Dario Cologna (SUI) celebrating a victory earlier this year

The distance of the first race of the World Cup finals may have been unfamiliar, but the pair of names atop the results sheet on Friday were anything but.

Though rarely raced on the World Cup, the 3.3/2.5k prologue was just right for Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk and Switzerland’s Dario Cologna, as each skied to a convincing victory in the first of three races held in Falun, Sweden.

Men

Cologna finished five seconds ahead of Mats Larsson (SWE) and Maxim Vylegzhanin (RUS), and the key to his win was the pacing.

The defining feature of the course was its brutal climb, known as the Mordarbacken (which translates to “murder hill”)—some 500 meters long and cresting just after the one kilometer mark.

On it, Cologna said that he stayed in control, saving enough to “push hard on the downhill and the last part of the race.”

“I think that was the key to win today,” he said.

By no means was Cologna dogging it, though: At the checkpoint at the top of the climb, he was sixth, just three seconds out of the lead.

But 3.3 kilometers is a tricky distance, and some skiers held too much back going up the Mordarbacken.

Devon Kershaw (CAN) struggled with pacing today

Canadian Devon Kershaw tweeted after his race that he started “WAY TOO SLOW,” and the splits confirmed that. He was already 17 seconds out at the time check just one kilometer in, which left him 47^th in the field of 53. He moved up to 29^th by the finish, but clearly wouldn’t have minded if the race had been twice as long.

Petter Northug, who has already wrapped up the World Cup overall, was fourth, ten seconds behind Cologna. He told Norwegian newspapers before the race that he was worried about his arms after double poling all three of his heats in the sprint in Stockholm on Wednesday, but the result from today still leaves Northug in the hunt. After the prologue, he is positioned second in the finals standings, seven seconds behind Larsson.

Andy Newell led the way for the American men in 48^th, 45 seconds behind Cologna and just a half second behind the Norwegian sprinter Ola Vigen Hattestad. Alex Harvey (CAN), Ivan Babikov (CAN), and Brian Gregg (USA), the three other North American competitors, were 21^st, 46^th, and 53^rd, respectively.

The top three in Friday’s race were awarded bonus seconds in the overall World Cup finals standings: Cologna got 15, Larsson ten, and Vylegzhanin five.

Tomorrow, racers will start the 20 k pursuit based on those standings, which means that Larsson will go first, seven seconds ahead of Northug. Emil Joensson (SWE) and Cologna follow, 20 and 26 seconds behind, respectively, while all but two skiers in the rest of the field are within two minutes. Harvey is the closest North American in 27^th, 1:21 back.

Larsson, a sprinter, will have a hard time to hold off Northug, Cologna, and the rest of the pack. Most likely, it will be Northug stretching things out from the gun, with Cologna and Marcus Hellner (SWE) the only strong distance skiers within striking distance.

With those latter two fighting it out for the third position of the World Cup overall, tomorrow’s race is especially important, and the competition between the two could reduce their incentive to keep Northug under wraps.

Women

The Mordarbacken was all but built to Kowalczyk’s specifications, as her lithe and wiry is suited to steep climbs. Indeed, she said that she had made the prologue her goal for the finals.

Strong in both sprinting and in longer races, Kowalczyk said that 2.5 kilometers is her best distance. On Friday, she showed why, putting on a clinic to win over Marit Bjoergen (NOR) and Charlotte Kalla (SWE).

Bjoergen was the only woman to stay within ten seconds of Kowalczyk, and Olga Savialova (RUS), in fourth, was way back, nearly thirty seconds behind.

Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) racing at the Olympics.

Over eight minutes, that’s a staggering margin. To put it in perspective, if the race had been a 30 k, the proportional gap to fourth place would have been more than five minutes.

With the 15 bonus seconds she earns for the win, Kowalczyk will begin tomorrow’s 10 k pursuit with a 16 second advantage over Bjoergen, and nearly 40 over Sweden’s Anna Olsson.

