January 17, 2010 (Otepaa, Estonia) – Sweden flexed it’s sprint muscles on Sunday as Hanna Falk (SWE) was back on the top spot of the podium in the women’s 1.2km Classic Sprint final while team mate and top qualifier Emil Joensson won the men’s 1.4km race. Canada’s Daria Gaiazova continues to shine placing 12th after qualifying in 10th, while US speedster Andy Newell was 13th in the final following a strong 6th place in the qualifications.

Qualifications
Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) topped the women’s 1.2km Classic Sprint qualifications with a time of 3.13.94 as Canada’s Gaiazova placed 10th in 3:16.20. In the men’s 1.4km event it was Joensson in first with a time of 3:21.72 as the USA’s Newell qualified in 6th with Canada’s Stefan Kuhn in 28th. Sean Crooks (CAN) in 44th, Phil Widmer (CAN) 51st, Brent McMurtry (CAN) in 58th did not advance while Graham Nishikawa (CAN) did not start.

Women’s qualifications here.
Men’s qualifications here.

Women’s final results here.
Men’s final results here.

Results

Women

1. Hanna Falk (SWE)
2. Petra Majdic (SLO)
3. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN)

12. Daria Gaiazova (CAN)

Men

1. Emil Joensson (SWE)
2. Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR)
3. Nikita Kriukov (RUS)

13. Andrew Newell (USA)
29. Stefan Kuhn (CAN)

Qualifications

Women

1. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) 3:13.94
2. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) 3:14.33
3. Marit Bjoergen (NOR) +4.2 3:14.79

10. Daria Gaiazova (CAN) 3:16.20

Men

1. Emil Joensson (SWE) 3:21.72
2. Bjoern Lind (SWE) 3:23.04
3. Lasse Paakkonen (FIN) 3:24.04

6. Andrew Newell (USA) 3:24.27
28. Stefan Kuhn (CAN) 3:28.76
44. Sean Crooks (CAN) 3:31.53
51. Phil Widmer (CAN) 3:34.82
58. Brent McMurtry (CAN) 3:37.78
DNS Graham Nishikawa (CAN)