SPRINT – Free Technique

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Junior Nationals 2023 Fairbanks

Sprint – Free Technique

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

!!!!!!!Daily Schedule – March 14 Sprint Free Technique!!!!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: The schedule for March 14 has changed due to the weather forecast. The start time has been changed from 9:00AM to 11:00AM in anticipation that the FIS lower threshold of -20C will not be crossed until sometime between 10AM and 11AM.

CLICK HERE to go to the schedule for Tuesday, March 14, the sprint competition day if we are able to start at 11:00AM. Following this schedule, running full brackets, the event will conclude around 19:15PM, which is 33 minutes before sunset. This is also a time when temperatures have started dropping.

If it appears that it will be too cold to start at 11:00AM, the start will be postponed by one hour, to 12:00 noon. In this case, it is impossible to run full brackets for two reasons: 1) the event would end about half an hour after sunset, and 2) the temperature could be dropping below the FIS threshold. To accommodate the vagaries of weather, the U20 quarterfinals will be eliminated from the schedule should we be forced to start at 12:00 noon. CLICK HERE to see the schedule should the start be postponed until 12:00 noon.

The Jury will make the decision to postpone or not postpone not later than 10:00AM Tuesday morning.

Thanks for your understanding as we deal with the challenges of life in the north.

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News Bites
Daily Schedule
Team Captains’ Meeting
Course Information & Maps
Start Lists
Results

Event Links

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The Freestyle Sprint – A Full Day of Racing

The sprint day is a very long day, so whether you are a racer, coach, official, volunteer or spectator, prepare for a full day out at Birch Hill . . . and then some.

In the qualifying round, both genders and all classes will compete over the 1350m sprint course. Having all skiers compete over the same distance as a single start group gives all those skiers the best opportunity to earn “good” USS&S National Ranking List (NRL) points and FIS points.

In the elimination heats, the U16 skiers will compete over the shorter 1100m course, which has 15m less climbing than the 1350m course. This decision was made based upon a consensus of the team leaders for the 2023 JNs.

COURSE

The 1350m course starts with a gradual B climb (12m ascent at 6.2%) up the Ramp with at 180-degree turn at the entrance to Tower loop, then a descent of the Ramp with a slight “detour” around the Ramp Elbow. After traversing the east side of the Stadium, skiers will take a sharp right turn and descend the Sidewinder-Roundabout-White Bear-Surprise Cutoff descent, followed immediately by the White Bear B climb (27m ascent at 9.7%) which takes the skiers back to the stadium.

The descent from the stadium through Surprise Cutoff is technically challenging, with advantages gained by choosing a good line. It is likely that the decisive moves in the U18 and U20 heats will take place on the White Bear B climb, which is a long, straight, wide “almost A” climb which will reward fitness, especially in the later rounds, and which has good opportunities for overtaking.

Once the skiers have re-entered the stadium, they have about 140m to go to the finish, with a 90-degree turn about 100m from the finish. Based upon our experience using this same finish at the 2017 SuperTour Finals, if the order of finish has not clearly been established by the time skiers top out on the White Bear B climb, there is plenty of space in the stadium for skiers to settle a close finish without obstruction.

The first 750m and the final 250m of the course over which the U16 skiers will compete in the heats are the same as the 1350m course they skied in qualifying. The difference comes after descending Sidewinder and entering Roundabout. The U16 course does not descend to Surprise Cutoff, but continues left, around the Roundabout turn, and then ascends the Groomer Ramp B climb. The course that was used at the 2017 SuperTour Finals used the same final 400m as this course. In that women’s final Jesse Diggins took the victory over Kikkan Randall, while Fairbanks’ own Logan Hanneman captured the men’s title.

SCHEDULE

See below.

AWARDS

Awards for each class will be presented on-site immediately following the completion of the respective brackets during the breaks between brackets.

Daily Schedule – March 14 Sprint Free Technique

IMPORTANT NOTE: The schedule for March 14 has changed due to the weather forecast. The start time has been changed from 9:00AM to 11:00AM in anticipation that the FIS lower threshold of -20C will not be crossed until sometime between 10AM and 11AM.

The Jury will make the decision to postpone or not postpone not later than 10:00AM Tuesday morning.

Thanks for your understanding as we deal with the challenges of life in the north.

Team Captains’ Meeting

Information and presentations for Team Captains’ Meetings

Course Information / Maps

Click on the links below to view a course map that includes a course profile and a small version zoomed in on the stadium, or a larger scale, more detailed stadium diagram. If you would like to print these PDFs, they are formatted for 11″x17″ paper.

Video tour of 1.35Km sprint course. All classes will use this course for the qualification round. U16 competitors will race heats over a shorter course that is a subset of this course. You can get an idea of the shorter course by stopping the video at the 1:44 mark, and then resuming at the 2:54 mark. As U16 skiers in the heats descend what we call Roundabout, they will continue to the left, around the turn at about the 1:44 point, and rejoin the course at approximately the 2:45 point. The final climb on the U16 heats course is a 14m B Climb. The final climb on the qualifying course, which is also used for the U18 and U16 heats, is a 27m B climb.

Video courtesy of Christopher Kalev.

Start Lists

Results

CLICK HERE to go to the Zone4 Timing event page for the 2023 Junior Nationals. This page will include links to online start lists and live results.