January 18, 2004 – Canada's Sara Renner is on track towards grabbing her first career World Cup podium after equaling her best ever World Cup result with an eighth-place finish in the one-kilometre sprint on Sunday in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.

“This is my best event, and I'm extremely happy with my performance,” said the Canmore, Alta. native, who also posted a seventh-place finish at last year's World Championships in the sprint. “I just put it all on the line today and realized I have to risk everything if I want to be in contention.”

After completing the individual qualification run in ninth position with a time of 2 minutes 33.45 seconds in a field filled with 60 of the world's top cross-country skiers, just three seconds off the leading mark set by Saturday's bronze medallist, and hometown favourite Katerina Neumannova (2:30.32), Renner advanced into the final round of 16.

The finals have four athletes racing simultaneously around the one-kilometre track, which consisted of hard-packed snow conditions under partly cloudy skies. The top-two athletes in each heat move on until there are four left for the overall final.

Renner, who is often caught in the shadows of Canada's top female cross-country skier, Beckie Scott, battled some heavyweights to claiming her best performance ever. The 27-year-old knocked off Neumannova, the fastest qualifier, in her quarterfinal heat, and was eliminated in the semi-final after being matched against the eventual gold and silver medal winners on the day.

Norway's Marit Bjoergen captured first step on the podium, while two Finnish athletes, Vippi Kuitunen and Pirjo Manninen grabbed second and third.

It was a great day in the Renner household on Sunday. Her husband, 13-time Canadian alpine ski champion Thomas Grandi, also enjoyed his best ever slalom performance, finishing fifth at a World Cup in Switzerland.

“It was an awesome day for both of us,” said Renner, who had a disappointing finish in Saturday's 10-kilometre classic event. “He is winning the results challenge in the house right now, but I told him to watch out because I'm closing in on him.”

Two Canadian men also got exposed to their first World Cup sprint competition of the season. Not known as sprinting specialists, Chris Jeffries, of Chelsea, Que., and George Grey, of Rossland, B.C., capped off a tiring week of travel and getting adjusted to life on the World Cup by finishing 54th and 57th respectively. Jeffries posted a qualification time of 2:21.29, while Grey was 2:21.68. The leading mark was 2:11.84.

Sweden finished one-two on the podium in the men's competition, with Thobias Fredriksson stealing the gold over teammate Peter Larsson. Norway's Haavard Bjerkeli rounded out the top-three.

For complete results of the men's and women's World Cup action, please visit <http://www.fis-ski.com/calendar/event.php?id=12187>.

Beckie Scott, the 2002 Olympic gold medallist remains at home in Bend, Oregan on Sunday, training for the final stretch of the World Cup season. The 29-year-old will rejoin the team next week, and begin competing when the Canadian squad heads to France in two weeks.

Cross Country Canada is the governing body of cross-country skiing in Canada. Its 45,000 members are athletes, coaches and officials, including members of the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team and Canadian Disabled Cross-Country Ski Team. Cross-country skiing is Canada's optimal winter sport and recreational activity with more than two million Canadians participating annually.