January 12, 2013 (Liberec, CZE) – Teodor Peterson (SWE), the reigning overall Sprint Cup champ, out-lunged his teammate Emil Joennson at the line for the victory in the men’s 1.6km CL sprint in Liberec on Sunday as they chased down PaalGolberg in the finishing straight relegating the Norwegian to third.

American Andy Newell continued his strong classic sprint skiing making the final as a Lucky Loser but the Shaftsbury, VT skier couldn’t muster the necessary zip in the final as he played catch up through the heat with Germany’s Tim Tscharnke ending up 5th on the day. Yet Newell, known for his lightning skate speed, was pleased to see he can make the final in classic sprinting as well.

“Today was a good day and I’m definitely happy to be in the final. It feels good to be at the level where I know I can make the final in both classic and skate sprints, although I was a little disappointed with todays result,” he confided to Trax. “The short women’s course made for some really fast turn arounds for the guys and since I was in the 5th quarter final it was just a little tough to keep catching my breath. I think we only had something like 9 minutes to recover before the A final.”

Newell controlled his quarter final handily winning to advance to the semis where he was in fast company with Peterson and Eirik Brandsdal (NOR). The first semi was faster but several skiers went down in crash on one of the final tough turns allowing Newell and Tscharnke the right of LL passage to the final.

“For sure I’m very confident in my heat skiing right now and being able to control the quarterfinals. My goal was to get out near the front and just make sure I was in good position to really sprint up the last gradual hill and into the stadium… and I think I was able to do that in both my quarter and semi.

“In our semi we had all seen the crash in the previous heat so we knew it was going to be a fight for top 4 and probably a LL so that was my tactic.”

Canada’s Len Valjas, the only other North American to advance to the heats, was the lone male Canuck to take on Liberec after the gruelling Tour de Ski where he delivered the team’s first podium of the season. Valjas took a few days off in Egypt and felt rested on the start line taking advantage of a fast quarter final heat to make the semis as Lucky Loser. But in his semi with Newell the 24-year-old Valjas was not able to able to gain ground a course that didn’t offer many opportunities to pass finishing 1oth overall.

“I’m happy with today’s sprint to make the heats, but it was quite a shock in the qualifier as it’s a long, tough course and the lungs were just destroyed, ” he told Trax post-race. “The quarter final went ok and I was a lucky loser making the semi. I feel like I was missing one gear which is fair after racing the Tour. So overall I’m extremely happy with a 10th place finish.”

Erik Bjornsen, who recently won his first title in the men’s 15km freestyle individual start at the 2013 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships in Soldier Hollow, was stoked to be on the start line in Liberec.

“I felt horrible the first day, but today I felt a lot better. This is just my second day here so considering that I’m happy with the way my body felt in the race. I have been racing at higher altitude all year so it was definitely a different race feeling out there,” said Bjornsen. “I just went out a little harder then I have been and that seemed about right. It’s kind of cool, since I’ve been racing so much lately I don’t really have to worry about try to get stronger, workouts right now are just to get the blood moving.

“I thought it was a solid course nothing to technical, I think I could have maybe skied some transitions from double pole to striding better to take off another couple sections. The techs did a great job with the skis, plenty of kick and glide is hard to compare in a qualifier.”

Bjornsen teams up with Skyler Davis for Sunday’s Team Sprint while Newell and Simi Hamilton will try their luck again. Valjas will be on the sidelines cheering as no other Canadian men are in Liberec.

“Our goal for tomorrow is to make the final. Simi and I weren’t able to do that in the last team sprint but I think we have a top ten in us for sure,” concluded Newell – start list here.

Men’s Qualifications HERE.
Men’s Final HERE.