Otepaa, Estoina – Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), coming off a strong showing in Whistler, showed no ill effects from the travel, skiing to an impressive 26 second victory in the women’s 10km classic World Cup. Kowalczyk won the 15km pursuit in Whistler, and finished second in the individual sprint. Only a handful of racers from the Whistler events competed in Estonia, and non fared better than Kowalczyk. She held a 4 second lead at the 2.3 km mark and skied away from there.
“Otepää is my best track,” said Kowalczyk after the race. “I really love fighting on the hard track and when you have good skis and a nice crowd it’s wonderful. My tactics were to go as fast as I could, and it was a successful choice. I don’t have very good speed for sprints but I’m in good shape at the moment so tomorrow we will see.”
Overall World Cup leader, Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) finished second, with teammate and Tour de Ski victor, Virpi Kuitunen another 20 seconds back in third. Kowalczyk climbed into third in the overall World Cup standings, 13 points behind Kuitunen and 104 behind Saarinen. The Polish star has scored World Cup points in every event this season except for the pre-Christmas sprint in Dusseldorf.
“Today’s race was a real fight for me, I couldn’t show my best, but to be on the podium with that kind of form is really satisfying,” said Kuitunen. “The week after the Tour de Ski I had to rest, I was only able to swim and do some light exercises to get my heel ok again. Then I had a good training week in Rovaniemi, but did not train very hard before the this race. My main goal is World Championships and it is very important to be healthy in Liberec. I will see after Sunday’s sprint how my heel is doing and then decide whether to go to Rybinsk or not.”
The top 10 featured all the usual suspects in the women’s field. Petra Majdic (SLO) was fourth, 5.2 seconds behind Kuitunen, and Theresse Johaug (NOR) edged teammate Marit Bjoergen by .4 seconds for 5th.
Saarinen did not have her best performance either, saying, “My race today was OK, although I couldn’t get my best speed in the final kilometers, and to show my real power. I can ski better. I expected a podium place and even win, because 10 km classic is my best distance. But Justyna was better today.”
