Valerio Checchi of Italy won his first World Cup event, besting Rene Sommerfeldt of Germany by 8.3 seconds. Fellow Italian Pietro Piller Cottrer was third, 13.2 seconds back.

Kris Freeman gained World Cup points with a 29th place finish. Freeman was 14th after 5km and 24th after 10km. He finished 1:28 out of the win.

Valentina Schevchenko of Ukraine won the women’s 10km freestyle individual start. Evgenia Medvedeva was second with Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) third. Schevchecnko, an excellent skater who won the Tour de Ski Final Climb by over a minute, clearly took to the hilly 5km loop in Canmore. This was her second victory of the season, following the Tour de Ski stage win.

Another beautiful morning in Canmore. Tempertures are a bit warmer, and it looks to be a great day for skating.

The women’s 10km individual start freestyle race begins at 11:00AM MST. The course is similar to the classic loop used for the pursuit with several additions to bring the length to 5km. The racers will again be challenged by the long steep climb that broke up the pack in the classic leg of the pursuit. Starting roughly 1.25km into the loop, the hill meanders up for nearly a kilometer, with several sort plateaus.

After an excellent qualifying round, where he finished 7th, Torin Koos unfortunately broke a pole on the first climb of his quarterfinal. Watch the video!

Petra Madjic of Slovenia won the women’s sprint. Video of her quarterfinal.

FasterSkier caught Andy Newell in action on video during his sprint qualification and quarter final heat.

MEN’S FINALS

2:07 MST, A Final. Birthday boy Boerre Naess (NOR) won the men’s A Final, followed by teammates Ola Vigen Hattestad, Eldar Roenning, Anders Gloersen, and Tor Arne Hetland. Russian Nikita Kruikov finished 6th. All 6 double-poled the entire course.

What you can not tell from the results is that Canmore is one of the most beautiful ski venues in the World.

The Norwegian men took 5 of the top 6 spots in the classic sprint qualification. Boerre Naess led the way with a 1.56 second victory over Nikita Kriukov of Russia. Several of the Norweigans opted to double pole the entire course - an impressive display of strength. Torin Koos had his best qualification performance of the season, finishing 7th, +3.75. Andy Newell advanced with an uncharacteristically slow 16th - especially in classic. Chris Cook will ski in his first World Cup heats of the season, squeaking through in 30th, just .05 seconds ahead of Canadian Stefan Kuhn.

Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) won the women’s sprint qualification round by 1.38 seconds over Petra Majdic (SLO). Astrid Jacobsen (NOR) was third. No American women qualified.  Kikkan Randall finished 33rd, just under  a second out of the final spot. She was 14.28 seconds behind the winner.  Laura Valaas finished 41st, Lindsay Williams 45th, Kate Arduser 51st, and LIndsey Dehlin 59th in the 59 woman field. Canadians Sara Renner and Chandra Crawford qualified in 15th and 25th respectively.  The two Canadian women will be racing in the same quarterfinal - Heat 3 - scheduled for 12:40 MST. 

Sara Renner qualifying in 15th. 

Kikkan Randall qualifying in 33rd