Patterson 11th in 50k Classic

Scott Patterson (Anchorage, Alaska) led Team USA, finishing 11th, in the 50k classic cross country race at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games Saturday at the Alpensia Cross Country Ski Centre.

“I had a great race,” said Patterson, who posted the best-ever finish by a U.S. athlete in the 50k. “It was exciting and for that last 5k people were starting to dangle in front of me. It was really fun picking off some of the big names, I really wanted another couple of K’s to get into the top 10, but still, 11th is awesome for a result.”

Finland’s Iivo Niskanen won the gold with a time of 2:08:22. Athletes from Russia took the silver and bronze with Alexander Bolshunov and Andrey Larkov finishing second and third respectively. Canada’s Alex Harvey just missed a medal, finishing in fourth, in a two-up sprint for bronze with Larkov.

Noah Hoffman (Aspen, Colo.) was 33rd, and Taylor Kornfield (Anchorage, Alaska) was 48th.

“Every race has gotten better for me in these Olympics and I would have loved to get a top 30,” Hoffman said. “I thought it was possible with 8k to go, but I had used my two ski exchanges and towards the end, I couldn’t quite hang. It was a brutal race - a 50k classic at the Olympics on a hard course.”

“The first two laps were a little rough for me,” Kornfield said. “At the first ski exchange my new skis were great, and I started to pick people off. You have to put yourself in position to do well and ignore how your body feels. I did that for the first 5k and then when you go off the back like I did, you need to compose yourself and ski your own race.”

RESULTS
Men’s 50k classic