Izquierdo-Bernier Leads in Preseason Nordic Races
1.3k Sprint Results (Men’s and Women’s) | 15k Men’s Freestyle
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — There isn’t any snow on the ground to train, so it’s been ski blades and lots of dry-land training for The University of New Mexico ski team. One would think that the lack of snow training would hinder UNM in its first preseason races of the year.
One would be very, very wrong.
Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier, the lone returner on the men’s side, finished third in the men’s 1.3k sprint, and fourth in the 15k freestyle at UNM opening preseason races at the U.S. Super Tour stop in Yellowstone, Montana.
Under the direction of first-year head Nordic coach Christian Otto, who skied at UNM and served as an assistant last year, the Lobos saw plenty of solid marks in the opening races. While sprints aren’t the usual fare for collegiate races (normally the races are either classic or freestyle distance races ranging anywhere from 5 to 20 kilometers), the Lobos picked up several top marks.
It was Izquierdo-Bernier, a senior from Montréal, Canada, on the men’s side with the top marks. Overall three of UNN’s four men raced, with only Johan Eirik Melnd resting due to an injury. In the sprints, the top 30 qualifiers advance to the quarterfinals out of 57 skiers, and Izquierdo-Bernier finished qualifying at 2:47.99 over the 1.3k sprint, good for sixth overall. Teammate Kornelius Grøv, a freshman from Trondheim, Norway finished ninth in qualifying with a time of 2:48.57. Ben Berend of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, who raced for the U.S. Olympic team in PyeongChang in 2018, coming in 39th in the 10k, missed the quarterfinals, coming in 39th.
In the quarters, both Izquierdo-Bernier and Grøv moved onto the semifinals. Both finished second in their respective heats, advancing to the semifinals, giving UNM two of the final 12 skiers. Both went off in the first of two semifinal races, with Izquierdo-Bernier finishing second to advance to the finals. Grøv missed the finals, officially finishing 12th.
In the finals, Izquierdo-Bernier couldn’t catch Andrew Newell, who raced away with the competition, winning each of his races handily. Izquierdo-Bernier finished third to Benjamin Lustgarten, who Izquierdo-Bernier had just beaten in the semifinals. He did hold off everyone else with ease to finish third overall.
Izquierdo-Bernier was the only Lobo to race in the distance freestyle race, coming in fourth overall, finishing behind Lustgarten and Kyle Bratrud. Izquierdo-Bernier and Akeo Maifeld-Carucci raced neck-and-neck down the homestretch, with Maifeld-Carucci nipping Izquierdo-Bernier by 0.4 seconds for third.
On the women’s side in the sprints, UNM had three freshman and one senior race, with freshman Julie Spets finishing 11th after making it to the semifinals. Spets, from Trondheim, Norway, was 10th after qualifying out of 43 with a 3:16.68 mark. That put her in the opening quarterfinal race, where she took second of six in the heat with a 3:17.87 to move into the semifinals, but that’s as far as she got, officially finishing 11th overall.
Lone senior Brenna Egan of Park City, Utah was 18th overall in qualifying, and officially finished 27th, and rookie teammate Savanna Fassio, who also hails from Park City, finished 30th. Daria Kuznetsova of Pervouralsk, Russia qualified for the Jr. Women’s final, where her time of 3:25.00 flat gave her a fourth-place finish overall.