 |
| Main | Files | Results | Links | Features | General | Team Reports |
|
|
|
Val di Fiemme, Italy, February 18 - March 1 Back to 2002/2003 Team Reports |
|
|
|
| Main | Files | Results | Links | Features | General | Team Reports |
|
|
|
Val di Fiemme, Italy, February 18 - March 1 Back to 2002/2003 Team Reports |
|
Race Reports
Women: 15km - 10km - 5/5km Duathlon - Relay - Sprint - 30km
Men: 30km - 15km - 10/10km Duathlon - Relay - Sprint - 50km
Women's 15km Classic Mass Start - February 18The first race of the 2003 World Championships didn't quite get away without a hint of the doping shadow which has tainted the sport over recent years. Two skiers had to withdraw from the start of the 15km mass start because their haemoglobin levels were too high, and they have been given a 5-day suspension from competition for health reasons. It is noted of course that this does not constitute a doping offence, and that it is possible to exceed the haemoglobin limits naturally, however some doubt always remains in these circumstances.
Once the race was underway it proved to be a good spectacle. Bente Skari from Norway was expected to ski away with the race easily, following on her dominance of the World Cup and in particular classic events this season. However Kristina Smigun from Estonia had other plans, and took the race up to Skari on the first two laps of the 5km course. Olga Savialova from Russia was in contact for a while, but it soon turned into a two-woman race. Smigun had good skis and looked strong, but Skari and the large contingent of Norwegian fans were not to be denied, and half way around the last lap the Norwegian put her foot down and managed to create a break. The gap only went out to 12-13 seconds, and while in the end it was a clear victory to Skari the small margin perhaps indicates a chink in the Norwegian armour and some hope for other skiers in the remaining events. Savialova took the bronze medal, which everyone seems to be reporting as her first medal since the World Junior Championships (then as Olga Korneeva).
There were of course other skiers in the race. Moen from Norway was right up there in the top 5 after 5km but then withdrew after beginning to drop rapidly back through the field. Olsson from Sweden skied an impressive race for 5th place only 10 seconds behind Pedersen from Norway, and with Ek in 10th place two Swedish women in the top ten is a big improvement on major championships of recent years. The best of the North Americans was Wendy Wagner from the USA in 32nd place, top Canadian skiers Scott and Renner who placed 2nd and 11th in the last world cup electing to skip the opening event.
Women 15km Classic Mass Start 1 39:40.9 NOR Bente Skari 2 39:53.7 EST Kristina Smigun 3 40:36.7 RUS Olga Savialova 4 41:02.7 NOR Hilde G. Pedersen 5 41:12.1 SWE Jenny Olsson
Men's 30km Classic Mass Start - February 19Many were tipping the Norwegians to be strong in this event, in particular Estil, Aukland and Hjelmeset. However Alsgaard proved to be the master at the end of a very exciting mass start race. A lot of tips were also on the reigning World Champion and Olympic 15km Champion Veerpalu from Estonia (some also that he would fail the pre-race doping test), and for a while it seemed to be in his grasp. But first to the early part of the race, there was a big pack for the first couple of 7.5km laps and Swedes Fredriksson, Brink, and Sodergren were prominent along with Veerpalu and the Norwegians. The pack slowly whittled down, and towards the end of the thrid lap there were still about 15 skiers in the bunch. Suddenly Fredriksson was 10 seconds off the back of the pack, it turned out he had fallen, but as the pack headed out for the last lap he managed to get back on while Brink was at the front controlling the pace. Then at about 24km Veerpalu made his attack on the long climb, and managed to get out to a 5-6 second lead. Alsgaard came forward to take up the chase, and then Botvinov from Austria, and the gap stayed the same and even began to close. Then Botvinov fell on a downhill, and it was Alsgaard, Estil, and Aukland leading the chasing group ahead of German Filbrich, the Swedes starting to drop back. Veerpalu's lead began to crumble, and the Norwegian crowd in the stadium watching the big screen went wild as first Alsgaard pulled onto the the back of Veerpalu and then Estil came past into the lead. Veerpalu dug deep and got onto the back of Estil, then to another roar from the crowd Alsgaard glided past on the last downhill before entering the stadium and took the lead. Over the last little hill into the long straight, and Aukland joined his team-mates in a little arrowhead ahead of Veerpalu. The double-pole sprint began, and Alsgaard held onto a small gap as Aukland pulled into second past Estil, and it was one two three for Norway, you thought the Norwegians went mad after Skari won yesterday. Just lucky we are not in Norway, though with the numbers of Norwegian spectators in the stadium you can be forgiven for being confused. Schluetter from Germany finished well to take 5th place after Veerpalu, only 2.8 seconds from 1st. The first North American was Justin Freeman from the USA in 42nd place, only two skiers from the 67 starters didn't finish.
