GRP Ski at US Nationals Day Three and Four
Caitlin Patterson skiing with APU's Chelsea Holmes during the mass start classic (Photo FasterSkier)
Podium ceremony from the classic sprint, with Caitlin Patterson on top and Kaitlynn Miller 3rd (2nd American). Photo Michael Dinneen
Last Updated: 13.Jan.2018
Last week, Green Racing Project skiers finished off the last two races at US Cross Country Championships in Anchorage, AK with more strong results. The highlight was Caitlin Patterson's clean sweep of the four events. She won three out of four races outright and placed 2nd overall in the 20k classic mass start, but as first American still took the National Championship. She is the first female skier to sweep all four races at US Nationals since Jessie Diggins did it back in 2012.
20/30k Mass Start Classic
Almost a week ago, on January 7, the skiers toed the line for a mass start classic. The women raced 20k on a 5k modified course that included only one of the original A-climbs from the planned course. Caitlin Patterson took 2nd overall behind CU skier Hedda Bangman (from Sweden), thus finishing as 1st American. Kaitlynn Miller also had a strong finish in 5th, as 3rd American, and Liz Guiney placed 16th. Later that day the men raced 30k, 6 laps of the same course as the women. After spending most of the race in the main pack, Adam Martin finished 9th and Ben Lustgarten took 10th.
Classic Sprints
The classic sprint went off the following day, January 8. In qualification, the GRP women put three in the top 10, with Kaitlynn Miller in 5th, Caitlin Patterson 7th, and Liz Guiney 10th. Both Caitlin and Kaitlynn won their quarterfinals to move on to the semis, and Liz also advanced to the semi via a lucky loser spot. She placed 6th in her semi, good for 11th overall. Caitlin and Kaitlynn went all the way to the A Final, where Caitlin took the win outright, and Kaitlynn finished 3rd, as 2nd American. On the men's side, Ben Lustgarten was 27th in qualification and Adam just missed out on qualifying in 38th. Ben placed 4th in his quarterfinal heat, moving up to 20th overall.
The domestic skiers have a short break before their next SuperTour weekend in Craftsbury on January 26-28. On the World Cup, things pick up this weekend with a double sprint weekend in Dresden, Germany, where Ben, Caitlin, and Ida will all compete.
Results from US Nationals are available on SuperiorTiming.com.