An Ode To Those Moving On: 2011 + Veerpalu

It’s been a few weeks to let the dust settle from the World Cup season and to see which athletes would continue or call it quits. Even with Kristin Størmer-Steira deciding to continue her career for a couple more years, this is one of the strongest retiring classes we’ve seen in a long time. What interests me the most is how young the retirees are getting, the average age of this year is around 29-30 years old. Seems like with advances in training methodologies and equipment, this sport is tending to lean to slightly younger athletes now. Here it goes, an homage to the athletes leaving the World Cup stage…

Women

Petra Majdic (1979) – A Slovenian that captivated the ski world over the past couple years has had her rise and fall (read: Olympic Games spint) recorded closely and has earned the respect of her fellow competitors and the ski world in general. By far and away the happiest athlete on the circuit, she always had a smile on her face when the cameras were on her before the race started.Her career was illustrious and she went out on top winning the final sprint race of the season in Stockholm which earned her the third Sprint Crystal Globe of her career and the third in the past four years.

Her wrap sheet is extremely impressive as she sits in fourth all-time in wins (24) behind Bjørgen, Valbe and Skari and just ahead Belundo; not bad company. She is second all-time in sprint wins, behind Bjørgen. Add 33 World Cup podiums and her most famous medal of all, her bronze from Vancouver and you have a massive talent that is leaving while still one of the best in the world.

Pirjo Muranen (1981) – Another sprinter, another athletes that leaving the game while on top of the world. She won her last race ever at Finnish Nationals and was one of the most consistent sprinters on the world stage during the past decade. She was the World Sprint Champion from 2001 and was always a sure bet to make it past the quarter-finals. In the past couple years, she was never put in the same group as Majdic, Follis, Bjorgen and more recently Randall for best sprinters in the world, but her leaving the stage will leave a decent hole to fill in the talent pool.

Arianna Follis (1977) – A skier that was still in her prime. Follis, a freestyle specialist, finished third in the World Cup Overall and second in the Sprint Cup this year. Talking about leaving with your head held high. It seemed like Follis was aging like a fine wine, and her final year was by far and away her most successful. The Italian has been the backbone of the nations women’s team for numerous years and her presents will be dearly missed. Italy will still have Longa and Genuin to lead the charge, but without Follis, those medals in the team sprint will be extremely hard to come by in the next couple years until new talent comes up. With three World Cup victories and the sprint World Championship from Liberec, Follis is leaving the sport with only an Olympic medal missing from her trophy room.

Lina Andersson (1981) – The Swede hangs up the skis after having a fairly successful career. Her best days are far behind her and was a pioneer of sorts for the Swedish women before the likes of Falk, Ingemarsdotter, Kalla and the next generation athletes came through. She led the way and her career included two victories in 102 World Cup starts, but the career highlight was her silver medal from the 2005 World Champs behind teammate Emelie Öhrstig.

MEN

Vincent Vittoz (1975) – Known for his skating prowess, Vittoz had been the face of the French team for 10+ years. He’s been the most decorated French cross-country skier of all time and at the age of 35-years old, still had a couple decent performances in his final year including a third place in the Lahti pursuit. In 179 World Cup starts, Vittoz earned seven victories and added a World Championship gold from Oberstorf in the 30km pursuit.

It’s really too bad that he endured that bad left thigh abductor injury during the relay in Gällivare which saw him miss six crucial weeks of racing and training. A brutal injury to sideline him and minimize his chances going into the World Champs.

In the past couple days, he’s been offered the job of being the new French U23 head coach. It will be interesting to see if he takes the job. If he does, the French youth system just got a massive boost with the amount of knowledge and experience Vittoz has to offer.

Jens Filbrich (1979) – Like Grey, 11 year vet a journeyman for his country. He was never a star and skied in the shadows of his much more illustrious teammates (Sommerfeldt, Teichmann and Angerer all won the World Cup Overall) for his career, but that doesn’t mean that he was a poor skier. The classic specialist was a very good skier in his own right and in 127 World Cup starts, he earned five podiums and helped Germany to five World Championship team medals and earned a bronze medal in Sapporo in the 50km mass start.

Emmanuel Jonnier (1975) – Another stronghold of the French team for many years, Jonnier’s best years were definitely behind him. He was an integral part of the French relay team, but in the past year, Miranda and Duvillard had skipped past him in the pecking order. The majority of the last season was spent on the Alpen Cup circuit with only three World Cup appearances. In 96 World Cup starts, Jonnier earned three World Cup podiums with his best race in Falun in 2007 where he was 0.4 seconds behind Angerer for the win.

