Utah Concludes Sun Valley Invitational with 10K Freestyle
12/11/2022 6:43 PM | Skiing
Mancini wins men’s race to conclude SuperTour weekend
SUN VALLEY, Idaho – Tom Mancini picked up the second Utah victory in as many days as Mancini (29:38.5) had more than 30 seconds of padding, in a 10K freestyle interval start on Sunday, in the Sun Valley Invitational at Lake Creek Nordic Center.
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"It was crazy snow conditions today; I've never raced with that much snow, so I knew it'd be a tough race with a tricky track," said Mancini. "I felt tired from yesterday's race and during the warm up it was hard to assess my energy level. However, when I started I felt great…I knew I was skiing fast and I tried to keep up the pace until the finish line. It was hard but good, and I'm happy to finish this first race period with a win."
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Mancini was followed by Samuel Hendry in fourth place, while Brian Bushey also contributed a top-7 performance for the Utes. Walker Hall also started, but was unable to finish after a fall mid-race led to a broken ski.
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Director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt added, "The men raced super well today and Tom was dominating the field. Sam and Brian skied smart races and moved up toward the end."
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In the women's 10K freestyle, Sydney Palmer-Leger capped a great weekend with another podium performance, skiing to third place (34:26.0). Ezra Smith clocked a 12th-place effort and Karianne Dengerud was 14th in the final results, while Celine Mayer rounded out the Utes in the field placing 21st.
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The Sun Valley Invitational was part of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard SuperTour schedule, highlighting an additional layer of both alpine and Nordic competition for select Utes. It compliments the team's traditional RMISA schedule which begins in January. A full rundown of that additional schedule is available here.
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Follow the Utes on social media (@utahskiteam).
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"It was crazy snow conditions today; I've never raced with that much snow, so I knew it'd be a tough race with a tricky track," said Mancini. "I felt tired from yesterday's race and during the warm up it was hard to assess my energy level. However, when I started I felt great…I knew I was skiing fast and I tried to keep up the pace until the finish line. It was hard but good, and I'm happy to finish this first race period with a win."
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Mancini was followed by Samuel Hendry in fourth place, while Brian Bushey also contributed a top-7 performance for the Utes. Walker Hall also started, but was unable to finish after a fall mid-race led to a broken ski.
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Director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt added, "The men raced super well today and Tom was dominating the field. Sam and Brian skied smart races and moved up toward the end."
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In the women's 10K freestyle, Sydney Palmer-Leger capped a great weekend with another podium performance, skiing to third place (34:26.0). Ezra Smith clocked a 12th-place effort and Karianne Dengerud was 14th in the final results, while Celine Mayer rounded out the Utes in the field placing 21st.
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The Sun Valley Invitational was part of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard SuperTour schedule, highlighting an additional layer of both alpine and Nordic competition for select Utes. It compliments the team's traditional RMISA schedule which begins in January. A full rundown of that additional schedule is available here.
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Follow the Utes on social media (@utahskiteam).
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