The World Cup classic sprint in Stockholm will start in just over an hour.  This event is part of the season ending World Cup Final and the Nordic Cup.  With nothing left to rest for, the fields for these races are as large and challenging as they get.  Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) and Petra Majdic (SLO) who have dominated World Cup sprinting this season, are both competing and should be considered the favorites.  On the men’s side, look for strong results from Emil Jonsson (SWE) and John Kristian Dahl (NOR), among others.  Dahl, an excellent all-around skier, and well rested, is a good candidate for the a podium in the overall competition.  Dahl should be strong in all four races.  Petter Northug has been on fire, and is battling for the overall World Cup win.  When Northug sets his mind to something, little can stand in his way.

Majdic will be challenged by Aino Kais Saarien (FIN), who is attempting to come back from a 200 point deficit in the overall standings.  The Norwegian women are looking for podium spots after being shut out in the 30km in Trondheim, despite strong races from Kristina Stoermer Steira and Therese Johaug.

The US and Canada both have strong contingents racing.  Alex Harvey (CAN) is coming off a podium result in the 50km, and is making a late charge for Red Group status.  Teammate Devon Kershaw, 7th last weekend, looks to finish his season on a roll.  

The US is led by usual suspects Andy Newell and Kikkan Randall.  Randall, improved in classic sprinting this season, has one more chance to work on those skills before the end of the season.

US Women
Kikkan Randall

Canadian Women
Sara Renner
Perianne Jones
Daria Gaiazova

Total Women: 73

US Men
Andy Newell
Torin Koos
Chris Cook

Canadian Men
Devon Kershaw
Alex Harvey
George Grey
Ivan Babikov
Dave Nighbor

Total Men: 97

World Cup action continues tomorrow with a 10/15km individual start freestyle race in Lahti.  92 men and 63 women are scheduled to start.

US Women
Liz Stephen
Morgan Arritola

US Men
Colin Rodgers
Garrott Kuzzy
Chris Cook
Leif Zimmermann

Canadian Women
Daria Gaiazova

Canadian Men
Dave Nighbor
Alex Harvey
George Grey
Ivan Babikov
Devon Kershaw

The US advanced three men to the heats in today’s freestyle sprint in Lahti.   Andy Newell qualified in 7th, Torin Koos in 26th, and Chris Cook just squeaked in, grabbing the 30th spot, just .06 seconds ahead of Axel Teichmann (GER) in 31st.

With World Championships over, start quotas are back up.  This can make fields significantly tougher.  The Norwegians qualified 8 and the Russians 5.

No Canadian men advanced.  Alex Harvey was he closest in 35th.  Devon Kershaw was 41st, George Grey 68th and Dave Nighbor 73rd.

Other US finishers included Garrott Kuzzy in 71st, and Colin Rodgers in 78th.  84 skiers completed the men’s event.

Kikkan Randall, coming off her silver medal performance in Liberec, also failed to qualify.  She finished 49th, +12.55.  She is battling a cold and was not in top form according to coaches.

Liz Stephen, the only other US woman scheduled to start, did not start the race.

Daria Gaiazova, the lone Canadian, continued a strong run, and qualified in 27th place.

There has been little rest following the World Championships, and the World Cup is ready to go again in Lahti. The 1.3/1.5km freestyle sprint is tomorrow.  The big news is that Aino Kais Saarinen will not be able to race on her home soil.  She is sick with the flue (see next blog post). Kikkan Randall looks to continue her success following her silver medal performance in Liberec.  Canadian Daria Gaiazova qualified for the heats in Liberec and would like a repeat performance tomorrow.

In the men’s race, Torin Koos will try to bounce back from a stumble in the World Championship qualifying round, and battle for a spot in the A Final.  In the last World Cup before the Championships, Koos qualified in 6th and finished 8th.  Andy Newell should qualify easily, and after a disappointing B-Final appearance at Worlds, he will be gunning for the podium.

Women

US Starters
Kikkan Randall
Liz Stephen

Canadian Starters
Daria Gaiazova

Men

US Starters
Torin Koos
Andy Newell
Chris Cook
Garrott Kuzzy
Colin Rodgers

Canadian Starters
Devon Kershaw
Alex Harvey
George Grey
David Nighbor

Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN), the World Cup sprint leader will miss the World Cup sprint tomorrow in Lahti due to the flu.

The triple World Champion from Hollola is suffering from flu, and although it was hoped the light fever would go away by Friday, that was not the case on Friday morning.

”I had 38.2 fever this morning, so I will have to skip the races this weekend. Health is my first priority and I will not risk it. Still, I can’t even tell how sorry and disappointed I am about not being able to race this weekend at my home World Cup weekend! I really wanted to compete in Lahti and I was really looking forward to it. And, the gap at World Cup is only 26 points, so that’s too bad. Still, it doesn’t change my goal which is to fight about overall title until the end! My luck might also be that there are two free technique races this weekend, which maybe wouldn’t have given me the highest amount of points anyway. Next week there are again classical races to come and I am really looking forward to them,” Saarinen said.

US Ski Team interview with Nordic Combined gold medal winner Billy Demong.  Demong ended the World Championships with a gold and bronze medal, and is currently battling for the third spot in the overall World Cup standings.

Petter Northug (NOR) won the final event of the 2009 Nordic World Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic.  Northug claimed victory in the 50km mass start freestyle, edging Russian Maxim Vylegezhanin.  German Tobias Angerer took the bronze.  Northug ended the championships with two individual gold medals to go with a relay gold.

Ivan Babikov skied with the lead pack for the entire race and finished 16th.

James Southam led the US in 39th.  Southam stayed with the main pack through 30 kilometers, before falling off the pace.  He appeared to fade hard at the end, losing three minutes to the leaders in the last 6km.

Garrott Kuzzy, the only other American starter, was 46th.

Chris Butler (CAN) was 40th.

Petter Northug displays his three World Championship Gold Medals (Photo: Swix Sport)