January 04, 2012 (Toblach, Italy) – Marit Bjoergen of Norway threw down the gauntlet again today, qualifying first as she romped to victory on Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski winning the 1.3km skate freestyle sprint event. The USA’s Kikkan Randall was in control as well putting in a stellar performance but couldn’t catch Bjoergen to take a close second, followed by Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk.

Bjoergen showed her strength earlier in the day, winning the qualification round by a margin of over a second, followed by Krista Lahteenmaki of Finland in second and the USA’s Randall in 3rd. Kowalczyk qualified 11th overall.

In today’s sprint final, Norway’s Marthe Kristoferssen charged to the front on the first lap, but Bjoergen, Randall and Kowalczyk took over on the 2nd lap and easily gapped the other three finalists. Randall, who was skiing in third going into the final climb, attacked up the hill and went by Kowalczyk, but didn’t quite have the jam to reel in Bjoergen.

The other story for the USA today was Holly Brooks’ terrific result. Brooks, who is skiing with broken bones in her left wrist, managed to qualify 28th today and squeak into just her third World Cup sprint quarter-final. While Brooks managed no better than 6th in her heat, she may have established a record as the first competitor to qualify for a sprint heat while nursing a broken wrist!

After today’s stage, Kowalczyk holds onto the overall Tour lead over Bjoergen in second by a paltry 4.8-second margin. Therese Johaug of Norway sits in third, at 2:22.1 behind Bjoergen. Randall has jumped from 7th back into 4th overall and is now roughly 1:18 from a podium position. With today’s 10 bonus seconds Randall also gives herself a bit of a cushion against the likes of Swedes Charlotte Kalla and Lahteenmaki, who are just under 30 seconds behind her in 5th and 6th overall, respectively.

After today’s victory Bjoergen also levels things with Kowalczyk in the Tour de Ski win column, with both now having won 3 stages each.

Women’s Sprint Qualification results HERE.
Women’s Sprint Final results HERE.
Women’s TdS Overall results HERE.