Men 30km Classic Mass Start 1 1:12:29.3 NOR Thomas Alsgaard 2 1:12:29.9 NOR Anders Aukland 3 1:12:30.4 NOR Frode Estil 4 1:12:31.2 EST Andrus Veerpalu 5 1:12:32.1 GER Andreas Schluetter
Women's 10km Classic - February 20The battle between Smigun and Skari resumed today, with only 0.2 of a second separating the two after 1.6km. However a 4 second lead at half-way soon ballooned out to 16 sec as Skari closed on her team-mate Pedersen fom 30 seconds behind. At this stage Pedersen had just slipped up into 3rd place ahead of Savialova, but any thought of a tight battle for the bronze medal was put aside as Pedersen stuck to Skari like glue when she came past. Skari won comfortably, but Pedersen out-sprinted her at the finish, and was only 9 seconds behind Smigun. Paruzzi finished strongly to take 4th place from Savialova in the last km.
Sarah Renner opened faster than her Canadian team-mate Scott, and was in the top ten for 2/3 of the race before fading to 16th. Scott went the other way, moving from 12th up to 8th, a solid performance in her first race at these championships but a little below expectations considering her cranking 2nd place in the last World Cup. Perhaps the best is yet to come. Wagner from the USA went out hard to be half a second off Scott at 1.6km, but paid for her efforts ending up 38th out of the 62 strong field.
So now the Norwegians have 6 medals from 9 after the first three races, possibly to increase after the men's 15km classic tomorrow. You'd be happy for this small fish eating country doing so well if their fans weren't so damn patriotic and loud.
Women 10km Classic 1 25:47.0 NOR Bente Skari 2 26:08.0 EST Kristina Smigun 3 26:16.7 NOR Hilde G. Pedersen 4 26:53.8 ITA Gabriella Paruzzi 5 26:56.7 RUS Olga Savialova
Men's 15km Classic - February 21Some surprises and a very exciting race today in the 15km classic. The red group (seeded skiers) went off with only 10 skiers ahead of them, opting for colder faster snow early on. Lots of big names up there at the first 1.6km split, Elofsson and Fredriksson from Sweden, and Hjelmeset from Norway. After 5km Axel Teichmann from Germany came to the front and started posting the time to chase. First overlooked for most of the first lap by the commentators were Noutrikhine from Russia and Kris Freeman from the USA, who started 8 and 10 spots after the red group and slotted into 2nd and 3rd spots at 5km. A big group of skiers were hot on their tales, including Elofsson, Fredriksson, Hjelmeset, Schluetter, Batory from Slovakia, and a bit further back Mae and Veerpalu from Estonia and Estil from Norway. Another 5km later and heading out for the last lap Teichmann held a 10 second lead over team-mate Schluetter, with Freeman in 3rd place only a second further back. On the last lap Teichmann overtook Elofsson from 30 seconds behind and then spat him, going on and in to the finish to take a clear lead. Schluetter came in soon after, moving into 2nd place 12 seconds behind. While Noutrikhine dropped back Mae and Estil were the next mover and shakers, double poling like mad-men to push Schluetter down two spots, one after the other. Fredriksson, Veerpalu, Batory, all did nothing special, and then while the commentators started talking up Freeman out on the course Ben Sim caught a lot of TV time in the finish straight, the 17 year old ending up 6 minutes off the pace. Looking back to the 13.7km split, and Freeman was up into 2nd place, 2 seconds up on Mae, and a medal for the USA seemed a real possibility. Unfortunately the finishes of Mae and Estil were two swift, and the long straight saw Freeman fall 2 seconds short of the podium. Still, 4th place a pretty impressive result, and the best by the USA at a major championship since the days of Bill Koch. The Australian results, 66th, 67th and 69th out of a field of 87 starters, not too bad for a couple of young guys and a "sprint specialist". While Ben and Paul have scored better FIS points before, Mocky posted his personal best though just outside that elusive 100 point barrier.
