January 25, 2009 (Otepaeae, Estonia) – Petra Majdic (Slo) and Ola Vigen Hattestad (Nor) pulled off respective World Cup victories again on Sunday in the 1.4km Classic Sprint competition at round #7 of the Veissmann XC World Cup in Otepaeae, Estonia. Majdic qualified 3rd and turned on the jets to maintain her claim on the Sprint leader’s jersey. Finland had three skiers in the top 5 with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen in second today, and in second overall, while Virpi Kuitunen who qualified 1st took 3rd with fellow Fin Pirjo Muranen in 4th. US star Kikkan Randall qualified 15th and ended up in 16th overall.

“Qualifying felt really good, I got to the finish line and still felt strong,” said Randall. “In the rounds I was a little frantic in the first half (of my quarterfinal) but I came on strong in the second half with about a 400m double pole in the home stretch. I had great skis and with my momentum went out to pass a Norwegian skier but stepped into a lane not skied in very much. It was snowing and around freezing”.

The men’s final was a Norwegian 5-skier, speed-king sweep as world cup sprint leader Ola Vigen Hattestad established his sprint prowess once again for gold with Oeystein Pettersen in second and Boerre Naess in third. Veteran skiers Tor Arne Hetland and Eldar Roenning were 4th and 5th respectively. Torin Koos lead the charge for the USA finishing 20th after qualifying 23rd, while top US fastman Andy Newell is still trying to break through and ended up in 24th.

Full women’s qualifications here.
Full men’s qualifications here.

Final women’s results here.
Final men’s results here.

Qualifications

Women

1. Virpi Kuitunen (Fin) 3:10.32
2. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (Fin) 3:12.14
3. Lina Andersson (Swe) 3:12.95
4. Petra Majdic (Slo) 3:14.00
5. Alena Prochazkova (Svk) 3:15.18

15. Kikkan Randall (USA) 3:18.70

Men

1. Emil Joennson (Swe) 3:22.20
2. Oeystein Pettersen (Nor) 3:22.37
3. Mats Larsson (Swe) 3:22.59
4. Eldar Roenning (Nor) :23.43
5. Peter Larsson (Swe) 3:23.52

17. Andrew Newell (USA) 3:25.72
23. Torin Koos (USA) 3:26.87
45. Chris Cook (USA) 3:29.71

Results (brief)

Women

1. Petra Majdic (Slo)
2. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (Fin)
3. Virpi Kuitunen (Fin)
4. Pirjo Muranen (Fin)
5. Alena Prochazkova (Svk)

16. Kikkan Randall (USA) 3:18.70

Men

1. Ola Vigen Hattestad (Nor)
2. Oeystein Pettersen (Nor)
3. Boerre Naess (Nor)
4. Tor Arne Hetland (Nor)
5. Eldar Roenning (Nor)

20. Torin Koos (USA)
24. Andrew Newell (USA)
45. Chris Cook (USA)