Relays and Final Ski

Sunday was the final day of racing, both the men's and women's relay races were held then. The men went first at 11:00, the US finished in 7th place after a very windy day at the shooting range. Since we only have three women racing, we didn't have any team in the women's relay. However the German women's team had a great race, they won with their star skier Kati Wilhelm having a great last leg of the race. Actually, the USA Biathlon Team has many connections with the German Team. Most of the waxers and team members speak German, and Kati's skis are waxed by her boyfriend (our head waxer, Andi). After the races were over, I had a great final ski on the course. I was just starting the biggest and steepest downhill of the course, when they shut off all of the lights on the trail. Luckily, the skies were still lit up a little by the massive lights in the stadium. When we got back to the hotel, it was massive packing time! We packed all of our stuff into two 20 kg bags, two ski pole tubes, and two super-stuffed carryon bags. I got to bed at 9:30 after a very long day. Tomorrow will be even tougher as a full day of travel back to the US!

Sprints and Bronze!

Saturday was definitely our busiest day yet. In the morining, we had to wake up early to get to the venue so we could test waxes and get the men to their start at 10:30. The sprints were 10k for the men and 7.5k for the women, each race with 2 shooting stages. The men's race went fast, Tim Burke shot clean and finished only 37 seconds behind Ole Einar Bjørndalen, the king of biathlon. Ole has won 5 Olympic gold medals, 14 World Championships, and 90 World Cups, as well as having been the only Biathlete ever to have also won a Cross Country Skiing World Cup. Tim Burke beat Bjørndalen on Thursday, so we are thinking that there might be a new king on the rise. After the men's race came a short break before the women's sprint, during the break I had lunch in the cafeteria for coaches and volunteers. The womens race was intense, with everthing changing with each shooting, in the end Tora Berger of Norway won. Later, we all got transport from the hotel to go to the medal ceremony for Tim. It wasn't a traditional medal ceremony (budget cuts), so all of the athletes got clothing from a local store. Immediately after Tim left the stage, Dad and I raced over to the other side of the plaza to see if we could get a table at pub that we had liked last year. We stepped inside and within 30 seconds had the only unreserved two-person table in the restaurant. We had a great meal of fish n' chips and a burger, afterwards we picked up some candy and ice cream at a gas station on the walk back. When we got back to the hotel, I was really tired so I went straight to bed.

Julmarknad

On Friday, Dad and I went to Jamtli again to go to the Christmas Market. The Julmarknad is made up of 200+ stalls out in the cold Swedish air, each one selling various gifts and traditional foods from the holiday. We sampled some Swedish Glögg, a drink like mulled cider, and a type of pancake that was filled with bacon and very salty. After we had walked back, I decided to take some time to digest before my evening ski. Dad brought me up to the athlete's lounge, where I did some homework and blogging. When I did get out on the trails, I had a great ski. I classic skied 12k on just the upper loop, and then did some specific strength and double-poling. It was definitely a quality day in Sweden!

Jamtli and Silver!

On Thursday after breakfast, I did some homework. Then later Dad and I hitched a ride with the coaches over to the venue, from there we walked to Jamtli, the museum of Jamtland's history. There we walked through the amazing museum and saw all of the interesting exhibits of the culture of northern Sweden. After that we visited the gift shop and went to lunch in the café. Later we went back to the venue to ski and prepare for the men's race. I was starting to do some intervals around the upper loop, when the temperature dropped to minus 10 celcius. I decided to do a moderate skate for an hour instead. Later Dad and I walked out to one of the hills on the course to do feeds for the men's race. Feeds are when you hand the athlete a drink of water or another drink during the race on a long downhill. The men's 20 kilometer individual race began at 5:10 and had 136 competitors. We had four racers in the event, Tim Burke, Jeremy Teela, Jay Hakkinen, and Kevin Patzolt. It was a great night for team USA with Burke taking 2nd, the best world cup result for the US since 1982. There are no races tomorrow, but on Saturday and Sunday there will be 2 races each day!

First Race Day

Today we woke up late and just in time to catch the end of breakfast in the dininghall. We caught a ride with Jeremy and Herbert, two of the athletes, down to the CO-OP (also a grocery store). We went and visited the Woolpower outlet and found some cool merino wool clothing. Then we walked back the hotel to get changed and go ski. We hopped in the Jumper van with waxers Gara and Christian, and were the first people over at the stadium. I went for an hour long skate ski with some no-poles and specific strength worked into it. Then I went and hung out in the athletes lounge where there are a bunch of laptops and blazing fast Internet. At 11:00 EST the women 15k race will begin, and you can watch it live at www.biathlonworld.com.

