December 11, 2005 – The World Cup Sprint Qualifiers are over there was plenty of action as four Canadian women placed in the top thirty to qualify for the quarterfinals starting at 11:30 including Beckie Scott in 2nd, Sara Renner in 5th, Chandra Crawford in 11th and Milaine Theriault in 30th.

USA’s Wendy Wagner qualified in 19th but teammate Lindsey Williams was nosed out of the top 30 by .2 of a second finishing in 31st.

Germany’s Manuela Henkel was the lead qualifier with a time of 3:01.12, followed by Canada’s Scott almost three seconds back and World Cup Sprint leader, Norway’s Marit Bjoergen, another two seconds behind in third. The 2002 Olympic Sprint Champion, Russia’s Julija Tchepalova, is in fourth just behind Bjoergen.

Canadian men qualifying are Phil Widmer with a fabulous fourth place qualifying time, Drew Goldsack in 18th and Sean Crooks in 28th. USA’s Andrew Newell had a great 8th sprint qualifying time along with teammate Chris Cook close behind in 11th and Torin Koos in 24th. American Lars Flora just missed the top 30 placing 31st.

Lind Bjoern of Sweden was the top male qualifier in a time of 2:37.20, followed by Norwegian Trond Iversen (see interview at skitrax.com, Dec. 9) and Johan Kjoelstad also from Norway. The top four men are within 7/10 of a second of each other.

Women’s Sprint Qualifying Results

1 HENKEL Manuela  GER   3:01.12
 2 SCOTT Beckie  CAN   3:03.98
 3 BJOERGEN Marit  NOR   3:05.33
 4 TCHEPALOVA Julija  RUS   3:05.47
 5 RENNER Sara  CAN   3:05.69
 6 DAHLBERG Anna  SWE   3:05.80
 7 KUENZEL Claudia  GER   3:05.94
 8 PEDERSEN Hilde G.  NOR   3:06.40
 9 FOLLIS Arianna  ITA   3:06.43
 10 NATSUMI Madoka  JPN   3:06.83
 11 CRAWFORD Chandra  CAN   3:06.89
 12 SACHENBACHER STEHLE Evi  GER   3:07.76
 13 MAJDIC Petra  SLO   3:07.79
 14 ROCHAT Laurence  SUI   3:08.04
 15 BOEHLER Stefanie  GER   3:08.07
 16 GJOEMLE Ella  NOR   3:08.08
 17 ROTCHEVA Olga  RUS   3:08.42
 18 NORGREN Britta  SWE   3:08.44
 19 WAGNER Wendy Kay  USA   3:09.97
 20 ANDERSSON Lina  SWE   3:10.26
 21 BAUER Viola  GER   3:10.37
 22 MORODER Karin  ITA   3:10.75
 23 KOROSTELEVA Natalia  RUS   3:11.47
 24 ROCHEVA Olga  RUS   3:11.99
 25 FUKUDA Nobuko  JPN   3:12.35
 26 FABJAN Vesna  SLO   3:12.76
 27 MISCHOL Seraina  SUI   3:12.89
 28 SKOFTERUD Vibeke W  NOR   3:13.01
 29 NAGEJKINA Svetlana  RUS   3:13.19
 30 THERIAULT Milaine  CAN   3:13.21
 31 WILLIAMS Lindsey  USA   3:13.41
 32 VALBUSA Sabina  ITA   3:13.59
 33 PARUZZI Gabriella  ITA   3:13.78
 34 JONES Perianne  CAN   3:14.00
 35 BOTTOMLEY Esther  AUS   3:14.04
 36 LOPATINA Viktoria  BLR   3:14.75
 37 WHITTEN Tara  CAN   3:14.95
 38 MUERER STEMLAND Kristin  NOR   3:14.97
 39 SOLLI Guro Stroem  NOR   3:15.29
 40 BACHMANN Flurina  SUI   3:15.65
 41 SWANSON Shayla  CAN   3:15.80
 42 DUSSAULT Rebecca  USA   3:15.89
 43 KOLOMINA Elena  KAZ   3:16.25
 44 OEHRSTIG Emelie  SWE   3:16.58
 45 BISSON Christine  CAN   3:16.86
 46 JATSKAJA Oxana  KAZ   3:18.37
 47 MALAHOVA-SHISHKINA Svetlana  KAZ   3:18.66
 48 SOKLIC Mirjam  SLO   3:19.14
 49 VINA Emilie  FRA   3:19.69
 50 WHITCOMB Kate  USA   3:21.13
 51 BETCHERMAN Tasha  CAN   3:22.02
 52 SCALLION Margret  CAN   3:24.36
 53 WEIER Lindsey  USA   3:25.90
 54 LARSON Abigail  USA   3:26.10
 55 FABIUS Kerrie  CAN   3:34.62