Men 15km Classic 1 35:47.5 GER Axel Teichmann 2 35:54.4 EST Jaak Mae 3 35:56.0 NOR Frode Estil 4 35:58.1 USA Kris Freeman 5 36:00.4 GER Andreas Schluetter 66 41:47.5 AUS Ben Sim - 16.76% - 100.58 FIS points 67 42:09.9 AUS Andrew Mock - 17.81% - 106.84 FIS points 69 42:26.4 AUS Paul Murray - 18.56% - 111.45 FIS points 87 Skiers in start
Women's 5-5km Duathlon - February 22Drama before the start of the race today when it was announced that the favourite Bente Skari would not be starting due to illness, apparently a similar flu has already knocked out Skari's team-mate Thomas Alsgaard and several members of the Italian team. Smigun from Estonia immediately stepped into the favourite position, however many other skiers were also potential contenders. With the occasional trip and stumble and stepping on other skiers poles a very large pack was still together after the first 2.5km classic lap. Scott from Canada went to the front and picked up the pace, and then Savialova from Russia took over and started to draw the pack out. Skofterud from Norway was also up the front and then Shevchenko from Ukraine lead into the stadium towards the change - is it just a coincidence or why do all the top female skier's surnames start with S? Shevchenko and Savialova were quick in the change and lead out into the freestyle leg, but 13-14 skiers were still in contact. Paruzzi from Italy went forward and a smaller pack started to go clear at the front, including Pedersen from Norway, Savialova, Smigun, and Sachenbacher from Germany. Sachenbacher moved closer to the front, and a gap appeared back to Scott in 7th place, but as they came into the stadium to lap the group bunched up again and increased first to 10 and then 12 skiers as they headed out for the final lap. Scott again went to the front and dragged the train, but as Paruzzi and Smigun took over Scott suddenly dropped back off the pack, it looked as though someone might have stepped on her pole. With about a km to go Savialova went forward and made the first real sprint attack, gaining a few metres break. But then on the downhill Smigun glided up level before making an attack of her own, and lead over the hill into the stadium with about 6 skiers in tow vying for position and finishing lanes. Sachenbacher muscled Pedersen out to gain a clean run forward, and edged a nose ahead of Savialova two lanes across as the sprint began for real. But no-one could peg back Smigun and the Estonian went on to win her first World Champion gold medal. Sachenbacher nearly lost the silver to Savialova by failing to lunge, but the photo finish gave it to the German by about a cm, with Pedersen getting 4th. Paruzzi 5th and Scott 6th, a great effort by the Canadian in the straight but she was coming from too far behind just before hitting the stadium. Renner from Canada had another good performance in 17th, and Wendy Wagner was the first from the USA in 44th place.
Women 5-5km Duathlon 1 EST Kristina Smigun 2 GER Evi Sachenbacher 3 RUS Olga Savialova 4 NOR Hilde G. Pedersen 5 ITA Gabriella Paruzzi
Men's 10-10km Duathlon - February 23A big field, 87 starters, and Brink from Sweden and Estil From Norway lead the pack out. The Swedes stayed up the front, Elofsson with gun skis gliding off the front. But an enormous pack was still together on the second lap, maybe 30 skiers. Piller Cotter from Italy drove the field up the hill the second time, but no breaks. Veerpalu from Estonia went off the front out of the stadium the third time, with a small break back to Swede Fredriksson and Freeman from the USA, but then it all came together again.
Into the stadium and Filbrich from Germany and Brink lead a pack of maybe 20 skiers to the change. With quick changes these two lead out as well, with Piller Cotter and Fredriksson, and also Teichmann from Germany on their tails. But still a big pack and no-one that keen to push the pace for the first 1km of the skate. Then Piller Cottrer made a move and got a small break off the front, about 5 seconds at the 1.8km mark. No-one went after him and The Italian took a 7.5 second gap into the second lap. Sweden lead the chase, Elofsson, Fredriksson and Brink., with Freeman and Swenson from the USA 10th and 11th through the lap, Swenson in particular moving up a heap on the first skating lap.
