LAHTI, FINLAND – Craftsbury Green Racing Project (GRP) skier, Jack Young, had the chance to compete in two freestyle cross country sprint competitions these past two weekends for the U.S. Ski Team. He’s showing continued improvement by first making it through the qualifier racers into the heats. But then he’s showing he’s right there in the mix to move from the quarterfinals to semifinals. In Falun, Sweden, he placed within a ski length of making the top two in his quarterfinal, but a rule violation by the skier ahead of him, allowed him to move onto the semi-finals. He finished 12th for the day. This past weekend the World Cup races were in Lahti, Finland. “I felt faster today than I did in Falun, and I think I’m still on the way up. Tactically, I’m making the progress I need to make,” Young continued. “I did a lot of things today in the heat that I haven’t done in the past. I was taking up space and shutting down moves made from behind me better than I ever have. In the future I need to keep skiing aggressively and find ways to get into the top two before the last 100 meters.” (quotes from FasterSkier)
Young should be racing in the final World Cup weekend in Lake Placid on March 21. This will only be the third time ever that a World Cup has been held in the United States. The best U.S. skier in history, Jessie Diggins, will be retiring after this season, thus it will very fitting for her to close her career on home snow. That all said, some of the U.S. Ski Team skiers will likely be racing the SuperTour finals to be held at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center from March 27-29.
