Ski Racing - December 27, 2011

question.
While USST officials have yet to officially announce
their squad for the Tour, they have confirmed rook-
ies Holly Brooks and Simi Hamilton. Brooks, who is
currently racing in Europe on the FIS Continental
Cup quota, has turned heads with several top- 20
finishes so far this season. She led the Americans
in the Davos 15K freestyle with a 13th place in early
December.
Hamilton, on the other hand, hasn’t seen much ac-
tion this winter. Sickness has sidelined the Aspenite
through much of the first period of World Cups. He
has started only one sprint, in Davos, where he nar-
rowly missed the heats in 33rd. Hamilton, however,
shined at the SuperTour Finals last spring in Sun
Valley, taking a close second in the overall to Kris
Freeman, and punching his ticket to the TDS.
“I’m psyched to get a shot at the Tour this year,”
says Hamilton, 24. “I’m especially looking forward
to the sprints, but I’m also excited about the shorter
distance races and the prologue. I’m aiming for a
top- 30 there, and top-10s in the sprint.”
While the Americans look to improve on last year’s
inaugural showing at the Tour, the Canadians may
be the ones who steal the show again. Last year,
the World Champion duo of Alex Harvey and Devon
Kershaw had a breakthrough performance in the
Tour de Ski.
Kershaw finished on the podium in four of nine
stages, including a sprint win in Toblach, his first
and only World Cup victory. In what may have been
one of the best 11 days of racing in his career, Ker-
shaw slipped a few places in the final stages to fin-
ish seventh overall.

While Harvey’s results in last year’s Tour went unnoticed in Kershaw’s shadow, they are certainly nothing to scoff at. He finished in the top 10 in five different stages, including two fifth places. Harvey finished 10th in the overall.

Joining Canada’s golden duo will be Ivan Babikov, fresh off a season-best seventh-place finish in the Davos 30K free. Babikov, who won the final climb of the TDS in 2009, finished sixth in the final stage last year as his top result in the Tour.

According to Canadian Head Coach Justin Wadsworth, the final climb will be the crux of the Tour for the Canadian contingent. “We focused a lot of our training to the final stage,” he says. “We had many camps where we focused on steep uphill skating — in fact the team roller-skied almost 10,000 vertical feet three different times during our camp in Hawaii.” But while the hill climb is an important stage and ultimately saw Kershaw and Harvey slip a few places in the overall standings, it’s not the only stage they’ve got their sights on. In such a long event, every day counts, but some more than others. “We know there are a couple key stages in the Tour that set you up for the final days — the point to point from Cortina to Dobiacco [35K], can re-set the race, so that’s important to remember,” says Wadsworth. “It can also be a stage that if you’re able to break away and stay away. It can set you up to finish the last few stages without as much stress.” He is equally frank about their goals for this year’s Tour de Ski: “I’d like to see all three in the top 10, and at least one on the podium.”