December 12, 2011 (Davos, Switzerland) – Kikkan Randall (USA) and Alexey Petukhov (RUS) completely dominated the Elite fields on Sunday at the Davos World Cup sprints, winning both of their final 1.5km matches by a healthy margin. Led by Devon Kershaw, who placed fourth in the men’s final, Canada had a good day as well with the men’s and women’s teams each firing in synch to put six skiers in the top 30, .

Randall looked to have an extra gear today, attacking on the last climb during both her semi and final races to distance herself from the field, which chased in vain. So powerful was her acceleration in the semi-final that some wondered if she would have anything left in the tank for the final. But Randall, who qualified first, was in a league of her own in Davos as she executed the same move in the final with apparent ease. Following behind her in the final were Russia’s Natalia Matveeva and Norway’s Maiken Falla. World Cup overall leader Marit Bjoergen (NOR), who won in Davos last year, finished 7th on the day.

“I was happy to have some good energy today,” Randall told SkiTrax in a post-race interview, and who felt no ill effects from yesterday’s 15k skate race. “Yesterday was definitely a hard race but if anything I think it just helped me for today.”

Randall also talked about her race tactics and the way she exploited her power to accelerate away from the field on the final climb. “I didn’t expect the move to be quite as decisive as it was, but I knew that that’s usually a strong point for me so when I was in good position coming into the hill each time I took advantage of it.”

Sunday’s win was also a measure of redemption for Randall, who ended up 3rd here last year after being blocked in the final sprint to the line by Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk – a move for which the Polish star was relegated by the race jury. Randall certainly learned from the experience and made sure no one was in a position to repeat such a move on her today: “I knew from last year that I had to take more initiative earlier in the race to get in a better position and I was just happy to be able to do that today.”

With her win Randall solidifies her grip on the World Cup sprint title with 240 points and sits 3rd in the World Cup overall standings, just 18 points out of second place.

USST women’s Coach, Matt Whitcomb, was ecstatic with the weekend’s results. “Our ladies certainly left their mark on Davos, finishing the weekend with 5 top 30s that included a huge win,” he told SkiTrax by email. “If you watched Kikkan’s final today you know what I mean. Over the top of the final climb Kikkan opened up a can and showed us what inspired skiing looks like.”

Canada’s Chandra Crawford put in a strong performance today as well, qualifying 8th and winning her quarter final heat over Bjoergen, before running out of gas and being eliminated in the second semi-final. Crawford finished 9th on the day and now sits in 6th place in the World Cup sprint rankings.

In the men’s final, Petukhov attacked the field early during the second lap and held on to his advantage over the final hill and into the finish. Sweden’s Teodor Peterson out-stretched his teammate Emil Joenssen for second behind Petukhov. Joenssen, last year’s overall Sprint Cup winner, returned to action this weekend after recuperating from a thigh injury.

After a slow start on the World Cup circuit so far, Canada’s Kershaw upped his game with his fourth place finish, and looked capable of a podium after winning his semi-final heat. Kershaw got off to a poor start in the final, however, and had to work to close down a gap right away. After rejoining the pack Kershaw stayed in the mix but couldn’t quite close and had to settle for 4th. Norway’s Petter Northug finished in 5th behind Kershaw.

“For sure it stings being in fourth but it was an amazing result,” said Kershaw in a Cross Country Canada press release. “I felt so amazing in every round and in total control. I just couldn’t find any room in the finals. You can only do what you can do. Cross-country skiing is so hard so finishing fourth out here is amazing.”

Kershaw also commented on the strength of the Canadian team: “We have a super deep team and I think these results speak volumes of our program. Each weekend we have all had a top-five of our own. Hopefully one of us will break through.”

Kershaw’s teammate Alex Harvey also made it into the semi-finals, but was held up in traffic at the final hairpin turn going into the last climb and was eliminated. Harvey finished 9th on the day. “Good sprint day for me!,” Harvey tweeted afterward, “Body felt good after getting sick last weekend! Got tangled up in the semis but happy 9th place!”

Other North Americans did well in Davos too. The USA’s Holly Brooks finished in 23rd in the women’s race, after qualifying in 16th. “We’re obviously fired up by Holly’s 16th place qualification,” said Whitcomb, “but with the way things have been going the word surprised no longer fits. It’s a true testament to hard and smart work done by Holly and her club. As we search the country for the next World Cup skier it’s comforting to know that APU is hard at work milling its current and future generation. We’ve constructed a very positive partnership between their program and our women’s team and we are only getting started.”

Americans Ida Sargent and Sadie Bjornsen were 50th and 52nd respectively in the qualifications. “While I know Sadie and Ida are disappointed to miss on the sprint qualification, there’s no question that these girls are fit for World Cup sprinting,” Whitcomb added, “it’s just going to take a lot of swings before they connect in the qualifications. They know this, and they know we believe in them. These tough days are time well spent.”

Among the other Canadian women racing both Perianne Jones and Dasha Gaiazova of Canada qualified to the quarterfinals but were eliminated in their heats and finished 29th and 30th, respectively.

On the men’s side, top sprinter Andy Newell of the USA qualified a very strong third, but did not advance thru the quarterfinals and finished 16th overall. “I’ve been feeling good so it was nice to see some speed come out in the qualification and to be back up toward the top again,” Newell told SkiTrax by email.

He also explained that he has been experimenting with his tactics in the heats lately: “The heats were similar to last weekend in that I tried to sit back and relax during the majority of the sprint and then attack at the finish. That’s something I’ve really been trying to improve on so I’ve been trying to work on that strategy – unfortunately it’s been close but not close enough at the finish line the last two weekends. I think in the next sprint I will have to go back to my normal type of skiing which is geared toward skiing at the front.”

Simi Hamilton, who had been battling illness since arriving in Scandinavia last month, bounced back into action and missed qualifying by a mere 14 one hundredths of a second, to finish 33rd. US teammates Skylar Davis, Kris Freeman and Lars Flora finished 77th, 85th and 86th, failing to qualify for the heats.

Canada’s Lenny Valjas qualified in 14th in the men’s sprint but was also eliminated in the quarterfinals. Valjas was skiing in a tight group when he went down in traffic at the hairpin turn leading up to the final hill. “Yesterday was a frustrating day,” Valjas told us. “All week, Devon, Alex, and I were feeling really good and knew we had a shot at having a couple of Canadians in the final. My qualifier went well. It was a lung burner because of the altitude and the layout of the course.

“In the quarter final I was exactly where I wanted to be, behind Petukhov and Peterson. I was following them into the hill when a Finnish skier tried to take the corner on the inside where there was no room. His ski ended up tripping me up at a crucial point in the race and I was unable to catch them back.”

FIS XC videos of the women’s final HERE.
FIS XC videos of men’s final HERE.