Piller Cottrer was caught half way round the next lap, and a group of about 11 had a small gap on the rest and the pace eased off. Into the stadium again and more skiers caught up, perhap 20 in the bunch again, with Fredriksson and Swenson leading into the last lap. Up the hill and Fredriksson drew out the pack into single-file, with Elofsson on his tail, and Hofstad from Norway moving up. Over the top of the course and these 3 had a very small break. Brink and Teichmann got caught up with each other, but then got going again quickly. Hofstad then took the lead with the Swedes Elofsson, Fredriksson and Brink behind him then Hasler from Liechtenstein, and Koukal from Czech with Teichmann by his side.
Elsofsson did a Smigun and took the lead into the stadium, and somehow held off the frenzied pack on his tail to win the gold medal. It was a big sprint for second., with Hasler finishing very fast, and closing on Hofstad and Brink. A big photo finish, and Hofstad claimed silver, Brink with the better lunge to take bronze ahead of Hasler. Teichmann was fifth about a metre behind Brink, Koukal 6th, Fredriksson 7th only 1.5 second back from Elofsson. Swenson and Freeman were not quite up there for the main sprint and finished 11th and 14th.
1 47:42.3 SWE Per Elofsson 2 + 0.3 NOR Tore-Ruud Hofstad 3 + 0.4 SWE Jorgen Brink 4 + 0.5 LIE Markus Hasler 5 + 0.6 GER Axel Teichmann
Women's Relay - February 24Sweden was the surprise packet on the first leg, with Ek sitting in 2nd place behind Henkel from Germany before Finland and Norway caught up right at the change. Russia was right out of it, with Korosteleva finishing 9th 36 seconds back. Bjoergen from Norway ripped them apart on the second leg however, getting a 20 second break from Germany, with Kuitunen from Finland and Andersson from Sweden together a further 5 seconds back. Then all the action happened on the 3rd leg. Pedersen Norway was comfortable out in front for Norway, while Varis (back from her 5 day "health suspension") moved Finland up past Kuenzel into 2nd place. Olsson from Sweden lost contact and began to drop back. Suddenly Pedersen fell on a fast downhill just after the top of the course, and slid into the net. She was up again and going without too much of a break, but lost all momentum and Varis quickly pulled up level and then past. Kuenzel came through also, and then glided past Varis on the next downhill; Pedersen now broken from the effort of trying to get back to speed again and unable to follow. Kuenzel's glide gave her a small break, and she went for it widening the gap.
Into the final change and Kuenzel almost tripped up Sachenbacher in the changeover, but still the German took an 8 second lead into the last leg, ahead of Manninen for Finland and Skofterud for Norway. Skofterud immediately caught Manninen, but the Finn tucked in behind. To the 1.8km on last leg and Sachenbacher's lead was out to 30 seconds with no indication of getting smaller. Manninen took the lead back from Skofterud at about 2km, the Norwegian maybe starting to fast. Back behind Russia was finally moving up with Gavriljuk moving up to 4th place past Dahlberg from Sweden, but Kazak not far behind.
Sachenbacher came down into the stadium well clear, with plenty of time to pick up the German flag and grin all the way down the straight. Manninen managed to get a small break from Skofterud before the last downhill, and then went on to extend it into the stadium and so silver to Finland. Some might say ironic that Finland won the silver relay medal in 2003 with Kuitunen in the team, after Kuitunen had only just returned from the doping ban she incurred from the relay in the 2001 World Championships. Anyway Russia 4th, Kazakhstan 5th, Belarus 6th with Nageijkina skiing the fastest time on the last leg, and Sweden dropping to 7th.
1 GER 50:54.7 (Henkel, Bauer, Kuenzel, Sachenbacher) 2 FIN 51:17.7 (Sirvio, Kuitunen, Varis, Manninen) 3 NOR 51:36.3 (Moen, Bjoergen, Pedersen, Skofterud)
Men's Relay - February 25Because of their poor showing in Saly Lake City Sweden had number 13 on the start grid, and Sodergren had to work hard early on to get them up to the front of the pack. At about 3km or so Burgermeister went off the front with a burst up the hill, and no-one followed. So Switzerland led through the first lap with a handy gap. Freeman from the USA took up the chase into the second lap, taking Filbrich from Germany and Sodergren with him, Norway headed the rest of the main bunch with Aukland. Burgermeister's lead was out to about 9 seconds at 6.4km when Freeman dropped his companions and set out on his own. He quickly bridged the gap, but not due to Burgermeister slowing; the gap was growing behind and at 8.7km the breakaway two had a 16 second lead to Germany and Sweden, with Norway 9th(!) 27s back, and Italy 14th over a minute back. Freeman got clear before the change, giving the USA a 3.5s lead over the Swiss, 21s ahead of Germany and Sweden, and 42s from Norway.
