An accountant, a summer flooring salesman and an Estonian helped cross country skier Jessie Diggins deliver a bronze medal for Team USA. Here’s how:
U.S. Ski Team service members Patrick Moore, Andrew Morehouse, Bjørn Heimdal, Tim Baucom, Chris Hecker, Jason Cork and Eli Brown tested skis Sunday, February 6, 2022 on the Olympic trails in Zhangjiakou, China.
“I can’t speak highly enough of their work ethic — they’ve been out here every single day, hours and hours and hours, probably skiing like 50K a day,” Diggins said after finishing eighth Thursday in her third race of the Games. She added, referring to her medal-winning ski: “They delivered such a clutch performance the other night.”
The U.S. service team is composed of a mix of Americans and Europeans — including Ragilo, who previously waxed for superstars in EstoniaCross-country ski bases — the parts that slide across the snow — are generally made of a plastic called polyethylene, or p-tex. The material has tiny pores, somewhat like a sponge, which means it absorbs wax that’s ironed or rubbed in by technicians; the excess can be scraped off to leave what appears to be a smooth plastic surface.
The crew spends its first day or two skiing the race courses, setting up gear and getting a feel for the place. Then, they start testing the first layers of waxes and the best methods for applying them, as well as durability: How far can they ski before the wax starts losing potency? They’ll narrow that number to perhaps 16 waxes to test in the hours before the gun goes off. Athletes, who are paired with the technicians, will also test a handful of pairs of skis before a race to see which are fastest.
But so far, he said, the skiing at the Olympics has been quite good, even if the snow is a little dirty and wears away wax a bit more quickly than usual.
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