December 29, 2011 (Oberhof, Germany) – Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland won the Prologue at the 2011-12 Tour de Ski on Thursday in Oberhof, Germany, staking her claim for a third consecutive overall women’s title in the gruelling 11-day event. Kowalczyk bested World Cup overall leader Marit Bjoergen (NOR) by 0.4 seconds over the 3.1km course. Bjoergen, who has skipped this event the last two years, has said that a Tour de Ski win is her main goal this season.

Sweden’s Hanna Brodin was third while the USA’s Kikkan Randall had a great start to the Tour today, finishing a very solid 10th  just 7.2 seconds behind Kowalczyk. Today’s race was extremely tight, with only 12 seconds separating 4th through 20th places. No Canadian women are racing at this year’s Tour.

The 1.2km prologue loop featured a long gradual climb followed by some fast and icy downhills, including a sharp, sweeping right-hand turn that may have decided the race. Bjoergen had a 2.1-second lead over Kowalczyk at the halfway split, but appeared to give up that time and then some on the downhill section. Kowalczyk went into the turn more aggressively than most and held her speed, producing the 3rd fastest time on the downhill portion. Meanwhile, Bjoergen checked her speed quite hard going into the turn and that may have cost her the win.

“It was a good race today,” Kowalczyk commented to FIS Cross Country after her race, “normally I don’t feel good in these kinds of fast conditions, but yeah, I’m pretty satisfied.” Kowalcyzk added that she started out conservatively in order to preserve her legs for the final downhill: “My tactic was to not start too fast, as I normally have problems with the downhill and my legs were fresh, but I heard my downhill time was quite good and I think that’s the reason.”

“It’s a good start and it’s good to race again,” commented Bjoergen, “I felt better at the end of the race, and I’m happy to be back on the Tour.”

After time bonuses are factored in for the podium finishers, Kowalczyk stands in first overall at 6:48.7, with a 5.4 second lead on Bjoergen. Brodin is 14 seconds behind Kowalczyk in third.

The USA’s Randall was very pleased with her race, which was a considerable improvement over her Prologue at last year’s Tour:  “I was 16th here last year and about 13 seconds out,” she told SkiTrax post-race, “so I made a good improvement this year and most importantly I felt strong and ready to race. I actually surprised myself a little bit with how good I felt out there and know there are still some more seconds to gain.  So I am looking forward to tomorrow.”

Randall’s result was somewhat surprising given how she was feeling prior to the Prologue. “To be honest I was feeling a little sluggish and heavy going into the race today, probably from the recovery week I took over Christmas. Yesterday I skied on the course in the soft snow and was feeling really heavy and definitely anxious. Thankfully my legs felt a lot better when I got on course for my warm-up today, and with much firmer conditions I ended up feeling really good in the race.”

The fast and icy course conditions gave many competitors trouble, particularly on the downhill, but Randall was largely unfazed. “The course conditions were much better than yesterday but still difficult,” she said. “The snow was firm and fast and pretty icy in places.  You had to be really quick on and off your feet to avoid slipping out on the ice.”

Randall also talked about a close call she had with another competitor on the downhill section “I ended up catching the girl ahead of me just as we were coming into the fast downhill turn.  She was snow-plowing and I decided I didn’t want to get stuck behind her in the turn, so I just tucked and tried to sneak by on the inside of the first curve.  She moved left almost into me at the very second I pulled up next to her and my ski hit the pine bow on the inside of the turn.  Luckily my momentum carried me past her and I was able to ski the icy part of the turn without incident.  She ended up getting right back on me and it was good to have a shadow to push me into the finish.”

Also starting for the US in today’s prologue were Liz Stephen and Holly Brooks, who finished in 37th and 53rd respectively. Stephen told SkiTrax that she was coming off a two-day layoff ofter battling a cold, “…however, when I woke up this morning I felt so much better and am totally healthy again now, so having today go as well as it did was sweet.”

“My strategy was to go out and ski hard,” she continued, “but to keep my goals for the day in the front of my brain the whole race.  The goals were to look up, ski tall and plant my poles in front of my boots, and I think I did those things better today than I have all season.”

Stephen wasn’t bothered by the icy conditions either. “I didn’t have any trouble on the corner today, though it was fast and icy!  The conditions were quite good, very fast, hard pack snow with some tricky icy sections especially coming into the stadium and up the big hill.

“You had to be changing your technique up (more on the upper body in spots, more on the lower body in other spots) quite a bit throughout the course to keep your feet under you. I am very content with my race today,” she concluded, “and hope to go catch some people in tomorrow’s pursuit start!”

Brooks, who is nursing a sore wrist after a fall during a run the day before the Tour began, was disappointed in her result, but thankful to be racing considering her injury. “Today was a bit of a slow start for me in the Tour,” she told us. “The conditions were fast and icy – not my favourite.  The track was squirrelly in places and there were a couple of times I lost my balance on the flats.

“The sharp corner was tricky – you come into it with a lot of speed and it was almost pure ice. I saw some huge crashes on the diamond screen. I was fairly conservative and will admit I checked my speed with a snowplow/skid turn. I certainly lost a lot of time there.”

Tomorrow’s race features a handicap start 10km classic race, in which after the top three go off within a handful of seconds of each other, a group of two dozen skiers will be chasing them from a deficit of no more than 20 seconds. As Randall said, “Tomorrow’s race could be crazy if the track stays as icy as it was today.  A bunch of girls on classic skis with icy downhills is always good for some entertainment!”

TdS Overall Standings (brief)

1. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) 6:48.7
2. Marit Bjoergen (NOR) + 5.4
3. Hanna Brodin (SWE)  + 14.0

Women’s Prologue results HERE.
TdS Overall HERE.