Every Worldloppet has some sort of sprint event with big crowds and big prize money. Last night, the village of Sils Maria hosted the Engadin Night Sprints: knock-out rounds of racers on an icy, fast sprint course under the lights. This year’s event featured the likes of Olympic Gold Medalists Bjorn Lind and Christian Zorzi, World Champion Martin Koukal, and Birkie Champion Fabio Santus.
St Moitz by night or by day, both are pretty darn cool!
The Hotel Sonne has been our home away from home this week. A big thanks to Gus for finding a booking us the best hotel in town. There’s no Rolls Royce to pick us up from the airport like some other hotels in town, but we can walk anywhere we want, including 200m to the ski trail.
One of the highlights of the night sprints was seeing so many familiar faces. Here, Don catches up with former US SuperTour Champions Martina Strusova from Czech and Karin Caminsich from Switzerland.
The food and drinks at the Night Sprints can’t be beat. Gluhwein from an ice bar is obligatory to wash down a classic Swiss rindkabob. Here, Beat pours hot oil onto the kabob before lighting it on fire!
Oh yeah, there were some ski races too. Torin Koos ended up getting taken out on a corner in the Semi’s, but put in a valiant effort none-the-less.
Here, the Midwest crew of Jim Michler, Adam Swank, Tyler Kjorstad, Kuz, Paul Belknap, Aga Bednarz, and Don Becker get together for a group shot to cap off an exciting evening of racing and food.
Engadin Marathon starts at 8:20 tomorrow morning! Stay tuned for the full race report. . .