Jens Arne Svartedal (1976) – Unlike the majority of the ladies who retired, it’s safe to say that Svartedal’s best years were far behind him. The 35-year old was one of the best classic specialists of his time and his career was highlighted by becoming World Champion at the 2007 World Champs in Sapporo in the classic sprint. Primarily known as a sprinter, Svartedal could throw down distance results too as he showed and five of his 22 World Cup medals came in the 15km classic including his last ever World Cup podium in which he finished 2nd in Val di Dentro in February 2009. He was one of the more consistent skiers of the last decade and scored at least one World Cup medal in every year from 2000-2009. His rap sheet is even more impressive as he stepped on the World Cup podium 22 times in his career and hit the start line 120 times. That’s an average of one podium every six races.

George Grey (1979) – A stalwart for the Canadian team through his 10-year career. He was the man before Kershaw and Harvey took over the show. I remember him coming to a training camp in BC when I was in high school and giving a talk to us younger ones. He told us to never gave up on your dreams; that was in 2003. He told us he was never the fastest in Canada when he was our age and at Nationals would finish 10th-20th. He became fast by making sacrifices. Up to that date, one of his proudest moments was to hang onto Axel Teichmann for 5km after being passed by the U23 standout at a World cup race the year before.

Fast forward to the 2010 Olympics and Grey finishes in 8th place in the 30km pursuit on home snow in the province he grew up in. Easily the race of a lifetime and for that whole season, he skied amongst the best in the world, continually scoring points in every World Cup race he entered.

Unfortunately, his final season on the World Cup is one to forget. A combination of his first child being born and an injury resulted in only five World Cup starts and his best placing was 32nd (78th, 84th, 79th and 68th were the other race finishes). However, while he didn’t finish his World Cup career the way he would have liked, he performances at Canadian Nationals in Canmore wrapped up a career that spanned a decade as he won the 10km free, 15km classic and most importantly the 50km free mass start in the very last race of his competitive career; a story book ending.

Stefan Kuhn (1979) – Kuhn’s ski career is one of the more interesting stories. After being a stand-out junior, he decided to leave the sport in his early 20′s, but came back and skied his way back onto the Canadian National Team as a sprint specialist and in 2005 had his first of 31 World Cup starts. His best World Cup finish was 15th in Kuusamo 2008, but his career highlight was probably qualifying 10th at the 2010 Olympics in front of friends and family to ultimately finish 15th.

Andrus Veerapalu (1971) – Well what can I say, he WAS the big time racer of this generation. Always showed up and threw down when it was necessary. While there was always speculation, now we know for sure. He’s the Johann Muelegg of this decade.

It leaves a bitter tastes in all our mouths especially when we realize that since he “won” the 15km in Liberec, that robbed Kris Freeman of the bronze medal that he truly deserved. Instead, Freeman will never get that recognition thanks to a life-long cheater; and that is a depressing thought.

In addition to Freeman, Veerpalu robbed the Norwegian Erling Jevne a bronze from the 2001 Lahti World Champs and Swede Niklas Jonsson from what would be his only World Champs medal from 1999 in Ramsau. On the Olympic side, it was Anders Aukland from the 15km in 2002 and Rotchev from the 50km and the German Andreas Schlutter in the 15km in Torino. For those athletes, it will be years after until they finally get that medal, long after they can capitalize on potential monetary gains through sponsorships.

These caught dopers have much more repercussion that just their own and their countries tarnished reputation, they helped reduce potential increases in monetary means for those that finished behind them. A very important part of skiing, especially for those athletes that don’t come from traditional ski markets such as Russia, Sweden and Norway.

It reminds me of when Lazutina and Danilova were caught using darbepoetin after the 2002 Olympics which turned Beckie Scott’s bronze medal into the gold. How much more recognition would Scott earned had those two athletes been caught before the Olymics. It took Beckie two and a half years to finally be recognized as an Olympic Champnion. Would she have gotten those big sponsorship deals that Crawford got after her gold in Torino? Likewise, with Freeman winning bronze in Liberec, how much more press and potential sponsors would he have gotten?

Perhaps the FIS could open an escrow account where a certain percentage of medallists reward money from Olympics and World Champs would go until they retire. I know that skiers don’t have the most lavish lifestyles, so instead of an escrow account for those making under a certain amount, perhaps a hefty fine AND suspension which I think should be lengthened to four years. The fine could be redistributed to those athletes that went for the moral high road when competing in the sport they love, but ultimately came up short to said cheater.