Bjoergen and Kowalczyk have dominated the distance races over the last month, and the other women in the pursuit will be hard pressed to keep the pair close. Kalla has the best chance of catching the two, but even she starts thirty seconds behind Bjoergen and 47 after Kowalczyk, so it looks to be another Norway-Poland duel for the win.

Kikkan Randall (USA) was the top North American finisher in the women’s race, finishing 36^th, 1:08 back, and Canada’s Dasha Gaiazova was 45^th. With her 15^th place in the sprint in Stockholm, Randall will be starting 30^th in the pursuit, just over two minutes behind Kowalczyk.

Annecy (FRA), Munich (GER) and PyeongChang (KOR) all had until 15th March to submit their files to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne and met the deadline. The completed questionnaire provides the IOC with an overview of each Applicant City’s project and is the key element in the first phase of the procedure leading to the election of the host city. The responses will now be studied by an IOC-appointed working group and a report made to the IOC Executive Board. The Board will meet in June in Lausanne to decide which cities will be accepted as Candidate Cities.

The election of the 2018 host city will take place during the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa, on 6th July 2011.

Source: FIS

Nikita Kriukov (RUS) took the men’s race in a tight finish with Petter Northug (NOR).

Between the men’s and the women’s races, Sweden had secen skiers in the finals.  The men placed 3,4,5,6, led by Sprint Cup champion Emil Joensson, and the women took 1,4, and 6.

Olsson was able to hold off Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) at the line.  Kowalczyk Came back on the steep climb to the finish and even briefly moved in to the lead.  But Olsson did not falter, and battled back.  Marit Bjoergen (NOR) staged her own comeback.  At the back of the pack for much of the final, and looking tired, she made a strong move on the outside on the last hill and reached the podium.

Kikkan Randall (USA) continued her strong run with a 15th.

Dasha Gaiazova (CAN) also performed well, reaching the heats and placing 23rd.

Northug was the only skier to double pole the course, a bold decision given the large climb at the end.  He set the pace in the three fastest heats of the day, including a blistering final.

In both the quarters and semis, Northug swas back in the pack for the first half.  He would get off the line slowly as his competitors could stride.  But on the long gradual down double pole on the backside, Northug attacked and both times opened up 20 meters in a matter of seconds.  The field would come back on the hill, but both times he held on for first.

In the final he ended up a bit further back, and had to make up some ground on his favored terrain.  He still broke away, but this time Kriukov was wise to his plane.  The Russian matched Northug’s ferocious double pole and stayed on his tails.

Northug impressively maintained a lead for much of the last climb, but Kriukov was finally able to pull ahead for the win.

Joensson also came back hard, and it took a huge lunge by Northug to stay in 2nd.

Andy Newell skied in a good position in his quarterfinal, but ran out of gas on the hill and ended the day in 22nd.

This race marked the first event of the World Cup Finals.  Bonus sprint points were awarded to the top 30 in each race.  Distance racing gets underway with a 2.5/3.3km classic prologue on Friday.

Four skiers have withdrawn from the Finals, three of them on the Kazakh team, most likely due to illness.

Christoph Sumann (AUT) was 3rd, 9.4 seconds back. The top seven men all shot clean.  Fourcade had the fastest ski time of that group, and the 6th best on the day.  Dominik Landertinger (AUT) posted the best ski time, but three misses and slow range times left him in 17th.

Tim Burke (USA) continued to struggle, missing three shots on his way to 44th place.  Burke missed one shot in prone and two in standing while turing in the 34th best ski time.

Leif Nordgren (USA) shot well – just one miss – and finished 62nd, his best-ever World Cup result, besting his 65th last week in Finland.

Lowell Bailey, the final US starter was 90th in the large 111-man field.  He missed four shots, three in prone. Brendan Green (CAN) continued his strong season with a 32nd.  Green had just a single miss.  His top-5 career World Cup results have all come this year.

