The men’s and women’s classic sprint qualification gets under way in 30 minutes.  Conditions are excellent - cold and clear, with rock hard tracks.  The sprint course has only one significant climb, and while it has some length, it is not particularly steep.  Read more for a full description of the course and who is racing for the North Americans (use the “more” button to the right).

After each race is a press conference with the top three finishers – once they have cleared doping controls. It is interesting to see the athletes up close and see how they react to their success. The men’s winner, Nikolai Pankrotov couldn’t stop smiling, clearly thrilled with his first World Cup victory. He also talked about the strong performance by the women’s team – who took second and third. All three of the top women seemed quite happy with their results. Axel Teichmann of Germany, who took third in the men’s race, was the only top finisher who seemed indifferent at best.

Nikolai Pankratov of Russia earned his first World Cup victory, coming form the middle of the pack to win the men’s 30km pursuit. Italian Giorgio DiCenta took second and Axel Teichmann (GER) won a photo finish to take third. The lead group consisted of 22 skiers, and the final sprint for the win was a tight six. Canadian Devon Kershaw was the local story of the day. Kershaw looked extremely strong from the start, maintaing position in the top five and taking the lead on several occasions - including leaving the stadium for the last 3.75 km lap - much to the delight of the crowd. Kershaw admitted that he might have burnt too much energy at the front. He still finished an impressive 16th, with teammate George Gray just behind in 17th. Ivan Babikov, who gained Canadian citizenship last week, finished 13th. American Kris Freeman finished at the back of the lead pack in 22nd place.

The men’s 30km is under way.  The field remained one large pack after 3.75 km, but things are beginning to open up a little bit in the second classic loop.  Swede Anders Soedergren has broken off the front and is holding a 7 second lead at 6 km in.

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.

Read more to see photos!

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.