[GRP Snow]: Season Preview
Kelsey Dickinson (front) and Tara Geraghty-Moats (rear, standing) at the US Biathlon World Cup pre-camp in Vuokatti, Finland. (Photo Credit: Loru Creative and Vuokatti Sport)
Winter is here and the GRP Snow squad is gearing up for the first races of the season. With Cedar Sprigs starting their seasons in Finland, Sweden, British Columbia, and here in Craftsbury, there will be a lot of racing to follow. We’ve updated the calendar at the bottom of the GRP website blog page with all of this winter’s racing to make it easier for you to keep tabs on the team.
Biathlon
World Cup:
The Biathlon World Cup (WC) season starts in Kontiolahti, Finland with the standard Individual format race for the season opener. Men will race their 20k on November 29th and women will follow on the 30th for their 15k competition. Jake Brown, Kelsey Dickinson, and Tara Geraghty-Moats are all currently at Team USA’s pre-WC camp and are expected to start in Finland. The WC circuit then travels to Hochfilzen, Austria December 8-11 and finishes period 1 in Annecy-le Grand Bornand, France December 15-18.
The WC tour continues mainly around central Europe with the World Championships in Oberhof, Germany, February 8-19. The World Cup season ends with a Scandinavian tour early to mid-March.
Jake skiing at last year’s Olympics
IBU Cup:
First year GRPer Jackie Garso heads to Idre Fjall, Sweden to start the IBU Cup. IBU Cup 1, in Sjusjoen, Norway, was canceled due to lack of snow so there will be four possible races over the extended Idre weekend which starts November 29.
The USA IBU Cup team will skip IBU Cup 3 to return stateside for another round of trials races, here at Craftsbury December 15-18. Raleigh Goessling and Luke Brown will join Jackie to race those December trials with the hopes of post-Christmas IBU Cup starts as well as Open European Championship bids. Open Euros will take place in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The IBU Cup season wraps up with North American competitions in Canmore, Alberta February 23 through March 4.
World Cup and IBU Cup schedule and results
Watch World Cup biathlon on Eurovision
FasterSkier’s article on watching xc and biathlon in the US.
Cross-Country
The 2022-23 GRP ski team
The GRP skiers are poised for a successful season with all members (Braden Becker, Margie Freed, Michaela Keller-Miller, Annika Landis, and Alex Lawson) having earned top-10s at last year’s US Nationals. The team will start the 2022-23 SuperTour season at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Center in British Columbia, November 30 through December 4. The team then travels to Sun Valley, Idaho for SuperTour #2 and the end of Period 1, December 8-11. The SuperTour overall period 1 leaders earn start rights for the Tour de Ski (period 2 of the WC).
The US National Championships will take place in Houghton, Michigan January 2-7. Following Nationals, the SuperTour heads to the Birkie trails for the last races of period 2 and World Championships qualifications. World Champs will be held in Planica, Slovenia, February 21 through March 5.
Michaela racing the final SuperTour races in Whistler last season
The domestic circuit continues with more midwestern racing at Wirth Park in Minneapolis and then the American Birkebeiner 50k marathon.
Finally, the GRP skiers will return to Craftsbury for races on their home snow during SuperTour Finals (aka Spring Series) March 22-26.
Thanks for following along and supporting the team!