Liberec, Czech Republic – Petter Northug (NOR) won the men’s 50km freestyle mass start, the final event of the 2009 World Championships. Northug moved his way up thorugh the pasck over the last 10 kilometers, positioning himself for the final sprint. He crossed the line .7 seconds ahead of Russian Maxim Vylegezhanin. Tobias Angerer (GER) took the bronze, two seconds behind Northug. The victory earned Northug his third gold of the Championships. He also won...
Liberec, Cazech Republic. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) won her second gold of the 2009 World Championships, skiing to victory in the woen’s 30km freestyle mass start. Liz Stephen led the US in 17th. Kowalczyk made a move with under a kilometer to go, opening a gap she was able to hold to the finish. Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS) was second, +8.8. The battle for silver was extremely tight. Medvedeva outsprinted bronze medalist Valentina Schevchenko (UKR) and 4th...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Petter Northug is on his way to cementing his position as one of the all time great Norwegian relay anchors, once again overcoming a deficit before powering it on in the finish to claim the men’s 4x10km relay gold over Germany. Northug, at 23, already has anchored a number of impressive relay victories, and now has a World Champinship gold in the event. This was Norway’s fifth consecutive World Championship relay...
Liberec, Czech Republic – The Finnish team defended their World Championship title in the women’s 4×5 kilometer relay this morning, behind a strong anchor leg from Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. Germany took the silver in a sprint finish with Sweden. The favored Finns appeared to be on pace for an easy victory, on par with the Team Sprint yesterday. Pirjo Muranen, the bronze medalist in the individual sprint, skied the first leg. She tagged off in second,...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Virpi Kuitunen skied away from the competition to bring home the gold for Finland in the women’s classic Team Sprint competition. The pair posted a 20 second victory over Silver medalists Sweden. Italy was another 3.8 seconds back to take the bronze. Saarinen and Kuitunen set a fast pace early, stringing out the pack on the first lap. Their lead was 3.5 seconds after one lap, and a...
Liberec, Czech Republic – The Norweigan duo of Ola Vigen Hattestad and Johan Kjoelstad took the gold in the men’s Team Sprint competition this morning, a day after finishing first and second in the individual sprint. Tobias Angerer and Axel Teichmann claimed silver for German in a photo finish with the Finnish team of Ville Nousiainen and Sami Jauhojaervi. As is often the case in team sprint events, the lead pack remained tightly grouped throughout...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) won the men’s World Championship sprint, winning his 5th 6th sprint in 7 World Cup starts this season. His only “loss” was a second place. His teammate Johan Kjoelstad took the silver, and Russian Nikolay Morilov the bronze. This was Hattestad’s and Kjoelstad’s first ever World Championship medals. “It’s unbelievable! I have felt pressured over the last days. I tried not to think about it – for...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Arianna Follis (ITA) won the women’s 1.3km freestyle sprint at the World Championships. American Kikkan Randall finished second, just ahead of Pirjo Muranen (FIN). Follis, who posted the second fastest qualifying time behind Russian Natalia Matveeva, claimed her firs World Championship Gold Medal. She also won a bronze in 2005 in Sapporo. “It is an incredible day. I have a gold medal and I am the World Champion! I used the...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) won the women’s 15km pursuit at the Nordic World Championships in Liberec. American Liz Stephen finished 15th. Kowalczyk claimed her second medal in two races at the Championships. She won the bronze in Thursday’s 10km classic. Kowalczyk edged out Norweigan Kristin Stoermer Steira by 1.7 seconds. Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN), the gold medalist in the 10k took the bronze, +8.0. A lead group, consisting of the top three...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Kris Freeman skied his best race in 6 years, finishing 4th in the World Championship 15km individual start, just 1.4 seconds out of the bronze medal. Freeman had a very similar result in 2003 in Val di Fiemme, Italy, also finishing 4th, 2.1 seconds out of third. “Fourth place is just not the place you want to be at World Championships. This has happened to me twice now. I don’t know...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Kris Freeman (USA), battling compartment syndrome, turned in his best result in six years, finishing 4th in the men’s 15km classic in Liberec. Veteran Andrus Veerpalu (EST) edged hometown favorite Lukas Bauer (CZE) for the gold. The 38-year old Veerpalu, skiing in his eighth World Championships, trailed Bauer for much of the race, taking over the lead after the 12 kilometer mark and skiing to a 6.3 second victory. Veerpalu won...
