January 23, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – Norway’s young Eirik Brandsdal at 24 years old, won his first individual WCup in Otepaa on Saturday surprising some of the sport’s top sprinters as he bested team mate Ola Vigen Hattestad by a toe, with Russian fast man Nikita Kriukov taking the third spot on the podium.

Sweden was shut out despite having three top guns in the final as Emil Joensson settled for fourth, Daniel Rickardsson was 5th and Jesper Modin finished 6th. The lanky Rickardsson was truly lucky making both the lucky loser cut in the quarters and semis to end up in the final but that’s where his luck ran out. Joensson, who returned to the WCup after being sick, also made the final as a lucky loser, but failed to crack the podium as he tries to regain his form.

In what turned out to be a double poling “sprint fest” with most racers on skate skis, the Swedes looked strong in the final, with Modin active at the front. On the last downhill Joensson took over the lead heading into the finishing straight. But the World Cup sprint leader was spent as Hattestad and Brandsdal, in hot pursuit, overtook him with Brandsdal nipping the veteran Hattestad at the line while Kriukov pipped the tiring Swede for third.

Brandsdal, who had knee surgery seven months ago, qualified 3rd and recently shared the podium with his team sprint partner John Kristian Dahl (Norway II) as they claimed third in the 6×1.6km classic final last weekend in Liberec – Hattestad and Johan Kjoelstad (Norway I) won over Sweden I’s Modin and Mats Larsson in the exciting final match.

“I felt strong all the way. I cannot describe my feelings now,” Brandsdal told FIS XC post-race. “I feel great. It was a close race with Ola. It was very even. I pushed as much as I could and I was lucky to win today. I look now to two important races, which is the Norwegian championships and Rybinsk [WCup].”

Hattestad the top qualifier today was naturally pleased with a 1-2 finish for Norway. “I am really happy for Eirik. He had a lot of problems before the season with his leg. He worked a lot with upper body and improved a lot. Of course I was little bit disappointed that I did not win, but when you look at who beat me it was OK.”

Norwegian stud Petter Northug made it through his quarter final round placing second behind Brandsdal but lost out in the semis as he finished third behind Brandsdal who was bested by Kriukov. Northug echoed fellow Norwegian Marit Bjoergen’s performance in the women’s sprint as both top skiers missed the final.

Canada had four starters lead by Len Valjas who was stymied today placing 31st and missed out in the qualifying round by two tenths of a second. Jesse Cockney was 61st, Michael Somppi was 66th and Graeme Killick placed 69th.

Lenny Valjas
I felt really good today. This was a really nice course for a classic sprint. There were two gradual climbs and a long 250 meter double pole finish. I had good grip for this race but my skis were pretty slow. It was devastated when I looked at the result sheet and saw that I missed the heats by only 0.02 seconds. I am glad that my shape is coming around, I felt so much better than last weekend. I am looking forward to racing fast next weekend at the U23 World Champs. Congrats to Dasha for her top 10 performance today!

Michael Somppi
It wasn’t the best day for me today, but nevertheless it was a great experience. Dasha was amazing to watch, just barely missing out on the final. The course was fun and interesting, looping through the stadium midway with two decent climbs and a bridge crossing.  The temperature was a little cooler than Saturday’s race and the tracks were glazed. My result wasn’t stellar, however I couldn’t realistically expect much more. Saturday’s race was a tough one to recover quickly from and on top of that our team has covered a lot of kilometres this past week traveling from Canada to Finland, then Estonia. This weekend’s World Cup races were more of a learning experience for me and a tune up for the World U23 Championships.  I think they did exactly that.

Jesse Cockney
I felt pretty good during the race but was a bit disappointed with the end result of 61st. Going into that race I really felt like the top half at least was a realistic goal. That being said I am very happy with the chance to get some races in on these courses before the start of the U23 World Championships later this week. This experience should go a long way to being ready for both the 15km skate and classic sprint. Conditions were the same every day, around -7 C with a bit of falling snow and overcast skies. I’m not holding my breath to see the sun until I get back to Alberta.

Canadian Coach Eric de Nys
Lenny skied well and looked snappy but 30 other men were simply a little quicker today. That’s sprinting!  We’ll see great things from him in the future. It’s great experience for the all the guys to be out there.

Qualifications HERE.
Finals HERE.