qualifiers I've done over the years, this one felt relaxed, fast, and with not a huge amount of pressure going into it, pretty controlled. I crossed the line in 111th and 20 seconds back. On to the good stuff.

Actually before we get to day two, a special note. Moustachioed Len Valjas started his season off pretty decently with a 5th place finish in the sprint, keeping the energy going from Harvey's 5th the weekend before in Norway. It must be the intimidation factor of his Movember Mo.

Day 2: Turkey Legs in the 10km

It's funny really. For dinner the night before we were served turkey, and the joke at the dinner table was if you eat too much of it, you'd be plagued with turkey legs the next day. The claim of turkey legs doesn't really have any scientific backing, or well so I thought. Saturday's 10km skate race was turkey legs buffet. Just after the first climb my legs locked up, unable to clear lactate quick enough to maintain any sort of fresh feeling for the remaining 8km. It was a battle between mind and legs as I tried to ski smooth to the finish line, and ended up with the 69th fastest time.

Day 3: Semi-redemption in the 15km

With yesterday's race behind me, I was focused on finishing the tour on a positive note. Because it was a pursuit style start, I started my race about two minutes after the leaders. Skiers were starting every second, so there was a long line of skiers going around the course and plenty of positions to move forward. The body was night and day compared to yesterday, and things started off smoothly and controlled. Things were going well until mid-way through the race on the downhill we had to repeat six times I had a small lapse in judgment.

Deciding to try the furthest right track for a change I got in my low tuck and gunned it on the downhill. Near the bottom of this hill is a slight left turn that flatten out before hitting a steep climb back into the stadium. Upon hitting the curve in the trail, I jumped out of my track to navigate the turn. Carrying a bit too much speed, and having to cross two other tracks, my one ski decided not to join me and gave me a sudden encounter with the ground. By the time I hopped back up, I lost all my speed for the next climb, and the time I thought I was making had slipped by. Shit happens.

It took me a while to get back in my groove and I did my best to try an regain some spots. By the end I finished the overall tour in 73rd, but withholding the result and the faceplant, Sunday's race felt good. So positive beats out the negative, 9 times out of 10.

I'm hoping a photo turns up, but in the meantime was reminded of the sweet crash I took of Brent McMurtry a couple years ago... O, the memories

So I'm back in Canmore... for now:

I've had a few days at home to ponder the overall early Europe experience, and well, I'd say it went by way too quickly. Seem's like not that long ago I was in Sweden praying for some cooler weather and less rain. Like all my trips across the pond, this one was a blast, with a sweet crew and some valuable racing moments to take home. 

There isn't a pause yet, with Canada starting it's racing season this weekend with some Alberta Cups in Canmore. Next weekend I'm off to Vernon for the start of the NorAm series and then to Rossland. Awesome.

Have a good one,

K

How many days have I been in Europe? It seems like after a full day and a half of traveling overseas my ability to keep track of time and days has diminished. I guess today would mark my eighth day in Europe and sixth in Otepää, Estonia, the site for the Under-23 Championships and two World Cups this past weekend.

The trip started in sunless and foggy Vierumaki, Finland, our staging area for the first couple of days as we started to adjust our bodies to the nine hour time change. Despite having a great set up at our hotel, with awesome food, ski trails right out the door and even a bowling alley, our stay here was short as most of the U23's and I left for Estonia after just a couple days to prepare for some world cup racing at the same race venue as the championships.

Our drive from Finland to Otepää lasted eight hours, and included a two hour ferry ride across the Baltic Sea. Here at the boat docks is where the Superstars are seperated from the Princesses (we were Superstars)