I’ve heard and read the defiant attitude of those backing Veerpalu and I’m not convinced. Chris from NCP touches on it a bit, but why would Veerpalu retire right before the World Champs, and keep the positive “A” test quiet instead of fighting the test from the beginning?

So far the Facebook to support Veerpalu has almost 69,000 members, but unfortunately, this situation doesn’t involved a democratic vote so the number of people doesn’t matter. Veerpalu has already tested positive TWICE (A and B samples) and as it stands now, Veerpalu is guilty until proven innocent.

That’s it for me. The Veerpalu story was irregular case, but usually watching for interesting ski news in April and May is like watching snow melt. I’ll be back with a round-up of the on-goings from the rest month for the ski world.

Til then, have a great spring.

World Cup Finale: A Victory Lap for Bjørgen

The last race of the season, and it was spring skiing conditions as the mercury was hovering around +7°C while the snow was a perfect at -5°C. Today’s race was more of a victory lap for Bjørgen and her amazing season since second place Kowalczyk started 74 seconds behind the Norwegian. With that said, the odds for today’s race were Bjørgen at 1.02 (sure thing) for the win while the rest of the field was 10.00.

THE RACE

With 74 seconds between Bjørgen and Kowalczyk and another 80 seconds between the Pole and Johaug, all the excitement would be for the race for fourth place.

So while Bjørgen, Kowalczyk and Johaug were skiing their own race by themselves, the race for fourth was heating up as Follis, Haag and Jacobsen had bunched together early and began to work together to close the gap between themselves and Kalla.

Going up Mörderbacken the first time, you could see that even though Bjørgen was out in front, she certainly wasn’t taking the race easy as her heart rate was at 94% of her max. At 2.8km, the gap between Kowalczyk and Bjørgen was only increased by three seconds.
Kalla was having a good day and was steadily closing the gap between herself and Johaug, while Follis and Jacobsen were closing the gap too. At 2.8km at the top of Morderbacken, Johaug’s gap between Kalla, Follis and Jacobsen was 17 seconds. Haag was dropping off the back of Jacobsen and was now sitting eight seconds behind the Norwegian.

We could see how big the gap was at the front as Bjørgen started her second lap and was going out of the stadium, Kowalczyk was coming into the stadium and sat 1:28 back, 14 seconds lost in the first 5km.

The race for fourth and to a certain extent third was heating up as Johaug was only 14 seconds ahead of the Kalla, Follis, Jacobsen trio as they continued to work well together. Haag was still along in 7th and say 22 seconds behind Jacobsen and 23 seconds ahead of Majdic and Størmer-Steira who were battling for 8th place.

The last time up Mörderbacken, the gap had stagnated on the second lap between the lead two as Kowalczyk lost only one second in the first 2.8km of the second lap. In behind them, it was a thrilling fight for third as Follis was only 15 meters behind Johaug coming into the base while Jacobsen was another 20 meters back as they had dropped Kalla. The coaches were screaming at Johaug to tell her how close Follis was and going up Morderbacken as able to find another gear and sat seven seconds ahead of the Italian, but still had 2.2km left to the finish.

In the stadium, it was all smiles for both Bjørgen and Kowalczyk as their World Cup season came to a finish and they both celebrated as they came across the finish line. The fight for third was not so laid-back as Johaug had to keep going all the way to the finish-line as Follis and Jacobsen was only 25 meters behind the Norwegian. Johaug was able to hold them off, but it was  a fight for fourth as Follis and Jacobsen were side-by-side coming up the finish hill, but the Italian did enough to hold her off.   

In behind, it was Kalla for 6th while Haag and Størmer-Steira had a sprint finish which went to the Norwegian. In 9th was the elated Majdic who had an ear-to-ear grin and as she came across the finish line and a service man put on a cooking apron on her to signify a change in lifestyle. Finally, it was a made sprint for 10th between six athletes, but it was Ingemarsdotter to out-lunge Fessel.

RESULTS

1. Marit Bjørgen

2. Justyna Kowalczyk

3. Therese Johaug

A really great feeling before the start of the race with Kowalczyk wearing a headband saying “Goodbye Petra” while Majdic had “Goodbye! I Love You” written in black tape on her butt. Shows the respect and friendship that is created over the years on the World Cup stage.

