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KINCAID PARK, Anchorage — Hailey Swirbul won the race by over a minute, then said she was still learning. Lauren Jortberg was third overall, second American, and it was her worst showing in all four races in Anchorage. Sammy Smith was fourth, in just her second time on classic skis this season. The 10km classic at U.S. Nationals next month is going to be [synonym for “lit” that my elder millennial self can use in 2025 without being hopelessly cheugy. Or is it cheugy now to say “cheugy”? Discuss. LFG 🔥.]
The women’s 10-kilometer interval-start classic was the final event held here over four days of racing. The field was small, with just 39 starters total, but of high quality. The weather was objectively speaking not great — air temps of 21° F with winds steady at 22mph, gusting to nearly twice that, are fun for neither racing nor standing around in — but after nine days of this in Anchorage it felt like everyone was just sort of used to it by now.
Renae Anderson, fifth today, was previously hesitant to claim too much for the early stages of her experiments with improving her cold tolerance, but at least she’s had plenty of chances to work on it since. Also, she was, you know, on the podium today, so things may be working there for her…