Johnstone may have got a little carried away initially on the second leg, increasing the USA's lead by a few seconds in the first 1.5km, but then Koch took the lead back for Switzerland as Sweden (Fredriksson) and Germany (Schluetter) rapidly gained time. By the 5km mark these three teams were together, with the USA 10s back in 5th following Russia. Norway with Estil in the hunt was now 26s from the lead, and Estonia with Veerpalu 35s back. The leading trio picked up the pace, and over the top of the course Fredriksson attacked and broke away from Germany. Koch however dug deep, and going around Germany managed to bridge the gap up to the Fredriksson. Behind Estil and Veerpalu got together, picked up Russia along the way, and began to close on Germany. Unfortunately the USA was unable to follow this group, and this is where they leave this commentary. Sweden and Switzerland swapped the lead a few times before coming together to the 2nd change, 25 seconds clear from Norway, with Estonia, Germany, and Russia together another 10s behind.
The players on the third leg: Elofsson for Sweden, Bundi for Switzerland, Hofstad for Norway, Sommerfeldt for Germany, Mae for Estonia, and Novikov for Russia. Bundi tried to hang onto Elofsson, but the Swede slowly started to pull away after a km or so, the gaps also widening to the teams behind. But then the trio of Sommerfeldt, Mae and Novikov started to get going, catching up to Hofstad. At 5km Elofsson had a 25s lead on Switzerland, with the train stable at 29s. Out of the stadium Bundi was caught, but couldn't catch a ride. Elofsson's lead was slowly pegged back to 22s at 7.2km, and then suddenly Novikov attacked. The Russian left the others standing and reduced Elofsson's lead to 11 seconds at the 3rd change, the trio behind remaining at 23 seconds off the pace. To the final leg and Brink lead it out for Sweden, Noutrikine for Russia, Alsgaard for Norway, Teichmann for Germany, and Narusk for Estonia.
The first 5km of the last leg and nothing much happened. Brink kept his lead on the main threats Germany and Norway, Russia dropped maybe 5 seconds remaining in between, and after a good effort for a bout 3km Estonia was spat. Brink was looking comfortable out in front, and even gained a few more seconds on all up the 6.8km mark. Then Alsgaard attacked, quickly bridging the gap to and flying past Noutrikine on a steep uphill, Teichmann somehow managing to hold on for his life. But Brink was already over the top of the course and onto the long down and commentators were already talking about Sweden's last World Championship relay gold in 1989. The cameras focussed on the battle between Alsgaard and Teichmann, into the last major uphill and Alsgaard was hammering but unable to shake the German. Over the top of this hill and there looked to be a straggling team about to be lapped, Ukraine perhaps, but no, it was Sweden! Brink had spent all his bikkies and had hit the wall big time! Possibly Alsgaard and Teichmann didn't even believe it, but now they were fighting for gold not silver. Down around and in towards the stadium, and Teichmann was still cheekily hanging on by his fingernails. Over the last bridge into the straight and the German pulled out from behind and gave it his best shot. For a moment it seemed as if he could do the impossible, and drew level with Alsgaard, but the Norwegian fought back and delivered yet another gold for the fish-eaters, a mere ski length ahead of Germany. An amazing finish! A broken Brink limped across the line 15 seconds back for the bronze medal, with Russia taking 4th 25 seconds off the pace. A gutsy effort by Switzerland for 5th, and then for the record Finland, Czech, Estonia, Japan, Italy, France, USA, Austria, Kazakstan, Ukraine, Canada, and Denmark not very happy to be pulled out of the race after being lapped.
