Race 1 From A Waxer's Perspective
By Erik Stange

February 9, 2002

I am not sure if most skiers realize how hard the World Cup and Olympic wax technicians work during the days before big races. Around the waxing cabins there are stories of wax techs who have not slept in two days or more, working around the clock to ensure that the skiers they work for have the fastest skis possible. When I arrived at the compound this morning at a little after 6:00 AM, the lights were on in virtually all of the cabins and most of the nations had teams out testing glide wax in the pre-dawn darkness. The organizers had set up enormous flood lights to illuminate the test tracks, but many testers skied with headlamps further out on the race course itself. As technicians working for Solda ski wax, Torbj¿rn Karlsen, Arve Minde and I had come up with a few combinations over the past days that were running well. Arve and I arrived early to run a few final tests before issuing our recommendation to the various national team technicians. The air was cold, but the snow was much faster than it had been other mornings, and the race. The Solda combination we had worked on all week was again performing very well, and after skiing one loop of the course to test durability I tested the skis for glide one more time. I then headed back to the trailer to post the recommendation. For us, once we had our report distributed, the pressure was off. The same could not be said for those waxing the racers' skis.

The races themselves proved to be quite exciting. Although there was certainly room for more spectators in the reserved seating bleachers, I would venture to guess that no other cross country ski race in the US has ever been better attended. In the women's race the crowd was treated to a tactical race which came down to a nail-biting finishing sprint. The staff from the Italian team could literally not contain themselves: I saw more than one coach or technician break down and cry in reaction to Stephania Belmondo's spectacular sprint win. The men's race may not have been as close as the battle for gold in the women's race, but Johan MŸhlegg displayed such powerful domination that the excitement came from seeing how much time he could put on the rest of the field. His margin of victory in the end was a little over two minutes by the time he crossed the finish line, a huge feat in a mass start event against a talented field.

The mood in the trailer compound after the race was quite relaxed: a stark contrast to the nervous energy of the morning. Racers and coaches sat on folding chairs in the bright sun outside the trailers talking and joking. Not everyone was feeling completely at ease, though. Norwegian television had cornered the wax technicans fomr the Norwegian National Team. Norwegians won no medals today (although Kristen Skjeldal finished an impressive fourth), and the reporters were looking for an explanation. I don't think anyone wanted to trade places with them at that moment.