Often the full story behind a race does not come out until well after the official results have been published. Coming off a successful day of sprinting the weekend before in Finland where Andy Newell was seconds and Kikkan Randall was 5th, hopes were high for the classic sprint in downtown Drammen. At the least, the narrow twisty streets would make for an action packed day of racing.
Unfortunately, the first starter for the day, Randall, ran into immediate trouble. One of her velcro pole straps came undone, forcing her to ski most of the race with tightly gripping the pole in her fist. Randall missed out on qualifying for the heats by less than half a second.
You can read her full account of the race at http://blogs.fasterskier.com/kikkanrandall
The men's race got off to a more promising start – with both Newell and teammate Torin Koos advancing to the heats. After his podium finish last weekend, Newell expressed his goal of showing the Norweigans he could double-pole with the best of them – he was now in a position to do so.
He never really had a shot, tripping less than a third of the way into his quarterfinal. “Andy fell when his wax caught and he was down maybe 300 meters into the course,” US Sprint Coach Chris Grover said. “He was actually able to catch back up to the leaders but he faded at the end because he had spent so much energy getting back.”