Men Prepare For 15K Classic

FasterSkier · February 15, 2006

Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) will lead four U.S. men into the 15-km on Friday in Pragelato. The classical technique event is Freeman's best shot at a top Olympic finish. Freeman finished fourth in this event in the 2003 World Championships. He was 22nd in at the Salt Lake City games.

Kris Freeman skied fast for 10-k in the last men’s classic World Cup race in Davos one week before the Olympics. He was still top ten at that point, but faded back into the pack near the end. Can he break top 10? Or better? One thing is for sure, he’ll give it everything he has and then some. And all the other North Americans will do the same!

Freeman will be joined by brother Justin Freeman (Andover, NH), Andrew Johnson (Greensboro, VT) and Lars Flora (Anchorage). Be sure to check out the comments we posted yesterday and today from Kris, Justin and Andrew.

“Kris is healthy and if his body can hang together, he could have a good race,” said U.S. Head Coach Trond Nystad.

For the Canadians, George Grey almost broke top 30 in Davos and can do even better, as he proved with his 26th place in the men's Olympic pursuit. He will be joined by Devon Kershaw, Drew Goldsack, and Dan Roycroft.

Norwegian Jens Arne Svartedal dominated the Davos race. He got sick right before the Olympics, but was healthy and raced well on the Norwegian two person sprint relay team on Tuesday (silver medal). Martin Tauber was second and Vincent Vittoz was third. To view results from Davos see http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=CC&raceid=9634
Medal favorites include: Svartedal, Estil, Tauber, Angerer, Hjelmeset, Veerpalu, and Sodergren.

The race will start at 10 a.m (4 am eastern) in Pragelato Plan.

Start list: http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/CC/C51A_CCM015101.html

Sources: FIS, USSA