March 1, 2003 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – Were it not for the speedy young Czech racer, Martin Koukal, winning the 50 km freestyle cross-country ski race at the last of a 10-day World Championship schedule this morning in Val di Fiemme, Italy, Sweden would have taken home all three medals.

The 24-year old Czech native, currently ranked 4th in the World Cup standings, took home his first medal of the Championships today when he skied an exceptional 1:54:35.3 in the long distance men's event. Following a full 15 seconds later came Sweden's Anders Soedergren and then teammate Joergen Brink in 1:55:09.0. For Brink, this is his second bronze medal of the Championships. Fourth place, and 16 seconds behind Brink, was fellow Swede Mathias Fredriksson. Fifth place went to American Olympic veteran racer Carl Swenson, who posted the second best result for a North American this series.

Younger USA teammate, Kris Freeman, placed 4th in the double pursuit February 23rd. The only Canadian participating in today's event was Port Sydney, Ontario's Dan Roycroft. For this Team 2006 member it was his first World Championships. Roycroft finished 57th in 2:06:32.7.

Today's race marks the end of a very successful string of races for the Canadians, including four top-10 results from Vermillion's sensation Beckie Scott, and 3 top-20 and 1 top-10 result from Canmore's Sara Renner. Head Coach Dave Wood is extremely pleased with this year's results.

“It has been the best World Championships ever,” said Wood over the phone from Italy. “For Beckie and Sara, they posted best-ever individual results and were consistent throughout the events. For the boys, it was their first exposure to this. There is some learning to be done, but now they have an idea what they are up against. They are keen to move forward.”

The Canadian National Team travels to Oslo, Norway tomorrow to begin preparation for Thursday's classic sprint event.

The Canadian Senior National Cross Country Ski Team is supported in their international racing pursuits by Haywood Securities. CCC is the national sport governing body for cross-country skiing in Canada, servicing over 45,000 members in 375 clubs. The corporate vision: “It takes a ski community to raise Olympic medallists”, embraces the Association's focus from entry level club development to the enhancement of the National Ski Team program.

Results:
1) Martin Koukal CZE 1:54:25.3
2) Anders Soedergren SWE 1:54:40.2
3) Joergen Brink SWE 1:55:09.0
4) Mathias Fredriksson SWE 1:55:25.2
5) Carl Swenson USA 1:55:49.2
6) Vincent Vittoz FRA 1:55:59.9
7) Markus Hasler LIE 1:56:10.2
8) Teemu Kattilakoski FIN 1:56:20.6
9) Hiroyuki Imai JPN 1:56:33.5
10) Christian Hoffman AUT 1:56:43.8

Canadians:
57) Dan Roycroft CAN 2:06:32.7

For complete race results: www.fis-ski.com