Lordy, Lordy, Look At Who Has 40!

With the absentees of Kowalczyk and Bjørgen last weekend in Düsseldorf, it gave other athletes time to shine. However, today it was business as usual as the two took the top two spots with Johaug earning a well deserved third place. With the addition of the atitude to the difficult course profile, it made for very slow times with Bjørgen winning the race in a time of 29:31.

THE RACE

With heavy snowfall over the past 24 hours, the jury opted to put the red group in the middle of the start list instead of at the end.

The start of the race was rather calm and the first serious contender was young Norwegian Marte Elden wore bid number 12 and held the fastest time over the first intermediate time check. Saarinen was making a strong point for herself, and was only half a second behind Elden. However, when the big guns, and the eventual podiums finishers came through the time check, only then was Elden ousted from best time but still was fourth fastest time after all athletes had gone through 1.6km. Bjørgen was the fastest and was eight seconds ahead of Johaug and Kowalczyk.

At the halfway point, Saarinen has just edged ahead of Elden and slightly further back Ishida who were five and 13 seconds back respectively. Veteran Italian Marianna Longa was making a good push after a conservative start and was nine seconds faster than Saarinen in between the first and second time check to sit fourth.

By the half way point of the race, it was obvious that there were two races today. A race between Bjørgen, Kowalczyk and Johaug for the podium; and a race between the other athletes.

In the second half of the race, it was Kowalczyk getting the best of Johaug as it was a battle between engine and tempo for the silver as Bjørgen knew she had the race wrapped up with a couple of kilometers to go.

Further behind, the battle for the remaining top 10 positions was very tight with only 15 seconds between fourth and tenth. The battle between Longa and Saarinen was changing every kilometer with Ishida having a perfectly paced race as she was eating away seconds in the second lap.

At the finish, Bjørgen stepped off the gas and followed Kowalczyk across the line as she cruised to her 40th victory in her illustrious career. Kowalczyk had to swallow her pride for another second while Johaug had an impressive ski and rounded out the podium.

Off the podium, it was Saarinen who won the duel with Longa for fourth place while Ishida was sixth, Elden seventh, Lahteenmaki eighth, Zeller ninth and Tchekaleva fell off the pace in the second lap to finish tenth.

RESULTS
1. Marit Bjørgen
2. Justyna Kowalczyk
3. Therese Johaug

I mentioned on Twitter after the race, but how else can you describe Bjørgen right now other than Holy Crap! Another dominating performance from her as she picked up a monumental 40th World Cup victory. After all the trash talk before the snow fell, Kowalczyk must feel like she is in between a rock and a hard place right now. For anyone else on the circuit, constantly earning seconds would be awesome, but for her, it must feel like a slap in the face; especially since she is losing to her arc-rival.

For me, the most exciting part of the race came in behind the podium place. The fourth from Saarinen in her World Cup debut must be a great feeling and she surely is proud of the result. The battle between her and Longa; and in the latter stages of the race Ishida, definitely had me on the edge of my seat. The slow starts from Longa and Ishida (relatively) made for a great final two kilometers for the fourth, fifth, and sixth places.

Also, a great race from Marte Elden. She’s not the youngest Norwegian at 24-years-old, but she’s in the best for of her life. Today was her personal best result on the World Cup and before today, two weeks ago was her best result with the 15th in the 15km pursuit.

North Americans didn’t do so well as Randall was the top athlete with a disappointing 47th over four minutes behind. The top Canadian was Gaiazova in 61st 5:42 behind.

Back in a bit.

Davos 10/15km Preview

The penultimate weekend before the Christmas break sees the World Cup go to its annual December stop of Davos, Switzerland. Davos has been a staple on the World Cup schedule for many years. The first 15km for the men was run before I was even born, back in 1982. It was won by the great Norwegian Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass. On the ladies side, it was the Norwegian Berit Aunli to take the first 10km victory in 1984. More recently, it was Russian Irina Khazova and Finn Matti Heikkinen to take the victories last year.

Heavy snowfall over the past 24 hours has meant that the 25 athletes with the highest FIS point will start last as oppose to the red group. So make sure you get up early if you plan on watching the races.

The high altitude stop sees the likes of Bjørgen and Kowalczyk return to regain their dominance on the races. Saarinen is also back from her shoulder injury which kept her out of the first three World Cup weekends, but I think we will not see the best from the Finn for at least one more week until she gets back into the rhythm.

The women who are absent are Sweden’s two strongest skiers in Haag and Kalla as well as Skofterud who will sit out. By opting out of the sprint on the Rhine, I cannot see Bjørgen and Kowalczyk being left off the podium as they will be slightly fresher than those that raced in Germany.

The bookies have Bjørgen (1.70), Kowalczyk (2.25), and Saarinen (10.00) for the podium.

PREDICTION
1. Marit Bjørgen (1.70)
2. Justyna Kowalczyk (2.25)
3. Petra Majdic (26.00)

Notable absentees include Teichmann and Filbrich who sit out due to illness. Vittoz will also be missing for a while yet as he continues to rehab after his thigh injury in Gällivare. Johan Olsson is also out due to sickness.

