Romanian skier Viorel Andrei Palici (l) takes over the leader’s chair from Pavel Andreiv (Kyrgyzstan) in the men’s 10 k qualifying race on Wednesday at World Championships. Palici won the event and was the first of ten men to move on to the distance medal races in Val di Fiemme.
FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2013 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy, is brought to you by the generous support of Fischer Sports.
VAL DI FIEMME, Italy — The first race of the 2013 Nordic Ski World Championships was a 5 and 10 k individual freestyle on Wednesday that qualified the top ten men and women for distance races for the rest of the championships. Late-starting Romanian skier Viorel Andrei Palici posted the fastest time on the two-lap course to win the men’s race by 24 seconds over Pavel Andreiv (Kyrgyzstan).
In the women’s 5 k Lithuania went one-two; Diana Rasimoviciute bested teammate Natalija Kocergina by 20 seconds. Great Britain’s Rosamund Musgrave took third.
You won’t be reading most of these names or nations on results for the rest of the next two weeks, but athletes in the qualifying races were the embodiment of sportsmanship and nordic camaraderie as they congratulated each other on races well-fought. Below are photos of the men’s event from the finish area.
![Romanian skier Viorel Andrei Palici takes over the leader's chair from Pavel Andreiv (Kyrgyzstan).](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/02/IMG_4954.jpg")