Jean Phillipe LeGuellec and Scott Perras both matched Green’s shooting performance, but the two Canadians were not as fast on the skis.  They finished 69th and 80th respectively.

Nathan Smith rounded out the Canadian squad in 87th with two misses.

Hauswald rode extremely fast shooting to her 5th career World Cup victory.  The top-5 women all cleaned shooting, and 2nd place finisher Darya Domracheva (BLR) posted the best ski time.  Hauswald was just 3rd on the skis, her range time was the best, good enough to give her 4.9 seconds on Domracheva.

Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek (SWE) was 3rd, 14.1 seconds back.

Overall World Cup leader Magdalena Neuner finished  6th with two misses.  She was the only skier in the top-27 with more than a single miss.

Sarah Studebaker led the US in 46th place with one penalty.

Teammate Lanny Barnes was 72nd with an uncharacteristic two misses.

Megan Imrie (CAN) skied to 35th place, continuing an excellent week. Imrie skied very well in the mixed relay a week ago, and set a personal-best with a 32nd in the sprint in Finland. Nine of her top-12 career-best World Cup finishes have come this season, including the top-5.

Her teammates Megan Tandy, Zina Kocher and Rosanna Crawford were 50th, 58th, and 68 respectively.

Tandy and Crawford both missed just one shot, while Kocher struggled on the range with three penalties.

Racing continues on Saturday with a 10/12.5km pursuit.

Women’s Complete Results

Men’s Complete Results

Casey Simons skiing to victory in the men's 10k sprint at the North American Biathlon Championships

Neither Tracy Barnes-Colliander nor Casey Simons got what they really wanted this winter, which was a trip to Vancouver to compete in the 2010 Olympics.

But after today’s 10/7.5k sprint in Fort Kent, those two have pretty good consolation prizes: a North American biathlon title. Pushing through mushy trails, Barnes-Colliander and Simons were the winners of the first event of the three-race championships here, overcoming fields that included Olympic competitors in both genders.

While Barnes-Colliander had to shoot clean to win her race, Simons found himself still in the thick of things despite three misses in his first of two stages.

There were just six elite competitors in the men’s race, and none of them shot well in their first round, either. In fact, out of all of them, only one, Russell Currier, could knock down even four targets.  (Currier squandered his chances with three misses in the final stage) Everyone else had a couple of penalties, and the race was still tight as the skiers left the range.

There’s no scoreboard in Fort Kent, so Simons had no idea where he stood after those misses. All he knew was what he could see, which was a few of his competitors chasing him out on course.

Then, in his second stage, Simons cleaned, hitting all five targets standing, which he said gave him a big boost on his final lap.

Hot on his heels, though, was Walt Shepard. Starting a minute behind, Shepard came into the range for his last shooting stage only to see a stoked Simons leaving—without a single penalty.

Walt Shepard skiing to second place

“I needed to shoot fast, trying to have a chance to ski with him in the last loop,” Shepard said.

With retirement on the horizon at the end of the year, Shepard went for broke, squeezing off five rounds, machine-gun style, in the space of about ten seconds. Amazingly, it almost worked, as he hit four of five targets.

“Not too many races left—gotta go for it,” he said.

But that one miss left Simons with just enough of an opening, and he held off Shepard by nine seconds for the victory. Bill Bowler was third, 26 seconds back, with two penalties.

The two Olympians on the start list, Wynn Roberts and Marc-Andre Bedard, were neutralized, respectively, by poor shooting and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Bedard, a Canadian, was stopped at the border, and without the necessary paperwork to bring his rifle into the U.S., he had to turn around. He still hopes to compete in the races on Saturday and Sunday, according to Pierre Pepin, one of the Canadian coaches.

Roberts said that he never felt good skiing, and as a result, tried to pick things up in shooting.

He emerged from the prone stage relatively unscathed, but then felled himself with four penalties in standing, ending up nearly a minute and a half off Simons’ time.

