February 18, 2004 – Stockholm, SWE-Canada's Beckie Scott, who was in Canada last week to attend the Keskinada Loppet in Gatineau, Que., rejoined her teammates for a rare mid-week World Cup cross-country ski competition in Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday. The Olympic gold medallist finished 10th in the 1.1K sprint.

Scott was one of 16 athletes in the field of 51 who moved into the sprint finals after qualifying 10th with a time of two minutes, 41.21 seconds, nearly six seconds off the leading pace. The finals consist of four heats of four athletes, with the top-two athletes in each heat moving onto the next round.

The Vermilion, Alta. native was not able to move further up the rankings, as her podium run was ended after finishing third in her quarter-final heat.

Sara Renner, of Canmore, Alta., was the only other Canadian woman competing in the sprints. The 27-year-old, who has posted a number of strong results since December, struggled to a 28th-place finish after posting a qualifying time of 2:46.59.

Canada's two World Cup rookies, Chris Jeffries, of Chelsea, Que., and George Grey, of Rossland, B.C., were the only two athletes wearing the maple leaf in the men's competition, which had 63 of the world's best. The 26-year-old Jeffries finished 56th with a time of 2:26.44, while Grey, 24, was right behind his teammate in 57th (2:26.99).

The Norwegian men and women dominated the event in Sweden. On the women's side, Norwegian athletes finished first and third with Marit Bjoergen winning the gold medal and her teammate, Ella Gjoemle, stepping onto the final step of the podium. Anna Dahlberg, of Sweden, was sandwiched between them on the podium after finishing second in front of her hometown crowd.

On their way to sweeping the medals, the Norwegian men's team had six athletes in the top-eight. Jens Arne Svartedal grabbed the gold, while teammates Jon Kristian Dahl finished second and Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset rounded out the top-three.