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Trio of Summit Nordic skiers shine at Junior Nationals

Henri Nicolas, 15, of Breckenridge, skates a portion of the Frisco Peninsula Recreation Area trails to a victory during February's 5K race at the Frisco Gold Rush Nordic skiing event.
Joe Kusumoto / town of Frisco

FRISCO — Despite the cancellation of two of four events at this week’s 2020 Cross-Country Skiing Junior Nationals in Donner Summit, California, earlier in the week three Summit Nordic Ski Club athletes in attendance raced to finishes they were proud of.

Nina Schamberger, Henri Nicolas and Annabelle Pattenden were able to ski in the classic interval start and freestyle sprint races.

Competing in the girls U-16 division, Schamberger finished in fourth-place with a time of three minutes and 27.65 seconds in the 74-skier, 1,300-meter skate sprint race. Schamberger finished in a strong fifth-place in the classic interval start.



“She was in first with 300 meters to go,” Summit Nordic head coach Olof Hedberg said, “she got outsprinted in the end. It’s really tough missing a national championship and podium by a ski length, but she’s only 14 and raced great.”

Hedberg said the 15-year-old Pattenden, who was at her debut junior nationals along with Nicolas while Schamberger raced there for her second time, “raced the best race of her life” in the skate sprint, finishing in 11th place and as the third-fastest Colorado skier, behind Schamberger and one other athlete.



“That’s a new best for Annabelle,” the coach said. “It’s really raising the bar for her, taking it to the next step.”

As for the 15-year-old Nicolas, the Summit Nordic skier stood out with his 30th-place finish and time of 2:55.81 in the 73-skier, 13,00-meter boys U-16 skate sprint race. Nicolas also took 35th in the classic interval start race.

“That’s a good showing by him,” Hedberg said, “representative of his performance all year.”


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