Sensational Sprint Finals In Drammen, Norway

FasterSkier · March 8, 2005

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The World Cup turned its focus to the Norwegian city of Drammen today, where thousands of ski-crazy spectators packed in along the 1-kilometer man-made course to watch the fastest cross-country skiers in the world push eachother–sometimes literally–to top a tougher pace than ever.

http://www.fasterskier.com/racing2084.html )

With the qualification round completed, it was time to get down and dirty with the head-to-head elimination heats. With four skiers in a heat, only the top two would advance to the semifinals, and once there, only the top two in each semifinal would earn a spot in the A-final to fight for the overall win.

The first quarterfinal of the day simply featured Virpi Kuitunen skiing a whopping four seconds faster than she did in the qualifying round. Kuitunen easily advanced to the semifinals along with Norwegian Guro Stroem Solli.

Women's Quarterfinal 1:

1 1 Kuitunen Virpi FIN *15:30:00 2:36.0 0.0 Q
2 8 Solli Guro Stroem NOR *15:30:00 2:36.5 +0.5 Q
3 9 Vaelimaa Kirsi FIN *15:30:00 2:38.2 +2.2
4 16 Skofterud Vibeke W. NOR *15:30:00 2:40.1 +4.1

It was in quarterfinal two that the first of many “incidents” occurred. Slovenian Petra Majdic got tangled up with Madoka Natsumi of Japan and they both went down. This meant an easy ticket to the semis for Mona-Liisa Malvalehto of Finland and Ella Gjoemle of Norway.

Women's Quarterfinal 2:

1 5 Malvalehto Mona-Liisa FIN *15:35:00 2:42.5 0.0 Q
2 12 Gjoemle Ella NOR *15:35:00 2:47.8 +5.3 Q
3 4 Majdic Petra SLO *15:35:00 2:57.5 +15.0
4 13 Natsumi Madoka JPN *15:35:00 3:17.7 +35.2

Then it was time for Canadians Beckie Scott and Sara Renner to face off against the huge home favorite, World Champion, overall World Cup points leader, virtually-undefeated sprint queen: Marit Bjoergen. With Olympic and World Championship medals of their own however, the Canadians charged fearlessly to the front and almost succeeded in keeping Bjoergen out of the semis. Bjoergen came charging back in the final uphill finish to grab a qualifying spot just half a second in front of Renner, who would end up 11th overall.

Women's Quarterfinal 3:

1 10 Scott Beckie CAN *15:40:00 2:36.0 0.0 Q
2 2 Bjoergen Marit NOR *15:40:00 2:36.3 +0.3 Q
3 7 Renner Sara CAN *15:40:00 2:36.8 +0.8
4 15 Peraelae Kirsi FIN *15:40:00 2:40.0 +4.0

In perhaps the weirdest development of the day, Mikael Oestberg of Sweden had some interference from a stray balloon from the crowd during the second men's quarterfinal. Trond Iverson utterly dominated that heat, opening up a gap to the other three before finishing with another astounding time of 2:12.4. Thobias Frederiksson of Sweden ended up advancing to the semis as well.

Men's Quarterfinal 2:

1 4 Iversen Trond NOR *15:54:00 2:12.4 0.0 Q
2 13 Fredriksson Thobias SWE *15:54:00 2:19.0 +6.6 Q
3 5 Oestberg Mikael SWE *15:54:00
4 12 Kveen Stig Rune NOR *15:54:00

The third quarterfinal was a matchup of two Norwegians versus two Estonians. World Championship silver medalist Tor Arne Hetland appeared unable to match the pace of the Estonians, and in the first half of the race it looked as if he would be left out. But whether it was his intentional, well-calculated tactics or the effect of a huge home crowd cheering him on, Hetland surged back in the final half-kilometer and followed his teammate Ola Vigen Hattestad across the finish line. The Estonians had opened hard and faded towards the end. Two more Norwegians were through to the semis.

Men's Quarterfinal 3:

1 7 Hattestad Ola Vigen NOR *15:58:00 2:12.5 0.0 Q
2 2 Hetland Tor Arne NOR *15:58:00 2:13.2 +0.7 Q
3 10 Saarepuu Anti EST *15:58:00 2:15.6 +3.1
4 15 Jallai Erki EST *15:58:00 2:17.6 +5.1