Two of the best classic skiers in the world won Saturday's Holmenkollen World Cup marathon races in Oslo, Norway.
At this point, Bente Skari is so good that it is more surprising when she doesn't win than when she does. This time she won the 30K by a big two minutes over Annmari Viljanmaa (FIN), who was a minute ahead of her teammate, 3rd place finisher, Aino Kaisa Saarinen.
Canada's Sara Renner was the top North American in 16th place. American Wendy Wagner had her best race of the season, finishing 27th.
In the men's race, the Norwegians had four of the top eight of the 50K, but only one on the podium. Estonian classic expert Andrus Veerpalu won by 35 seconds over Norway's Anders Aukland. Andrei Noutrikhine of Russia was third. Mathias Frederiksson helped to solidify his Overall World Cup lead with a fourth place. The Americans started well, in the top 20-30, but faded back. Carl Swenson finished 39th and Kris Freeman 44th.
Other North Americans:
Chris Jeffries (CAN) 45th
Andrew Johnson 47th
Lars Flora 49th
George Grey (CAN) 50th
