In his first podium finish of the season and first World Cup win since last February, Sweden’s Johan Olsson powered to a 12 second win in the 15 k individual freestyle in Davos, Switzerland, on Sunday. He finished in 34:47, stumping local favorite Dario Cologna (SUI) in second. Alexander Legkov (RUS) was third (+0:14).

The Davos races were the final World Cups before the 2013 World Championships, which begin in Val di Fiemme, Italy, on February 20.

1. Johan Olsson (SWE) 34:47

2. Dario Cologna (SUI) 34:59

3. Alexander Legkov (RUS) 35:01

4. Axel Teichmann (GER) 35:02

5. Matti Heikkinen (FIN) 35:05

6. Maurice Manificat (FRA) 35:08

7. Sjur Roethe (NOR) 35:18

8. Johannes Duerr (AUT) 35:22

9. Finn Haagen Krogh (NOR) 35:24

10. Eveniy Belov (RUS) 35:27

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33. Noah Hoffman (USA) 36:09

50. Kris Freeman (USA) 36:48

56. Alex Harvey (CAN) 36:59

59. Tad Elliott (USA) 37:25

80. Torin Koos (USA) 39:33

DNF Ivan Babikov (CAN)

Results.

In the Davos skate sprint on Sunday, two athletes besides Kikkan Randall had a shot at earning sprint podiums in consecutive weekends: Canadians Chandra Crawford and Dasha Gaiazova.

But while Randall was able to repeat, Crawford and Gaiazova had tougher days, with Crawford finishing 31^st and Gaiazova 39^th.

In the qualifier, Crawford actually finished with the same time as the 30^th-placed Ida Ingemarsdotter (SWE). But since Ingemarsdotter’s sprint points are lower, she was given the last spot in the heats, according to Ulf Seehase, one of the race timers.

Crawford didn’t respond to an e-mail request for comment. But her coach, Justin Wadsworth, said that she had perhaps been a bit “overzealous” in her training this week, and also had a tough time pacing her qualifier.

“Her first lap [of two] was very good—just super fast. I think it was just a little bit too fast for the altitude. I think she probably made too much lactate, and it hit her on the second lap of the qualifier,” he said.

Crawford was “bummed” to be so close, Wadsworth said, but at that point, he said she was already fairly fatigued, “so it was probably going to be a tough road to hoe regardless.”

Gaiazova had placed top-30 in both World Cup sprints she started earlier this year, and Wadsworth said that he was “hoping for more” on Sunday.

“Sometimes, it’s there, and sometimes it’s not there,” he said. “For whatever reason, it wasn’t good enough today to qualify.”

Using a nifty move on a crucial corner, Sweden’s Emil Joensson skied to his second straight World Cup sprint win in Davos, Switzerland on Sunday.

With half a lap to go on the two-lap Davos freestyle course, Russian Alexei Petukhov looked to be in command of the men’s final, stringing out the field with some powerful skiing.

But as he approached the tight righthand corner just before the course’s big climb, Petukhov left a little too much room on the inside, giving Joensson the opening that he needed to sneak through. Setting a punishing pace up the hill, Joensson took the lead and never relinquished it, holding off Petukhov and Davos local Dario Cologna.

Andy Newell was the top North American finisher in 13^th—he skied a good tactical race, but couldn’t hold off Italy’s Fulvio Scola in a lunge in his quarterfinal, missing out on a berth in the semis by no more than a couple of inches.

Simi Hamilton (USA) and Canadians Len Valjas and Phil Widmer were 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th, respectively. In his second World Cup race back from illness and overtraining, Norway’s Petter Northug finished last in his quarterfinal heat to place 28^th.

Link to full results.