Tracy Barnes-Colliander on her way to victory in the women's 7.5k sprint. Photo courtesy of Andy Shepard, Maine Winter Sports Center

The women’s race also came down to a two-person duel, between Barnes-Colliander and Claude Godbout, a 23-year-old Canadian who skis for the country’s national development team. Out of nine senior women in the race, they were the only two who could hit more than six targets.

Barnes-Colliander’s clean shooting was enough to put her seven seconds ahead of Godbout, who had one penalty in the standing stage. But while that lone miss quashed Godbout’s chances for a win, she had problems during the prone shooting, as well.

A couple of shots in, the breezy wind that blew all morning picked up into a strong gust. Rather than force her last few rounds and risk missing, Godbout waited patiently until the blowing subsided, then knocked down the rest of her targets.

The time she took may have cost her the race, but Pepin said Godbout didn’t have any options. While there might not have been a way to beat Barnes-Colliander today, a miss might have cost her third place over Haley Johnson.

“It’s either [being patient], or spend more time in the penalty loop,” Pepin said. “I think it was a very good move.”

While there’s no money to be won at the races here, Barnes-Colliander did actually have more on the line today than just bragging rights. She said she has a bet with her twin sister Lanny, who’s currently competing in Europe, about who will miss fewer targets over the last races of the season.

The competition is called “don’t waste a bullet,” Barnes-Colliander said, and the loser has to buy ammunition for the fall elk hunt.

Lanny put the pressure on by shooting well at the Olympics (impressively, she hit all 20 targets in the 15k individual race). But now Tracy is firing back.

“It will be tough [to win the bet], but it motivates both of us,” she said.

Johnson, in third, was clearly was the fastest skier on the day. She said that she likes the tricky courses in Fort Kent, which aren’t “highway skiing” like

Haley Johnson skiing to second. Photo courtesy of Andy Shepard, Maine Winter Sports Center

some others. But she couldn’t overcome her four misses.

While Johnson wasn’t complaining about the trails here, she was one of few who didn’t struggle. Temperatures here stayed above freezing last night, and the loops were quickly chopped up as 128 athletes made their way around three times each.

“Really tough conditions out there. It was getting really deep, and so that made the skiing portion really slow and really tough,” Barnes-Colliander said–though she made it clear that it was through no fault of organizers or volunteers. “It was just kind of pushing yourself through it.”

A few wondered whether the race start could be moved earlier for the next set of races, when the courses might be more firm, but Patrick Coffey, a jury member, said that without a hard freeze at night, a time change won’t make a difference.

Caitlin Compton, who raced cross-country at the Olympics, struggled through six misses to finish seventh today. Straight off the plane from Norway and using a borrowed rifle, Compton said that the last time she picked up a gun was this summer.

“I definitely came in a little bit shakey in the range…I’d never seen a rifle shake quite that much,” she said. “But once I settled down, I hit the last two of each stage, so 40 percent isn’t bad for not my rifle, and coming over from Europe, I guess.”

Numerous other classes raced here today; full results were not yet available. FasterSkier will post a link on the Continental Cup blog as soon as possible. Maine Winter Sports Center CEO Andy Shepard has a photo gallery from the race, available here.

Wynn Roberts (left) headlines the competitors at North American Biathlon Championships in Fort Kent, Maine

You can always count on snow in northern Maine. Throw in skis and guns, and you’ve got a recipe for a pretty good week.

Three days of racing kick off this morning at the North American Biathlon Championships in the biathlon-crazed town of Fort Kent, Maine. The fields are small, but competitive at the top, with four biathletes racing fresh off the 2010 Olympic Games: Americans Haley Johnson, Laura Spector, and Wynn Roberts, and Canada’s Marc-Andre Bedard.

The dark horse is Caitlin Compton, an American who competed at the World Biathlon Championships in 2008, but switched back to cross country raced for the U.S. team in Vancouver. She arrived yesterday fresh from the cross country World Cup in Norway, drummed up a rifle, and decided to race at the last second.

