February 22, 2004 – Canada's Chandra Crawford's storybook cross-country ski season continued on Sunday when the upstart athlete won a silver medal in a photo finish at an Opa Continental Cup sprint competition in Capracotta, Italy.
The 20-year-old Crawford, who was not supposed to travel to Italy until she won two medals last week at the Under-23 World Championships in Soldier Hollow, Utah, including a silver in the sprint competition, took her show to the next level, and hopped back on the podium for the second straight week.
The Canmore, Alta., native, who was the fastest qualifier in the women's event, made her way through the elimination round, and missed a gold medal by inches in a photo finish at the wire.
Janet Klein, of Germany, squeaked out the victory over Crawford, while Emilie Vina, of France, grabbed the bronze medal. Two other Canadian women entered in the event cracked the top-10. Montreal's Dasha Gaiazova and Christine Bisson finished seventh and eighth respectively.
Toronto's Gordon Jewett was the top Canadian in the men's sprint, finishing sixth.
Canada's World Cup men's team was also in action on Sunday down the road in Umea, Sweden. Chris Jeffries, 26, of Chelsea, Que., and George Grey, 24, of Rossland, B.C., welcomed two new teammates to the World Cup circuit. Devon Kershaw, 21, of Sudbury, Ont., and Drew Goldsack, 22, of Red Deer, Alta., joined the Canadian duo, fresh off claiming two medals in the Under-23 World Championships, for their debut on the World Cup.
The inexperienced foursome kept up with the worlds best in front of 20,000 Swedish fans who took in the event, as they completed the 4 x 10-kilometre relay in 14th-place with a time of one hour 43 minutes 25.7 seconds.
“Things went really well and the whole team was solid from start to finish,” said Goldsack, who along with Kershaw, were making their first-ever World Cup appearance. The two Canucks will continue to gain experience at the World Cup level throughout the rest of the year. “It is so different out here, the stadium was packed and every athlete is out here to ski their hardest. It is high-level competition and it can be intimidating, but I wanted to be within a reasonable amount of time with each skier on my leg and I did that today so I'm very satisfied.”
The four-man relay consists of two athletes skate-skiing around the 10-kilometre track, with the remaining two using the classic technique.
The German team won the event with a time of 1:39:44.2. Norway locked up the silver medal nearly two seconds off the leading pace (1:39:46.6), while Sweden (1:39:49.9) won the sprint for the bronze medal over Italy (1:39:49.9) by just .8 seconds.
The Canadian women's World Cup team, Beckie Scott and Sara Renner, used Saturday as a training day to prepare for a busy week ahead that sees the squad competing in four events around Europe. The next competition on the calendar is set for Tuesday, February 24, 2004 in Trondheim, Norway.
For complete results, visit http://www.fis-ski.com