Sargent Top 15 in Otepaa World Cup; GRP Women Go 1-2-3 in Ishpeming
GRP women sweep the SuperTour podium in Ishpeming- L to R Caitlin Patterson, Kaitlynn Miller, Liz Guiney
Last Updated: 20.Feb.2017
In the week leading up to cross country World Championships in Lahti, Finland, Green Racing Project skiers Ida Sargent and Ben Lustgarten raced World Cups in Otepaa, Estonia. Back in the States, 5 GRP women competed in the SuperTour races held in Ishpeming, Michigan.
Otepaa World Cup
In Saturday’s freestyle sprint Ida Sargent continued her streak of qualifying for every World Cup sprint so far this season, with a 10th place qualification time. In her quarterfinal heat, she was in position to advance but just missed 2nd place in the finishing stretch, which gave her 3rd in the heat and 13th overall. Ben Lustgarten placed 64th in the men’s qualifier, in his first ever World Cup start!
The following day the men raced 15k classic individual, while the women raced 10k. Sargent placed 42nd in a very competitive World Cup field in the 10k, and Lustgarten placed 66th in the 15k. Both Sargent and Lustgarten will be competing next week in World Championships in Lahti, so stay tuned for those results! The Otepaa WC results, as always, are available on FIS-ski.com.
Ishpeming SuperTour
Meanwhile, the SuperTour resumed this weekend in the Midwest with a freestyle sprint and distance classic. On Friday, the GRP had four women qualify for heats (only the top 16 advanced due to a small field, and the women raced heats of 4), with Caitlin Patterson in 4th, Kaitlynn Miller 6th, Liz Guiney 8th, and Heather Mooney 14th. Mary O’Connell placed 21st. Both Patterson and Miller were able to move on to the A Final, where they took 2nd and 4th, respectively. Guiney was eliminated in her semifinal and took 6th, while Mooney finished 16th.
On Sunday, the women raced 5k classic in warm and slow conditions. Kaitlynn Miller took the win, her first SuperTour victory, followed closely by Patterson in 2nd and Guiney in 3rd. O’Connell placed 15th and Mooney was 21st. Results from Ishpeming are available on SuperiorTiming. The GRP skiers in the US race next (weather dependent) in the American Birkebeiner this weekend in Hayward, Wisconsin.