France finally named an Olympic Cross-Country Ski Team.  The team consists of 12 athletes, 5 women and 7 men.  The team is listed below.

This is very good news for the US and Canada – both are hoping for additional spots in reallocation of quota.  France had a quota of 16, so are returning 4 spots.  Additionally, France had spots 1,3, and 11 on the reallocation list.

At this point I have recorded 18 returned spots.  When France’s 3 and Slovenia’s 2 spots on the reallocation spots are removed as well, the result is one additional spot for the US and three for Canada.  Three more spots would need to be returned for the US to get a second reallocation and just two more for Canada to get a fourth.

Finland, with a quota of 20 has yet to name a team.  Additionally, the size of the Swiss and Estonian teams will have a major impact.

Women

BARTHELEMY Laure Rochois

BOURGEOIS Celia

CUINET Aurora

LAWRENCE Karine Philippot

STORTI Cecile Megèvre

Men

DARRAGON Roddy

DUVILLARD Robin

GAILLARD Jean Marc

JONNIER Emmanuel

MANIFICAT Mauritius

MIRANDA Cyril

VITTOZ Vincent

Italy has named a team of 18 for the 2010 Olympic Cross-Country Ski Team.  This is two less than their quota of 20.

Men

Giorgio Di Centa  (flag bearer)
Pietro Piller Cottrer
Valerio Checchi
Roland Clara
Fabio Pasini
Renato Pasini
David Hofer
Thomas Moriggl
Cristian Zorzi
Loris Frasnelli

Women

Magda Genuin
Marianna Longa
Arianna Follis
Sabina Valbusa
Silvia Rupil
Antonella Confortola
Elisa Brocard
Karin Moroder

Germany has officially named 12 athletes to the 2010 Olympic Cross-Country SKi Team.

This list was published on the 22nd, and since then, two additional skiers, Josef Wenzl and Nicole Fessel have met the German qualification standards.  It is likely both will be name to the team.

Fessel  missed the top-8 in the sprint this weekend, finishing 9th.  She was in the top-15 the next day, meeting the standard of two top-15 World Cup finishes.  However, I do not know if the finishes have to be in one discipline (skate or distance).  So it is possible that Fessel may not be on the team.

This leaves the toal at 14, maybe 13 skiers.

The Team:

SCHONACH, Germany  - The U.S. Team took ninth in an FIS World Cup Nordic Combined event Sunday afternoon in Germany, as the home team got the victory. The American team, comprised of Steamboat Springs, Colorado’s Bryan Fletcher, Taylor Fletcher and Alex Miller, and Park City, Utah’s Nick Hendrickson, finished just under 1 minute, 13 seconds behind the winners.
The USA’s top skiers are taking a break from the World Cup prior to the upcoming Olympic Winter Games.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
DKB FIS World Cup Nordic Combined
Schonach, Germany – Jan. 24
Team Gundersen

1. Germany, 42:49.4
2. France, +48.3
3. Austria, +1:01.1
4. Switzerland, +1:09.4
5. Italy, +1:12.8
-
9. United States, +3:42.4

After initially announcing that they would bring a full team of 20 to the 2010 Olympic Games, the Norwegian Ski Federation named a total of 19, apparently subtracting a spot due to disappointing results at last week’s Norwegian National Championships.

The team:

Men:

Ronny Hafsås
Ola Vigen Hattestad
Petter Northug jr.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby
Øystein Pettersen
Eldar Rønning
Lars Berger
Tord Asle Gjerdalen
Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset
Johan Kjølstad
Jens Arne Svartedal

Women:

Marit Bjørgen
Celine Brun-Lie
Marthe Kristoffersen
Vibeke Skofterud
Kristin Størmer Steira
Maiken Caspersen Falla
Astrid Jacobsen Uhrenholdt
Therese Johaug

Russia will bring a full squad of 20 athletes to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic games.

Men Distance:
1. Legkov
2. Vylegzhanin
3. Shiryaev
4. Novikov
5. Pankratov
6. Sedov
spare – Chernousov

Men Sprint:
1. Morilov
2. Kryukov
3. Petukhov
4. Panzhinsky
5. Devyatyarov

Women Distance:
1. Zavjalova
2. Rocheva
3. Medvedev
4. Khazova
5. Korosteleva
6. Tchoutchkin
spare – Chekaleva

Women Sprint:
1. Shapovalova
2. Turysheva
3. Chuikov

11 athletes qualified under initial criteria based on World Cup races before Christmas.  The next group was named based on results in the Tour de Ski and in Otepaa.

Russian coaches ipted for a 5th sprinter on the men’s team, noting that Michael Devyatyarova has skied well and has won a World Cup classic sprint (in 2007).

“The women’s sprint team is not as strong as we would like, so we approved only three athletes, ” said National Team Coach Yuri Charkovskogo.

He did note that Tchoutchkin could start the individual sprint.

One big name who did not qualify was Alena Sidko.

The Czech Republic has named nine athletes to the Olympic Cross-Country Ski Team, filling their quota.  The Czech Republic is in line for two additional spots during reallocation.  There is no information as to whether they would bring additional skiers if spots become available.

Czech 2010 Olympic Cross-Country Ski Team

Lukas Bauer

Martin Jaks

Martin Koukal

Dusan Kozisek

Jiri Magal

Milan Sperl

Eva Nyvltova

Kamila Rajdlova

Iva Janečková

As it stands, the Czechs would not field a women’s relay team for the first time since 1968.  From Czech news reports, it sounds like there is not a fourth woman who would be considered even if there was a spot, but this remains unclear.