January 24, 2010 (Rybinsk, Russia) – Russia I with Nikolay Morilov and Alexei Petukhov took the victory at the FIS World Cup men’s freestyle 6×1.3 km Team Sprint while Canada’s I team of Brent McMurtry and Sean Crooks, both down with flu symptoms earlier this week, finished 11th at +28.4 behind the winners, four seconds off Kazakhstan in 10th and a comfortable 6.8 seconds ahead of Switzerland in 12th.

The men’s finish was tight as Italy II, with Fabio Pasini and Loris Frasnelli, was only 0.6s behind in second followed by Germany (Tim Tcharnke and Josef Wenzl) arriving in third at 5.2s. Canada II with Graham Nishikawa and Phil Widmer did not start.

In the women’s 6×1.3km freestyle Team Sprint, the Slovenian team of Katja Visnar and Vesna Fabjan led at each tag, but missed out to the hard charging Germany I team of Stefanie Böhler and Evi Sachenbacher Stehle at the finish, ending up 3.9 seconds behind. In third, a very close 6/10ths of a second back, was Russia I powered by Irina Khazova and Olga Rotcheva. Only 10 teams competed – one Swiss, one Slovenian, two German, two Italian, and four Russian teams.

With files from FIS XC

Women’s full results here.
Men’s full results here.

Results (brief)

Women
1. Germany I (Stefanie Boehler/Evi Sachenbacker Stehle), 17:04.6
2. Slovenia (Katja Visnar/Vesna Fabjan), 17:08.5
3. Russia I (Irina Khazova/Olga Rotcheva), 17:09.1
4. Germany II (Miriam Goessner/Claudia Nystad), 17:12.3
5. Switzerland (Bettina Gruber/Silvana Bucher), 17:17.8

Men
1. Russia I (Nikolay Morilov/Alexei Petukhov), 14:52.2
2. Italy II (Fabio Pasini/Loris Frasnelli), 14:52.8
3. Germany (Tim Tscharnke/Josef Wenzl), 14:57.4
4. Italy I (Cristian Zorzi/Renato Pasini), 14:58.5
5. Russia II (Michail Devjatiarov/Nikita Kruikov), 15:05.4

11. Canada I (Brent McMurtry/Sean Crooks) 15:20.6
DNS Canada II (Graham Nishikawa/ Phil Widmer)