Patterson Opens World Cup Season in Ruka, Finland

Patterson making moves in the 10k freestyle pursuit in Ruka (Photo Nordic Focus).

The 2019-2020 FIS Cross Country World Cup season is officially underway after a 3 day mini-tour in Ruka, Finland over the weekend. Ruka is the traditional venue for the first World Cups of the year, and all of the teams were eager to test themselves after a long off season. Racing kicked off on Friday, November 29 with a classic sprint, followed by a 10/15k classic individual start the next day. The weekend wrapped up with a 10/15k freestyle pursuit start based on the combined times from the previous two events.

GRP and USST skier Caitlin Patterson got her World Cup season underway with solid results in Ruka. She placed 82nd in the classic sprint, then followed that up with a 65th in the 10k classic. Starting in bib 64, she was able to move up to 52nd in the 10k freestyle pursuit, skiing the 37th fastest time on day in the process.

Results from the weekend are available on FIS-Ski.com. The World Cup continues next weekend in Lillehammer, Norway with a skiathlon and a men’s and women’s relay.