I’ll borrow a few phrases from my friend, World famous announcer Peter Graves to describe the conditions for Sundays 15 and 30 kilometer skate races on U-23 Worlds final day at Soldier Hollow, USA. (He was not there but this is how I would imagine it would have sounded):
“Welcome to Soldier Hollow — the start is now only 20 minutes away – It’s a beautiful day for cross country skiing — sunny, no wind – it couldn’t be better — some of the most fit athletes in the World are here — look at those legs – look at those skiers — look at those athletes – see their determination — learn from them — these are some of the best and hardest race courses in the World — we should all be cross country skiers — let’s give it up for The Rolling Stones for a few minutes!â€
The women’s race
 was very easy and pretty much the whole field of 18 skiers stayed together. At that point five skiers gradually started to break away.</p>
<p>With 2.5 kilometer to go four skiers were skiing in the front approaching the fastest downhill on the course — two Italians, one German and the Gold medal winner from the pursuit race, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland. They were still together with 1.5 k to go starting up the infamous “mother of all climbs†– the Hermod Hill (well known from the Olympics). Kowalczyk made one of those move that are a joy to watch from any distance (and a drag to try to keep up with if you are fighting for a medal and is hoping for a nice stadium sprint instead).</p>
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