Majdic Says Goodbye

The race within today’s race was actually won by Follis who had the fastest time. The it was Norwegian’s that took 2nd-6th. Jacobsen had a great race as she worked together with Follis for the large majority to catch Johaug who had today’s 3rd fastet time. Bjørgen was next, the Kristoffersen and Størmer-Steira. The story-book ending for Størmer-Steira was so close as she was only 3.1 seconds out of 4th place today.

Amazingly, Kowalczyk had the 18th fastest time, but that can be attributed to the victory lap syndrome and had no one to push her or no one to catch the who race while almost every athlete (except Bjørgen) were within eye shot of other athletes to keep them going.
Other performance highlights included a great race from Randall too who tied Marte Elden for the 14th fastest time today which landed her 16th overall while France’s youngster Laure Barthelemy had today’s 8th fastest time which moved her from 22nd to 17th.

The World Cup Finale was rather anti-climatic, something Capol and the rest of the FIS committee have been trying to reverse with the introduction of the min-tour. Instead of having a great last race with intensity and excitement, the race toady was more like a show loop not only for Bjørgen, but also Kowalczyk. Yes, they still worked very hard throughout the race, but the competition wasn’t there. I believe they are going in the right direction, but they need to tinker with the formula just a little more to get it right, such as adjusting the sprint bonuses or taking them out all together.

Having said that, the atmosphere today definitely had a year-end race feel to it that you could feel where ever you watched the race, whether it was in Falun or in front of your TV/computer screen. The crowds were great all along the course and many of the athletes were all smiles as they took off their skis after the race. Even service men were passing around champagne bottles in the finishing pen. The amazing weather definitely contributed to the festive mood.

I’ll be back a little later with the men’s race.

Stockholm Sprint: The Sprint Champs Reign Supreme

It was a beautiful day in Stockholm as the annual sprint around the castle announces the last World Cup weekend on the calendar. It’s also the first race of the mini-tour that moves on to Falun for the weekend. The sun was shining brilliantly and the temperature hovered around +2. The fastest qualifiers were Majdic and Hattestad. It was a special day for Majdic as it was her final sprint race of her career and a chance to wrap up the sprint Crystal Globe.

WOMEN’S QUARTERS
Heat #1 – It was an explosive start from Majdic who was out fast and quickly gapped the rest of the heat by 10 meters before the top of the first hill. Falla was leading the charge in behind Majdic for  the second qualifying spot. Coming up the final hill to the finish, Majdic let off the gas and was almost caught by Falla as the Norwegian worked hard to not be caught by Fabjan and Muranen.

Advanced: Petra Majdic and Maiken Caspersen Falla

Heat #2 – It was closer quarters for the second heat as Finn’s Niskanen and Saarinen led the heat up the first hill alongside the castle. Coming around the 180 degree turn at the far end of the course it was Saarinen and Genuin who were side-by-side and it remained that way until the finishing hill. Saarinen led and Genuin tucked in behind her. On the opposite side of the track, it was Perianne Jones who came from fifth to the front and came across the line 0.1 seconds behind Saarinen to automatically qualify for the semis.

Advanced: Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Perianne Jones

Heat #3 – The young Norwegian Heidi Weng was the leader coming into the first hill, but going up she was joined and passed by #15. A few precarious steps from #15 dropped her from the lead and was passed by Jacobsen and Ingemarsdotter as the Norwegian who finished second last week took the lead. Up the hill to the finish, it was Ingemarsdotter who powered to the finish while Jacobsen faded late on and was caught by Zeller as the German took second spot by a toe on photo finish.

Advanced: Ida Ingemarsdotter and Katrin Zeller

Heat #4 – Slovenia’s Visnar was the fastest double poler out of the gates and took the lead. Going into the hairpin turn, the Slovenian still led by was joined by junior super-star Østberg #22. Visnar continued to lead and was followed by Kalla and going to the finish, Visnar easily won the heat as Kalla and Prochazkova fought for second. After review of the finish, photo-finish showed that Kalla earned second on the lunge.

Advanced: Katja Visnar, Charlotte Kalla and Alena Prochazkova (LL).

Heat #5 – Today’s heat of death which included Brun-Lie, Follis, Randall, Bjørgen, Kowalczyk and Kyollonen . Very tightly contested early on as four athletes shared the lead up and over the first hill, but it was Bjørgen who was clear at the front on the hairpin. Kowalczyk led the charge to catch her nemesis. On the final hill, Bjørgen was out front easily and was followed by Kowalczyk and Randall who battled for third.