There’s nothing on the line but bragging rights, but that was enough to draw 128 elite, master, and youth biathletes out of the woodwork. And the event will be a dress rehearsal for the World Cup that will be held here next year.

Things get going today with the sprint, which is 10 kilometers for the men and 7.5 for the women, both with two rounds of shooting: prone, then standing.

Results from the sprint are doubly important, because athletes then start Saturday’s 12.5/10k pursuit with a handicap based on their times from Thursday. Win the sprint, and you’re the first one out on course for the pursuit, with a head start equal to your margin of victory over the second place finisher. Sunday’s 15/12.5k mass start will be the last race of the championships, and for that competition, everyone starts with a clean slate.

In addition to the Olympians, the fields feature strong contingents from the host club, Maine Winter Sports Center, including hometown hero Russell Currier (he’s not technically from Fort Kent, but nearby Stockholm is close enough to win him some loyalty). Other threats to podium on the men’s side are Casey Simons, Zach Hall, Walt Shepard, and Bill Bowler.

For the women, aside from Spector, Johnson, and Compton, the challengers are BethAnn Chamberlain, Susan Dunklee, Annelies Cook, Katrina Howe, and 2009 World Junior Championships silver medalist Grace Boutot.

With the country’s top men and women racing in Europe on the World Cup circuit, the racing should be tight. We’ll have complete coverage of the events—check back later today for results and a report from the sprint.

Athletes and coaches in the range on Thursday morning before the sprint.

Johnson, former Olympian and U.S. Ski team member, now competes for Steinbock Racing out of Park City, Utah. He was the winner of this year’s Marquette, Michigan Noquemenon Ski Marathon.

Greene races for XC Oregon, out of Bend, Oregon. He recently took third in the Boulder Mountain Tour and is soon looking to defend his 4-time title at Bend’s coveted Pole-Peddle-Paddle event.

Andrew Johnson, Steinbock Racing (Photo: Win Goodbody)

What made you decide to race the Engadin? Anyone else from the U.S. over there with you?

AJ: Zack Simons and I had the opportunity to go. The Engadin is such a great race – and the largest skate race in the world – so it was hard to pass up. Unfortunately Zack got sick and was unable to race. The Engadin Valley is essentially the motherland of the Steinbock, so it was nice to get over there and rep’ the Goat.

MG:  I raced the Engadin last year and had a great time.  The Engadin Valley is a beautiful place with a huge network of ski trails.  I knew that I’d be racing the OPA cups the weekend before and really wanted to give the Engadin another go.

I met Andrew and Zach Simons at the Engadin after being with the American crew at the La Feclaz OPAs.  Unfortunately Zach got sick in the two days leading up to the race and didn’t end up starting.  Felice Bietzel, an Australian who has been skiing with XC Oregon for a number of years, also joined us.

Have you competed in a Wordloppet race before (besides American Birkie)?

AJ: I raced the Marcialonga several years ago when it was a World Cup. But that’s about it…

MG: Of course I’ve done the American Birkie and as I mentioned before, the Engadin last year.  A couple of years ago I started the Norwegian Birkie but that was the year that high winds forced the cancellation of it mid-race, so I haven’t actually finished that one.

What were conditions like, were they a factor in racing? Any tough parts to the course, or was it relatively mild?

MG: Beautiful crisp day with fairly dry, abrasive snow.  Conditions probably didn’t affect the race too much.  The course is fairly flat except for one set of uphills that crest at about the halfway point of the race.  Frequently the elite pack splits up at this climb (last year I got gapped here and I finally chased back to the leaders after 6km of skiing with one other guy)

AJ: Conditions were basically perfect. Cold, fast snow, and sunny skies with just a bit of headwind. Very typical Engadin conditions. The course is very mild – lots of flat and slightly downhill terrain, reminiscent of the Boulder Mountain Tour. There’s about 5 kilometers of rolling climbing starting at about 15 K, and some more rolling climbs in the last few K’s.

