Fredrik Aukland of Norway, the Swiss National Team coach will leave the Swiss team after the season.

Earlier today he explained reasons for his decision.

“I want to spend more time with my girls at home and therefore want to reduce traveling.”

Aukland will continue to be involved in Cross-Country skiing.

“I’ve got new job with Arena Group.  I will help them to develop concepts for health and motivation.”

Aukland, however, will not leave Dario Cologna.

“I will continue coaching for a few racers like Dario. I have had a fantastic time in Switzerland and will take with me this great experience. Now new challenges are ahead of me!”

Drammen, Norway – Andy Newell (USA) skied to 3rd place, and his third career World Cup podium.  Newell qualified in 11th, and advanced through one of the toughest World Cup fields imaginable.  It is hard to find a deeper and stronger group of racers than what you get in a classic sprint in Norway.

That didn’t phase Newell, however, and the top American sprinter advanced to the finals, placing second to eventual winner Emil Joensson (SWE) in both the quarterfinals and semis.

Joensson pulled away from the group to win the race by 1.9 seconds over Petter Northug, gaining a measure of redemption after a disappointing Olympics.  Northug barely edged Newell, crossing the line just .1 seconds in front.

Newell last finished on the podium in 2008, when he finished 2nd in the freestyle at the Lahti Ski Games.  He was also 3rd in the freestyle sprint in Changchun, China in 2006.

Over the last months, Newell has consistently stated that his fitness is the highest it has ever been.  But he has struggled to reach the finals, and the Olympics were the ultimate disappointment when he crashed during qualifying.

But today proved him correct, and he moved into 4th in the overall Sprint Cup standings, with 2nd within striking distance.

Newell has 278 points, two behind John Kristian Dahl (NOR) and 28 in back of Northug.  Joensson is now clear in the lead with 427 points.

Two sprint races remain – one this weekend in Oslo, and then next Wednesday in Stockholm.

Newell is also ranked 15th in the overall World Cup standings.

The Norwegian men took 13 of the 30 spots in the heats, while the women advanced 7 in the classic Sprint in Drammen.

Andy Newell was the lone North American male to advance, placing 11th, 2.63 seconds behind leader Emil Joensson (SWE).

Simi Hamilton was the next American in 53rd, +10.64.  Mike Hinckley was 59th and Brian Gregg 65th.

Stefan Kuhn led the Canadians in 54th with teammate Devon Kershaw just .01 behind in 55th.

A number of top skiers failed to advance, including Sami Jauhojaervi (FIN), John Kristian Dahl (NOR), and Alexei Pethukov (RUS).

Petter Northug, who qualified 2nd, just .19 seconds behind Joennson, is joined in the heats by younger brother Thomas.

Aino Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) won the women’s qualifier by .63 seconds over Justyna Kowalczyk (POL).  Pirjo Murnanen (FIN) was 3rd, three seconds behind.  Finland had three of the top four and six of the top-11.

Kikkan Randall (USA) just missed the heats in 34th, 1.88 seconds out of 30th.

Daria Gaiazova (CAN) was 39th.

Sweden’s Joergen Brink and Susanne Nystrom won the annual 90k Vasaloppet on Sunday, topping a combined field of over 16,000.

Brink became infamous for bonking in the relay at World Championships in 2003, blowing Sweden’s big lead, but today’s win should help him move on. He beat his countryman–and three-time race winner–Daniel Tynell in a four-up sprint at the line.

For men’s and women’s top ten, click here (in Norwegian).

On Sunday in Lahti, the Norwegians showed that homefield advantage can’t hold a candle to fitness, as both their men and women skied away from host nation Finland and everyone else in the 4×5 and 4×10 k relays.

In the women’s race, it was Marit Bjoergen besting Germany’s Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle and Italy’s Arianna Follis in a three-up sprint, while for the men, it was Norway’s second team, anchored by the unheralded Kristian Tettli Rennemo, that won over their first team, as well as Germany and Russia.

Full results here, and report to come.

Marit Bjoergen and Maurice Manificat won the 15 and 30 k pursuit races in Lahti, Finland this morning. Kikkan Randall and James Southam led the way for the United States, in 24th and 36th, respectively. No Canadians took to the start line.

Full results available here.

So it’s Petter Northug with the gold, Axel Teichmann with the silver, and Johan Olsson with the bronze. A tight finish included 5 skiers within 2 seconds of the win and a pack of about 15 skiers spreading out in the final stretch.

Northug came across the line first, less than a half second ahead of Axel Teichmann, who finishes 2nd. Northug charged up from the lane to Teichmann’s right and, given his tempo, strength, and killer instinct inevitable overtook the German, who had held the lead until the final few meters.

Johan Olsson of Sweden, Germany’s Tobias Angerer, and Canada’s Devon Kershaw came across the line close together as well, finishing 3-5 in that order.

Andrus Veerpalu (EST), Daniel Richardson (SWE), Maxim Vylegzhanin (RUS) Anders Sodergren (SWE) and Dario Cologna (SUI) rounded out the top 10.

With Freeman out James Southam is the only U.S. skier to finish–28th place, 4:32 off the lead pace. George Grey was the 2nd Canadian skier across in 18th. Alex Harvey and Ivan Babikov finished together in 32nd and 33rd.

