Justyna Kowalcyzk of Poland skied away from the field in the skate leg of the women’s 15km pursuit to win the opening race in Canmore. Russians Evgenia Medvedeva and Olga Rotcheva took second and third respectively. It was Rotcheva’s first individual podium
The challenging climbs broke the pack up early and by the end of the first classic loop (3.75km), the lead group was fewer than 15 athletes. Kowalcyzk appeared to have very good skis in the skate race and looked strong on the climbs.

American Morgan Arritola had a fantastic race finishing in the top 25 (23 or 24 we think). She was extremely impressive in the skate portion, picking off a number of skiers while looking strong and smooth. The rest of the US skiers were toward the back of the pack.

Canadian Sara Renner finished 25th, a solid result in her come back. Sara went out fast and tried to compete with the top skiers. She fell back mid way through the classic leg and looked quite tired heading out on the skate.

Read more to see photos!

Women’s Podium

 Kowalcyzk on her own headed into the finish.

Morgan Arritola charging up one of the tough climbs in Canmore.

Arritola

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Pursuit, Race Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.