Pre-race 15km classic.  Photo: Torin Koos.

Pre-race – Men's 15km Classic Liberec 2009 (Photo: Torin Koos)

The 2009 World Championships come to an end tomorrow with the men’s 50km freestyle mass start.  The US will start two skiers, James Southam and Garrott Kuzzy.  Kuzzy should be well rested, after racing only the individual sprint.  Southam, on the other hand, has raced the 15km classic, the pursuit, and the relay.  Canada will also start two skiers, Ivan Babikov and Chris Butler.  A beast on skate skis, Babikov should battle in the top pack.

Favorites include Pietro Piller Cottrer (ITA), Vincent Vittoz (FRA), Petter Northug (NOR), Tobias Angerer (GER), and Giorgio DiCenta (ITA).

Billy Demong won the gold medal in the final Nordic Combined Competition of the 2009 World Championships.  Demong already won a bronze, but was looking for redemption after losing his bib and being disqualified in the relay event.

Todd Lodwick with two golds already, finished 10th, Johnny Spillane was 19th and Eric Camerota 34th.  Therace concludes a highly successful Championships for the US team desptite the relay mishap.  Overall US Nordic COmbined SKiers won 3 golds and a bronze.

Liz Stephen and Morgan Arritola continue to post impressevie results in their first World Championships.  Stehpen, who finished 15th in the pursuit, cracked the top 20 again, finsihing 17th in todays freestyle race.  Arritola just missed the top-30 in the pursuit, bade that mark today.  She finished 22nd, 30 seconds behind her teammate.

Stephen was 2:42 behind winner Justyna Kowalzcyk of Poland.  One third of the way through the race, the pack remained large and Stephen was hanging at the back.  But by 13km, along with skiers like Charlotte Kalla and Claudia Nystad, she fell off the back and a smaller chase pack formed.

Caitlin Compton was 48th for the US.

Shayla Swanson finished 40th for the Canadians.  Her teammates Sara Renner and Daria Gaiazova did not finish the race.

The US and Canada will both start 3 skiers in the 30km freestyle tomorrow.  The US is led by Liz Stephen who is coming off a career best 15th in the pursuit.  Morgan Arritola just missed the top 30 in that event, and will be looking to crack into the points, while Caitlin Compton tries to rebound from several sub-par races.

Sara Renner, the only seeded North American, will be gunning for a top finish.  Renner has been a stronger classic skier of late, so contending for a medal in this event is a stretch.  Daria Gaiazova skied very well in the sprint and was the only Canadian to make the heats.  She will be hard pressed to match that performance in this race, but top-40 is a reasonable goal.  Shayla Swanson rounds out the Canadian trio.  If everything comes together, she could battle for a top-30.

US

Liz Stephen
Morgan Arritola
Caitlon Compton

Canada

Sara Renner
Shayla Swanson
Daria Gaiazova

Complete Start List

Petter Northug (CAN) came from behind to catch Axel Teichmann (GER) on the last leg of the men’s 4×10km relay.  Starting with a 15 second deficit, NOrthug caught the German two kilometers in and sat on his tails for the rest of the race, before opening a gap in the final push.

Finland continued a strong showing at the Championships, taking the bronze +44 seconds.

Canada had an outstanding day, finishing 5th, just 9 seconds out of 4th.  Anchor Alex Harvey skied in 4th for the first half of his leg, but Italian Veteran Giorgio DiCenta was able to hunt him down and pull away in the last kilometer.

The US team finished 13th and was last of team that completed the race.  At the mid point of the race, the US was in 10th, ahead of Italy and Russia among others.  Kris Freeman had a strong lead leg, tagging in 4th.  The field spread out quickly, and there was not a large pack entering the first handoff.

The US and Canada will both filed teams in the men’s 4×10km World Championship relay tomorrow.