Marshall Greene, XC Oregon (photo: Win Goodbody)

It looked like there was a huge pack that raced together and the finish was very close – How did the race play out: where did the top racers make their moves?

AJ: As always, there was a pack of several hundred racers for the first 12 K or so, going across the lakes. Over the one big climb on the course the pack was whittled down a little, and the second half of the race saw a lead pack of about 35. With about 4 K to go, the pace ramped up pretty significantly and the pack broke up some more. I didn’t have much left at that point and lost a bunch of time in the last few kilometers.

MG: The first 10km were actually fairly relaxed with not very many crashes or broken poles, considering the size of the elite field. Because of the width of the trail and since no one wants to lead for long, the pack is constantly being reshuffled like a bike peloton.  So staying towards the front requires some vigilance. When the climbing starts at around 15km, the race truly begins.

After losing the lead pack on the climb last year, I made sure to position myself closer to the front of the group, in hopes that I would stay in front of the split.  As expected, as soon as we hit the first pitch the effort went up a lot.  Everyone was skiing hard and I was definitely near my limit by about 2/3 of the way up the 3km of climbing.  I was still in around 25th at this point but was well within sight of the leaders and feeling pretty good about where I was.  Glancing back, there were only about 5 people behind me before a gap was starting to form.  Unfortunately, right about that time the leaders relaxed quite a bit, slowing the pace, and allowing the front group to grow quite a bit.

From there the pace was steady but never too hard.  I crashed once trying to move up by skating through the classic tracks (guess I deserved that) but easily re-joined the group of 40ish leaders.  I correctly assumed that we would take it fairly easy until about 5km to go when there is one short climb followed by some 30 second rollers.  Even though I felt decent across the flats, as soon as we hit those rollers, I knew I was done for.  My legs had nothing left and I quickly watched the leaders ski away, leaving a trail of individuals just struggling to finish.  It’s a testament to the winners finishing speed that I managed to lose 2 minutes from 4.5km to the finish after skiing with the leaders for the first 38km.

Engadin Marathon course (photo: worldloppetskier.com)

You had a fantastic result –   were you feeling in top form the whole race?

AJ: I felt OK. The nature of the Engadin is that it’s generally not too hard to hang with the leaders til the last few K’s. There are several rolling climbs in the last 4 K’s and my lackluster training of the past few months became rather apparent at that point.

MG:  I felt like my race was actually only average for me.  At the mid-point, I was definitely expecting better based on how I was feeling.  I just had nothing left when the going got hard.

Did anything wild happen: were there any crashes, broken equipment, swearing and yelling, other drama? Anything else unusual?

AJ: It’s the Engadin, so there’s always crashes and broken equipment. Nothing happened to me though, and the lead pack skiers are generally pretty respectful.

MG: The first half of the race I actually was struck by how un-exciting the race was.  Not many crashes or broken poles.  As I said, I crashed once which didn’t really affect my race except that it knocked my water bottle out of its holster so maybe I didn’t feed as much as would have been ideal.

One thing that was cool that helped several racers was that one of the snowmobiles following the lead pack had spare poles with them. So if you broke one, the snowmobile would drive up beside you and swap with you until you found the right size.

Was there a great party afterward?

AJ: I think so…

MG: We had a good time that evening post race, but we stayed in the small town of Samedan (as opposed to St. Moritz) so we didn’t really find any big celebrations.

Are you racing anything else while you are over there – what is next?

AJ: Nope. Came straight home – got too much to do! Hoping to get over to the Gold Rush at the end of the month.

MG: In terms of serious ski racing, I’m pretty much done.  Considering doing the Gold Rush and I’ll probably do The Great Nordeen here in Bend.  Other than that, it’s time to start thinking about the Pole, Pedal, Paddle.

