Kyle Bratrud: Learning Experience

Nationals is now over. I fly back to Marquette tomorrow and I couldn't be happier. To say Nationals was a bit of a bumpy ride would be an understatement, but all in all I am very disappointed in myself. I walk away with my best result coming from today’s sprint. I qualified 26th and made my first senior heats ever - last year I didn't even make heats in the CCSA sprints. I am pretty psyched about the result and my legs actually feel snappier now than before the 30k.

Which brings me to the 30k itself. I played this race out so many times in my head as I trained this summer and dreamt about it many nights, none of which involved my crashing and burning. I’m not sure if it was my long stay at altitude, my opening pace, or just my first 30k on arguably the hardest course in America, but whatever it was it led to probably one of the worst races of my life.

All this negativity aside, there were many positives this week I would like to focus on. My teammate Adam Martin qualified for Junior Worlds and Rosie Frankowski qualified for U23s! I cannot express in words how happy and proud I am of Rosie. I feel even since I have been at NMU, I have been able to watch Rosie mature as an athlete and I have no doubt in my mind she will give those Europeans a run for their money. I am equally impressed with the poise Adam showed this week and I cannot wait to watch result from the two!

As for me, all I can do is move on! Skiing can be a long career if you choose to make the right steps and follow your dream, so I will not let one set back ruin my spirit. It was very cool to see Sylvan Ellefson collect his first every National Championship in the 30k after all the year of training and racing he has put in. I leave the week with disappointment, a lot of newly acquired knowledge, motivation, and joy for my teammates. Next weekend we will be racing at Telemark and saying I am already excited would be an understatement, especially considering it will be my first race at sea level in over a month.

Thank you everyone for your support and it was nice to see so many Midwest skiers out here!

About the author... NCAA All American Kyle Bratrud is entering his third season as an NMU Wildcat under Sten Fjeldheim. Spurred on by his World Junior participation last season, he is pursuing his dreams of making it on to the US Ski Team with everything he’s got. As a college athlete, Kyle will be sharing his thoughts, training, and racing experiences as he travels and competes around the college circuit and hopefully beyond.