The first event at the U-23 FIS Cross-Country Championships went off in “Olympic weather and conditions” – cold temperatures and a blazing sun. The modified 2002 Olympic courses for the women’s and men’s pursuit races challenged even the strongest racers, but the quality of skiing and speed was impressive.
In the Women’s class Justyna Kowalczyk from Poland skied away immediately off the start, and had a lead of 45 seconds already at 4 km into the race. Even though she briefly stopped to recover a bit with 2 km to go on the final skate section, she easily stayed ahead of the rest of the field, lead by Stephanie Santer and Christina Kelder from Italy.
The men’s race was much closer, with a four-person lead group going into the equipment exchange after the 10km classical part. Along the 5km free technique course, this group started to spread out, and in the end Italian Thomas Moriggl looked were strong as he easily V2-skied up the last steep hill.
Among the North-American racers, the Canadian team outskied the US skiers in both the women’s and men’s classes – with Chandra Crawford ending up in 14th place among the women, and Devon Kershaw in 11th for the men.
Full results:
Class: F – Women 5 km+5 km
Rank Name Nation Time Time Back
1 KOWALCZYK, Justyna POL 32:52.9 0
2 SANTER, Stephanie ITA 33:15.4 +22.5
3 KELDER, Christina ITA 33:22.5 +29.6
4 RYDQVIST, Maria SWE 33:24.0 +31.1
5 ENGESLAND, Ingvild NOR 33:26.7 +33.8
6 KRELLNER, Anja GER 33:44.8 +51.9
7 WUNDERLE, Stefanie GER 34:17.9 +1:25.0
8 MAEMPEL, Antje GER 34:33.7 +1:40.8
9 MORIGGL, Barbara ITA 34:35.0 +1:42.1
10 BRAATHEN, Merethe NOR 34:50.6 +1:57.7
11 KUNZ, Nicole SUI 35:11.0 +2:18.1
12 HATLEVIK, Barbro NOR 35:13.5 +2:20.6
13 TUOVINEN, Sari FIN 35:14.5 +2:21.6
14 CRAWFORD, Chandra CAN 35:59.6 +3:06.7
15 DEYONG, Nicole USA 36:00.3 +3:07.4
16 GAIAZOVA, Daria CAN 36:15.9 +3:23.0
17 BRADY, Paige USA 37:12.9 +4:20.0
18 PALANOVA, Lenka CZE 37:17.4 +4:24.5
19 DAW, Rachel USA 37:50.5 +4:57.6
Class: M – Men 10 km+10 km
Rank Name Nation Time Time Back
1 MORIGGL, Thomas ITA 53:42.0 0
2 BOCHERT, Kai GER 54:09.6 +27.6
3 CLARA, Roland ITA 54:32.2 +50.2
4 STEBLER, Christian SUI 54:42.2 +1:00.2
5 BRODAR, Nejc SLO 55:07.0 +1:25.0
6 FIORENTINI, Marco ITA 55:09.3 +1:27.3
7 SCOLA, Fulvio ITA 55:58.2 +2:16.2
8 FISCHER, Remo SUI 56:01.2 +2:19.2
9 VILARRUBLA, Vicenc SPA 56:03.7 +2:21.7
9 SRETR, Radek CZE 56:03.7 +2:21.7
11 KERSHAW, Devon CAN 56:12.5 +2:30.5
12 SEIFERT, Benjamin GER 56:29.9 +2:47.9
13 SCHREIBER, Michal CZE 56:40.7 +2:58.7
14 REICHELT, Tom GER 56:51.6 +3:09.6
15 GOLDSACK, Drew CAN 56:54.2 +3:12.2
16 SOLBJOERG, Oeystein NOR 57:24.8 +3:42.8
17 HOEOEK, Johan SWE 58:21.4 +4:39.4
18 ROGN, Geir Endre NOR 58:24.2 +4:42.2
19 FOSTER, Ethan L USA 58:35.6 +4:53.6
20 PUIGSUBIRA, Marco SPA 58:39.5 +4:57.5
21 KOZISEK, Dusan CZE 1:00:20.3 +6:38.3
22 NOVOTNY, Viktor CZE 1:00:23.2 +6:41.2
23 SIMONS, Zack USA 1:00:59.3 +7:17.3
24 WIDMER, Philip CAN 1:01:57.5 +8:15.5
25 OSGOOD, Brayton USA 1:02:45.8 +9:03.8
26 CROOKS, Sean CAN 1:03:15.2 +9:33.2
ZIMMERMANN, Leif-Orin USA DNF
