February 18, 2006 – Russia took the gold medal in the Women’s 4x5K Mixed Relay today followed by Germany in second for the silver while host country Italy took the bronze. The Canadian team made the top ten placing 10th while the USA was 14th.

Cross Country Canada Report

There was more snow falling in Pragelato today as the Women’s 4x5K relay got underway, but waxing seemed to be less of an issue for teams compared to the previous individual race.

Milaine Theriault from New Brunswick led off the first classic leg for Canada and stuck with the top group until the final hills, coming in 50 seconds off the lead at the exchange. At the hand-off there was a group of seven nations trading the lead as Sara Renner embarked on a mission to track down the front runners. It was a fairly successful mission for Sara, who made up 20 seconds on the leaders, with an excellent individual effort, the fastest time on the leg by 15 seconds. Sara tagged off to rookie Amanda Ammar who is fresh off from some excellent performances at the World Junior Championships. Renner had brought the team through this first skating lap in 7th place.

It was at the end of the second part of the leg that the race broke open on the last big uphills as Germany’s Evi Sachenbacher made a major move on the rest of the field, leaving Finland, Sweden, Russia, Norway and Italy struggling to catch up. Meanwhile Amanda Ammar lost a bit of ground, but completed the leg just ahead of a strong Chinese team, in 12th place.

On the fourth leg it was Germany’s Claudia Kuenzal who tried to maintain the lead, but gradually she was caught by the chase group led by Russia’s Medveda. Medveda made a move on the last uphills just as Sachenbacher had and sprinted to a comfortable victory. Germany, Sweden and Italy tried to respond and in the last 150 metres it looked like Sweden and Italy would grab the medals. Then out of nowhere Claudia Kuenzal stormed to the front to capture the silver, with the home team Italy grabbing bronze and Sweden ending up in 4th place.

Back on the track Beckie Scott moved Canada up a couple of places as she kept pace with the lead group as one of the fastest skiers on the lap. The final result was 10th in a field of 17 countries. The Men’s relay action follows tomorrow.



Results

1 RUS – Russian Federation 54:47.7
BARANOVA-MASOLKINA Natalia
KURKINA Larisa
TCHEPALOVA Julija
MEDVEDEVA-ABRUZOVA Evgenia

2 GER – Germany 54:57.7
BOEHLER Stefanie
BAUER Viola
SACHENBACHER STEHLE Evi
KUENZEL Claudia

3 ITA – Italy 54:58.7
FOLLIS Arianna
PARUZZI Gabriella
CONFORTOLA Antonella
VALBUSA Sabina

4 SWE – Sweden 55:00.3
DAHLBERG Anna
EK Elin
NORGREN Britta
STROMSTEDT Anna Karin

5 NOR – Norway 55:21.8
STEIRA Kristin Stormer
PEDERSEN Hilde G.
STEMLAND Kristin Murer
BJORGEN Marit

6 CZE – Czech Republic 55:46.3
BALATKOVA ERBENOVA Helena
RAJDLOVA Kamila
JANECKOVA Ivana
NEUMANNOVA Katerina

7 FIN – Finland 55:55.8
SAARINEN Aino Kaisa
KUITUNEN Virpi
LASSILA Riitta Liisa
VENALAINEN Kati

8 UKR – Ukraine 56:36.3
GRYGORENKO Kateryna
ZAVALIJ Tatjana
JAKIMCHUK Vita
SHEVCHENKO Valentina

9 FRA – France 56:41.4
PERRILLAT Aurelie
PHILIPPOT Karine
STORTI Cecile
VINA Emilie

10 CAN – Canada 56:49.8
THERIAULT Milaine
RENNER Sara
AMMAR Amanda
SCOTT Beckie

11 SUI – Switzerland 56:52.4
MISCHOL Seraina
ROCHAT Laurence
LEONARDI CORTESI Natascia
BONER Seraina

12 JPN – Japan 56:57.8
FUKUDA Nobuko
ISHIDA Masako
YOKOYAMA Sumiko
NATSUMI Madoka

13 KAZ – Kazakhstan 57:52.9
JATSKAJA Oxana
VOLOSHENKO Yevgeniya
KOLOMINA Elena
MALAHOVA-SHISHKINA Svetlana

14 USA – United States of America 57:58.4
WAGNER Wendy Kay
RANDALL Kikkan
KONRAD Sarah
DUSSAULT Rebecca

15 BLR – Belarus 58:19.5
SANNIKOVA Alena
KOROLIK SHABLOUSKAYA Ludmila
RUDAKOVA BULAUKA Ekaterina
VASILJONOK Olga

16 CHN – People’s Republic of China 58:42.5
WANG Chunli
LI Hongxue
LIU Yuanyuan
SONG Bo

17 EST – Estonia 00:24.4
PORMEISTER Piret
SUIJA Silja
SIRGE Kaili
MANNIMA Tatjana