1 NOR (Aukland, Estil, Hofstad, Alsgaard) 2 GER (Filbrich, Schluetter, Sommerfeldt, Teichmann) 3 SWE (Sodergren, Fredriksson, Elofsson, Brink)
Men and Women Sprint - February 26Okay finally an update (now March 4) on the sprint and the other competitions at the end of the champs. Two of the big favourites topped the qualifying time trial - Bjoergen from Norway by over a second in the womens, and Zorzi from Italy by 0.7 of a second in the men. Most of the other favourites made it through, though Larsson from Sweden missed out by 1 place, and Norwegians Elden and Alsgaard also missed the cut. 2 Canadians made it through, Scott in 2nd and Renner in 11th in the womens, and no-one from the USA though junior Andrew Newall gave it a red hot go. After 800m over the top of the course Newall was in the lead after all the guns had passed, but then he blew up big time to end up about 31st.
The women's finals first, and Bjoergen was incredibly strong all the way through the quarters and the semis. While almost all other heats saw sprints down the straight and lunges separating , Bjoergen went off the front and won her rounds with a clear margin. Scott and Sachenbacher also looked strong on a different level, but Sachenbacher made some tactical errors triying to go around the outside on the biggest hill and was knocked out in the semis. Renner made a good effort qualifying for the semis, and for a while it seemed that there could be two Canadians in the final, but in the end Scott and Pedersen from Norway progressed from that half of the field, while Kuenzel went through with Bjoergen. And then Bjoergen did it again, going off the front to leave the others to fight it out for second. Scott lost a little ground with about 300-400m to go, but then managed to get back in contact over the last hill into the stadium. But the finishing speed was not quite there, and it was Kuenzel and Pedersen who fought it out to the line, with Kuenzel claiming the silver medal.
The men's finals, and lots of very close finished already in the quarter-finals. Zorzi tried to lead all the way, but was swamped at the finish and was very lucky to make the semis. Ostberg from Sweden was slightly tripped up in his quarter, which meant that he had to come from behind in the straight and he was just pipped on the line. Fellow Swede Hogberg also took it down to the wire before being knocked out by Angerer from Germany. Into the semis and Zorzi tried his same tactic again but was trounced by Norwegians Bjerkeli and Hetland who went together in the same heat from the quarters all the way to the final. In the other semi Fredriksson from Sweden had great skis and came from 4th to 1st on the downhill, and while it was not all over then he progressed together with Angerer. In the final Frederiksson was again 4th on the downhill and moved up to 2nd right on the heels of Bjerkeli, but Hetland took a wider line into the corner and cut to the inside and the two Norwegians lead over the bridge the first time before the last hairpin back towards the stadium. But Fredriksson was still right there, and back over the bridge again he made a very decisive move, powering past into the lead as they ran down into the straight. He was a man on fire and not even two of the fastest finishers in the world Hetland and Bjerkeli were going to catch up. Fredriksson had time to look back over his shoulder and pump his arms in the air before taking the gold medal. Bjerkeli took the silver and Hetland the bronze.
Qualifying Time Trial - Women 1 3:32.82 NOR Marit Bjoergen 2 3:34:00 CAN Beckie Scott 3 3:34.97 GER Evi Sachenbacher 50 4:04.44 AUS Esther Bottomley - 14.86% - 148.57 FIS Points 53 4:12.35 AUS Katherine Calder - 18.57% - 185.74 FIS Points 59 skiers in start Final - Women 1 NOR Marit Bjoergen (1 in qualifying) 2 GER Claudia Kuenzel (4) 3 NOR Hilde Pedersen (7) 4 CAN Beckie Scott (2) Qualifying Time Trial - Men 1 3:07.54 ITA Christian Zorzi 2 3:08.23 SWE Thobias Fredriksson 3 3:08.64 RUS Vassili Rotchev 59 3:29.30 AUS Paul Murray - 11.60% - 116.02 FIS Points 65 3:35.36 AUS Duane Butcher - 14.83% - 148.34 FIS Points 75 skiers in start Final - Men 1 SWE Thobias Fredriksson (2) 2 NOR Haavard Bjerkeli (4) 3 NOR Tor Arne Hetland (5) 4 GER Tobias Angerer (10)
Women 30km Freestyle - February 28This was a race where the start numbers played a big role. Russians Burukina and Savialova lead the early pace, with Paruzzi from Italy right in the hunt. Savialova caught Smigun from 30s behind already by 10km or so, and Smigun hopped on for the ride. Scott from Canada unfortunately missed the Burukina train, but Sachenbacher from Germany thumbed a lift towards the end of the second 7.5km lap. Valbusa from Italy jumped on the back of Paruzzi and later on Varis from Finland joined them also. The overall lead swapped between Savialova and Burukina, with the latter holding only a 2 second lead as they headed out for the last lap, and Paruzzi was third 20 seconds off the pace. Varis started to do more of the work for the Italians, and perhaps the home nation could get their first medal of the championships. Unfortunately (for the Italians) the gap from Paruzzi up to Savialova went out to the critical 30s mark, and Smigun was towed into third place. Varis lead the Italians across the finish line, and at that stage they were in 1st and 2nd in the stadium. Just to make sure Smigun went off the front of Savialova, beating her to the line by 3 seconds and securing the bronze medal. Savialova took the number one spot, with Burukina still to come in, but Burukina was dropped by Sachenbacher, and lost 15 seconds to her team-mate, a silver medal is not too bad though. Sachenbacher took 6th a second after Valbusa, and on down the list the Canadians had another pretty good day with Scott in 10th and Renner in 13th.
