In the past year, a number of North American skiers posted unprecedented results in cross-country skiing. A gold medal for Chandra Crawford. Four World Cup victories, nine podiums and overall World Cup second place for Beckie Scott. Silver medals for Scott and teammate Sara Renner. US Olympic and World Cup bests for Kikkan Randall. A podium and three consecutive top-ten finishes for Andy Newell.
Now, as we begin another four year cycle leading up to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, FasterSkier.com takes a look at how North American skiers stack up against the other nations on the World Cup, and what to look for this season.
The Nations Cup
The Nations Cup is given to the top overall country on the World Cup circuit. The Nations Cup points are determined by adding up all the individual World Cup points earned by a country’s skiers during the season. Individual World Cup points are given to the top 30 skiers in each World Cup race. The winner gets 100 points; second place gets 80 points and so on, down to 1 point for 30th place. World Cup points are not awarded at the World Championships or at the Olympic Games.
Norway (8728 points) was first on both the men’s and women’s Nations Cup lists last season to easily win the overall. Sweden took second overall (5435 points) with their men in second place and their women in 5th, just enough to beat third place nation Germany (5287 points) which had both their men and women in third place. Russia, Italy and Finland followed next.
Canada was 7th with 2117 points and USA was 17th with 563 points. The Canadian men were ranked 14th (276 points) and the Canadian women 6th (1841 points) while the US men were ahead of Canada in 12th place (446 points) while the US women were 17th (117 points).
2006 Nations Cup Standings (PDF – 42.44 k)
Individual Points
A look at Canada’s numbers shows that, not surprisingly, Beckie Scott was Canada’s biggest point collector with 1020 points (48% of Canada’s total points). She was 2nd in the overall World Cup and 3rd in the sprint World Cup. Sara Renner was 10th in the World Cup with 446 points. Combined they captured 1466 out of Canada’s 2117 points (70 %).
: 1020 points in 2006, now retired</font></center><BR></p>
<p>For the United States, Andy Newell was the top male point contributor last season with 222 points, 8th in the sprint World Cup and 25th in the overall World Cup. This was a big step forward for Newell in his first full season on the World Cup. He did not score any World Cup points the previous season (but he did finish 12th at World Championships in 2005).</p>
<p>The second North American male point collector was Canada’s Devon Kershaw with 95 points, good for 57th in the overall World Cup and 25th in the sprint cup. This was progress from the previous season where he placed 97th (48th in the sprint) and captured 20 points.</p>
<p>North Americans:</p>
<p>Andy Newell , USA: World Cup overall 25th, sprint 8th: 222 points— no points in 2005<br />
Devon Kershaw, Canada: World Cup overall 57th, sprint 25th — 97th and 20 points in 2005<br />
Torin Koos, USA: World Cup overall 75th, sprint 30th: 58 points — no points in 2005<br />
Carl Swenson, USA: World Cup overall 78th: 55 points — retired<br />
Kris Freeman, USA: World Cup overall 107th: 32 points — 79th and 31 points in 2005<br />
George Grey, Canada: World Cup overall 113th: 26 points — no points in 2005<br />
Chris Cook, USA: World Cup overall 116th, sprint 49: 22 points — no points in 2005<br />
Drew Goldsack, Canada: World Cup overall 125th: 15 points — no points in 2005<br />
Chris Jeffries, Canada: World Cup overall 148th: 7 points — no points in 2005<br />
Sean Crooks, Canada 156th — 6 points: no points in 2005<br />
Phil Widmer, Canada 164th — 5 points: no points in 2005<br />
<<a href=â€http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/cross-country/cupstandings.html?suchen=true&suchcompetitorid=&suchseason=2006§or=CC&suchgender=M&suchcup=WC&suchnation=&discipline=&search=Search†target=new>Complete 2005/2006 Men’s World Cup standings</a><br />
Beckie Scott, Canada 2nd overall, 3rd in the sprint cup: 1020 points — 18th (12th in sprint) in 2005<br />
Sara Renner, Canada 10th overall, 11th in the sprint cup: 446 points— 26th (14th in sprint) in 2005<br />
Chandra Crawford, Canada 30th overall, 14th in the sprint cup: 198 points — no points in 2005<br />
Kikkan Randall, USA 59th overall, 34th in the sprint cup: 48 points — no points in 2005<br />
Millaine Theriault, Canada, 81st overall — 17 points: 89 and 7 points in 2005<br />
Sarah Konrad, USA, 100th overall: 8 points: no points in 2005<br />
Amanda Ammar, Canada 117th overall: 4 points — no points in 2005<br />
Abigail Larson, USA 125th overall: 1 point — no points in 2005 </p>
<p><A href=http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/cross-country/cupstandings.html?suchen=true&suchcompetitorid=&suchseason=2006§or=CC&suchgender=L&suchcup=WC&suchnation=&discipline=ALL&search=Search target=new>Complete Women’s 2005/2006 World Cup standings</a></p>
<p>A quick scan of these points shows that North America’s strength is in the sprint races. The 4 x 10 k and 4 x 5-k relay results from Torino show that both North American nations are lacking depth among their distance skiers. Canada was 10th and the US was 14th in the women’s relay while Canada was 11th and US was 12th in the men’s relay.</p>
<p><b>Outlook for Canada</b></p>
<p>For the Canadians, Scott has now retired and Renner is taking a year off due to pregnancy. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill. Olympic sprint champion Chandra Crawford was 30th in the overall World Cup and 14th in the sprint cup, but she and the other skiers on the Canadian team need to step it up in a big way on a regular basis for Canada to improve or remain as the 7th overall ranked nation and 6th ranked women’s nation. </p>
<p>Big question: Can Crawford do as well in classic sprint (which is the World Championship individual sprint technique this year) as she did in the Olympic skate sprint?</p>
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