January 25, 2007 – Laura Valaas (Wenatchee, WA), who has been almost bulletproof this winter in Cross Country SuperTour sprints, won her ninth sprint of the season Wednesday while Lars Flora (Anchorage, AK), who won two in a row over the weekend, added his third straight SuoerTour victory in the men’s event.

Valaas put on a burst over the last couple of hundred meters at Telemark resort to overtake Caitlin Compton (Minneapolis) for the freestyle technique win. Czech racer Martina Stursova completed the podium. Valaas and Compton, who both race for CXC, are headed to the World Championships in Japan next month, along with Flora.

Valaas said it was fun to race at Telemark after training there throughout the preseason. “The many hills on the course made it a good test of fitness,” she said.

Flora protected two bibs – as overall and the sprint leader – as he earned the 12th SuperTour win of his career. Anders Haugen (Anchorage, AK) was runnerup and Kevin Hochtl (Vail, CO) took a photo finish from Marshall Greene (Bend, OR) for third place.

The SuperTour continues on the weekend with skate races Saturday and classic technique events Sunday.

Scott Wilson, chief of competition for the three days of racing at Telemark, said, “It is really a privilege to run races for the dedicated group of professional athletes that raced here today. We look forward to the greater ski community; Masters, Citizens, Collegiate, High School, Middle School, Junior, J3/J4 and Youth that will join us for the weekend. The snow is thin, but with an ambitious group of experienced volunteers, we expect a great weekend.”