Elizabeth Guiney: First World Cups

Well, I officially survived my first two weekends of World Cup racing in Sweden!

Backing up—I traveled over to Europe the day after the freestyle sprint prelim at Nationals, which I decided to skip since it didn’t count for anything points-wise, and would have meant racing the day before two big days of travel. I got to Ulricehamn a few days before the US Ski team arrived from Toblach, and spent those days skiing the race loop, checking out the town, and sampling different restaurants (surprisingly good Thai and Middle Eastern food in southern Sweden, as it turns out!) Luckily I was able to meet up with the guys SuperTour leader Matt Gelso, so it wasn’t a solo expedition. Ulricehamn is a first time venue for World Cup, so everyone in town was super excited about having the races there, and so friendly towards athletes, whether it was in the gym or grocery store.

The ski team arrived on Tuesday, and it was great seeing them and catching up with a few of my friends that I haven’t seen in a while! It’s an awesome group of people, and they definitely do their best to make traveling and racing in foreign countries a fun time. I did some intensity leading up to the races and fought the jet lag, then got ready to race my first ever World Cups… deep breaths.

On Saturday the women raced 10k freestyle individual start, which isn't my favorite race format. However, since I don’t have all that much time over here, I’ve decided to take advantage of every start right that I have. I figured it would be a good chance to test things out over here, learn how things work on the World Cup, and at the very least, I wouldn’t put too much pressure on myself to have a really outstanding race. In the end, it ended up being a pretty solid effort for me. I may have skied a little conservatively out of the start, but I was happy to feel like I could push hard, and I skied a bit with other women in the race who were lapping or catching me. A Russian woman caught me at around 8k, and we skied together into the finish and I was able to outsprint her for the line. My final result of 52^nd was not spectacular, but I was really happy with the race in general. Plus it was cool to see the US put 4 women in the top 25!

The next day I was really excited to have a spot on the second women’s relay team for the US. They haven’t had enough women over in Europe to field two women’s relays in a while. I was chosen to anchor the team, which meant a skate leg. Unfortunately I didn't feel quite as good during the relay as the previous day, and got caught by the Russian woman behind me, so our team finished 12th. However, it was still a really fun day, and I was psyched to be a part of the USA II team!

The volunteers were super friendly and excited to have us
there. Notice the grey fog/mist- pretty standard Scandinavian
weather for winter time

Sunset over the lake next to our hotel

Walking street in Ulricehamn

I got a new max speed during the 10k
skate, which feature a ripping downhill

Screenshot from the 10k race start from UNH teammate
Katie Miller- I was a tad bit nervous and forgot to smile
for the camera

First World Cup in the books! Doing a cool down
jog with Kikkan and Jessie

One crazy story from Ulricehamn- after the relay a woman came up
to me and introduced herself, and it turns out that she was my nanny
back in the States starting from when I was about 2 days old. She lives
nearbyin Sweden now and saw that I was racing then came to find me!
Such a small world. Our story made the local paper

Then the team traveled to Falun, Sweden for a freestyle sprint and 15k classic. Falun was the site of the 2015 World Championships, so I've seen the courses before on TV, but they were pretty impressive in person! Lots of sustained climbing with tricky downhills (especially on the sprint course). During the week, we did a bit of training and I got to hang out with my family since they were over to watch. Our hotel was the main lodging for the World Cup, so it was a bit unreal riding the elevator and eating meals next to World Cup athletes like the Norwegians and Russians, who I've only seen on tv.

An easy classic ski with double trouble friends
Sadie and Rosie- they're pretty cool!

My races in Falun weren't the best feeling-wise or results-wise. I struggled to shake some lingering fatigue from the Ulricehamn weekend, and falling in the sprint qualifier didn't help things. The next day I was excited for the 15k mass start and had a good start, but maybe went out a little too hard and spent most of the race getting passed (not a fun way to do a race, especially one with very fast skiers). So although I finished my two races disappointed, I'm trying to take these results and experiences in stride. As my first ever World Cups, I'm looking for things to take away from each race. Now I know the pace that a World Cup mass start goes out, and while it's pretty fast, it's not unattainable, so I'm looking forward to one day being able to hang on, instead of getting spit out the back!

Sprint qualifier in Falun (Photo Nordic Focus/TokoUS)

UNH wildcats in Falun! Andrew and Tim are
both alums from the UNH ski team who tech
for the US ski team now, and I also had my
brother over to cheer me on

Green Racing Project ladies after a tough 15k
classic. It's our first time having 3 women from
the GRP on the World Cup, which is awesome!

Team Guiney posing in front of the Norwegian
wax truck

After a solid two days of travel, I'm now in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and will be racing this weekend in the pre-Olympic World Cups here! So far Pyeongchang has been awesome, and the venue was spectacular yesterday, so I'll be posting a photo update after the races are over (and I survive another 2 day travel back to the States!)