How fast can cross-country skiiers run a 10k?

Ingrid Kristian - probably spelt that completely wrong..

Downhill is fun on a bike wrote:

How fast can xc skiiers run a 10k or marathon? Any one know of any of them try a cross over?

Depends at what level, but some elite skiers can be pretty fast. However, skiers can be of many body types, so performance level doesn't always translate.

John Aalberg (Norwegian native, now a naturalized American citizen) was a 2 sport Division I All American in college, and NCAA champion in skiing. He probably could have run in the 28s or 29s at his peak, and he ran some fast marathons (sub 2:15 I think). He was on 2 Olympic teams for skiing.

Former Olympic biathlete Josh Thompson, the only American to ever win a medal in the World Championships, once jumped into a 10k at 6,000 elev. in Colorado and ran low 31.

The most well-known crossover athletes were Ingrid Kristiansen (1976 xc Olmpian from Norway, and we know what she did as a runner), and John Halvorson, who ran 2:10 or so. He was also an elite skier for Norway at one time.

It seems that elite athletes specialize more now, and you don't see as many switching from skiing to running.

I do/did both, but not nearly at that level!

Not sure about on an international level (although I think Norway\'s Frode Estil is a big time mountain runner), but at least here in the US, Dartmouth\'s Ben True is pretty solid on either side. He had a 30:16 10k XC at nationals this year, good enough for 25th place (top time was 29:15). He also finished 5th in the 10k classic race at NCAA\'s (for skiing) last week.

It is pretty rare to see a truly elite nordie compete on an equivalent level in running. There is so much else that goes into dryland training such as rollerskiing, various bounding drills, technique, and weightlifting. A skier that runs all the time won\'t be in good enough ski specific shape. Top skiers are also much more built all around, so that doesn\'t help very much in running.

I recall that there was an \'experiment\' where they tried to convert good African runners into nordic skiers, but they lacked the upper body strength to be competitive, despite the best coaching and incredible v02max, etc.

XC Olympian Justin Wadsworth of Bend, Oregon ran 30:50 on a certified course. I had a good day and he beat by almost a minute.

CC skiers are aerobic animals, but usually a bit more muscular/heavier than top runners. Some do a fair amount of running off season, some prefer bounding, roller skis, biking. Rollerskiing is a great arms workout.

Karl Walszak, about 24 years old from Minnesota, competed for Michigan Tech (Divison II) a few years ago and ran around 30 and 14-high, and did well in cc. He is a better ski racer, top 20 or so U.S. He can bust 5 minute miles in local road races in the summer, but is focused on skiing. He is neither one of the best skiers or runners, just an example from my home town, Houghton, MI.

Bob Kempainen did ok.

AK-47, is that you, Roger? It's me, Ray.

Caitlin Compton, who ran for N.Michigan I believe, probably in the 35 minute range, is in the top 20 of US XC skiers.

Who Cares.

jungleroy59 wrote:

AK-47, is that you, Roger? It's me, Ray.

Ray, yupp it's me!

Good to see you online, even if it is here in this den of inequity.

Ray, yupp it's me!

Good to see you online, even if it is here in this den of inequity.[/quote]

Email me at my first initial and last name (no spaces) at hline dot org

(r_ _ _ _ _ at hline.org)

I have some interesting news for you -- Kai's finish at JOs, Wendy's Birkie and my trip coming up.

nordic bump

My husband and I are master ski racers and he does the 50K (32 Miles) freestyle (skate) ski marathons. His fastest is 2h 25 mins. There are so many variables to ski races though, hills, snow conditions, wind, glide etc. His Chicago Marathon time last year was 2:59. That also has wind etc but not to many other variables.

We ski tons of races in Michigan in the winter. Almost every weekend starting Jan 1, we even have our last races this weekend! Looks like great snow up north.

Ski training sure does make it hard to really train well running but skiing really boosts your aerobic capacity in a great way. It takes a few months to acclimate yourself to the pounding on the roads because there is no glide....

BEN TRUE...LOOK IT UP

[quote]runmomrun wrote:

We ski tons of races in Michigan in the winter. Almost every weekend starting Jan 1, we even have our last races this weekend! Looks like great snow up north.

quote]

We got about 2 feet new snow on Monday in Houghton/Calumet. Should be good for another month.

will do! Saw one of k's results, but didn't check the whole series.You've had an excellent comeback from what I've seen.

jungleroy59 wrote:

Ray, yupp it's me!

Good to see you online, even if it is here in this den of inequity.

Email me at my first initial and last name (no spaces) at hline dot org

(r_ _ _ _ _ at hline.org)

I have some interesting news for you -- Kai's finish at JOs, Wendy's Birkie and my trip coming up.[/quote]

jungleroy59 wrote:

CC skiers are aerobic animals, but usually a bit more muscular/heavier than top runners. Some do a fair amount of running off season, some prefer bounding, roller skis, biking. Rollerskiing is a great arms workout.

Karl Walszak, about 24 years old from Minnesota, competed for Michigan Tech (Divison II) a few years ago and ran around 30 and 14-high, and did well in cc. He is a better ski racer, top 20 or so U.S. He can bust 5 minute miles in local road races in the summer, but is focused on skiing. He is neither one of the best skiers or runners, just an example from my home town, Houghton, MI.

Karl, although a beast, never ran the times you quote. He never broke 15 in the 5k and I believe his Michigan Tech record 10k (which I watched) was in the 31:30s, high-:20 at the fastest. Not bad for a guy who skiied pretty much exclusively until the snow left.

He did much better at skiing this year, placing like 15th or 20th in one of the National Championship events. We ran a 10k together last summer, on a slow course, and he had no problem running about 33 flat.

AH wrote:

Karl, although a beast, never ran the times you quote.

You're right. My mistake. Nearly all the best runners in our area, open and masters, are better skiers than runners. Makes sense with the long winters. And as we have more trails than roads, trail running and mountain biking are the choice activities in the summer, so we tend to have decent trail runners who don't have great flat road speed. One exception, Margot Hutchins, ran lots of roads last winter and won Whistlestop last fall in 2:57:49.

I'm a norwegian and I know that many of the norwegian CC skiers have run fast on the longer distances. The best norwegian time recorded of a skier is the world and olympic champion Anders Aukland. I think his personal bests are: 1500:3.46, 3000: 8.02, 5000: 13.50 and 10k: 29.30.

Bjørn Dæhlie, the 8 times olympic gold winner has a personal best of 30.31 in the 10k and was also sub 2.00 on the 800 once or twice.

A few others: olympic champion 1968 Grenoble, Ole Ellefsæter ran 3k in 8.21 and Pål G.Mikkelsplass, who I personally know, 8.22, 14.29 as a junior and 29 something in the 10k. He is world champion and also got a silver medal in Calgary 88.

Think this proves that many of the skiers are very fit. Mikkelsplass also told me once that a hard 5k was much harder than a 15k cross country race.