February 17, 2010 (Whistler, BC) – Everyone at Whistler Olympic Park is praying to the weather gods as the snow here is the consistency of a meltin

g Slushy. Environment Canada is predicting temperatures below zero overnight, but ski base prep will still be critical as predictions are for above zero on race day. The women’s qualification round commences at 10:15am PST, followed by the men’s at 10:40am. By 1:45pm and 1:55pm we will know who the 2010 Olympic Classic Sprint gold medalists are.

Women’s Sprint
Buoyed by Sara Renner’s outstanding performance at the Alberta World Cup in Canmore less than two weeks ago, Canada will be packing the stands and cheering her on. Don’t forget that Renner also won a bronze in this event at the Nordic World Championships in 2005 – the first North

American woman to win a Nordic Worlds medal. The USA’s Kikkan Randall, with sprint gold and silver in freestyle to her name, will also be in the medal hunt. Randall switched from freestyle to classic sprinting in preparation for these Games. She was 26th at last year’s Nordic Worlds in this event.

Both North American women will be facing an amazingly deep and talented field of challengers. World Cup leader Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland has criticized the facility, but won this event at the Alberta World Cup only 10 days ago. Petra Majdic of Slovenia is a top sprinter and is ahead of Kowalczyk in World Cup sprint points as she leads the series. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Virpi Kuitunen and Pirjo Muranen are a Finish strong trio, Marit Bjoergen and Astrid Uhrenholdt Joacobsen are top Norwegian sprinters, while Hanna Falk of Sweden and Russia’s Natalia Korosteleva are also strong contenders for the podium.

Men’s Sprint
The men’s field has all of the top contenders but could yield surprise winners as the field is not as deep as it could be – each country only has four entries as per Olympic specifications. Norway always has strong sprinters with a pedigree of seven gold medals at last year’s Nordic World Championships. Ola Vigen Hattestad leads the team in sprinting, with a very strong Petter Northug right beside him. A marked man in the field is Emil Joensson of Sweden, the prohibitive favourite, who has been on his game since early January at the Tour de Ski. Russia’s Nikita Kriukov and top US sprinter, Andy Newell, are sure to be in the mix for medals – it’s Newell’s time to shine. Look for American Torin Koos and Canada’s Devon Kershaw or Stefan Kuhn to make their mark as well.

Women’s start list
Men’s start list.