Official Training

Tuesday was the first day of Official Training for the athletes, that meant that anyone on the course had to have a bib on. There are green ones for the team, yellow ones for the athletes, and red ones for service. I borrowed my dad's green one whenever I went ou on the trail. We took the morning off to sleep in and do a little shopping, then later we headed out to the venue. I went out for two one-hour long skate skis, both were great because of the fantastic weather that we have been having. For the past couple of days it has snowed consistently at night, making the trails speedy and smooth. Later when we got back to the hotel, we ate dinner and then watched a "quality" movie on tv. After "Alien Vs Predator" was over, I went to bed after a very long day.

Town and Training

On Monday, Dad and I walked into town early to get some stuff done before we went over to the venue. We found what the mail men and women in Sweden drive, an awesome bike specially built for them. Unfortunately, most of the stores were closed or opened later as is typical for Mondays in Sweden. We dropped by the WESC store on one of the streets, but it opened at 11 and we needed to get to lunch. We were going to have lunch at Jamtli, a museum on the lake, but it wasn't open so we went to the Maxi supermarket instead. Later I did a mix of workouts, first classic and then skate. The classic was the first time without klister, a very sticky wax that you use in very icy conditions. My skate workout was with Dad and Armin, one of the Biathlon Team's coaches. When we got back to the hotel, we had dinner watched some soccer and got right to bed.

Moving Day!

Today we moved from our apartments on the trails to the First Hotell Ett. To do this in one trip, we had to pack all of the athletes stuff up in one van and have them all walk over. This worked great and everyone got their stuff to their rooms easily. Before we left, I was able to get a short half hour ski in and later I will do some intervals up a nice hill. We watched the 15 km cross country skiing world cup in Kuusamo in our hotel room today, American Kris Freeman got 4th!

Big Day of Skiing

Saturday was a big day of skiing. I woke up and went for an hour long skate ski just after breakfast, and it snowed! We got just around 2 centimeters of snow in the morning, and it greatly improved the trails. After lunch I hung out at the apartment and watched some cross country skiing sprints in Kuusamo, Finland. Then I went out for another skate ski, this time inspired by the race to go really fast. While I was skiing the athletes were preparing for a time trial that the coaches set up, later I did some filming of them coming up a hill. It was very dark and snowy so in the end, the movie was pretty useless. After dinner I went back to the apartment and did some homework and watched some Eurosport Live. I finally got to bed before midnight and was able to sleep the whole night. If you see anything on the blog that you like, feel free to comment on anything!

Food Shopping

After dinner today, dad and I went food shopping. The supermarket is huge, and has clothing and movies as well. It is only a short walk from where we are staying. It was interesting seeing all of the different foods. We saw some Ben & Jerry's ice cream too, it was 47.90 kr or around $6.88. Then we found somebody's skis and poles sitting next to the bread.

Skiing and Town

Today I went for a morning classic ski with dad, I will go out again later. After our morning ski I did some homework and had lunch with the team in the main dining hall. We took one of the athletes into town on an errand, we did some shopping and found some cool stores. When I got back I took a long nap.

Hej from Östersund!

We have arrived in Östersund after almost 24 hours of travel. The flights all went well and we arrived here around noon. There is one small issue however. There is no snow. They have saved some of the snow from the year before and made some as well, but this only covers the race loop. Hope we get some more later this weekend.

Our Swedish Journey Begins Today!

At 9 AM we will leave the house and drive up to Burlington. From there we will catch a short flight to Chicago. Then later today we will board another plane bound for Stockholm, this flight will be about 8 hours long. Don't worry I'll keep myself occupied with homework, right? After we land in Stockholm, we have a short wait before our final flight up to the small city of Östersund. Östersund is roughly the same size as Burlington and is also a lake city. For the first week we will be staying in some small apartments right on the trail, at a place called Camp Södergren. There will be snow in Östersund when we arrive so I hope to start skiing be Thursday sometime.

Helpful Hint: Östersund is 6 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time

Only Two Days!

There are only two school days until we leave for Sweden! We can't wait until Wednesday. Today we picked up my new skis at Omer & Bob's.

ONE WEEK!

We are at 7 days and counting! We will leave from Burlington this time, and then fly to Chicago. From there we will fly to Stockholm and then on to Ostersund. There we will spend 13 days skiing with the US Biathlon Team, as they prepare for their first world cup race there.

SWEDEN 2009 Edition

Dad and I will be returning to Sweden again this year!

Same time as last, just for a little bit longer this time.

And we will be bringing back many Moomintroll things.