March 21, 2008 (Callaghan Valley, B.C.) – The field suddenly got a lot faster when the Swedish men’s team showed up for the 1.4km Free Sprint: races. The international flavour plus faster snow as temperatures cooled under sunny conditions made for top racing. The hype was around Sweden’s Olympic gold medalist Bjorn Lind, but it was teammate Emil Joensson who had the fastest qualifying time in 2:58:37, with the USA’s Andy Newell of Stratton Mountain School ski team in qualifying just behind Joensson at 0.79 seconds back. Canmore Nordic’s Stefan Kuhn was third fastest at 04.79 back. Peter Larsson of the Swedish National Team was fourth, at 06.25 seconds back, Canada’s Devon Kershaw of the Ona Wa Su Club placed fifth at 06.77 seconds back, and top U.S. ski team sprinter, Torin Koos, rounded out the top six finishing 07.11 seconds back.

The heats, quarters and semis saw plenty of fast racing and a few casualties in terms of poles and skis as not everyone survived the tight corners and jostling for position, but in the end it was Joensson, Lind, Kuhn, Kershaw, Larsson, and America’s Garrot Kuzzy who lined up for the final.

The powerful Swedish team took command going into the first climb with Kershaw mixing it up with them at the front. Lind, Joensson, Larsson and Kershaw traded leads on the backstretch, but by the last turn approximately 100 metres from the finish, it was clearly Joensson leading with Larsson and Kershaw fighting for second. In the final push Larsson took second over Kershaw who broke the Swedish stranglehold with a powerful sprint, just missing second, but taking the sprint title as the first Canadian. Lind ended up in fourth spot, followed by Kuhn in fifth, who took the silver as the second Canuck while Kuzzy finished in sixth spot.

In the B Final Newell took first over Sweden’s Robin Bryntesson, who had just won the Falun Borlange FIS sprint race in Sweden four days earlier. Alaska Pacific University racer Lars Flora was third fastest while Canada’s Phil Widmer placed fourth and took the bronze medal.

“The Olympics are the reason we are here,” said Joensson after the race. “We wanted to see how it is here. It is perfect to compete at the Canadian championships. The Canadians are really good competition.”

Joensson has focused on the sprint this season, winning the Alberta World Cup sprint at Canmore in January. “I’ve been here twice and I’ve won twice. I hope it will continue like that,” said Joensson. He echoed what a number of North American athletes have said. The skate course was “really good for racing and good for crowds, but the classic may be a little too easy. It’s not so good for classic. In the right conditions it would be all double pole”

Canadian champ Kershaw was contemplative with his win and Swedish flattery. “It’s great to have the Swedes here. The Swedes who came one-two ahead of me have won plenty of world cups between them. It’s good to win [the Canadian championships], but they beat me again today and I haven’t beat them yet,” said Kershaw after the race.

Randall Wins Women’s 1.2 Free Sprint

The hype built all week that this would be the Chandra Crawford-Kikkan Randall show given that both had visited the world cup podium this season in this event. Certainly Randall showed she was ready, setting a qualifying time of 3:06:48 minutes. Canada’s Sara Renner was 3.47 seconds back for second fastest, Crawford was third fastest at 4:38 seconds back, USA’s Liz Stephen fourth fastest at 8.21 seconds back, Perianne Jones (Can) was fifth fastest at 9.04 back, while Northern Michigan University’s Lindsay Williams had the sixth fastest time, 12.62 seconds back.

Some of the most exciting action in the quarter final races took place just behind the leaders as up-and-coming North American skiers in the five qualifying races vied for second spots. Out of the top thirty skiers who qualified, fourteen were Americans, fifteen Canadians, with one Australian. With the top two from each quarter final heat qualifying, plus the two fastest skiers after them, no one knew who these two skiers would be until the line-up for the semi final was announced. Ultimately it was Kasandra Rice of Alaska Pacific University and Nicole Deyong of Sun Valley who would take the two spots into the semi final round. Randall sailed through her quarter and semi-final heats completely untouchable, while Crawford had a little more competition as she went up against team mates Renner and Jones in the semi.

The B Final saw Canadian national team member Dasha Gaiazova dominate from the gun, perhaps to make up for a problem with her pole that cost her a spot in the semi. Teammate Madelaine Williams took second place, Alaska Pacific University skier Laura Valaas placed third, Deyong took fourth, Kate Arduser, also of Alaska Pacific was fifth while Rice took the sixth spot.

The Women’s A Final saw a false start, and then a fast and clean break as Randall, Crawford, Renner and Jones skied in a tight bunch, trading the lead before Randall took command going into the last downhill. But Crawford countered and made her move on the outside. As Randall entered the stadium, Crawford was right on her as the course flattened – but the one last curve before the finish straightaway would claim the Canadian. There was an audible gasp from the 1,500 spectators as she went down.

Randall took the gold, but Renner was a strong second also claiming the gold medal as the top Canadian. Northern Michigan University’s Lindsay Willams finished in third with Jones in fourth taking the silver medal as the second Canadian. Stephen claimed fifth place and Crawford brought up the rear in good humour to take the sixth spot and the bronze medal as the third Canadian. Twenty minutes later it was as if there were no problems for Crawford. She joked about how well she had fallen and was far more interested in picking up the jackets for the “Fast and Female” seminar she was hosting for two hundred girls three days later.

Renner said it was an excellent race on a good sprint course. “It was a really competitive final with perfect conditions. Nobody wanted to take the lead and were drafting behind. I was caught up front and that can be good and bad, but overall it was good today,” she adde

Results

Women

1. Kikkan Randall (USA)
2. Sara Renner (Can/Canmore, Alta.)
3. Lindsay Williams (USA)
4. Perianne Jones (Can/Almonte, Ont.)
5. Liz Stephen (USA)

Men

1. Emil Jonsson (Swe)
2. Peter Larsson (Swe)
3. Devon Kershaw (Can/Sudbury, Ont.)
4. Bjorn Lind (Swe)
5. Stefan Kuhn (Can/Canmore, Alta.)

Top Para-Nordic

Results

Sit-Ski Men
1. Lou Gibson, Langley, B.C.
2. Antonio Flores, Strathcona, Alta.

Sit-Ski Women
1. Colette Bourgonje, Saskatoon
2. Christy Campbell, Ottawa.

Standing Men
1.Yoshihiro Nitta, JPN
2. Mark Arendz, Springton, P.E.I.
3. Meyrick Jones, Vancouver.

Standing Women
1. Robbie Weldon, Thunder Bay, Ont.
2. Shoka Ota, Japan
3. Courtenay Knight, Burnaby, B.C.

For complete results visit www.zone4.ca