March 05, 2014 (Drammen, Norway) – Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) picked up another win in Drammen today in the men’s FIS World Cup 1.3km CL sprints, directly after teammate Maika Caspersen Falla (NOR) scored victory in the women’s event and now leads the Sprint Cup standings.

Hattestad out-lunges Goldberg ©

Paal Golberg (NOR) finished second, followed by Mailcol Rastelli (ITA) in third, while North Americans Alex Harvey (CAN) and Andy Newell (USA) had tough days, finishing 24th and 25th, respectively.

In the men’s qualifications, Alexander Panzhinskiy (RUS) led a Russian sweep ahead of second place, Anton Gafarov (RUS), and third place qualifier, Nikita Kriukov (RUS). Newell qualified at the top North American in 22nd, with Harvey squeaking through in 28th.

Simi Hamilton (USA), Len Valjas (CAN), Erik Bjornsen (USA), Devon Kershaw (CAN), Reese Hanneman (USA), and Sylvan Ellefsen (USA) did not advance.

Krogh and Brandsdal crash at the start... ©

In quarter final heat number four, Newell skied sixth for most of the race. At one point, he moved up one spot into fifth, but fell back again at the finish to wind up sixth.

“Conditions were pretty good out there today, it was warm and wet but they had salted the course so it set up pretty firm. This made for a lot of double poling and out of the track skiing which is typical for Drammen. I DP’d the qualification and felt pretty good the the times were incredibly tight,” said Newell post-race.

“In the heats I made the decision to use wax in order to kick past the competition on the final 50 meters but it didn’t work out for me. I think I might have used too much energy trying to keep up the with the double-polers and just didn’t have it in the stretch.

“It’s disappointing since this sprint is usually one of my best. We haven’t had a lot of practice recently with classic sprinting so I think things were just a little off with me today. I’ll probably be competing in the 50km this weekend and then getting ready for the World Cup final.

Harvey was up next in heat five, choosing to go without wax. So did Sweden’s Emil Joensson (SWE), who led from the start. Harvey moved from sixth spot into fifth, then sped to third on the long downhill. Coming into the finishing straight, Joennson had the lead and Harvey made a move on the outside, but without wax, he was passed and ended up fifth. Harvey sits 9th in the World Cup sprint ranking and 6th on the overall World Cup standings.

Hattestad (r) battles Goldberg ©

In the semi final, Goldberg and Hattestad went 1-2 to advance to final, with Rastelli making it through as lucky loser. Heat number two of the semi’s saw a big upset as Norway’s Finn Haagen Krogh (NOR) collided with teammate Eirik Brandsdal at the start, with both going down. Brandsdal, who was leading the Sprint Cup coming into Drammen was now in trouble. Joensson won the heat, with Matias Strandvall (FIN) finishing second.

Joensson led out the final heat, followed by Rastelli in second with Hattestad third. The Swede ceded the lead to Goldberg, with Hattestad taking second, and Rastelli third. Joensson’s fast skis helped him move back up into second on the downhill, followed by Strandvall in third, and eventual winner Hattestad fourth.

Suddenly, Joensson and Strandvall collided and crashed in a corner, taking both of them out. Hattestad managed to avoid the carnage and moved around to chase down Goldberg. In the finishing straight, the two Norwegians were neck and neck, with Hattestad taking the win by a boot length with his desperate final lunge and now leads the Sprint Cup with one race left as Brandsdal had one final chance to take back the leader’s jersey in Stockholm, Sweden.

Men’s qualifications here.
Men’s final results here.

Men';s podium (l-r) Golberg 2nd, Hattestad 1st, Rastelli 3rd © Nordic Focus