Hamilton Leads USA in Drammen
DRAMMEN, Norway (Feb. 3, 2016) – Simi Hamilton (Aspen, CO) led the U.S. team finishing 11th in Wednesday’s FIS World Cup 1.2k classic sprints in Drammen. Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN), Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, WA) and Sophie Caldwell (Peru, VT) all finished in the top 20.
“I'm pretty happy with today,” said Hamilton. “Drammen is one of the harder sprints of the year because of the nature of the course and the depth of the field here. I felt quite good in qualifying and I think that I've made some good gains with my classic sprinting over the last couple of years.”
Norway’s Maiken Falla claimed her third consecutive win in Drammen in a close finish between teammate Ingvild Oestberg and Russia’s Natalia Matveeva who finished third. In the men’s sprint, Norway’s Petter Northug Jr. doubled poled his way through the sprint heats all the way to the finals where he finished first, leading teammates Ola Hattestad and Eirik Brandsdal who finished third. This was Northug’s first individual World Cup victory since 2014.
Check out @simihamilton skiing to an 11th place in the Drammen World Cup today! @t2foundation
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The men’s heats were tight and aggressive, but Hamilton was able to hold on in the quarterfinals and advance as a lucky loser to the semifinals. With little time to recover, Hamilton jumped into the semifinals and was battling for second place in the heat until 150 meters when he couldn’t fight any longer, denying him a spot in the finals, landing him in 11th overall.
“I was still feeling the effort I put in during my quarter, but it's always great to advance,” said Hamilton. “In the final I felt good but just ran out of gas in the last 150 meters. It's tough to end the day like that but I'm always pretty pumped with a top 12 in a classic sprint, so I'll take it!”
The U.S. women qualified three out of five, but unfortunately no one advanced further after the quarterfinal heats. Despite the tough competitive races, Diggins was 13th, Bjornsen 18th and Caldwell 19th to round out three in the top 20.
“I made some technique errors in my quarterfinal and slipped a few too many times near the top of the course, letting a gap form between myself and the leaders,” said Diggins. “I caught back up at the end but by then I had run out of track!”
While disappointed that only four qualified in Drammen, Head Women's Coach Matt Whitcomb acknowledged that it's a tough strategy day. "Picking a fast double pole ski is one of the tricks to Drammen," said Whitcomb. "The testing is limited. We have 30 minutes to test skis with the athletes, men and women together, and in that time we test both classic and skate skis. This is hurry-up offense."
Competition continues Feb. 6-7 with a 50/30k classic mass start in Oslo, Norway.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Falla becomes the first to win in Drammen for three consecutive years.
- Sweden’s Stina Nilsson was the third athlete across the finish line but was given a "ranked as last" penalty for obstruction on Finland's Krista Parmakoski on the finish stretch.
- Despite the penalty, Nilsson is leading the overall sprint World Cup with 374 points, ahead of Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad stberg with 316 and Maiken Caspersen Falla with 280.
- Italy’s Federico Pellegrino is the leader of the men's sprint World Cup. The Italian has 400 points, almost twice as many points as Norway’s Sondre Turvoll Fossli in second place with 204 points.
- The men’s 50k classic mass start will be streamed live on NBC Sports Live Extra at 6 a.m. EST on February 6.
- The women’s 30k classic mass start will be streamed live on NBC Sports Live Extra at 6 a.m. EST on February 7.
QUOTES
Simi Hamilton
I'm pretty happy with today. Drammen is one of the harder sprints of the year because of the nature of the course and the depth of the field here. I felt quite good in qualifying and I think that I've made some good gains with my classic sprinting over the last couple of years. I was still feeling the effort I put in during my quarter, but it's always great to advance. In the final I felt good but just ran out of gas in the last 150 meters. It's tough to end the day like that but I'm always pretty pumped with a top 12 in a classic sprint, so I'll take it!
Jessie Diggins
I made some technique errors in my quarterfinal and slipped a few too many times near the top of the course, letting a gap form between the leaders and myself. I caught back up at the end but by then I had run out of track! But overall I'm really satisfied with my race and my shape. And to finish right behind the girls in my quarter who ended up third and fourth overall is never a bad spot to be in!
Matt Whitcomb, Head Women's Coach
We laid down some very fast qualifying times today with four athletes qualifying in the top-12, which in Drammen means our techs nailed the wax. After those four our results struggled. While Jessie, Sadie, Sophie and Simi qualified above average for a classic sprint, qualifying only four is below average. Our standard is six. It was particularly unusual that Andy didn’t qualify, but also Ida in that she had been in the top-30 in every sprint this year. If we could go back, the easy answer would be to have Andy stride the qualification, but for him that doesn’t stack up.
Picking a fast double pole ski is one of the tricks to Drammen. The testing is limited. We have 30 minutes to test skis with the athletes, men and women together, and in that time we test both classic and skate skis. This is hurry-up offense, so that’s probably what we saw today with Andy, as he double poled the qualifier but did not advance further. It’s possible his double pole skis were not quite in the glide game today. For the double poling advantage to work in Drammen, they have to be significantly faster than the classic skis because most double polers reach the top of the course with a time deficit.
Simi Hamilton
A three-time NCAA All-American from Middlebury College, and a three-time Olympian, Hamilton is among the top sprinters in the world with four World Cup podiums on his resume.