WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Whitman College skier Laura Valaas, representing the U.S., placed 14th in the women's 1-kilometer freestyle sprint Tuesday at the Under-23 Cross Country World Championships in Kranj, Slovenia.
Valaas, a senior from Wenatchee, Wash., was the top U.S. finisher. Guro Stroem Solli of Norway won the women's title. Russia's Valentina Novikova was second and Germanyu's Nicole Fessel was third.
Tuesday's races took place in less than ideal conditions. Warm temperatures left skiers to battle a course bogged down by a foot of slush. "All my strengths, the skills that I have that make me a good sprinter, were useless in conditions like this," Valaas said.
"A firm track is what really favors an explosive skier like Laura," Whitman Nordic coach Nathan Alsobrook said. "But even though the conditions weren't very good, Laura still managed to have a good race."
"At this point in their careers, most skiers have had to race in nasty conditions, but none of us seem to have gotten very good at it," Valaas said. "Conditions like this require the racer to drastically change their technique. The really elite skiers can adapt to this; I'm still working on it."
Many of the racers, despite their experience, had trouble with the course, Valaas added. "People were simply falling, not because they got tangled up with someone else, but because they couldn't handle the snow. I had two girls fall in front of me in my quarterfinal, one 10 meters before the finish and I had to jump around her."
The cross country championships continue on Thursday with the 10-kilometer classic. A 15-kilometer skiathlon is set for Saturday. There are six women on the U.S. team and coaches can enter as many as four in each event.
Valaas, 21, has continued to emerge this winter as one of America’s top young Nordic skiers. In early January, competing at U.S. Nationals against a field of Olympic hopefuls, Valaas placed third in the 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprint. Later in January, she became the first American-born woman to win a Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Nordic race (5-kilometer freestyle) in nearly two years.
Valaas earned NCAA All-American honors last winter in both the classic and freestyle events, placing fifth and ninth at the NCAA Championships in Stowe, Vt.
Dave Holden, Whitman Sports Information,
(509) 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu