With worming temperatures the sprint course was extremely fast on Saturday. The 1 Kilometer course consisted of two flat sections and two rather steep hills. There was a quick down hill into the stadium that was perfect for a “sling shot” pass into the long straightaway.
Being the top ranked sprinter I had to start first in the Qualification rounds, but unfortunately was edged out by Norway’s Johan Kjoelstad by a few tenths and ended up 2nd. Leif-Zimmermann USA was fourth in the prelim and Ryan Foster (USA) took up the final 16 spot for the finals.
On the Women’s side USA’s Lindsay Williams qualified 4th.
All of our guys made it through the Quarter final ski rounds and it was looking to be awesome day for the US ski team. Leif Zimmermann, Ryan Foster, and I were unable to move on in the semi-final heats. While trying to make a risky pass on the final up hill, I was forced into a bad position coming into the finish lanes, and battled it out to a photo finish with a French Skier, but was knocked out as well. Despite losing a chance a medal contention it was neat to have all three of us in the B-Final. One of the highlights of the day was when the announcer said “these Americans are sure showing us how to Run a sprint race”.
Finishing up the sprint with 3 Americans in the top 7 was a great accomplishment by the USA. Final Results:
13. Lindsay Williams
5. Leif Zimmermann
6. Ryan Foster
7. Andrew Newell
Relay Update:
For the men’s race it is a 4x10k with 2 classic legs fallowed by 2 skate. For the women it is the same format with a 4x5k. The roster for USA men’s and women’s teams were:
Lindsey Weier cl.
Alison Crocker cl.
Katie Ronsse sk.
Kristina Trygstad-Saari sk.
Andrew Newell cl.
Ryan Foster cl.
Brent Lowen sk.
Leif Zimmermann sk.
As expected the Russians dominated the men’s and women’s relay finishing first in both. Lindsey Weier started the women off on the right foot coming in 6th to tag Alison Crocked. The middle legs fell back slowly but Kristina Trygstad had a great leg pulling USA back from 12th to finish 10th .
On the men’s side I scrambled the first 10k and came in to tag Ryan Foster side by side with Finland and Poland, 6th, 7th, and 8th. Ryan Foster had a great race, but had an unfortunate fall on some S terns and dropped back a few spots. Brent Lowen also held his own, but may have lost a spot or two. Leif Zimmermann had a great race pulling us back into 8th about 20 sec. behind Italy. It was not a very close race for the Medals however. By the skate portion of the Relay Russia had already made its move over Norway and was well in the lead, and a 1:20+ ahead by the last leg.
Final Results:
Women,
1. Russia
2. Finland
3. Sweden
10. USA
Men’s
1. Russia
2. Norway
3. Germany
8. USA
