Norweigan Morten Eilifsen and Italian Giorgio DiCenta finished in a rare tie for first in the 15km individual freestyle race. The two men finished with identical times of 35:33.4, 7.5 seconds ahead of third place finisher Tord Asle Gjerdalen (NOR). This event featured a stronger international field than yesterday's sprint, with a full contingent of top Italian and Swiss skiers, as well as Austrian Olympic Medalist Christian Hoffman and Slovak Martin Bajcicak.
Eilifsen held a 20 second lead over DiCenta after only 5km. He held this advantage through the 10km mark before fading. DiCenta had the later start number and therefore knew exaclt how much ground he had to makeup over the final 5 kilometers.
American Kris Freeman finished 20th in his first international start of the season. His time of 36:37.1 was just over a minute behind the winners. Fellow American Lars Flora was another minute behind, finishing 45th. Freeman and Flora have been training in Beitostolen under the guidance of US Ski Team head coach Pete Vordenberg as they prepare for the opening distance World Cup races to be held next week. Visit TeamToday.org for an update from Pete and some beautiful photos.
In the women's 10km freestyle, Marit Bjoergen showed she is in top form with a dominating victory. Her time of 25:11.8 was 26.7 seconds faster than runner-up Arianna Folis (ITA). Vibeke Skofterud (NOR) finished third in the spread out field, 16 seconds behind Folis and nearly 20 seconds ahead of Therese Johaug (NOR) in fourth.