Race recap and results

The Night Olympic Dream

The first positive test of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics has emerged, with Polish cross-country skier Kornelia Marek anxiously awaiting the results of her B sample test March 12 in Richmond, B.C., after her A sample indicated EPO use. That mars the picture of a doping-free Games that many had trumpeted, when more than 2,000 drug tests administered failed to result in an athlete being disqualified during the 16 days of competition – though 30 athletes were barred from coming at all due to positive tests.

If Marek’s B sample also yields a positive result, the 25-year-old teammate of Justyna Kowalczyk faces a two-year ban and will be denied an opportunity to improve on her Olympic best of 11^th in an individual competition and sixth in the women’s relay at the 2014 Sochi Games.

So just how do scientists like the ones who will be examining Marek’s B sample take those test tubes and figure out whether an athlete has used a banned substance?

For those curious about what exactly goes on behind the scenes, and what happens when scientists detect a new substance that they believe to be performance-enhancing, a recent book called “The Night Olympic Team” offers a fascinating look.

The story is one FasterSkier’s readers will be familiar with: the doping downfall of Johann Muehlegg, Larissa Lazutina, and Olga Danilova at the 2002 Games, which eventually resulted in Beckie Scott being awarded the Olympic gold medal that should have been hers all along.

But the details of how those positive results came to be will likely be unfamiliar to most readers. Written by Dr. Caroline Hatton, the long-time lieutenant of world-renowned antidoping expert Dr. Don Catlin, “The Night Olympic Team” was published in 2008 with a young audience in mind. But Hatton’s rare perspective and thorough explanation of the events that transpired has also captivated the interest of many adults.

What happened behind the scenes

In 56 pages with plenty of photos and sidebars on the finer points of examining urine and the alphabet soup of banned substances that may be found therein, Hatton explains how she and the rest of Catlin’s team worked around the clock to identify an illegal drug in the three Nordic skiers’ samples.

In the run-up to the Salt Lake Games, they had heard of a new blood-boosting drug called Aranesp (also known as NESP – for “novel erythropoietic stimulating protein” – or darbepoetin alfa), but there wasn’t yet a test for it. And they knew the athletes knew that.

But during the Games, they discovered through their midnight sleuthing that the EPO test then in use worked for NESP, too. Catlin consulted numerous colleagues, including Hatton – in the quiet of the Utah wilderness where their conversations were sure not to be overheard – about whether it was right to declare a positive test result for these three athletes despite having so little data.

He decided to move ahead, but he needed supporting evidence – and fast. Two days before Sunday’s closing ceremonies, Catlin tracked down Aranesp’s creator in Louisiana, got him to examine their testing results, and write a letter of support – which had to be OK-ed by his company’s lawyers. Then he had to get Jacques Rogge to sign off.

Rogge: ‘I was told there were some big nations involved’

As Rogge told Hatton in an interview after the Games, “I was told that some big nations were involved and it would be a noisy issue. I said, ‘I don’t care. This is something that we have to pursue.’ And that’s what I did.”

The IOC held a closed hearing Saturday night, and by Sunday afternoon – just hours before the closing ceremonies – CNN reported that some Olympic athletes had tested positive for NESP. And thus began a long process of court proceedings that ultimately resulted in Catlin’s results being upheld, the trio of skiers losing all eight medals they’d won at the 2002 Games, and Beckie Scott getting her gold.

Catlin and Hatton’s pioneering work

Catlin has been at this since 1982, when he read everything in the UCLA library about antidoping in no time flat because there was almost nothing to read.

He went on to develop and lead the UCLA antidoping lab – the largest in the world – for a quarter century, much of the time with Hatton at his side. He’s now working full-time at his own institute, Anti-Doping Research, an unmarked building in the back lot behind Barry’s Plumbing in Los Angeles, where I spent the better part of a day with him ahead of the Beijing Games talking about his work as a pioneer in antidoping – and why he thinks testing isn’t the ultimate answer.