Team USA
Kris Freeman
Chris Cook
James Southam
Andy Newell

Team Canada
Devon Kershaw
George Grey
Ivan Babikov
Alex Harvey

The men’s field is wide open, and it is difficult to pick a favorite.  Germany, Norway, Italy, Sweden and Russia are the most likely candidates for the top spot.

Complete Start List

The US team is seeded 13th of 15 teams, ahead of Great Brittan and Australia.  The US did not field a team in the last World Championships.  Seeding is based on those results.

The US will not be competing for a medal, but with the way Kris Freeman is skiing, the team should remain in contact with the leaders through the first leg.  Southam is also skiing very well and had an excellent classic portion of the pursuit earlier in the week.  If Cook has a good race, a top 10 is a very real possibility, and top-8 is not out of the question.  Newell does not have much distance racing under his belt recently, and could be the weak link, despite his finishing speed.

The Canadian team is a potential dark horse in the fight for medals.  Devon Kershaw should be able to ski with the top skiers in the first leg.  George Grey has had an excellent season, and if he can turn in a performance on par with his top results this season, the Canadians will be in good shape for the skate legs.

Ivan Babikov is a fierce competitor, and if Canada is in the mix, look for him excel.  Alex Harvey skis the anchor leg.  Harvey has had an excellent debut World Champinships.  The 20-year old has demonstrated he can ski with the best, and has excellent finishing speed.  A top-5 finish for the Canadians is within grasp, but even one weak leg could easily drop the team out of the top 10 in such a strong lineup.

The US Nordic Combined relay team of Billy Demong, Todd Lodwick, Eric Camerota, and Johny Spillane did not start the cross-country portion of the competition.

Billy Demong was disqualified in the jumping, and received zero points, meaning the US team was listed last on the start list, over three minutes behind the top team.

The US team had an excellent chance for a medal, and gold was not at all out of the question.  A solid jump by Demong would have put the team within 30 seconds at the start.

Demong was unable to find his bib, and missed his assigned start time. Apparently he had stuck his bib inside his jumping suit to protect it from the snow. He couldn’t find it prior to his jump, and later found it in a boot, according to the US Ski Team.

“We want to get ready for Saturday now, put this behind us and move forward,” said head coach Dave Jarret. “I know that Bill feels as bad as anybody can feel, but now we just need to put this behind us, move forward and get ready for Saturday.”

The US opted not to race given the huge deficit they would face. This way they will conserve energy for Saturday’s final individual event.

Japan won the event, edging out Germany in a very exciting finish.  The two teams are listed with identical times.  Norway took the bronze, 3 seconds back.  France, who led after the jumping portion, finished 4th.

Read more on the race at Universal Sports

The US will field a team in the 4×5km relay tomorrow.  Canada will not start.

Team USA (in running order)

Kikkan Randall
Morgan Arritola
Liz Stephen
Caitlin Compton

Kikkan will be racing for the third consecutive day, while the other three all had a day off today during the team sprint.  The US has not been competive in the relays recently, but this team has the potential to post a solid result.  Kikkan is obviously racing extremely well, and has had some excellent distance results this year.  Arritola skied very well in the pursuit earlier in the World Champinships, finishing 32nd.  Stephen had one of the best races of her young career, also in the pursuit, finishing 15th.  Copmton struggled in her only start, but is a strong skater.

Finland is defintely the favorite, but Italy, Sweden and Norway all haev the potential to challenge.

Complete Start List

The US team sprint teams of Kris Freeman/Torin Koos and Laura Valass/Kikkan Randall failed to advance out of the semifinal rounds.  Both teams ended the day in 11th – the top position for those eliminated in the first round.

The Canadian teams of George Grey/Devon Kershaw and Perianne Jones/Sarah Renner fared better.  Both advanced out of the semis as lucky losers.  The women ended the day in a strong 6th place, and the men in 9th.

World Champion and Olympic Team Sprint competitions are interesting in that the field is often weaker than at World Cup races as nations are only allowed to enter one team each.  That means that deep teams like Norway, Seden, Italy and Russia must leave potential medal winning combinations on the sidelines.