Advanced: Marit Bjørgen, Justyna Kowalczyk and Kikkan Randall (LL).

MEN’S QUARTERS

Heat #1 – Hattestad was out front like a bat out of hell as he opted for the skate skis while the other athletes opted for the klister on the classic boards. The others almost caught the Norwegian going up the first hill, but he was off to the races while the others battled for second. Coming up the hill to the finish, Hattestad had a massive 40 meter lead on the others while Italy’s Scola was the fastest of the others to come second. Hattestad was so far in front he stopped trying 50 meters before the finish line and started taking his poles off.

Advanced: Ola Vigen Hattestad, Fulvio Scola and Calle Halfvarsson

Heat #2 – As expected, it was Jonsson at the front first, but the other athletes were just behind him. Coming into the flat section before the final hill, it was Haagen Krogh and his skate skis to take the lead with the superior glide. However, that was as good as it got for the young Norwegian as his teammate Dahl came from last place and took the second qualifying spot as Jonsson easily skied himself into the semi-finals.

Advanced: Emil Jonsson and John Kristian Dahl

Heat #3 – The men’s heat of death today had Kershaw, Jauhojaervi, Rønning, Cologna, Harvey and Eriksson on the start line. All the athletes except the Canadians opted for the no-wax option, and early on it was Cologna leading the pack, but the Canadians were doing well to minimize the superior glide factor of the other athletes. On the penultimate section of the race, it was Rønning to lead from Cologna and Harvey. Coming into the finish line, it was Rønning and Cologna who were able to hold off Harvey with the wax on his skis.

Advanced: Eldar Rønning and Dario Cologna

Heat #4 – It was last year`s winner Northug with the waxless skis to take the lead out of the start, but it was Belov to lead the pack into the hairpin turn. However, it was Northug and Brandsdal out front thanks to their waxless skis and double-poling power on the final straight before the finishing hill. At the finish, it was Northug at the front being challenged by Newell for top spot as Brandsdal`s arms gassed out.

Advanced: Petter Northug, Andy Newell and Eirik Brandsdal

Heat #5 – Modin used his leverage to his advantage as he took the lead out front followed by Satrandvall. Going up the first hill, Fransnelli put a pole between his legs but didn`t fall; however, Rickardsson couldn`t say the same thing as he hit an icy patch and fell on the hairpin turn taking him out of contention. It was Modin and Strandvall with a gap on Johnsrud Sundby on the back stretch of the course and it stayed that way across the finish line.

Advanced: Jesper Modin and Mattias Strandvall.

WOMEN`S SEMIS

Heat #1 – Like the quarters, it as Majdic who was fastest off the line and into the hill. Following the Slovenian was Prochazkova and Falla around the hairpain and down the back stretch of the course. Majdic continued to lead up the final hill as Prochazkova and Falla fought for second with Saarinen just behind them. It was Prochazkova to outlunge the Norwegian for second place.

Advanced: Petra Majdic, Alena Prochazkova and Maiken Caspersen Falla.

Heat #2 –  A slow start from Bjørgen saw Visnar lead out, but it was Kalla to lead into the hairpin. Kowalczyk was off the back, but was slowly regaining contact with the group. On the final flat stretch, it was Visnar to regain the lead as Kalla, Ingemarsdotter and Bjørgen were three abreast behind the Slovenian. On the final up hill to the finish, it was Ingamarsdotter and Visnar head-to-head, but Bjørgen surged late and took the heat win while Visnar out lunged Ingemarsdotter for second.

Advanced: Marit Bjørgen, Katja Visnar and Ida Ingemarsdotter (LL).

MEN`S SEMIS

Heat #1 – Like the quarters, it was Hattestad out front quickly, but Jonsson`s turbo had him running up the first hill and surpassing the Norwegian. On the back stretch, it was the Swede and the Norwegian out front and alone. Hattestad led Jonsson coming into the final hill, but Jonsson easily surpassed the Norwegian and both turned off the jets with 75 meters left and glided across the finish line.

Advanced: Emil Jonsson, Ola Vigen Hattestad, Fulvio Scola (LL)

Heat #2 – Once again, it was Modin to lead out and every athlete was opting to double-pole. All the athletes were tightly packed around the hairpin with Northug just off the back, but was moving up fast. On the penultimate straight, Northug made his move and went from fifth to second and up the final hill Northug and Modin were level and let off the gas with 50 meters. Newell desperately poled to right through to the finish and did enough to grab a lucky loser position for the final.

