December 5, 2009 (Dusseldorf, GER) – Canada’s Chandra Crawford showed once again that she can compete with the best on the world with a 12th place finish today in Dusseldorf World Cup sprints. After finishing 27th in the qualifying round in the morning Crawford was third in her quarter-final heat but still advanced as the two top skiers and the next two fastest times – “lucky losers” – move on to the next round. Crawford was one of the “lucky losers” and made the semis.

However, she was unable to advance to the finals out of the semis and as there is no B final anymore on the World Cup sprint circuit, she was given 12th place based on her qualifying time. With her top-20 performance Crawford met the qualifying standard for Canada’s 2010 Olympic team, confirmed by Team Leader Dave Wood with Marty Hall. (Correction: Crawford has not made Canada’s 2010 Olympic team but rather has met the qualifying standard to be named to the team which will be announced at a later date closer to Games.

“I am super relieved and thrilled that I was able to get my Olympic qualifier,” said Crawford (in a CCC release) who needed a top-20 finish on the World Cup. “It was really close, but I felt pretty relaxed and it was great to have the nerves and adrenaline of racing again.”

“My new boots are great and everything is feeling really good with my ankles so that is a great feeling for me,” said Crawford. “My shape is coming, but I have a long way to go and will keep working on it. I still have 70 days or so of good training and will be working extremely hard.”

Hanna Falk, a 20-year-old from Sweden won the first World Cup of her career beating veterans Marit Bjoergen (Nor) and Pirjo Muranen to the finish. Favorite Petra Majdic did not make it out of the quarterfinal rounds and finished 13th. Kikkan Randall (USA) also had problems in her quarterfinal and finished 28th after qualifying 19th. Perianne Jones from Canada finished 35th narrowly missing the qualifications after posting a time of 1:49.66 – the 30th-place time was 1:49.14.

US top sprinter Randall had an unfortunate crash in her quarterfinal heat. “I think she [Randall] had a bit of bad luck in her quarterfinal. She had a great start out of the gate, skied maybe 20 meters, and then got tangled with another skier and crashed,” said Cross Country Coach Chris Grover (in a USSA release). “For women this is a 900-meter sprint, so if you crash, you’re out. She stood up and fought hard to get back into it, but her quarterfinal field was really strong with a lot of fast ladies, and there was no chance for her to reconnect.”

According to Grover, Randall’s speed is coming along for where she needs to be this season. “Kikkan was moving a little quicker in qualification today and she skied pretty well in that. She still has a little ways to go, but I think the sprint speed is coming right now,” Grover said.

Men’s Race
The favoured Norwegian men’s team was dominant once again with four men in the final. However, the biggest surprise of the day was the win by Alexey Pethukov of Russia. After qualifying 1st in the morning Pethukov was able to out-sprint the Norwegians for the win.

The USA’s Andy Newell had another good day on the World Cup circuit. After qualifying 3rd he just missed making the finals and was given 7th place based on his great qualifying time. Newell is now looking for a place in a final round to have a chance to fight for a podium finish. Fellow American Torin Koos finished 55th and there were no Canadian men in the race.

“It kind of sucks because, again I missed the final. I think I was close in both classic and skate. But I feel like I can do it in both disciplines so I guess that’s a good sign,” said Newell, who finished seventh in a classic sprint in Finland a week ago. According to Newell, the fast course took all of his fitness with no downhill areas to rest. “This course is always really fast. It’s flat, but that actually makes it pretty hard because there is no downhill to rest or anything. You definitely have to be really fit to ski this course fast, so the heats were fast and tough,” Newell said. “I gave it in my first heat and won that and easily advanced to the semifinal. Unfortunately, I crossed the line in seventh in my semi final just a second or two outside the lucky loser position to go into the final.”

Meanwhile team Canada is now at a planned training camp in Livigno, Italy where they’re preparing for the Davos World Cup in Switzerland, Dec. 12-13, and for the upcoming Tour de Ski, which takes place during the holiday season. While on their way to Livigno where snow was apparently sparse they got word that snow was falling during a delay in Zurmat – more welcome good news for the team which is having a rough start to the season following the freak accident to their coach Inge Braten in Kuusamo, Finland, now recovering from surgery to his hip.

Heavy favorite Ola Viggen Hattestad (Nor) was not on form qualifying in 16th and finishing 5th in the final. Anders Gloersson of Norway was 2nd, Erik Bransdahl was 3rd, John Kristian Dahl was 4th and Nikolai Morilov rounded out the field in the final finishing 6th.

On Sunday the sprinters team up for the two-person team sprints. After qualifying in the morning the top six teams of men and women will race three alternating legs each to determine the winner. This is one of the hardest races physically on the World Cup circuit. The Norwegian men and the Russian men look very strong as do the Swedish women with Falk and Ida Ingemarsdotter who finished 4th in the individual race today. They will fight it out with the Norwegian women led by Marit Bjoergen and Celine Brun-Lie who finished 5th today.

Women’s Qualifications here.
Men’s Qualifications here.

Women’s Final here.
Men’s Final here.

Results (brief)

Women

1. Hanna Falke (Swe)
2. Natalia Korosteleva (Rus)
3. Vesna Abjan (Slo)

12. Chandra Crawford (Can)
28. Kikkan Randall (USA)
35. Perianne Jones (Can)

Men

1. Alexey Petukhov (Rus)
2. Anders Gloeersen (Nor)
3. Eirik Brandsal (Nor)

7. Andrew Newell (USA)
55. Torin Koos (USA)