It wasn’t hard to predict the outcoming of Saturday morning’s Cross Country
4×5 km relay competition after the outstanding performances of the Norwegian team in all other Cross Country competitions. Astrid Jacobsen, Caroline Tangen, Betty-Ann Nilsen and Marte Elden finished their race 17.2 seconds faster than the Russian team who won the silver medal. The third place went to the team from Czech Republic.
The finnish girls ( Sanna Soudunsaari, Pirttiniemi, Silja Tarvonen and Noora
Virtanen) ended up on the 7th place, only 2.3 seconds after Germany, who was 6th.
– At some point I was ahead of Claudia, but at one downhill part I was too
afraid to fall, so I didn’t give 100% and she overtook me, Noora Virtanen said.
For the Ladies this year’s JWSC is finished now, it will stay in people’s minds for the Norwegian superiority, their girls had taken 5 of 8 possible medals in Cross Country.
The United States womens team, consisting of Morgan Smyth, Elizabeth Stephen, Morgan Arritola, and Tazlina Mannix finished 11th in a field of 13 teams. The Canadians did not have a women's relay team.
One might have also expected the Norwegian men's team to dominate the relay, after sweeping the individual race Gold Medals and also collecting a silver and a bronze. But this was not the case, as Russia took over the lead from the Czech Republic on the second leg and never looked back on their way to victory. Norway finished second a minute and a half back, and France was third. The North American teams did not have a memorable day, with the Canadian team finishing 17th (9:02 back) and the Americans 18th (10:58 back) in a field of 18 teams.
Women's Results: http://www.jwsc2005.net/listat/CC4%20x%205kmRelayOfficalResults.pdf
Men's Results: http://www.jwsc2005.net/listat/CCMen4%20x10kmRelayOfficalResults.pdf
Source: www.jwc2005.net
