December 05, 2011 (Dusseldorf, Germany) – Canada’s Lenny Valjas and Drew Goldsack bounced back from disappointing results in Saturday’s individual sprint event to earn a solid 5th place finish in Sunday’s men’s team sprint at the World Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Neither managed to qualify in individual sprints, but both brought their “A game” to the scrappy team sprint, missing the podium by just a few seconds. Goldsack and Valjas squeaked into the final as Lucky Losers from the first semi-final and made the most of the opportunity. “Drew and I are so happy with this result!,” Valjas told SkiTrax, “Drew skied amazing all day and really fought hard to keep us in contention. I had so much fun skiing with him today!”

At the front of the race, Russia’s I’s Alexey Petukhov made a bold attack on the final lap as he did in the men’s individual race, but again couldn’t quite hold off the hard-charging Teodor Peterson of Sweden I, who stole the win at the line. Norway I’s Ola Vigen Hattestad, the individual sprint winner, seemed to be feeling the affects of Saturday’s effort, and crossed the line in third.

This result is some much needed solace and affirmation for Goldsack, a two-time Olympian, who returned to the World Cup circuit this fall for the first time in almost two years, as a member of Canada’s “convergence group” of skiers joining the Senior World Cup team for the first period. Goldsack, who has come back from a couple of injury-plagued seasons, is a proven world class competitor, having finished 6th in the team sprint at the 2007 World Championships with Devon Kershaw.

Skiing the lead-off leg, Goldsack skied in control and focused on being patient and avoiding contact with other skiers in traffic: “The plan was just to stay relaxed and stay out of trouble,” he told SkiTrax in a post-race interview, “a lot of skiers waste a lot of energy trying to make moves early on. Len and I just sat in and waited for the later laps to attack. I think we were often at the back of the pack but that was the plan.”

The pace early on was somewhat leisurely, but the stress of all the contact and congestion, and the chaotic exchange zone with 10 racers on the course, made the early laps stressful nonetheless. “The pace wasn’t super hard early on,” Goldsack continued, “but it’s just chaos, people are trying to make passes and everyone is all over everyone else’s skis. The pace may not have been overly hard but the tension is crazy.”

Coming into Sunday’s race, Valjas wasn’t necessarily thinking about getting onto the podium, especially after Saturday’s disappointing qualifier. “Coming into today’s race, my goal was for us to make it to the final,” he told SkiTrax. “It’s not that easy a task with a field of pure sprinters,” he continued, “After we heard the news that we had the third fastest semi out of all the teams, our plans changed. We were now thinking podium. In the final our plan was to take it slow and not get caught up in all the carnage for the first two laps.”

Valjas commented on how slow the pace was early on in the race. “I honestly felt like I was skiing Zone 1 for my first leg, I wasn’t sure if I could snap out of the relaxed state I was in. On my second lap I picked up the pace midway through and started trying to pass a couple teams to get into better position.” Valjas also lauded his teammate’s ability to keep the Canadian duo in the race once the pace accelerated. “On Drew’s last lap he did an amazing job to stay in contact with the leaders.”

Valjas also conceded that there is still some room for improvement in the Canadians’ team sprint performance and that he and Goldsack were fortunate to get away with some mistakes. “Our exchanges were awful in the final, the exchange zone was pure chaos. I almost broke Drew’s pole during one exchange and then I had to slam on the brakes in another exchange so we didn’t miss the tag.”

Valjas alluded that he had more to give on the final lap had he not been slowed by another skier when Russia’s Petukhov launched a decisive attack. “On my final lap I started feeling good out there. I was not able to cover Petukhov’s attack because there was an Austrian skier between us so I followed the Austrian around the final corner and was able to overtake him in the final few meters to claim 5th spot.”

Goldsack will soon return to Canada on a high note, after some disappointing early results, and it seems fitting that his best result so far this season came in the team sprint. “I’m a big fan of the team sprint,” he said, “I have had a lot of success over the years in it and it suits me well, you really need that special mix of sprint and distance ability to do well in the sprint relay.”

The US men’s team of Andy Newell and Skylar Davis, who made his World Cup debut in Dusseldorf, failed to qualify for the final, finishing 14th in their heat and 26th overall.

“The team sprint is always a lot of fun in D-dorf and even though we weren’t fighting for a top spot is was still pretty sweet and it was great experience for Skyler. He’s really comfortable skiing in packs like that and we were able to make some good tags and stay out of trouble,” commented Newell. “This is one of the hardest races fitness wise and Skyler hung in there tough for as long as he could and I was able to put down some of the fastest lap times so I was stoked about that.

For Davis it was great to break WCup ice and ski with the big boys – here’s what he said about his debut in Dusseldorf. “My first world cup was a good experience although I didn’t race the way I would’ve liked. But it’s the first race of the year and my first hard effort on snow so I’m not worried. I’m just trying to enjoy and soak up the whole World Cup experience… and get more time on snow!”

Full men’s final team sprint results HERE.