Advanced: Jesper Modin, Petter Northug and Andrew Newell (LL)

WOMEN’S FINAL

There were two Norwegians, two Slovenians, a Slovakian and a single Swede to line-up for the sprint. From the start, it was both Slovenians up front as the others tried to keep pace. Going over the first climb, Majdic had a 10 meter lead on the rest and was clear goig through the hairpin. On the far straight section of the course, Falla and Bjørgen led the charge to close the gap between Majdic and them, but werenæt being successful. On the final uphill, Majdic had a great 20 meter lead and eased her way over the line esctatically. Bjørgen was able to beat her teammate Falla for second.

RESULTS

1. Petra Majdic

2. Marit Bjørgen

3. Maiken Caspersen Falla

For the second straight year, Stockholm has been the scene for a fairy-book ending. Last year it was Anna Olsson winning her final sprint race on home snow, and this year it was Majdic to win her third Stockholm sprint (which is a record, Bente Skari has only won two) and in the process won this year’s Sprint Cup. I was never a Majdic super-fan like some, but I always respected her as an athletes and really enjoyed the energy she brought to the start-line and races. She always had a smile on no matter the event and that’s always been refreshing as she matches up with athletes that have stone-walled impressions as they focus on the task at hand. Surely, a nostalgic moment for lots, but I’m super happy she’s going out on top. She not only won the Stockholm sprint, but won it in emphatic style. She had meters to spare coming into the final up-hill straight. It’s been a pleasure watching her ski from rags to riches over her 15 year career, and fair-play to her on today’s race.

What is catching my eye throughout this season is Kowalczyk and her increasing inability to finish on the sprint podium. Her, Bjørgen and Majdic were certain locks in every race but lately, Kowalczyk hasn’t been able to make it to the final. I think it’s showing that the women’s division is getting tighter which is great news.

This year, Falla has quietly become one of the most consistent sprinter on the World Cup and I believe she’ll be one to watch in the next couple years. Expect her to become a household name next year as she’s still young, but already had a wealth of World Cup experience. Her track record is phenomenal with only 17 World Cup starts, she already has four individual World Cup podiums.

North American Watch: Randall had another good race considering it was in the classic technique and finished 10th. Great day for Perianne Jones as she collected a 12th which is a career best. Even though she got blown apart in her semi-final early on, she showed great racing sense in her quarter-final race as she went from fifth to second on the final hill. The only other N.A. skier to qualify for the World Cup Finale was Holly Brooks who finished 44th.

MEN’S FINAL

It was two Swede’s, two Norwegians, an Italian and an American. Again, Jonsson took the lead up and over the hill as there were only two athletes with klister while the other four choose skate skis. On the far side of the track, it was Modin leading followed by his teammate and Newell. On the penultimate straight, Northug began making his move from the back just like the semis and coming up the final hill, it was Modin, Jonsson and Northug three abreast. However, it was Jonsson who was able to diagonal-stride away from Modin and Northug as their arms began to run out of gas. As Jonsson skied to the win, the other man with klister; Hattestad, was coming strong and was able to take third place from Modin at the line.

RESULTS

1. Emil Jonsson

2. Petter Northug

3. Ola Vigen Hattstad

A great day for the men’s Sprint Cup Champion. Even though he had the Crystal Globe in the bag before today’s race; today was an exclamation mark to his season to show why he was the best sprinter over the 2010-2011 season.

What amazed me was how all Norwegians double-poled, even the distance athletes like Johnsrud Sudby were opted for no grip wax. It was a gamble and worked out for the most part, but couldn’t earn them a win. Interestingly, Hattestad switched to klister for the final, but judging by form in the previous heats, it didn’t really matter as Jonsson was on form and wasn’t going to be caught today.

North American Watch: It was a seasonal-best for Newell today as he came 5th and was an athlete who double-poled the whole day.  Freeman (36th) and Flora (45th) were the other Americans to start the World Cup Finale while Canada had  Harvey (14th), Kershaw (27th), Nishikawa (38th) and Babikov (47th) starting.

Quote of the day  = Mike Dixon in a whisper before the start “Jonsson has incredible limb speed” in a Steve Irwin-esque voice. Why he whispered every time before the starting gun is beyond me since he`s probably sitting in a studio somewhere in London watching the same feed as all of us at home. I guess he was going for the intensity factor for his commentating… I couldn’t stop laughing. What a keen observation it was. If you want to check it out it’s from 35:20-35:30 from the Eurosport broadcast.

I’ll talk to you on Friday.