Cloquet grad skis for Nanooks

Luckily for Cloquet grad Anja Maijala, the annual Nordic Cup race with in-state rival University of Alaska was held in Fairbanks this year, and not Anchorage.

That meant she was 350 miles away from the epicenter of Friday's 7.0 magnitude earthquake, and largely unaffected by it.

"My only experience with the earthquake was that it woke me up Friday morning when my raised bed began abruptly shaking," Maijala texted the Pine Knot News between races Saturday, adding that her entire room was shaking when she woke up.

Still, it didn't stop Maijala from starting off her second season with the Nanooks in fine fashion, taking fourth in the skate mass start on Friday and third in the classic sprints Saturday.

Maijala, who graduated in 2017 after a stellar high school Nordic skiing career for the Lumberjacks - taking third at state her junior year and second her senior year - is on a full-ride athletic scholarship for skiing (and cross country running) for the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

She is feeling much more confident about this season, after spending the summer training in Anchorage under coach Jan Buron with his Alaska Winter Stars Elite team.

Maijala said training in Anchorage with AWS was one of the best decisions she has made as an athlete.

"Getting to train with a group in which some athletes were world class juniors was so beneficial," she said, adding that she lived with three other girls who were training with AWS. "I made giant strides in my technique and learned so much more about the sport than I even knew existed!"

She also gives a lot of credit to new "beyond amazing" UA-Fairbanks assistant coach Eliska Albrigtsen, a former member of the Czech national team and NCAA champion from University of Colorado Boulder ... and one of Maijala's new idols.

"She has helped me tremendously with not only ski training and technique but with recovery exercises and shoulder rehab," Maijala said.

Maijala said she got a lot stronger over the summer, and came into the season surprised by how hard she could push herself in hard weeks and tough workouts. She's hoping to maintain that high level of fitness and build to a better season. If only she could get her shoulder to stay in place.

"I have had a couple bumps in my training this fall as I again dislocated my shoulder," said Maijala, who first injured her shoulder her senior year in high school. "But at this point I've dislocated it so many times I know what to do and how to jump back into the groove quick.

"In the end, If I stay healthy and keep my shoulders functioning, I hope to qualify for NCAAs."

Here's hoping those races are held somewhere far from any fault lines.

This is the first in an occasional series, “Where are they now,” in which the Pine Knot News catches up with athletes who have gone on to bigger competitions, in college or beyond. Got someone you’d like to see featured? Send their name, contact information and news of note to [email protected] or call 218-878-9332.