December 17, 2005 (Canmore, Alta.) – Germany’s Tobias Angerer secured his hold on the yellow bib as the leader of the World Cup, with a victorious sprint to finish off a grueling 30K mass start classic race in frigid conditions.

“My goal today was to get up with the top five or six skiers and near the end of the race move up into the first or second. In the end my plan went perfectly,” said Angerer after the race.

The 68-skier field, skiing in the same brisk cold that the women faced, broke up by the 9.5K mark with a lead pack of 34, led by Mathias Fredrikksson of Sweden, Giorgio Di Centa of Italy, and Jean Marc Gaillard of France. Fredrikksson had set a blistering pace, doing the first 9.5K in 24:10. But by the 19.7K point, things had changed. The pace was as fast as ever, the lead pack down to 26 with the Germans, Norwegians, and Swedes controlling the pace. Ivan Babikov, racing for Russia, but a soon-to-be Canadian, was still in the thick of things along with USA’s Kris Freeman, while Canada’s George Grey was just behind the lead pack in 30th position.

With the Germans, Norwegians and Swedes taking complete control of the field by the 24.4K mark, on a course that seemed to have endless climbs, the blueprint for the finish was set. Norwegian Frode Estil made his move on the third last climb, coming on strong from the outside and breaking up the German strangle-hold on the top three positions. But as he tried to move into first, Angerer held him off. After the race Estil revealed his plan. “I tried to sprint up the last hill but that weapon didn’t work today.” As the racers attacked the last descent, within 300 metres of the finish, Germany’s Angerer had the fastest skis. Estil did what he could to pass, but it was clear he wasn’t going to get by the German. With double-pole sprint action, that looked more like the finish of a 1.5K sprint not a 30K marathon over frigid snow, Angerer took gold in 1:18:10:9, while Estil slid to silver at 1:18:11:4. Angerer’s teammate, Jens Filbrich, won the bronze at 1:18:12:9.

Afterwards Filbrich told the press, “It was a great race for the Germans and I have good feelings about this race.” Like his teammate Angerer, he stated he was going home to prepare “for a good Olympics.”

Swedish skier Mathias Fredriksson led the chase field 7.3 seconds behind for fourth. Babikov had a fantastic finish, staying with the chase group finishing 18th, 27:2 seconds behind the leaders in 1:18:38:1, while American skier Kris Freeman was also superb just behind him in 20th at 1:18:38:6 – two incredible performances over such a tough course and against the world’s top skiers.

But the North American strong performances did not end there. Canada’s George Grey placed 26th, easily finishing in the top half with a time of 1:20:36:1, 2:25:2 back. Canadians and Americans placed from 37th to 40th positions, and from 48th to 59th in a field that had shrunk to 59 skiers as the climbs and cold took their toll.

Results:

1 ANGERER Tobias 1977 GER 1:18:10.9
2 ESTIL Frode 1972 NOR 1:18:11.4
3 FILBRICH Jens 1979 GER 1:18:12.9
4 FREDRIKSSON Mathias 1973 SWE 1:18:18.2
5 SOMMERFELDT Rene 1974 GER 1:18:19.0
6 ROENNING Eldar 1982 NOR 1:18:20.4
7 OLSSON Johan 1980 SWE 1:18:21.0
8 CHECCHI Valerio 1980 ITA 1:18:26.3
9 ROUSSELET Alexandre 1977 FRA 1:18:26.6
10 ALYPOV Ivan 1982 RUS 1:18:27.3
11 SVARTEDAL Jens Arne 1976 NOR 1:18:28.4
12 SOEDERGREN Anders 1977 SWE 1:18:28.6
13 KOUKAL Martin 1978 CZE 1:18:28.8
14 PERRILLAT Christophe 1979 FRA 1:18:29.6
15 EBISAWA Katsuhito 1972 JPN 1:18:30.5
16 MAGAL Jiri 1977 CZE 1:18:36.8
17 PILLER COTTRER Pietro 1974 ITA 1:18:38.0
18 BABIKOV Ivan 1980 RUS 1:18:38.1
19 SKJELDAL Kristen 1967 NOR 1:18:38.5
20 FREEMAN Kris 1980 USA 1:18:38.6
21 SANTUS Fabio 1976 ITA 1:18:39.1
22 EGOSHIN Dmitriy 1981 RUS 1:19:00.8
23 HJELMESET Odd-Bjoern 1971 NOR 1:19:11.2
24 BURGERMEISTER Reto 1975 SUI 1:19:18.2
25 LIND Bjoern 1978 SWE 1:20:22.8
26 GREY George 1979 CAN 1:20:36.1
27 AUKLAND Anders 1972 NOR 1:20:39.0
28 DI CENTA Giorgio 1972 ITA 1:20:40.3
29 GAILLARD Jean Marc 1980 FRA 1:20:56.9
30 HASLER Markus 1971 LIE 1:21:03.3
31 GAUSTAD John Anders 1980 NOR 1:21:13.9
32 PIROGOV Dmitri 1980 RUS 1:21:27.2
33 TAUBER Martin 1976 AUT 1:21:46.2
34 IVANOV Mikhail 1977 RUS 1:21:46.7
35 KOMAMURA Shunsuke 1979 JPN 1:21:47.1
36 BUNDI Gion Andrea 1976 SUI 1:21:47.6
37 ROYCROFT Dan 1978 CAN 1:21:55.8
38 GOLDSACK Drew 1981 CAN 1:21:57.2
39 SOUTHAM James 1978 USA 1:22:52.8
40 NISHIKAWA Graham 1983 CAN 1:23:01.1
41 RUIZ Diego 1977 SPA 1:23:02.0
42 KANAMARU Tomio 1979 JPN 1:23:02.5
43 NIGHBOR David 1984 CAN 1:23:35.5
44 STEBLER Christian 1981 SUI 1:23:41.1
45 IMAI Hiroyuki 1970 JPN 1:23:43.8
46 JEFFRIES Chris 1978 CAN 1:23:50.9
47 VILARRUBLA Vicente 1981 SPA 1:23:50.9
48 JOHNSON Andrew 1978 USA 1:24:18.4
49 FREEMAN Justin 1976 USA 1:25:10.6
50 SWENSON Carl 1970 USA 1:25:56.7
51 SEIFERT Benjamin 1982 GER 1:26:10.9
52 GIESE Chad 1976 USA 1:26:23.8
53 ENMAN Eli 1977 USA 1:26:48.9
54 KUHN Stefan 1979 CAN 1:27:09.7
55 JEWETT Gordon 1978 CAN 1:27:32.4
56 STEWART David 1979 USA 1:28:00.4
57 KATES Adam 1980 CAN 1:28:34.4

DNF MOREL Skeets (CAN)
DNF SAIDLA Karl (CAN)
DNF CARLETON Erik (CAN)
DNF RICHMOND Kit (CAN)
DNF CHAMBERLAIN David (USA)
DNF KOONS Benjamin (NZE)
DNF KRIANINE Serguei (RUS)
DNF SCHWIENBACHER Freddy (ITA)
DNF MORIGGL Thomas (ITA)
DNF JONNIER Emmanuel (FRA)
DNF SCHLUETTER Andreas (GER)

DNS NOVIKOV Serguei (RUS)
DNS KREZELOK Janusz (POL)