December 17, 2005 (Canmore, Alta.) – Canada’s Beckie Scott won gold again today in the Women’s 15K classic mass start race for her phenomenal 4th medal in as many races during the Canadian sojourn of the World Cup circuit. “I think it was a dream. It was something you imagine, but not expect to do. I was just extremely happy I was able to rise to the occasion,” she said shortly after she flew to a gold medal.

On the coldest, crispest Canmore day yet, Scott broke from the startline, taking Russia’s Julija Tchepalova, gold medalist from the 10K skate two days earlier, and Tchepalova’s teammate Olga Rotcheva with her. At the finish line, with arms raised, Scott beat Tchepalova by 4.7 seconds with a winning time of 45:02:2.

Meanwhile German skiers Claudia Kuenzel and Viola Bauer see-sawed for third place as Rotcheva fell back. In the end, it was Kuenzel who won the pack sprint in 45:53:1, 26:37 seconds behind Scott’s tremendous finish. But it wasn’t only Scott who skied in phenomenal fashion – hometown favorite Sara Renner had one of the best races of her life placing sixth place, putting her fourth in the pack finish at 46:01:9. Canada’s Milaine Theriault, given that she missed an entire summer of training with an injury, also had an outstanding finish in 21st place at 47:47:9. Canadian Amanda Ammar followed up with 27th in 48:22:5, veteran US skier Wendy Wagner placed 29th at 48:41:4, while Chandra Crawford was right on her heels in 31st with a time of 49:04:6.

Both the Russians and Germans mentioned the cold as a fear factor for them going into the race. With a snow temperature of -21C, and face masks to prevent freezing, competitors weren’t sure how their lungs would fare on the brutal climbs. But Scott didn’t worry about what might not work out-she was too focused on the perfection of the week.

“All this week I’ve been feeling great. I raced on this course a few weeks ago in a NorAm race. My strategy was simple-ski with the top-if not straight away. As long as I skied somewhat conservatively in the first half-I thought it should be okay. The first half was not too hard.”

Perhaps to Scott it appeared that she was skiing conservatively, but to all others, she burst from the startline, took the lead immediately and never relinquished it. Still, she admitted she had a feeling the day would be special. “I knew I was on the podium from the start. I was confident of a podium finish; not as confident with a win. Everything on the inclines increased [in terms of her speed], and decreased on the downhills. I got strong encouragement from Dave (Wood – Canada’s head coach) for more speed on the downhills. I was focusing on the uphills because my legs were toast,” joked Scott. “So at the 7.5 mark, I started focusing on the downhills too.”

It was a superb finish for Scott, who said the crowd carried her up the last climb, so she knew all she had to do was hit the downhill and “try to finish as strong as I could.”

Results:

1 SCOTT Beckie 1974 CAN 45:02.2
2 TCHEPALOVA Julija 1976 RUS 45:06.9
3 KUENZEL Claudia 1978 GER 45:53.1
4 BAUER Viola 1976 GER 45:54.2
5 STEIRA STOERMER Kristin 1981 NOR 45:57.1
6 RENNER Sara 1976 CAN 46:01.9
7 KOLOMINA Elena 1981 KAZ 46:02.4
8 MALAHOVA-SHISHKINA Svetlana 1977 KAZ 46:07.9
9 KOROSTELEVA Natalia 1981 RUS 46:08.9
10 PHILIPPOT Karine 1974 FRA 46:14.7
11 BOEHLER Stefanie 1981 GER 46:15.6
12 ROTCHEVA Olga 1978 RUS 46:20.0
13 EK Elin 1973 SWE 46:20.6
14 MAJDIC Petra 1979 SLO 46:53.4
15 SACHENBACHER STEHLE Evi 1980 GER 46:54.3
16 PERRILLAT Aurelie 1980 FRA 46:54.4
17 ROCHAT Laurence 1979 SUI 46:59.1
18 NAGEJKINA Svetlana 1965 RUS 47:02.2
19 PARUZZI Gabriella 1969 ITA 47:03.1
20 ANDERSSON Lina 1981 SWE 47:30.4
21 THERIAULT Milaine 1973 CAN 47:47.9
22 VALBUSA Sabina 1972 ITA 47:48.6
23 ISHIDA Masako 1980 JPN 47:48.6
24 CONFORTOLA Antonella 1975 ITA 47:50.1
25 HENKEL Manuela 1974 GER 48:15.6
26 DAHLBERG Anna 1976 SWE 48:20.9
27 AMMAR Amanda 1986 CAN 48:22.5
28 SKOFTERUD Vibeke W 1980 NOR 48:37.4
29 WAGNER Wendy Kay 1973 USA 48:41.4
30 MISCHOL Seraina 1981 SUI 48:57.9
31 CRAWFORD Chandra 1983 CAN 49:04.6
32 NORGREN Britta 1983 SWE 49:08.0
33 LEONARDI CORTESI Natascia 1971 SUI 49:16.8
34 SONETA Chizuru 1978 JPN 49:22.4
35 ANTONOVA Elena 1971 KAZ 49:43.0
36 WHITCOMB Kate 1980 USA 50:08.4
37 WILLIAMS Lindsey 1984 USA 50:08.4
38 GAIAZOVA Daria 1983 CAN 50:15.5
39 LARSON Abigail 1979 USA 50:20.0
40 WEIER Lindsey 1984 USA 50:40.6
41 CROCKER Alison 1984 USA 51:09.3
42 BENEDICIC Maja 1982 SLO 51:16.2
43 BETCHERMAN Tasha 1974 CAN 51:27.0
44 SWANSON Shayla 1982 CAN 51:45.1
45 REHEMAA Jana 1979 EST 52:39.1
46 WHITTEN Tara 1980 CAN 52:58.7
47 BISSON Christine 1979 CAN 55:56.5