Final Race at Worlds: Men's 50km Classic Mass Start PREVIEW

The odds for the 50km men's race are up! The Germans are in shape and want to strike back after a very disappointing 4 x 10km relay. Tobias Angerer will not give an inch. Norway is on a roll and is flying high after winning the men’s relay. Vasaloppet champion and classic specialist Anders Aukland (NOR) has put all his eggs in one basket and prepared for this race for the past six weeks. He will be ready and will go from broke! One can bet Frode Estil is hungry for revenge after having been kicked off the Norwegian relay team, and Jens Arne Svartedal after being passed over for the relay team. Estil is also at the top of the Nordicbet.com list, with Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset and Eldar Roenning right behind. It’s time to prove everyone wrong — and that’s good motivation! Who else could be a contender? Anders Sodergren and Mattias Fredriksson of Sweden will be tough, but Sodergren might be tired from the relay. Add a couple Russians, one Estonian, and possibly one more Swede and one surprising Finn…. and we could see one heck of a 50km!!!

North Americans: Team USA skipped the men’s relay in order to focus on the 50km race. This disappointed many US fans. A great US result could be a nice Band-Aid. Six North Americans are on the start list. Kris Freeman (USA), James Southam (USA, Lars Flora (USA), Dan Roycroft (CAN), Stefan Kuhn (CAN), and Brian McKeever(CAN). Of special note is Ivan Babikov (RUS) who is also on the start list. Ivan rocked the North American race circuit last season and the season before.

This is the last chance for Team US and Canada to shine at these Worlds. Let's send good vibes to Japan and hope the North Americans can step up and post a top 15 result.

For a complete startlist, please visit:

http://www.fis-ski.com/pdf/2007/CC/2505/2007CC2505SL.pdf

NordicBet.com odds for Men's 50km classic mass-start:

Frode Estil 5.50
Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset 5.75
Eldar Rœnning 5.75
Tobias Angerer 10.00
Jens Arne Svartedal 12.00
Anders Aukland 12.00
Mathias Fredriksson 13.00
Anders Södergren 14.00
Jens Filbrich 16.00
Lukas Bauer 18.00
Sami Jauhojärvi 18.00
Nikolai Pankratov 20.00
Sergei Novikov 30.00
Giorgio Di Centa 30.00
Rene Sommerfeldt 30.00

Fasterskier.com wants to hear your pre-race predictions. Post your best guess in the comments section!