March 15, 2006 (Changchun, China) – Olympian Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) finished third – the first U.S. cross country World Cup podium since 1983 – as the World Cup made its debut Wednesday in a 1K freestyle sprint in this Manchurian city of nearly seven million northeast of Beijing.

Newell led the qualifying and moved through quarterfinals and semis before finishing third behind Swede Thobi Fredriksson, Olympic bronze medalist three weeks ago. Swiss racer Christoph Eigenmann edged Newell by a whisker, almost 23 years to the day from the last U.S. cross country top-3 – March 19, 1983 when Tim Caldwell was second and Bill Koch third in a 30K race (behind another Swede, Gunde Svan) in Anchorage, Alaska.

Norwegian Marit Bjoergen won the women’s sprint with Canadian Beckie Scott second. No U.S. women raced.

For complete results:
www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=18008