{"id":2449212,"date":"2019-09-26T20:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T02:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/basalts-hailey-swirbul-to-start-cross-country-ski-season-on-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2019-09-26T20:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T02:40:00","slug":"basalts-hailey-swirbul-to-start-cross-country-ski-season-on-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/basalts-hailey-swirbul-to-start-cross-country-ski-season-on-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Basalt\u2019s Hailey Swirbul to start cross-country ski season on World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.5081081081081\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-313524-813\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/swirbulski-atd-092719-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/swirbulski-atd-092719-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Reese Brown\/U.S. Ski &amp; Snowboard | Basalt native Hailey Swirbul competes in the World Cup cross-country skiing finals in Quebec, Canada, this past winter. Swirbul recently wrapped up her first season on the U.S. Ski Team.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Basalt native Hailey Swirbul competes in the World Cup cross-country skiing finals in Quebec, Canada, this past winter. Swirbul recently wrapped up her first season on the U.S. Ski Team.<\/strong><br \/>Reese Brown\/U.S. Ski &amp; Snowboard<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/swirbulski-atd-092719-1.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Basalt native Hailey Swirbul competes in the World Cup cross-country skiing finals in Quebec, Canada, this past winter. Swirbul recently wrapped up her first season on the U.S. Ski Team.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/swirbulski-atd-092719-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/swirbulski-atd-092719-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Hailey Swirbul on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018 in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>Hailey Swirbul on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018 in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/swirbulski-atd-092719-1-1.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Hailey Swirbul on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018 in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalts-hailey-swirbul-to-start-cross-country-ski-season-on-world-cup\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalts-hailey-swirbul-to-start-cross-country-ski-season-on-world-cup\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Hailey Swirbul knows it\u2019s about to get real. She was introduced to the World Cup stage last winter, her first on the U.S. cross-country ski team, but that small appetizer is about to turn into a full-course meal as soon as the snow begins to fall in the Northern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt will be a rude awakening to the season no matter what. But I\u2019m ready. I\u2019m really excited,\u201d Swirbul said in a recent interview with The Aspen Times. \u201cProbably going over there to get my butt kicked for a couple of weeks, but I think I\u2019ll learn a lot. That\u2019s my long-term goal is to excel on the World Cup one day, so I want to see what it\u2019s like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Swirbul, a 2016 Basalt High School graduate and former Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club athlete, will start her season on the World Cup circuit after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalts-hailey-swirbul-encouraged-by-results-after-first-year-on-us-ski-team\/\">getting four starts on the big stage last season<\/a>. She surprisingly made her World Cup debut Jan. 12 in Dresden, Germany, where she finished 41st in a freestyle sprint. Her other three World Cup starts came in the season\u2019s March finals in Quebec, Canada, where she finished 53rd in a freestyle sprint, 41st in a 10-kilometer classic and 41st again in a 10k freestyle pursuit race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Swirbul will compete in Period 1 of the upcoming World Cup slate, which goes from the start of the season to roughly mid-December. Where she goes after that will likely depend on her results from the early-season races.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis will be the real deal, to kind of get a taste of what it\u2019s like to be on the road for a while,\u201d Swirbul said. \u201cI\u2019m glad to have that experience under my belt and a little more confidence knowing I\u2019ve done it, I can do it, and if I give my best that\u2019s all I can do and let the results fall where they may.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Swirbul, 21, continues to live in Anchorage, Alaska, where she is studying civil engineering through the University of Alaska Anchorage, but trains mostly through the prestigious Alaska Pacific University club team. APU has produced some of the sport\u2019s best athletes, such as Olympic gold medalist Kikkan Randall and current \u201cA\u201d team members Rosie Brennan, Sadie Bjornsen and Erik Bjornsen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A developmental team member in her rookie season, Swirbul is part of the U.S.\u2019s \u201cB\u201d team this winter alongside Julia Kern and Caitlin Patterson. The U.S. women\u2019s \u201cA\u201d team members also include Olympic gold medalist Jessica Diggins and Vermont\u2019s Sophie Caldwell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI feel so fortunate to be part of this group and have access to all these resources right now. It\u2019s been an adjustment to kind of figure out how to get the best use out of those resources,\u201d Swirbul said. \u201cIt\u2019s been an amazing opportunity to have my teammates at APU here and on the U.S. Ski Team to learn from. They\u2019ve paved the way a little bit for my generation, so it\u2019s less work, I guess, in the foreground working toward my goals because these older women have proved that\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Diggins and Randall certainly rewrote what\u2019s possible for U.S. cross-country skiers after winning Olympic gold in 2018. Prior to that, the only Olympic medal for the U.S. in the sport was silver, won by Bill Koch in 1976. Randall has since retired, but Diggins, 28, remains the face of American cross-country skiing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The dream for younger athletes like Swirbul is to ride the coattails of skiers like Diggins with the hope of finding similar success on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cGranted, we all still have to put in all that hard work and training, but it\u2019s cool just to have the support system that knows what you are going through,\u201d Swirbul said. \u201cI\u2019m happy with how my season went last year. But I\u2019m also hungry for more, so I\u2019m really excited to get going this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The first World Cup race is scheduled for Nov. 29 in Ruka, Finland. Norway, Switzerland and Slovenia all host races before the end of December as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalts-hailey-swirbul-to-start-cross-country-ski-season-on-world-cup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Basalt native Hailey Swirbul competes in the World Cup cross-country skiing finals in Quebec, Canada, this past winter. Swirbul recently wrapped up her first season on the U.S. Ski Team.Reese Brown\/U.S. Ski &amp; Snowboard Hailey Swirbul on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018 in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Show CaptionsHide Captions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 10:46:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}