Mike Vigers and Jessica Jortberg have qualified to represent the US at the J1 Scandinavian Cup races happening at the end of the month in Finland. In order to qualify for these races, you need to be one of the top 5 J1 male or female skiers at the end of Senior Nationals. Vigers and Jortberg went to Anchorage with their sights set on this trip, and came home to train before packing their bags for a trip over the pond. The schedule of events for the team, according to team leader Tim Weston, will go something like this:
We will spend the first 3 days training on the trails in Lahti, then spend the next week in Kuopio (a few hours North). Lahti is a regular stop on both Nordic and Nordic Combined World Cup, while Kuopio typically hosts Ski Jumping World Cups. We’ll probably do some sort of time-trial ~Sunday 1/24, in Lahti. The races are Fri-Sat-Sun 1/29 – 1/31. Sprint Freestyle, 5/10km Classic, and 3-person mixed-relay (C-F-F).
The official race website can be found HERE
The skiers will also be contributing to a blog while there, and that can be found at: http://usaj1team.blogspot.com