Catlin brought Hatton in to join us – and it was quickly clear why. Her sharp mind and deep insight added much to our wide-ranging conversation, often piping up to fill in missing facts or correct his fuzzy dates – but always bringing a rich picture of their work together to root out doping in sport.

And that is exactly what she has done in “The Night Olympic Team.”

On Sunday, February 21 Michigan’s ageless Milan Baic powered his way to a bronze medal in the always competitive M5 (50-54 years) category 30km freestyle. Even more impressive was Baic managed his first individual MWC medal over a very tough course in even tougher weather/snow conditions highlighted by temperatures in single digits, blustery winds, and several inches of fresh snow.

The Monday, February 22 10km races featured a pair of podium finishes by USA athletes. Vermont’s Trina Hosmer took out her frustration at coming in fourth the day prior in the 15km freestyle by hammering the F7 (60-64 years) 10km classic competition claiming gold. Idaho’s Del Pletcher similarly battled back from a hardluck fourth in the 15km the day prior to grab the M8 silver medal in the 10km freestyle.

After a day off to enjoy the Dalarna region, three USA relay teams snagged hardware in the Wednesday, February 24 MWC2010 relay events. Under World Masters Association rules, legal 4-person relay teams must consist of at least two skiers in each designated age category over 2 x 5km classic and 2 x 5km freestyle legs. Older skiers may “drop down” in age class to complete the teams, but younger skiers cannot move “up” in age (an interesting twist that is opposite of the Junior Olympic process many USA skiers are familiar with).

The USA M1 relay team had a distinct XC Oregon elite team flavor as former XC Oregon skiers Jan Spurkland and Dennis Feeney sandwiched XC Oregon Coach J.D. Downing and Bend, Oregon skier Dan Packman to cruise to a bronze medal behind a stacked Italian squad and always powerful Russia.

In an impressive display of team consistency, the USA M5 team of Milan Baic, Randy Bladel (IN), Del Pletcher (dropping down three full age groups!), and Cliff Onthank (MI) powered to a hard-fought relay bronze in a very competitive category.

USA relay medals rounded out with the F1 team of Inge Scheve (WA), Trina Hosmer, Karen Oppenheimern (OR), and Megan Spurkland (AK) that ran neck-and-neck with second place Norway for several legs before ultimately claiming the third USA bronze of the day.

The MWC2010 rounded out with another solid round of USA performances in the Thursday and Friday, February 25-26 distance classic and freestyle events.

On the men’s side, Jan Spurkland skied to a 45km classic silver medal in the M1 category on Thursday, Feb 25. Then Milan Baic collected his third medal of the MWC2010 with another impressive bronze effort in the M5 45km freestyle on Friday, Feb 26.

For the women, Scheve grabbed gold in the F2 30km freestyle on another soft snow day albeit with much warmer temps and far less wind than the epic freestyle nearly a week prior. Hosmer then claimed a silver in the F7 30km freestyle when, after leading the majority of the race, Hosmer ended up accidentally boxed out by a male skier coming into the final finish sprint.

The Falun organizers wrapped things up with a fun-filled banquet and dance on Friday, February 26 and officially passed the MWC torch to 2011 host Sovereign Lake/Silver Star, British Columbia. The Canadian super-venue will host the MWC2011 March 3-11, 2011 with the event doubling as the 2011 U.S. National Masters providing USA masters with an unbeatable two-for-one mega event to aim for next season.

Preliminary information for USA skiers regarding the 2011 Masters World Cup is already posted on xcskiworld.com with additional materials coming this spring for all current members of American XC Skiers (AXCS)t. From this point until next winter all new or renewed AXCS memberships will extend thru 10.31.2011 giving skiers up to a 20 month value on the required national association membership for next year’s Worlds/Nationals. Interested skiers can see xcskiworld.com for a secure credit card payment system to renew or join AXCS now.