From March 10 to March 14, the St. Olaf Nordic Ski team is taking on an adventure in New York. The team is battling it out at the Nordic Skiing Nationals, taking on the trails of the iconic Lake Placid. These same trails will be skied by Olympic Medalist Jessie Diggins the following week.
Members of the St. Olaf Nordic Ski team are happy their work has paid off. In an interview with The Olaf Messenger, Jack Aldrich ’29 made it clear that even though skiing can feel like an individual sport at times, it is truly the team that makes their accomplishments feel more rewarding.
“I think it’s a big deal that both teams made it to nationals, because we’re a super close team,” Aldrich said. “[We’re] very co-ed … we do everything together, and help each other in intervals and push each other. So to see us both achieve this goal represents a strong central team goal that we’ve had all season.”
This achievement was not something that could be accomplished without hard work and training — both with and without snow. The team of dedicated athletes has spent countless hours training on roller skis over these warmer months to keep their bodies in shape for the next season.
The roller skiing doesn’t end when the school year begins, though. The athletes participate in roller skiing across the concrete trails on campus for the first months of the school year, along with bike and core training. This training culminates in finally being able to train on snow once it gets cold. As Nationals approach, the team increases the intensity of their training to match the competition’s conditions.
“For nationals in particular, it’s a series of four races over five days, each in a different format. So over the last two weeks I’ve made practices that highlight the challenges and feeling of those four formats,” Head Nordic Ski Coach Tor Hanson said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger.
So many factors contribute to the team’s success, from hard work to teamwork that creates a bond and keeps the team going on distance races as long as 50 kilometers. They are going to need this endurance and teamwork for the upcoming days, as the conditions are looking a little slushy. In an interview with The Olaf Messenger, Hanson expressed that “the weather conditions will certainly be a challenge,” but the team is well-prepared, as they’ve “been doing training sessions on similar weather days” to get a feel for the upcoming “warm snow.”
The team is in safe hands when it comes to the threat of slushy snow due to all of the hard work from both the coaches and athletes. Interested readers can stream the Nationals using this link.
