US Nationals

Currently I am sitting in the Portland JetPort ready to go to Burlington to then go to Craftsbury, VT to get some snow skiing in before I head to US Nationals this Friday. It is amazing how short of snow our country is right now.

I am very excited to get some more skiing in after spending the holidays in Jackson Hole, WY. Surprisingly, the snow there was equally as dismal as Colorado's snow as well. However, it was very nice to see my family and get some skiing in, now my 8th venue this winter so far.

US Natonals will be held in Rumford, ME this year, my old stomping grounds when I went to Bates College. it will be nice to see some people I haven't in a while and reconnect with friends.

We start up racing tomorrow. Here is our schedule:

Jan. 2: Skate Sprint
Jan. 4: 15km Skate
Jan. 5: 30km Classic (Mass start)
Jan. 6: Classic Sprint

I'll be giving updates all week on:
www.twitter.com/sylvanellefson

Here are some pictures from my past two weeks.

Me and my brother Kjell.

Kjell Nordic Skiing for his 3rd time ever...

Home Again

I just got back home after 4 weeks on the road and I'll be honest when I say its not too much longer than that, that I like to be on the road. It was nice to get back to "some" snow, but not as much as we have been stomping around on for the past couple of weeks. We have had to make it work a little bit.

Anyway I had a great time in Canada racing at the Sovereign Lakes NorAm in British Columbia. It was a great duel of the USA and Canada. The first day of racing was a classic sprint, not always my best event but I was feeling pretty good going into it. I qualified 4th and then skied into the semifinal where I had a touch of bad luck getting nudged out on a left hand corner. I skied the B-final and felt like I really had the speed the whole day. Sometimes you just gotta be in the right place at the right time. I ended up placing 8th on the day and USA put 7 in the Top-12.

I'm in the back (Bib #4)

All photo credit to Jessie Winter Photography

The following day we had a 15km classic race. I woke up feeling slightly tired from the long day before but ready to rock and roll. Warming up I felt pretty good still. The snow was coming down when we got there but cleared by the time we had started. The course there is very hard. there is no other way to describe it. Its just hard. Its a World Cup course so what should you expect? Not a lot less than what we got. Regardless I knew I had to ski into it easy and work with the course as each lap unfolded. I was getting splits right around 5th and 6th the whole race and its where I ended up in the end. Again a good race for me. I was very happy with the result. 

It was also pretty awesome to be racing with my ITA teammates Torin Koos and Brian Gregg. These guys have been killing it as well. 

Now I am back home for a couple of days before I head back up to Jackson Hole to spend some Christmas time with my grandparents, mother, and brother! I am super excited! Right now I have just been training and having fun seeing people I haven't in a awhile. I'll leave you with some pictures of our day today climbing up to the top of Beaver Creek form the the base of the valley. It ended up being about a 1000 meter gain.

And our ugly sweater party!!!

Bozeman SuperTour and onto Canada

After having a great training week in West Yellowstone we headed up to Bozeman, Montana. The Sun Valley Ski Team has been helping me out with wax support and lodging while Eric and Dan are in Colorado making sure our Nordic future is taking names.

Our first SuperTour race was on Saturday and was a skate sprint prelim. I was actually feeling great through the first half of the course. I speed checked before one of the gnarly turns before the last uphill and hit some hidden object under the snow putting me into a bit of an uncontrollable movement of human and Nordic skis. Luckily I didn't fall but I did come to a stop completely perpendicular to the trail.  I finished the race not knowing where my time would put me. I figured my folly took off about 3 seconds. I ended up 10th, about 3 seconds out of 4th. Brutal.

The afternoon I wanted redemption and my body felt really good after a morning of intensity. It was three laps and I continued with my early season race plan or starting off pretty conservatively, big and strong, and finishing strong. The plan worked and I skied to a 1st place finish about 13 seconds ahead of my next competitor, Mike Sinnott who I was gunning for for the Overall SuperTour title and World Cup Start rights.

The last day of competition was a 15km classic race. With a similar game plan in mind, I had a strong classic skier starting right in front of me, Erik Bjornsen. I knew that if I could catch him by the third out of four laps we could ski together and crush the course. Everything went to plan. I caught him on the third lap and stayed on his tail just waiting for the fourth lap to get off his tail and hit the last lap hard. I finished in 1st again this time a full 30 seconds ahead of my next competitor Erik Bjornsen. It was a solid race and a solid weekend. Mike Sinnott needed to place 19th or worse for me to get those start rights. He ended up not having a great race but was 8th in the end. I was very excited for him as I was for myself.

I moved further up the Overall SuperTour list in points and closer in striking distance to Mike. I also currently hold the SuperTour Distance Leader bib. Excited to be skiing so well and to be representing SSCV Team HomeGrown with the help of IN-THE-ARENA.

