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.

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The FasterSkier team has arrived in Canmore! With less than an hour to the first race, we are getting set to provide complete coverage of the World Cup races. We will be updating this blog frequently over the course of the week - including during events, so please bookmark this page and check back often. We will also post full recaps and articles on the main FasterSkier page, but this is the place for the most up to date info!

It is a beautiful day for racing with current temperatures around 15F and partially overcast. We flew in late last night to Calgary, and drove up to Canmore this morning, heading toward the mountains with the sun rising behind us. For those of you who have never been to this part of the world, the massive mountains rising straight up from the lowlands is stunningly impressive.

We parked in town and caught the shuttle up to the Nordic Center - a 10 minute ride. There were a number of competitors on the bus - a handful of Russian women, a few Italians, and a Swede. It is pretty neat to brush elbows with the best skiers in the world. I had th good fortune of attending game 1 of the World Series this year, and i certainly did not sit next to Big Papi or Manny Ramirez on the subway to the game! The back half of the bus was full of kids form the local Canmore Nordic Club - with faces painted and Canadian flags in hand.

Racing gets underway in 45 minutes with the women’s 15km pursuit. The field is on the small size, but is still extremely competitive. A total of 48 skiers are scheduled to start, with Astrid Jacobsen (NOR) in the pole position wearing bib 1. Virpi Kuitunen is seeded second. Jacobsen is ranked second on the World Cup distance list behind Tour-de-Ski winner Charlotte Kalla (SWE) who is not scheduled to start.

Five US women are scheduled to start - Tazlina Mannix, Morhan Arritola, Lindsey Dehlin, Evelyn Dong, and Kate Arduser. Eight Canadians will be lining up as well, including Sara Renner who is coming back from a year off to have her first child. The Canadian women ar: Sara Renner, Madeliene Williams, Amanda Ammar, Daria Gaiazova, Tasha Betcherman, Brooke Gossling, Shayla Swanson, and Jacqui Benson.

The men will be racing a 30km pursuit at 12:30 local time. German’s Axel Teichmann and Rene Sommerfeldt lead the filed of 58 skiers. Overall World Cup leader Lukas Bauer (CZE) is not racing. Nine US men are racing, led by Kris Freeman in bib 30. Freeman is the most likely candidate for a top finish. Eight Canadians are racing, including Devon Kershaw in his first start since having to abandon the Tour-de-Ski due to illness.

US men racing:  Kris Freeman, Zachary Violett, Garrott Kuzzy, James Southam,  Lars Flora, Leif-Orin Zimmermann, Mike Sinnott, David Chamberlain and Zack Simons.

Canadian men racing:  Devon Kershaw, George Gray, David Nighbor,  Chris Jeffries, Dan Roycroft,  Brian McKeever, Robin McKeever,  and Gord Jewett.