Obviously, the media’s attention will also be on Northug as this is his first race on the circuit this year after a bout of sickness and overtraining just before the season started. The odds+makers and I seem to have a mutual understanding as they have him as the eighth favourite at 21.00. However, I’ll be keeping my eye on another Norwegian; Hjelmeset. After being left off the National team, he has earned a spot in Davos after his win in Meråker last weekend. I think either him or Sundby will be the top Norwegian. It has been well documented this week that the Norwegian team tends to wilt in the thin air of Davos which is why I cannot see any of them in the top five.

Alexander Legkov showed incredible form in pursuit in Kuusamo as he dismantled the field. He has already been in Davos for two weeks, so acclimatization is not an issue for the Russian. However, Legkov isn’t the only one in great form right now. The performance of Cologna two weeks ago in the 15km classic in Kuusamo was equally impressive and he has home snow advantage. I think this will be the extra motivation to put him top dog tomorrow.

Even though Bauer had a rough start in Kuusamo, he did have the fastest time in the pursuit even though he finished ninth. With a smaller frame compared to many athletes, this should be an advantage as he pulls his body up the hills in the thin air.

The North American presence is strong with Freeman hoping to continue his good run of form as he is joined by the Canadians from Kuusamo minus Harvey who went back home for exams in university. I expect Freeman to be well within the top 15 tomorrow.

The bookies have Cologna (2.75), Bauer (5.00), and Rickardsson (7.00) for the podium.

PREDICTION
1. Dario Cologna (2.75)
2. Alexander Legkov (10.00)
3. Lukas Bauer (5.00)

As always, beta testing continues on WhoWins over at WorldofXC. At the time of writing, there was a massive 90 predictions already! So if you don’t have your picks in yet, you still have until the first starter tomorrow.

Til tomorrow.

Düsseldorf Team Sprint: Chaos on Skis

If you love close-quarters racing and thought there weren’t enough crashes in yesterday’s race, then you were in for a treat today. Skiers were hitting the ground left right and center from the gun to the finish line. Crashes in the last 300 meters of both the men’s and women’s final changed the complexion of the podium as Visnar for Slovenia pulled a “Northug of Sapporo” and put her pole in between her leg with 50 meters left while the men’s final saw the two leading teams; Germany and Norway I, take each other out on the final corner after leading the charge.

After the cold weather yesterday, the athletes were treated to the warmer and weather Düsseldorf weather that many expect from these races.  This made the races even sloppier than yesterday which made for awesome entertainment for the spectators.

SEMIS

It seemed like there was a blackout for coverage of the women’s semi-finals. No TV coverage and not even FIS’s official xcwclive Twitter account was giving updates on the progress of the races. All I can tell you is that Slovenia, Finland, Germany I, France I, Sweden I, Canada, Italy I, Norway I, Germany II and Russia I advanced to the finals.

The first semi-final for the men was led by Russia I with Petukhov and Morilov and Norway I with Pettersen and Dahl doing much of the leading throughout the race. The race was pretty straight forward with no crashes as Russia I, Norway I, and Italy I advanced to the final.

As in the first semi, much of it was the same as the Russian and Norwegian team did much of the pace setting while other teams jostled for position behind them. The first crash of the day didn’t happen until the penultimate lap when Canada’s Kuhn got tangled up with France’s Roddy Darragon and the two went down in a pile taking them both out of contention for the finals. USA I, the team of Newell and Hamilton also crashed out when Hamilton was cut off by Germany II’s Eisenlauer on the mini-hill on the back side of the course. At the finish it was Josef Wenzl to take the heat win for Germany II followed by Norway II and Italy II. Since the second semi was much faster,all four lucky loser spots were from this heat. The teams to grab lucky loser spots were Estonia I, Austria I, Russia II and Sweden I.

FINALS

The start of the women’s final saw Magda Genuin of Italy I lead out the first lap with Germany I and Slovenia stalking right behind. Hanna Brodin broke a pole but was able to get a new one quickly and didn’t lose too much time.

The second lap was much of the same as Italy I continued to lead, this time in the shape of yesterday’s winner Follis.

The third exchange saw France pulled into second with Norway I right behind, but Italy was still controlling the pace up front.

Then the wheels started to fall off on the race and the very wet conditions meant then women attempted their own rendition of a roller derby on skis. First, Brun-Lie went down, then at the fourth exchange, Falk ran into a skier who had already tagged off and veered into her path. The Swede had to tag off the her teammate while on her hands and knees in the mix zone, but the damage was done and they had lost contact with the leaders.

Only half a lap later, France went down going over the hump on the back side of the course taking out two teams with them including Germany II and Finland.