Women 30km Freestyle 1 1:14:29.8 RUS Olga Savialova 2 1:14:45.1 RUS Elena Burukina 3 1:14:56.7 EST Kristina Smigun 4 1:15:02.5 ITA Gabriella Paruzzi 5 1:15:34.1 ITA Sabina Valbusa
Men 50km Freestyle - March 1Now this was a topsy-turvy race. A lot can happen in a 50km, and it all did. The early leaders were Sommerfeldt from Germany and Elofsson from Sweden, with Italians Valbusa and Piller Cottrer not far behind, and these were the top 4 places after the first 12.5km lap. Swenson from the USA was one of the early starters, posting the times for the others to follow, and after the first lap he was in 5th place. Of interest Sodergren had caught fellow Swede Brink, and the two were already working well together in 7th and 18th place respectively. On the second lap Valbusa caught Koukal from the Czech Republic, and the Italian skied up into 1st place ahead of Elofsson. Sommerfeldt and Piller Cottrer were already dropping and by 25km were back to 8th and 10th place. After everyone was through for half-way Swedish fans would have been cheering, as Fredriksson, Sodergren, and Brink filled places 3-5 after Elofsson, with a guy with a Swedish name (Swenson) in 6th. Valbusa kept the pace up, and when Elofsson started to drop back Koukal was suddenly into 2nd place. By the end of the third lap Valbusa had even a small 5s gap on Koukal, with Sodergren another 7s back in 3rd still working with Brink (7th) and also with Hoffmann from Austria (11th) riding along. Fredriksson was 4th only 2.5s behind Sodergren, with Swenson still the rabbit in 5th place only 14s off the podium. Then just when the Italians were thinking that Valbusa would save the championships for them he broke. Koukal passed him back and hello Mr Wall, Valbusa crashed big time, falling down to 18th place by the finish. So after Koukal had caught back 30 seconds he was the race leader. Fredriksson soon overtook Valbusa on the track as well, and the podium was looking good. But Fredriksson's team-mates had other plans. Brink and Sodergren were smoking, and the gap to Koukal was staying about the same. Hoffmann was spat and left in no-mans land. Swenson the rabbit finished his 50km and had nearly 10 minutes of glory sitting in the number 1 spot. Then Koukal came in and settled into the gold medal position. Fredriksson started to tire towards the end, and though he finished in 2nd the gap to Koukal was 1 minute. Then in came the other Swedes, Brink sprinting away from Sodergren to cross the line first, but the medals went the other way round, with Sodergen 15 seconds behind Koukal, and Brink 16 seconds ahead of Fredriksson. And so it was that Koukal won Czech's first World Championship gold medal. A top effort from Carl Swenson to take 5th place, showing that persistance finally pays off - his previous World Champs 50k's were 41st in Thunder Bay in '95 and 21st in Lahti in '01. Bring on 2005!
Men 50km Freestyle 1 1:54:25.3 CZE Martin Koukal 2 1:54:40.3 SWE Anders Sodergren 3 1:55:09.0 SWE Jorgen Brink 4 1:55:25.2 SWE Mattias Fredriksson 5 1:55:49.2 USA Carl Swenson
XC is the official website of the Skiing Australia Cross Country Committee. It is produced with the assistance of the Australian Sports Commission, and the Kangaroo Hoppet. The editor can be contacted via info@hoppet.com.au.
