Nordic Roundup: West Yellowstone, Olympic slots, nordic combined World Cup-B in USA

Nordic Roundup: West Yellowstone, Olympic slots, nordic combined World Cup-B in USA{mosimage} Rebecca Dussault and Andy Newell used the 2004 SuperTour cross-country sprint schedule as a springboard to the World Cup — and their first World Cup points. Over Thanksgiving Weekend in West Yellowstone, Montana, they opened defense of their crowns on the right foot as each won the opening sprint of the 2005 SuperTour November 27, according to www.rendezvousskitrails.com.

Opening weekend also included classic races the previous day. Dussault out-skied University of Colorado racer Jana Rehemaa of Estonia in the women’s 6-kilometer classic race, winning in 19:20.2, with Dartmouth skier Alison Crocker third. In the men’s 12km CL, defending men’s champ Dave Chamberlain — looking for a chance in the 2003 Worlds — rebooted his title aspirations, edging Chad Giese by eight seconds with a time of 33:18.1.

Grey Earns Place on 2006 Canadian Olympic X-C team

First George Grey earned a place on the World Cup and headed to Scandinavia. Then he earned a place on Canada’s 2006 Olympic ski squad, according to the Canadian national team’s website.

While World Cup fields can include huge delegations from a nation, the Olympics and World Championships allow just four athletes per nation in each event. So, when Grey — from Rossland, British Columbia, which is better known as an alpine community — finished 41st Sunday in a World Cup at Kuusamo, Finland, and the result was adjusted for four skiers per country, he was in the top 30 and met Canadian Olympic criteria.

“Hopefully,” Grey said, “this will give me an extra push to ski faster and get into the top 25 … I’m mentally feeling much stronger to push harder.”

Nordic Combined World Cup-B Set for Steamboat, Lake Placid

There hasn’t been a nordic combined World Cup in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, since the 2002 Olympic season. But World Cup-B, the level just under World Cup, will be back in the self-styled Ski Town USA on December 11-12 and then head to Lake Placid for the Lamb Lumber Classic December 16-18.

Combined mixes ski jumping and cross-country racing. On the World Cup, only the top 45 skiers are allowed to compete. The rest of the combined pack slugs it out on World Cup-B; the season is cut into three periods and those who don’t do well on the World Cup drop down for the next period, replaced by the top skiers from World Cup-B in that most recent period.