At the final exchange the lead pack consisted of five teams; Slovenia, Canada, Italy I, Germany I, and Norway I. Even with Follis pushing an incredible pace early on, she was unable to shake any of the teams off the end. Coming into the stadium, only Germany I had lost a little contact but were five meters off the back. On the finishing straight, Follis was pulling away with Visnar trying her best to hold of Brun-Lie of Norway. Canada’s Crawford was loosing contact for medals when all of a sudden Visnar did her own version of the Petter Northug Pole Plant retro Sapporo 2007 and went down in a heap only 50 meters from the finish line allowing Norway I to win silver and Canada to land their first women’s team sprint podium since the Torino Olympics.

RESULTS
1. Italy I
2. Norway I
3. Canada

The perfect weekends continue for the women. The first two weekends belonged to Bjorgen, and the third to Follis. Both victories were very deserving, she led from wire to wire in every single heat she races in over the past two days.

It was good to see Norway land on the podium even without their superstar in the race. Falla is looking to become quite the useful athlete and at only 20-year-old still has a lot of room for improvement which will be music to the ears of the Norwegian staff. Brun-Lie has also quietly come into being a top 10 regular over the past year or two.

Also, how awesome is it to see Canada on the podium! Obviously, it was very fortuitous that Visnar had a brain cramp and took herself out of the race, but a podium finish is podium finish no matter which way you look at it. A great result for Crawford and Gaiazova and hopefully they continue their good run of form next week in the sprint in Davos.

MEN’S FINAL

The first leg saw and early lead from Hattestad as they went around with both Italian teams right behind him. The pace was very pedestrian early one and it didn’t take long for the first crash of the final as Austria’s Harald Wurm went down just before the exchange taking one of the Italian athletes with him, but Tritscher was able to recovery rather easily and regain contact with the group.

The exchange saw Norway II continue to lead ahead of Russia II and Russia I and at the next exchange it was Russia II who took the lead in the form of Parfenov. Russia I was right on their tails as was Norway I.

An injection of speed from Dahl saw Norway I take the lead and gap the competition while Sweden I tried to follow suit and they had a 10 meter gap on the rest at the halfway point. The lead quickly dissolved as the chasers didn’t want to take any chances.

The next exchange saw Russia II regain the lead and the athletes all come back into one group. Russia I broke pole which dropped them to the back of the pack. Gløersen took lead and proceeded to

The last round for the first leg skiers was led by Russia II’s Kruikov, but both Italian teams came to the front and skied side-by-side coming through the lap. It was Hattestad going the long way around the take the lead. With half a loop left, Petukhov kicked hard and gaped the pack by 15 meters on the back stretch to give Morilov a lead going into the final exchange.

Italy I and Norway II manage to minimize damage and reel in Russia I after the exchange to nullify the hard work by Petukhov. Sweden’s Jonsson rose to the front out of seemingly nowhere to momentarily take the lead.

The last lap saw a surprise from Germany II’s Wenzl as his burst of speed caught everyone off guard except Norway I’s Dahl as the German and Norwegian put 10 meters between them and the rest of the athletes. Jonsson was trying desperately to regain contact as he led the chasers.

On the final corner it all went wrong for the leaders as Dahl tried to take the inside but Wenzl didn’t give him the room and both went down as Wenzl stepped on Dahl’s ski allowing the other athletes to pass.

This gave Jönsson at straight shot at the finish but Norway II’s Gløersen was able to out sprint the Swede to take the victory. Italy II earned a very impressive third place.

RESULTS
1. Norway II
2. Sweden I
3. Italy II

Overall a very entertaining race, I couldn’t believe it when Wenzl and Dahl went down. Initially, I thought it was 50/50 and nobody to point and blame; but after thinking about it for a while and looking at the replays, what was the German thinking? Dahl was going on the inside and Wenzl simply didn’t give him the room. I can understand some close-quarters racing when there’s eight-ten athletes vying for the spot. But this is a chance to land on the podium in your own country and you couldn’t play it safe to ensure a medal around your neck? Rightfully so, Dahl was steaming as they slowly skied to the finish and I’m sure exchange some pleasantries. After they had crossed the finish line, Pettersen came over to tell Dahl to leave it alone, but Wenzl wasn’t done yet and grabbed Polsa to give him a few words. Nothing like a little post-race entertainment eh?

The last time I saw two athletes that heated was back in the 2007-2008 edition of the Tour de Ski in Asiago when di Centa and Northug exchanged shoves and words at the end of a sprint heat. I think it was in Asiago off the top of my head.

As for Norway II, great racing from Gløersen who actually was faster than Jonsson over the finally 100 meters. Also, the Italians continued to have a great weekend as their second team earned a spot on the podium with Fabio Pasini and David Hofer. This meant that Italy had an athlete on every single podium this weekend which is fantastic news for their program.

Also, great race from Austria I who took the scalps of both the Russian teams which should give them a great boost of confidence. After all the scandals of late, hopefully this is a big step in the right direction.

So Düsseldorf is done for another year, and it didn’t disappoint with its entertainment value. Next weekend sees the circuit move to high altitude in Davos, Switzerland.

Til next time.