Marit Bjoergen seemed unconcerned with rival Justyna Kowalczyk’s comments regarding her asthma medication.  Several media sources reported that Kowalczyk called Bjoergen a “cheater” for using an asthma inhaler.

At the post-race press conference following the women’s 30km mass start, Bjoergen was asked about the issue.

“I was a little bit disappointed when I heard it, but now I forget it,”  Bjoergen said.  ”I am finished with what she said, and I heard it from the media, so I don’t actually know what she said.  I am finished with that and I look forward.”

She continued,  ”Kowalczyk has been very good at cross-country for a long time, and I am happy she won the gold.”

On her part, Kowalczyk clarified that she was not attacking Bjoergen, but the issue of the illness, and the prevalence of treatment.

“This was not an attack on Marit…Iwas trying to talk about the problem.  We have a problem in cross-country that we have a lot of athletes sick with asthma.”

She also apologized, saying “I’m sorry.  This is not a good time to talk about this question or my opinion.”

Interestingly, she also said that “I was told that this was not a good time for this comment.”  This sounds like she may have been reprimanded for bringing up the issue at this time, though one must be careful in reading too much into such statements, given the language barriers.

Some of Kowalczyk’s original comments as well as a Norwegian response can be found in a Vancouver Sun article on the topic.

Just in case you need some extra fodder in an argument about the quality of elite cross-country athletes…

Casey Kelly, one of the top prospects in the Boston Red Sox minor league system, and cousin of Kikkan Randall, is rooting for her at the Olympics and thinks she is the better athlete.

Excerpted from the the Red Sox Notes section of the Boston Globe:

The women’s 30km classic race got started in challenging conditions with 55 starters in the field.  It has rained all night in Whistler so the new FIS rule change to allow three ski changes during the course of longer races might come into play.

It hard to think that Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) will not be there at the end with the way that she has been classic skiing through the season and especially during these Olympics.  Obviously, Marit Bjorgen (NOR) is another pick to take home the gold medal, but I sense that it is the Poles day.  I’m making the early pick that Kristin Stormer Steira (NOR) will finally get a chance to take home a an individual medal today – most likely the bronze behind the favored two up front.

Sara Renner (CAN) and Kikkan Randall (NOR) are the top North American skiers in the race and a top ten result would be an excellent result for either of them.

As the skiers come into the stadium after 5km several women took advantage of the option to switch to another pair of skis, including nearly the entire Finnish team.

As they come into the stadium after 10km many of the favorites in the lead pack decided that it was time to switch skis, including Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), Marianna Longa (ITA) and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN).

Kristin Stormer Steira (NOR) led the pack throughout much of the early kilometers of the race and continued to do so as they left the stadium after 10km of racing.  She eventually found some comfort sliding back and allowing Charlotte Kalla (SWE) and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) to do the pace setting.  That is the way it stands now at the 12.3km mark.

Now at the 17.1km mark not much has changed as a dozen women are still left in the lead pack with Kowalczyk leading the way and Saarinen (FIN) making her way back up to the second position after changing skis at 10km.

Morgan Arritola (USA) has called it a day and dropped out of the race.

The pace and tempo seems to be lifting as they come through the time check at 19.2km.

Stormer Steira (NOR) had made her way back up into second place after switching skis at the 15km mark and sat in second as they came into the stadium at 20km when the leader, Kowalczyk (POL), decided to switch skis again.  Stormer Steira (NOR) looked to her right to see that this was a good time to lift the pace and make Kowalczyk’s decision to switch skis a costly one.  Bjorgen (NOR) also decided to switch skis while in the stadium at the 20km mark and at this point it seems like this was a great decision, as she lifted the pace leaving the stadium until she past her country women and took over the lead.  She is no longer holding anything back and is going to attempt to win the gold medal right now.

Kowalczyk (POL) too is has pushed hard over the last couple of kilometers and now sits in second place, but her skis do not look as dialed in as the Norwegian skiers’ skis do.  She, however, is hungry for her gold of these Winter Olympics and the two up front are now together as the leave the stadium for the final time with just 5km to go.

The race for bronze will be as equally exciting as Stormer Steira (NOR) has finished fourth in the Olympics four times throughout her career and desperately wants an individual medal of her own.  She skied in the fourth position right behind Saarinen (FIN) until Saarinen chose to switch skis at the 25km mark and Stormer Steira again attempts to lift her pace.

The battle up front seemed as if it is going to come down to a sprint for the line as both Kowalczyk and Bjorgen looked strong.  Kowalczyk put a hard move in on the final climb before they dropped into the stadium.  Bjorgen battled to pull up next to Kowalczyk in the finish lanes and it looked as if she would out doublepole the Pole down the finish lanes, but the Norwegian’s skis seemed to drag over the final meters and Kowalczyk was able to capture her much desired Olympic gold.  Saarinen (FIN) proved that her role of the dice, switching skis with just 5km to go, was a good one as she will climb onto the remaining position on the podium.

Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle (GER) was able to move her way up to fourth position, while Japan’s Masako Ishida took home fifth.  Kristin Stormer Steira, who skied such an inspired race, crossed the line in 8th place.

Sara Renner (CAN) concluded her Olympic career with a 16th place finish, while Madeleine Williams (CAN) finished in 46th place.

Kikkan Randall (USA) with a solid classic distance race, ending the day in 24th place.  Holly Brooks (USA) showed her determination finishing in 36th place.

Complete Results.