Race reports are below.

Skate race report: http://fasterskier.com/2011/12/sinnott-takes-victory-in-bozeman-sprint-ellefson-climbs-to-top-of-podium-in-10-k/

Classic Race Report: http://fasterskier.com/2011/12/ellefson-wins-15-k-classic-in-bozeman-sinnott-clinches-world-cup-spot/

SuperTour Standings: http://blogs.fasterskier.com/continentalcup/?p=1156

West Yellowstone Races

Our training camp at West Yellowstone had to be absolutely one of the greatest trips to West Yellowstone we have had thus far. After heading to West on the 19th of Novemeber, we were headed into a week full of volume hours and our first set of races. It is really nice to be able to come to a place with significant amounts of snow and focus on dialing in on technique and logging hours of training for the upcoming season. Every day leading up to our first races we were out the door at 7am for our morning jog, out the door at 8am for our first session for 1.5 - 3 hours. Back home eating and resting, then back out the door at 3:30 for afternoon sessions. Every night we had food from our amazing parents that send along food or cook it for us. Incredibly helpful for all of our athletes. I always feel spoiled when I come here.

Our First Races: On Wednesday some of us had our first races and they were a great start to the season. It was quite an interesting format race where there is one classic sprint qualifier in the morning and then a skate sprint qualifier 1 hour following the first. The reason they have to do this instead of running a full sprint is because there is not a FIS homologated sprint course here and they find complications in running a full sprint on a point-to-point format. Our results were outstanding. I was 13th in the classic sprint and 4th in the skate sprint. Mike Vigers (one of our newest members) was 23rd and the 2nd OJ. Christian Shanley was 30th overall and 2nd J1. Outstanding result for him. Cal Deline placed 41st overall but took the 5th J1 spot. Aleksei and Parker both had outstanding races for this time of year and we are all excited for what they throw down the rest of the year. In the end SSCV ended up taking 3 of the top 7 junior spots for the men. The women had equally amazing races. Hannah was our first finisher with a 28th spot overall and a 1st place showing for J2's. Also to mention she would have been 5th in both the J1 AND OJ race. These girls are anywhere from 1 year to 5 years older than Hannah. Sally and Eva both had great sprints putting them in as the 9th and 11th J1's, and at the wrong end of some tight times for the J1 girls. A good start that continued into the following days.

15km Skate Race: The race here only found 5 SSCV racers in it, debatably more successful from our first day of racing. I finished in 2nd overall, just ahead of Mike Sinnott and Matt Gelso of the Sun Valley Team. I knew Mike Vigers was having a great race when he got a positive off of him after the first lap. Mike ended up skiing to a 9th place finish and an amazing finish at that. If that wasn't enough, Christian Shanley and Cal Deline skied to 34th and 38th place finishes respectively. This put them in as the 2nd and 3rd fastest J1's and the 6th and 7th fastest juniors in the nation, including ALL OJ's. Our last skier Christian Kloser also came in with a great race finishing in 84th. You have to give this guy some time after his Colorado State Championship Biking Title (he's probably still basking in the glory as he should). 

5km/10km Classic Race: Our last race here and a day before our departure unfortunately. I continued the streak of fast skiing by placing 2nd overall behind Graeme Killick of the Alberta Racing Team. This second place finish put me in the running for the Overall SuperTour Title and in the SuperTour Distance Leader Bib for the Bozeman, MT SuperTour races. The classic day was equally an important day for the juniors as each junior, minus the injured ones (i.e. Katie Scruggs AKA Pretzel) who continued her positive training for a great season once she is able to use those poles again. Mike Vigers took the 5th OJ spot. Christian Shanley and Cal Deline again had impressive races sitting in their 2nd and 3rd J1 spots respectively. Aleksei and Parker again had great races for this time in the season. Finshing in the top-15 in each of their age groups. Christian Kloser had a tough day but once the classic legs get under him, he'll be off and running! The ladies had some great finishes with Hannah Hardenbergh coming in an impressive 1st place for J2 girls, 12th for all Juniors (including colelge athletes), and 41st Overall. Sally and Eva were the 14th and 15th J1 girls and narrowly missed beating some their Colorado rivals. They'll certainly get them next time. And back from a lacross camp was Clare Baker coming in just a couple seconds behind Salyl and Eva.

We had a great week and are already excited to come back for camp next year. Thanks to the parents and coaches for preparing food and making our skis uber fast. Without them racing so well wouldn't be possible!

Back to my classroom on the 12th of December! Pretty excited to see what I missed out on!

I also did a Fireside chat with one of our Juniors that went to homecoming with Lindsey Vonn!

Lastly I made a GoPro video mounted from my classic ski. Fun having fun with video.