January 25, 2008 (Canmore, Alta.) – Track conditions had warmed up by the 12:30pm start of the men’s 15km free to make for a fiercely fast race. The afternoon sun shone on the Central Europeans. The powerful Italian team took gold and bronze, the Germans silver, France fourth place, and Italy returned to take the fifth spot.

In his first World Cup victory, Valerio Cheechi won in a time of 36:04:6, 8.3 seconds ahead of Rene Sommerfeldt and 13.2 seconds ahead of countryman Pietro Cottrer Piller. French skier Vicent Vittoz skated to a fourth place finish, 21.5 seconds back, while Giorgio Di Centa also of Italy took the fifth position 28.4 seconds back. Di Centa was only 0.4 seconds out of the fourth spot.

Canadian George Gray duplicated teammate Sara Renner’s 25th position from the morning 1:07.0 minutes back, while USA’s Kris Freeman, who is just getting back on his feet after being ill for several weeks, was 29th, 1:28 minutes back. Canada’s Dave Nighbor placed 33rd, at 1:33 minutes back, while Americans Garrott Kuzzy and Leif-Orin Zimmerman were 34th and 38th, 1:47 minutes back, and 1:55 minutes back.

“I am very happy for today,” said a smiling Cheechi, for whom this was a first time World Cup win. “It was good track, good conditions, good skis. This track is very strong, and Canmore is very beautiful with good people, but very, very cold. I live in Rome—Mediterranean temperatures.”

Cheechi’s father, who was a cross country ski instructor, taught him how to ski, despite the warm climate. At first he loved soccer, but now he says, “Cross country is a beautiful sport for me, for Italy, for my family.” Cheechi, who has had two other podium finishes this season, moved up to 2nd overall in the World Cup rankings. Last year he was injured, and worked very hard all summer to regain his conditioning with coach and legendary Olympic and World Cup skier from the past, Silvio Fauner.

Rene Sommerfeldt of Germany, who was ranked 3rd going into these World Cups, was extremely pleased with his finish. “I was not so lucky with me place in Tuesday’s race,” he said, referring to his 18th spot in 30 km classic/skate pursuit, “So there was something to do today.” He chose not to start too fast because of the “tough tracks”, and was on schedule with a 10th place split time for the first 5 km.

In fact all of the podium finishers chose to ski conservatively in the first third of the race as only Cottrer Piller was in the top three during this time period. Checchi did not make his move in the second lap, moving from the 5th fastest split time to the first. Swedish skier Anders Soedergren, who had the fastest 5km split and the second fastest 10km split, finished in 8th position.

Checchi said is was very important that he stay steady at the same level of intensity for the first part of the race. He also did not want to use up everything before the finish. He also tried to ski relaxed and “save a little conditioning to the end.”

Sommerfeldt says he chose the wrong skis on Tuesday, and was passed frequently on the downhills. Today, not only did he have the right skis, he would have preferred the colder temperatures the women raced in. “I like minus twenty,” he said when asked what conditions he most enjoyed.

Cottrer Piller also praised the condition of the tracks and the course. “It feels like home—like Italy.” But Cottrer Piller was sure it would be his teammate Checchi who would take this race, not himself. “I was so sure already yesterday, I bet on him. Normally I train with him—I see him under my eyes daily. I understand how strong he is.”

The men’s Italian team has a big presence here in the longer distances and Cottrer Piller says that it’s helpful. “We feel easy to say in the group. For that reason I want to thank everyone—for the coaches and technicians.”

Canada’s George Grey was very pleased with his results, despite the challenging course. “Those hills are relentless and I just pushed as hard as I could. I was a little tired today, but anytime you get into the top 30 on the World Cup is a job well done.” Grey was not always pleased with earlier results this season, but says, “Things seem to be turning around here with some strong results in Canmore.”

Top American Kris Freeman has struggled to regain his fitness after being sick for over one month. “It’s one of the hardest courses on the whole circuit, and then add the altitude. It’s the first time I’ve felt half reasonable since December, so a couple of results in the top 30? I’ll take ‘em.”

WCSN is providing on-demand coverage of the race.

Results

1. Valerio Checchi (Ita) 36:04.6
2. Rene Sommerfeldt (Ger) 36:12.9
3. Cottrer Pietro Piller (Ita) 36:17.8
4. Vincent Vittoz (Fra) 36:25.7
5. Centa Giorgio Di (Ita) 36:26.1
6. Marcus Hellner (Swe) 36:33.0 1
7. Milan Sperl (Cze) 36:34.4
8. Anders Soedergren (Swe) 36:36.2
9. Nikolay Pankratov (Rus) 36:38.5
10. Martin Bajcicak (Svk) 36:40.3
11. Tord Asle Gjerdalen (Nor) 36:43.1
12. Ivan Babikov (Rus) 36:43.6
13. Ville Nousiainen (Fin) 36:45.4
14. Johan Olsson (Swe) 36:51.6
15. Alexander Legkov (Rus) 36:53.8
16. Ivan Batory (Svk) 36:54.6
17. Christian Hoffmann (Aut) 36:55.3
18. Martin Koukal (Cze) 36:56.4
19. Jens Filbrich (Ger) 36:56.7
20. Sergei Dolidovich (Blr) 36:57.5
21. Eugeni Dementiev (Rus) 37:00.3
22. Petter Jr. Northug (Nor) 37:01.2
23. Toni Livers (Sui) 37:10.7
24. Axel Teichmann (Ger) 37:11.5
25. George Grey (Can) 37:11.6
26. Fabio Santus (Ita) 37:15.1
27. Emmanuel Jonnier (Fra) 37:24.1
29. 28 Curdin Perl (Sui) 37:26.9
29 Kris Freeman (USA) 37:32.9
30. Lars Berger (Nor) 37:34.7
31. Diego Ruiz (Spa) 37:36.7
32. Roland Clara (Ita) 37:38.8
33 David Nighbor (Can) 37:48.9
34. Garrott Kuzzy (USA) 37:51.7
35. Remo Fischer (Sui) 37:52.1
36. Mats Larsson (Swe) 37:53.7
37. Alexandre Rousselet (Fra) 37:57.7
38 Leif Orin Zimmermann (USA) 38:00.2
39. Tobias Angerer (Ger) 38:05.0
40. Ilia Chernousov (Rus) 38:05.9
41. Jean Marc Gaillard (Fra) 38:07.5
42 Brian Mckeever (Can) 38:09.7
43. Devon Kershaw (Can) 38:18.5
44. James Southam (USA) 38:27.7
45. Vicente Vilarrubla (Spa) 38:35.0
46 Christopher Butler (Can) 38:48.1
47. Dan Roycroft (Can) 38:59.4
48. Robin Mckeever (Can) 39:02.6
49. Lars Flora (USA) 39:03.0
50. Graham Nishikawa (Can) 39:04.6
51. Zack Simons (USA) 39:21.5
52. Vassili Rotchev (Rus) 39:26.7
53. Maxim Vylegzhanin (Rus) 39:29.3
54 Brent Mcmurtry (Can) 39:37.5
55. Michael Sinnott (USA) 39:40.2
56. Chris Jeffries (Can) 39:49.9
57. David Chamberlain (USA) 40:10.5
58. Erik Carleton (Can) 40:13.6
59. Gordon Jewett (Can) 40:15.5
60. Kevin Sandau (Can) 41:41.5