December 4, 2008 (Grenoble, France) – Phil Widmer, of Banff, Alta., wasted no time charging ahead of many of the world’s best cross-country ski sprinters during a World Cup tune-up race in Grenoble, France on Thursday. The 25-year-old Widmer, who is emerging into one of the strongest sprint racers on the Canadian squad, finished fifth in the classic sprint race under the lights at the Snow Games in Grenoble.

The USA’s Kikkan Randall – who travelled to Grenoble with the Canadian team – qualified in 3rd place but two falls in the semi’s and in her B-final cost her a spot in the A-final. “I just traveled here with the Canadians and they helped me with wax support”, reports Randall. “It was a sweet venue. Grenoble is trying to win the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics so they’re putting on big winter events to get everyone fired up! Apparently they spent over 1 million Euros on this week’s events.”

The Snow Games is an outdoor winter festival in France which profiles many winter sporting activities including cross-country skiing and snowboarding.

“The track was a 600m flat loop, we raced two laps for each round. Girls went straight to semi-finals, while the men raced full quarter finals. qualified third but fell in both my semi-final and the B final. I think my final place was 8th or 9th,” adds Randall.

“This was a great race for Phil and he took down an extremely strong field,” said Dave Wood, team leader, Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team, who added Widmer qualified 14th for the heats. “He led for most of the final heat and then tightened up in the straightaway and got passed coming home, but this was a very good effort.”

After qualifying within the top-30 for the heats, which consists of six athletes racing head-to-head, Widmer took down many of the world’s best racers including the overall World Cup sprint leader, Ola Vigen Hattestad of Norway.

Norway’s Oeystein Pettersen won the men’s race, while Magda Genuin of Italy took the women’s race. Genuin also won the women’s qualifier.

Three other Canadians also competed on Thursday. Stefan Kuhn, of Canmore, Alta., continues to post strong early season sprint results. Coming off a career-best 15th-place performance last weekend in Finland, Kuhn failed to advance past the first round of the heats after qualifying in 17th spot. Sean Crooks, of Thunder Bay, Ont., came up just shy of qualifying after finishing in 31st.

Perianne Jones, of Almonte, Ont., was the lone Canadian woman in the field and did not advance into the round of 30 after falling in the qualification run. The team will now head to La Clusaz, France for a series of races this weekend.

Full results for women here.
Full results for men here.

Results (brief)

Men

1. Oestein Pettersen, Nor
2. Robin Bryntesson, Nor
3. Martin Jaegar, Sui
4. Roddy Darragon, Fra
5. Phil Widmer, Can
17. Stefan Kuhn, Can
31. Sean Crooks, Can

Women

1. Madga Genuin, Ita
2. Kirsi Peraelae, Fin
3. Mona-Lisa Malvalehto, Fin
4. Elisa Brocard, Ita
5. Bettina Gruber, Sui
14. Perianne Jones, Can