I still have the rollerskis in storage, but the bikes have been dusted off…finally.
Happy you’re here. Grab your coffee. Sip. Read. Comment. Let’s go!
The week that was (for me)
Christie and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on Saturday with an afternoon mocha on the top of fifth street + a trail run + a dinner…
Ella is like her dad > eats her greens and her oats…
I covered the Davos Dash and took my first week off of skiing since October after getting on crust June 3…
I’ve been getting ready for the Mt. Blue Sky Ascent on June 23. I probably haven’t done as much uphill running as I should have, but I’m super excited to participate in this event for the first time (I’ve also done the bike version…but it was awhile back!).
The week (or month?) that was (in skiing)
Some ski stories from around the web (Sending the bat signal out for DP Dan = can you get my pass for Langrenn.com back? Please and thank you!):
The winter Olympics will be in Utah in 2034 most likely…I’ll be 43. I can do it.
NNF Summer speaker series: Wednesday, June 19, 2 p.m. Eastern: V2, Doublepole, and Striding Technique with Team Aker Dæhlie Coach Hans Kristian Stadheim — I’ll be there!
Kruger is done with altitude camps.
Sjur retires…what was your favorite Sjur Røthe monent?
Are World Cup skiers at the top of their game in Ruka?
An interesting tidbit (one of many) from the last episode of the Skirious Problems Podcast was the assertion that World Cup skiers are performing at their highest level all season — in November.
Mika Vermeulen, speaking on the best individual performance of his guest, Alvar Alev, stated: “In Ruka even, where I would say the competitive level — or I feel the average level is the highest in Ruka of the year. Everyone is at the top of their game.”
Alev disagreed. He thinks athletes show up in Finland drained from the typically high volume late-fall training. But James Clugnet sided with Vermeulen.
“I disagree entirely with you Alvar,” Clugnet said. “I think Ruka is definitely when people are in the best shape.”
It makes sense midpack athletes would be almost ‘peaking’ for the World Cup opener since in many cases, they’re fighting for future World Cup starts. You also have Norwegians fighting for upcoming starts when the World Cup swings towards their homeland. Still, I would have thought generally, the best athletes are pointing their training towards late-season competitions.
“I 100% think everyone is at the top of their game in Ruka,” Vermeulen said, doubling down.
“And usually it’s the World Cup with the most people participating,” Clugnet added.
My gut feeling is this: The upper echelon comes to Ruka, generally speaking, with a vision towards February and March. Everyone else, generally speaking, arrives with a lot to fight for.
The combination of having the Digginses and Klaebos of the world less sharp and thus, a little more accessible — and having the rest of the field preparing and getting psyched up for this one weekend for the previous six months, gives it a very competitive feel. Plus, and this is my favorite part about Ruka, it’s usually a cold — which generally means ‘fair.’
If Mika is right, and if the overall standings reflect the best overall skiers, than we should see it reflected in the data.
I wonder how many top-10 Ruka finishers in the sprint and interval start ended up finishing the season in the top-10 of those respective disciplines?
Let’s look:
| Year | Men | Women |
| 2023-24 | 5 | 8 |
| 2022-23 | 6 | 6 |
| 2021-2022* | 7 | 4 |
| 2020-2021** | 2 | 6 |
| 2019-2020 | 4 | 6 |
| 2018-2019 | 7 | 5 |
| Year | Men | Women |
| 2023-24 | 7 | 8 |
| 2022-23 | 6 | 8 |
| 2021-22* | 4 | 8 |
| 2020-21** | 4 | 5 |
| 2019-20 | 7 | 5 |
| 2018-19 | 6 | 8 |
*Russia started the World Cup in 2021-22, but didn’t finish.
**Sort of weird COVID season
World Cup sprint globe champion’s place in Ruka
- 2023-2024 – Klaebo = 3rd/ Svahn = 5th
- 2022-2023 – Klaebo = 1st/ Dahlqvist – 6th
- 2021-2022 – Jouve = 4th/ Dahlqvist – 1st
- 2020-2021 – Pellegrino = 13th/ Lampic – 7th
- 2019-2020 – Klaebo = 1st/ Svahn – didn’t race
- 2018-2019 – Klaebo = 2nd/ Nilsson – 6th
World Cup distance globe champion’s place in Ruka individual start
- 2023-2024 – Amundsen = 6th/ Diggins – 11th
- 2022-2023 – Golberg = 2nd/ Niskanen = 10th
- 2021-2022 – Niskanen = 1st/ Johaug = 2nd
- 2020-2021 – Bolshunov = 3rd/ Diggins = 22nd
- 2018-2019 – Bolshunov = 1st/ Johaug = 1st
- 2017-2018 – Bolshunov = 5th/ Johaug = 1st
Commentary
Now, you could argue my data doesn’t really prove anything…perhaps Ruka is a better reflection of the best overall skiers than the overall standings are! That being said, I spent half an hour making the charts, so I better comment on my findings:
- It’s not surprising that Diggins is the outlier in terms of having relatively poor Ruka showings in the same seasons where she’s won the overall. First, she prioritizes staying home in Vermont in the late fall, which means she’s not on snow as much as her competition at this first race. Second, she’s confident in her patient, long-term approach.
