February 4, 2003 (Solleftea, Sweden) – Canadian Junior Cross Country skiteam member Daria Gaiazova, from Montreal, came in a respectable 29thyesterday morning after the 15 km mass start freestyle cross-country skirace got underway during the opening day of the World Junior Championshipsin Solleftea, Sweden.Nineteen-year old Gaiazova, a member of Quebec's Skielite ski club, is oneof a team of four women and four men representing Canada at theseChampionships. The Russian-born Canadian has been the top junior in Canadaall season long and has proven repeatedly to be competitive among the bestsenior racers in North America. Today was Gaiazova's first World Juniorsrace as she competed against 51 of the world's best junior ski racers. Herfinal time of 50:04.6 placed her 16 spots ahead of teammates MadeleineWilliams of Edmonton, Alberta and 17 places ahead of Perianne Jones ofAlmonte, Ontario.”It was an average day for us today,” says Junior National Team head coachAlain Parent by phone from Sweden. “We have typically not been as strong inthe longer distances, but we are looking forward to Thursday and Saturday'sevents.”Today's winner in the women's 15 km skate race was Russian EkaterinaVorontsova, who crossed the line far ahead of silver medallist MariaRydqvist of Sweden. Vorontsova's time of 46:37.7 was nearly 40 secondsahead of the pack. Rydqvist posted a 47;!4.4 final time, followed 3 secondslater by Vorontsova's teammate Irina Artemova. The top North American ofthe day was American racer Lindsey Weier, who came in 15th in 49:44.2.On the men's side Norway is celebrating as Chris Jespersen grabbed the goldahead of the two pursuing Russians Alexel Petukhov and Eugeni Dementiev.Jespersen's time of 1:23:13.5 was 33 seconds ahead of Petukhov and nearly aminute ahead of Dementiev. The top Canadian among the 60 racers was NorthBay, Ontario's Dave Nighbor, who posted a 1:34:28.2 time to come in 45th.Cyrus Kangarloo, a Calgary native who skis for Banff Ski Runners, came in49th in 1:36:05.7. The top American racer was Bryan Cook in 48th spot in1:35:51.9.The World Juniors cross-country ski schedule continues Thursday with the5/10 km classical individual start race.RESULTS: Women1. Ekaterina Vorontsova RUS 46:37.72. Maria Rydqvist SWE 47:14.43. Irina Artemova RUS 47:17.14. Hanna Forsberg SWE 47:44.35. Valentina Novikova RUS 47:56.56. Tatjana Kosorigina BLR 48:00.57. Tattana Tchugaeva RUS 48:05.08. Katerina Rudakova BLR 48:24.29. Mona-Lisa Malvalehto FIN 48:32.110. Ivana Janeckova CZE 48:36.7Canadians29. Daria Gaiazova CAN 50:04.645. Madeleine Williams CAN 51:39.046. Perianne Jones CAN 52:00.6Men1. Chris Jespersen NOR 1:23:13.52. Alexel Petukhov RUS 1:23:46.73. Eugeni Dementiev RUS 1:24:11.04. Toni Iivers SUI 1:24:24.15. Franz Goering GER 1:24:54.76. Oeystein Pettersen NOR 1:25:56.77. Vile Nousiainen FIN 1:25:56.98. Marin J. Sundby NOR 1:25:58.89. Tord Asle Gjordalen NOR 1:26:10.910. Fredrik Uusital SWE 1:26:17.3Canadians45. David Nighbor CAN 1:34:28.249. Cyrus Kangarloo CAN 1:36:05.7