Kuusamo, Finalnd – Petra Majdic (SLO) claimed her first victory of the season in an effort to defend her World Cup sprint title. Lina Andersson (SWE) finished second and Justyna Kowalczyk third.
Majdic posted the fastest qualification time of the day besting last year's overall World Cup Champion by .69 seconds. Kuitunen also advanced to the A-Final, taking the final spot and finishing 6th. this was Majdic's 7th career World Cup victory.
Overall, the host nation turned in a solid day, advancing two skiers to the A-Final, and placing five in the top fifteen. Norway was unable to match the strong performance of their male counterparts. Marit Bjoergen led the way in 13th.
Alena Prochazkova (SLV) skied to a strong fourth place finish, nearly matching her career-best third place gained at this same event last season. This was only her third top-10 World Cup result of her five season World Cup career.
Kikkan Randall, racing in her first World Cup of the season (and first event on European soil) just missed qualifying, finishing 33rd, .68 seconds out of the top 30 and 10.02 seconds behind Majdic. While Randall is a stronger skater, she certainly has the ability to qualify in the in classic and is certainly disappointed to miss the heats.
Perianne Jones, the only started for Canada was disqualified during qualification. It is unclear for what reason.
