January 28, 2017 (Falun, Sweden) – Canada’s Len Valjas claimed 10th as the top North American in the men’s 1.4km Sprint FR in Falun, Sweden today. Winner, Federico Pellegrino from Italy, won his first free technique sprint since January 2016 by a mere 0.6 seconds over Norway’s Emil Iversen as fellow Norge Sindre Bjoernestad Skar took third at 0.47s back edging out of local favourite Swede, Oskar Svensson.

Andy Newell led the Americans in 16th followed by Simi Hamilton in 18th and Erik Bjornsen in 43rd followed by Canada’s Alex Harvey in 46th. Matt Gelso (USA) was 59th.

After advancing to the semifinal round after a hard-fought effort in the quarters that saw him charge down the finishing stretch into second place on a demanding course that makes you work on the first half and puts an emphasis on tactics heading home. Valjas’ day came to an end after crossing the line fifth in his semifinal. It was his best sprint result of the World Cup season.

“I’m definitely happy with the personal best today,” said Valjas. “I had great skis and I know the fitness is there. Being in the fifth heat in the quarters, I likely could have used about five more minutes of rest time before the next heat, but I can’t complain and have to be happy with a top-10.”

“I definitely felt like I had a little more. I was able to close in the finish, but I just lost a little too much contact with the pack. I had the speed at the finish and felt great. I was really comfortable staying at the back. I thought I could bring it back on the second hill, but I just stayed a little too far back.  I needed to work on my tactics a bit better,” he added.

“Today’s result for me isn’t really good or bad but I’m happy with the way my body is feeling. I think today was the first sprint all year where I felt strong enough to be in the final. It was a tight quarter final and it didn’t shake out that way but my sprint legs are feeling better and better.

“Both in qualification and the quarter finals I felt like I was able to power to the finish better than the last few weeks. We still have a lot of racing left and three good weeks until world champs so I’m encouraged with the direction things are going. It was awesome to see Kikkan [Randall] back in the finals,” commented Newell.

Qualifications here.
Final results here.