- If you’re on the podium in Ruka, you’re almost guaranteed to finish in the top-10 of the respective discipline.
- ***Unofficial, not-exact side statistic: If you make the sprint final in Ruka, there’s about an 85% chance you will make the top-10 in the season sprint rankings.
- We need the Russians to come back to the World Cup.
I probably should take a random race in January and see how close its top 10 is to the overall top 10. If it’s not very close, but Ruka is, than Mika is maybe on to something. I’ll let someone else do that digging…
So: do you think Ruka is where everyone is at the sharpest end of the stick? Upvote for ‘yes.’
The Third Lap — our weekly running recap
(“Because the third lap is the most important”)
I’m loving the spice from the Jakob/Kerr rivalry in the men’s 1500. I think one could argue the most anticipated race in the Olympics is this one…heck, this might be the most anticipated Olympic showdown in the last 20-30 years!
I can’t say I know who is going to win, but I can say with certainty who has the most confidence, at least right now.
Kerr.
Here’s why: take a listen to this post-race interview with Jakob after the Pre Classic mile, a race in which the Brit beat the Norwegian at his own game — making a hard, strength-based push from a long ways off a hot pace — to win in a new national record of 3:45.34
The fact that Ingebrigtsen is 1) willing to hash out this race for so long and 2) doubles down on his strategy, albeit in a frustrated tone, to me demonstrates some insecurities.
Normally, if you win, you give the cliche responses that don’t tell anyone too much of anything. (see Kerr’s interview). Or, if you lose, you keep things close to the chest, knowing — with confidence — that your plan is working and you need to be patient. It’s not fun to be not sharp. But you know it’s part of the long-term plan.
Instead, what we see is Ingebrigtsen calling out his competitors for not racing. We do hear him mention this as a “good start” to the season — but he should have just left it there…why let these Citius Mag guys pester you with minute questions about random parts of a race you just lost? I think he allows it because, when you’re in this position, the natural inclination is in fact to talk yourself threw it. You want the opportunity to make excuses and go ‘blah blah blah.’ But a confident champion doesn’t give any of that to the media.
Second, Ingebrigtsen’s apparent belief that his strategy will work in the global championship because it’s ‘worked’ “18 out of 20 times,” is naive nonsense. First of all, the last two times that it hasn’t worked (actually …three times) came at global championships! He lost to Jake Wightman and Kerr in back-to-back WC 1500s! And then, he lost to Kerr at Pre —- only in that race, Kerr beat him using Jakob’s tactic!
Questioning Jakob on whether or not he’s thinking of changing up his approach is good journalism, but I would have expected Jakob to say something cliche like, “Yeah maybe I’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”
That way, he could actually go back to the drawing board — which would leave Kerr nervous that he’s going to see something different in Paris. Or, he could just say he’s going to and not — which would also keep his competitors in the dark. Instead, he gets all defensive. Again, that just felt weird.
The thing I will say is, I love the talking he’s doing, because it’s good for the sport. For all I know, Jakob is just messing with us and his competitors by doing stuff like this — which might in fact be brilliant.
If you want to be a rich athlete, you have a couple options: run your mouth or be really good at running. Jakob does both — really well.
Catch more running commentary on the next episode of the SederSkier Podcast. Is this Parker Valby’s peak? Who are we cheering for the most at the U.S. Olympic Trials next week in Eugene?
Quote of the Week
“The only justifiable reason to accept the privilege and responsibility of leadership is to help people accomplish the fruition of a vision from God.”
George Barna
Did you catch our Father’s Day special?
….more content for dads….
New SederSkier Podcast show is dropping today
We’ll have commentary on the recent USSS congress, plus Norwegian Ski Federation coaching changes and Frida Karlsson’s retirement announcement.
Plus, for subscribers, we discuss Sophia Laukli’s comments in a recent FS article as well as a few bold proclamations from the folks at Skirious.
Seder-Skier.com 
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