14 North Americans are entered to race in Tuesday’s classic individual sprint. Marit Bjorgen and Jens Arne Svartedal pre-race favorites. Watch the race live here on Fasterskier.com
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<p>The top two in each of the two semifinals will advance to the final. Those who are knocked out in the semi-final (# 5 to 8) will race in the B-final. Make it an all-nighter, don’t go to bed, drink lots of coffee and Red Bull and enjoy!</p>
<p>Complete start lists can be found on <a href=http://www.fis-ski.com)
http://www.fis-ski.com , click on Nordic World Championship and go to sprint qualification.
North Americans entered for the sprint event:
Team Canada
Women: Chandra Crawford, Milaine Theriault, Sara Renner and Beckie Scott
Men: Gordon Jewett, George Grey, Drew Goldsack and Devon Kershaw
Team USA
Women: Kikkan Randall, Rebecca Dussault and Wendy Wagner
Men: Torin Koos, Andrew Newell and Lars Flora
Favorites to win are Norway’s Marit Bjorgen in the women’s race and Jens Arne Svartedal in the men’s race. Norwegian newspapers reported however that Svartedal might be sick. The World Cup winner from Reit im Winkl Eldar Ronning is Norway’s alternate skier if Svartedal won’t race. http://www.fasterskier.com/racing1922.html
Also see: Sunday’s Sprint World Cup Winner Will Not Race At Worlds http://www.fasterskier.com/news1926.html
Torin Koos and Andy Newell will race for the first time at at this Championship. Wax problems in Reit im Winkle might be the reason why they were not close to making the top 16-cut.
Marit Bjorgen of Norway is the favorite to win the women’s race despite being upset by Virpi Kuitunen from Finland in Reit im Winkle two weeks ago (see below for results from the last World Cup race)
Top 30 in the classic sprint in Reit im Winkl on February 13
1 3420036 ROENNING Eldar 1982 NOR
2 1059822 HJELMESET Odd-Bjoern 1971 NOR
3 1093869 KREZELOK Janusz 1974 POL
4 1319200 LARSSON Mats 1980 SWE
5 3420077 HATTESTAD Ola Vigen 1982 NOR
6 1344905 KURTTILA Keijo 1975 FIN
7 1153621 BRINK Joergen 1974 SWE
8 1268566 EIGENMANN Christoph 1979 SUI
9 1092511 HETLAND Tor Arne 1974 NOR
10 1291458 NARUSK Priit 1977 EST
11 3670000 CHEBOTKO Nikolay 1982 KAZ
12 1051092 SCHLUETTER Andreas 1972 GER
13 3390008 SAAREPUU Anti 1983 EST
14 1235877 VON ALLMEN Peter 1978 SUI
15 1223558 FRASNELLI Loris 1979 ITA
16 1219193 PYYKOENEN Lauri 1978 FIN
17 1376430 JOUTSEN Jari 1978 FIN
18 3420131 KJOELSTAD Johan 1983 NOR
19 1248390 OESTBERG Fredrik 1979 SWE
20 1178841 KOMAMURA Shunsuke 1979 JPN
21 3420012 NAESS Boerre 1982 NOR
22 1298054 PASINI Fabio 1980 ITA
23 1230930 SVARTEDAL Jens Arne 1976 NOR
24 1258575 HOFMANN Egon 1980 ITA
25 3100006 KERSHAW Devon 1982 CAN
26 1181072 SCHWIENBACHER Freddy 1975 ITA
27 3420002 DAHL John Kristian 1981 NOR
28 3480015 ALYPOV Ivan 1982 RUS
29 1249069 MURRAY Paul 1977 AUS
30 1370707 LIND Bjoern 1978 SWE
Top 30 in the women’s classic World Cup sprint on February 13 in Reit im Winkl
1 1166037 KUITUNEN Virpi 1976 FIN
2 1303777 BJOERGEN Marit 1980 NOR
3 1237817 DAHLBERG Anna 1976 SWE
4 1304165 GJOEMLE Ella 1979 NOR
5 1260903 PEDERSEN Hilde G. 1964 NOR
6 1255665 SAARINEN Aino Kaisa 1979 FIN
7 1242958 OEHRSTIG Emelie 1978 SWE
8 1283116 ANDERSSON Lina 1981 SWE
9 1312701 MISCHOL Seraina 1981 SUI
10 1126461 VENAELAEINEN-SUNDQVIST Kati 1975 FIN
11 3425109 URDAHL Ingrid 1984 NOR
12 1128886 RENNER Sara 1976 CAN
13 1255471 MANNINEN Pirjo 1981 FIN
14 3185003 MALVALEHTO Mona-Liisa 1983 FIN
15 3185005 PERAELAE Kirsi 1982 FIN
16 1305426 SKOFTERUD Vibeke W 1980 NOR
17 1367021 SIDKO Alena 1979 RUS
18 1303874 BJOERNAAS Kine Beate 1980 NOR
19 1296114 KELDER Cristina 1981 ITA
20 1283407 STROEMSTEDT Anna Karin 1981 SWE
21 3425155 AAS Sigrid 1980 NOR
22 1133445 BAUER Viola 1976 GER
23 1107837 EK Elin 1973 SWE
24 1113754 HENKEL Manuela 1974 GER
25 1191354 ROCHAT Laurence 1979 SUI
26 3485032 KOROSTELEVA Natalia 1981 RUS
27 1124424 ANTONOVA Elena 1971 KAZ
28 1373617 FESSEL Nicole 1983 GER
29 3425115 SOLLI Guro Stroem 1983 NOR
30 1250524 GENUIN Magda 1979 ITA
Exotic skiers
FIS has again been generous and let a number of skiers without proper FIS point participate in the race. This is done in order to promote World-wide interest for the sport. You normally don’t see skiers with higher FIS points than 100 in a World Cup race (lower is better) and the top skiers have from 0 to 10 points or so. The highest points we noted among the women entered in the sprint race is Franziska Becskehazy from Brazil with 968 (!) points, while the highest in the men’s race is Helio Freitas also from Brazil with 1491 points. It might take these skiers a while so it’s good its only 1500 meters. They might be loooooong shots to win but don’t waste your money, we are not taking about Greyhounds here.
