January 12, 2010 (Oberwiesenthal, Germany) – Daria “Dasha” Gaiazova (CAN) tested her mettle overseas this past weekend at the FIS Continental Cup in Oberwiesenthal (GER). She won the Freestyle Sprint event on Saturday and came in second in the 10km Classic individual start event on Sunday. Stefan Kuhn (CAN) competed in the men’s sprint and 15km classic events, coming in 19th and 21st

Freestyle Sprints
The Ladies Freestyle Sprint was dominated by Gaizova ahead of Bettina Gruber from Switzerland and Manon Locatelli from France. The best German in the women’s sprint was Denise Herrmann on the fourth place. The Men’s Sprint victory went to Italian Fulvio Scola, his team mate Dietmar Nöckler finished second, and Valerio Leccardi (SUI) took third place. Stefan Kuhn made it to the quarterfinal heats and finished 21st.

Results (A Final)
1. Daria Gaiazova (CAN)
2. Bettina Gruber (SUI)
3. Manon Locatelli (FRA)
4. Denice Herrmann (GER)
5. Anouk Faivre Picon (FRA)
6. Silvana Bucer (SUI)

Women’s results here.

Men’s Results (A final)
1. Fulvio Scola (ITA)
2. Dietmar Noeckler (ITA)
3. Valerio Leccardi (SUI)
4. Nicola Morandini
5. Bernhard Tritscher (AUT)
6. Pierre Guedon (FRA)
21. Stefan Kuhn (CAN)

Men’s results here.

10 km C Women’s and 15 km C Men’s Individual Start
Originally planned as pursuit competitions, they had to be replaced by a 10km and 15km Classic, individual start. Laurance Rochat (SUI) claimed first place finishing 28 sec ahead of Canada’s Gaiazova. Third place went to Switzerland as well – Seraina Mischol was faster by 0.02 sec than the 4th Caroline Weibel from France.

The men’s 15 km Classic race was clearly dominated by team Italy. Dietmar Noeckler proved to be not only good sprinter but as well good distance racer and claimed victory. His colleague from Squadra Azzura, Giovanni Gullo, finished second with time gap of 5.8 sec. Andreas Katz (GER) took the third place finishing 17.4 sec behind the victory time of Noeckler. Stefan Kuhn (CAN) was 19th.

Women
1. Laurence Rochat (SUI) 32.18.0
2. Daria Gaiazova (CAN) +28.1
3. Seraina Mischol (SUI) +40.6
4. Caroline Weibel (FR) +40.8
5. Monique Siegel (GER) +56.5

Women’s results here.

Men
1. Dietmar Noeckler (ITA) 42:14.6
2. Giovanni Gullo (ITA) +5.8
3. Andreas Katz (GER) +17.4
4. Andy Kuehne (GER) +25.9
5. Daniel Yeuilla (ITA) +37.7

19. Stefan Kuhn (CAN) +1:37.9

Men’s results here.