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Features | General | ASI Reports
ASI Team Reports 97/98
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Report 11 - The late final report, April 4, 1998 Well now the season is over and there's no Australians left in Sweden. Paul Gray is back at work for Mars in Wodonga, Anthony Evans was last sighted driving around Canmore, and Finn Marsland is en route to Australia after a fact finding mission at the USA Nationals in Bend. It's a bit late, but here are a couple of reports from a few weeks back.
Vasaloppet '98 - an inside look
World Cup Wrap-upLahti, Finland March 7/8
Vladimir Smirnov was too strong in the 30km classic and never threatened on his way to notching up his 5th Lahti World Cup victory. Thomas Alsgaard was second and Frode Estil third. Belmondo won the women's 15km skate ahead of Lazutina and Nageijkina. Lazutina's second place took her past Bente Martinsen in the overall World Cup standings. Hey, that is brief report.
Falun, Sweden, March 10/11
Two person sprint relay on the Tuesday night. Take the Hoppet night sprints, triple the distance of each leg, ski five times instead of two, and chuck 15-20 teams on the track at the same time. In the excitement of it all it was pretty hard to describe everything that happened. A surging ever changing mass of adrenaline and lactic acid, muscles pumping lungs sucking in air, skis and poles flying and to the victors the spoils. A slip and you're down and out, a broken pole and you're gone. The crowd also surging to and fro, following cheering screaming, apprehension high, fingers crossed, hearts in their mouths for the Swedish teams.
The women's race. Multiple teams from Norway and Russia very strong, but also up in the pack France, Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. Chaos as a Russian went down taking someone else with them. Villenauve broke away for France but was pulled back. It's all down to the final sprint for everyone who managed to hang on to the lead group and, and, and....... It's Switzerland from France with one of the Russian teams third.
The men's race. Half way through Sweden broke away with Norway, but Finland bridged the gap with Isometsae and the lead pack of about 8-10 reformed. Second last lap and the surprise big mover was Marcus Nash of the USA, flying up the last hill, 5th, 3rd, wahay waho USA takes the final change in first place. Then its all on again and Per Elofsson gets a good run on the outside up the hill, goes through to first place and manages to brake away. The pack comes back but Elofsson retains the lead into the final corner and holds on to take victory with arms punching the air, half a second ahead of Norway, Finland third. The USA finish 8th, less than 6 seconds out, a gutsy performance from Marcus and Justin Wadsworth
All in all, a fantastic spectacle with exciting finishes in both events, too bad the rest of the world missed out seeing it.
Men's 10km skate. Alsgaard stamps his mark on the 97/98 season, taking another victory and putting the overall World Cup beyond reach of compatiriot Bjørn Daehlie, who finished 6th. Botvinov took 2nd place, only 6 seconds back, and to keep the Swedish crowd happy, first year senior sensation Per Elofsson took 3rd place and his first ever individual podium finish.
For the Australians, not too much to crow about in the 10km skate. Anthony Evans finished in 87th place, struggling hard with gammy elbows that went out on him in the Vasaloppet the week before. Finn Marsland, 91st place, second last, but only 2 minutes and 40 seconds behind the winner, underlining how tough it is on the World Cup. The best placed North American, Marcus Nash in xxth place, xxminutes behind. This is the big time and you've got to swim or drown.
A dramatic finish in the women's 5km skate as all the big names successively posted the fastest time. First Elin Nilsen, then Gavriljuk 2 seconds faster, then Tschepelova dislodged Gavriljuk with 1 second, then Belmondo took the lead by 1 second and finally Lazutina rolled them all, winning by 5 seconds.
Holmenkollen (Oslo), Norway, March14/15
The last, the longest, the toughest, and the ugliest. Though reports from Japan suggest that the Olympic 50km course was even tougher. And surprise surprise, a large Norwegian contigent at the top in the men's race. But not at the very top. Russia's Prokurorov lead almost all the way to secure his second Holmenkollen victory. Then the Norwegian party. Hjelmeseth, Daehlie, Jevne, Aukland, Skjeldal, Estil, Sivertsen and Sørgård, with only Smirnov disrupting the progression at number 6. Lazutina won the women's 30km classic, and the overall World Cup for the first time since 1990. Nageijkina was second with Moen-Guidon in 3rd place.
So that was it. For the record, the top 5 in the overall standings were:
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