Liberec, Czech Republic – Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) won the first gold of the 2009 World Championships, skiing to victory in the women’s 10km classic. Sarah Renner placed 9th for Canada, and Kikkan Randall led the US in 26th. Saarinen started fast and maintained the pace, leading at both intermediate check points. This was the first World Championship medal of her career and first gold in either the World Championships or the Olympics. She did...
The FIS instituted a new protocol to deal with the large number of entrants in the individual start races at World Championships – a qualification race. These races were run today. 250 men and 150 women registered for the 10/15km classic individual start races. In order to decrease the numbers, FIS required women with more than 120 distance FIS points and men with more than 90 distance FIS points to qualify in special races. The...
Visit the Universal Sports Nordic World Championship page Cross-Country US There will be no surprises here. The US foursome of Kikkan Randall, Andy Newell, Torin Koos and Kris Freeman have been well ahead of the rest of the US for some years, represent the hope for medals. Freeman, suffering from compartment syndrome, can only race classic, limiting him to Friday’s 15km classic individual start and a leg in the relay. The 15km has been Kris’...
Valdidentro, Italy – Torin Koos (USA) skied to his best ever freestyle World Cup finish, finishing 8th today in the 1.7km sprint. Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) continued his unprecedented domination of the sprint circuit. Hattestad skied to his 5th World Cup victory in 6 starts this season. His only “loss” was a second place finish to Emil Joensson (SWE) in Whistler. Hattestad sat out the sprint in Rybinsk, Russia two weeks ago due to the...
Women’s 1.4km Freestyle Sprint – Complete Results
Mora, Minnesota – Matt Liebsch (CXC Elite) and Mary Beth Tuttle won the 58km freestyle event at the Mora Vassaloppet last weekend. Liebsch skied away from the competition on the rolling point-to-point course, crossing the line in downtown Mora just under five minutes ahead of Anders Osthus (Atomic). Osthus battled Nikolai Anikin and and Bjorn Batdorf (Rossignol) for the silver, edging Anikin by 1.1 seconds. Batdorf and Anikin sprinted for the bronze, with Anikin gaining...
Stowe, Vermont – James Southam (APUNSC/Atomic) and Kristina Strandberg (Saab Salomon Factory Team) combined to win all four races at the SuperTour weekend in Stowe, VT. Southam, who has spent the last several weeks training in New England following the Whistler World Cups, defeated fellow APU skier Lars Flora (Saab Salomon Factory Team) in both races. In Saturday’s 10km freestyle, Southam skied to a 12 second victory over Flora, with Dartmouth’s Nils Koons in third,...
Sun Valley, Idaho – Zack Simons (Rossignol) and Rebecca Dussault (Saab Salomon Factory Team) won the 34th annual Boulder Mountain Tour this past weekend. Simons, who is rounding into form after his early season took a significant setback due to illness, edged Marshall Green (Alpina/XC-Oregon) in an exciting sprint to the finish. The final margin of victory was recorded as a mere .1 seconds. US Nordic Combined skier Bryan Fletcher (Madshus) was just 1.5 seconds...
Petr Sedov (RUS) claimed victory in the men’s 20km pursuit yesterday at the World Junior Championships. The 18-year old Sedov, hailing from Moscow, won going away in a time of 52:54.1, a full 48.3 seconds ahead of his teammate Raul Shakirzianov. Third place went to Hans Christer Holund (NOR), the Junior World Champion in the 10 km classic last year. Places 2-4 were decided in a sprint, with Shkirzianov holding off Holund and Tim Tscharnke...
