November 24, 2007 (Beistolen, Norway) – Former World Cup champions Marit Bjoergen and Axel Teichmann ruled World Cup skate races Saturday as the schedule turned to distance racing. The 2008 Viessmann World Cup opened in late October with sprints in Dusseldorf, Germany.

National heroine Bjoergen cruised to the 32nd World Cup win (including team sprints) of her career with a 20-second win in the women’s 10km race. Later, Teichmann turned up the heat over the last five kilometres to win by 6.3 seconds over Czech Lukas Bauer.

Defending World Cup champion Virpi Kuitunen of Finland did not start the women’s race because of a sore throat, officials said.

Teichmann stormed over the last two 5 km loops to win in 36:31.1 with Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic second (36:37.4) and Sweden’s Anders Soedergren in third place (36:44.4) among the 85 racers.

Canadian Devon Kershaw led U.S. and Canadian skiers in the men’s race; no North American women competed. Kershaw was in the top 30 at the 10km point but finished in 38:01.0 – 43rd place, but just 15 seconds away from the top 30.

“The goal at this level,” Canadian Coach Dave Wood said, “is to get in the race and stay in it as long as you can, and Devon was able to do that today until the final five kilometres. Overall, we’re very happy with where Devon is right now. He’s in good shape and is skiing well. He just simply ran out of gas at the end today.”

American Kris Freeman was 50th but struggled from the start. He was 30th at the end of the first lap. “Some days that’s just where you are. There are no excuses. It started snowing before the men raced, but that wasn’t the reason; this is just where he is,” said U.S. Coach Pete Vordenberg. “We worked on finishing races this summer, but today it wasn’t a case of fading at the end. He’ll do better next week in Kuusamo [Finland].”

Earlier, in the women’s race, Bjorgen trailed German Claudia Kuenzel-Nystad by less than a second at the 2km mark, but took off after that and breezed home in 26:16.3. Teammate Vibeke Skofterud took second place in 26:36.6 with the final podium spot going to rising Swedish star Charlotte Kalla (26:37.5).

The schedule continues Sunday with men’s and women’s relays.

Women’s race results here. Men’s race results here.