February 5, 2006 (Davos, Switzerland) – In a stunning sequel to last December, Canada’s cross-country ski queens, Sara Renner and Beckie Scott, pulled off one more round of spectacular pre-Olympic results with less than a week to go until the torch is lit to start the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy.

The storybook season of the golden duo continued Sunday during 10-km classic action in Davos, Switzerland, with Renner capturing her second career World Cup silver medal and Olympic champion Scott finishing just seven seconds away from the podium. These triumphs arrived one day after World Cup rookie Chandra Crawford, a 22-year-old native of Canmore, Alta., shocked the competition by hustling to her first career World Cup medal, a bronze, in just her sixth race on the circuit.

“This is just great timing for me with the Olympics less than a week away,” said Renner, 29, who lives in Canmore with her husband, Canadian alpine skier Thomas Grandi. “Plus I also have to keep up with the rookie,” she added, referring to the stellar result her Canmore comrade posted on Saturday.

Sunday’s silver medal victory capped off a stellar campaign for Renner, who served noticed last year that she was a force to be reckoned with by sprinting to a bronze-medal finish at the World Championships in Obertsdorf, Germany. Her most recent result brings her total of World Cup medals this season to three, including two she won on her home snow during World Cup events last December in Vernon, B.C. and Canmore.

“Sara had an incredible performance today, one I would say is certainly as good as she had at the World Championships last year,” said Dave Wood, head coach of one of the strongest cross-country ski squads Canada has ever fielded at the Olympic Games. “It was a huge, huge breakthrough for her.”

Such has been the theme of the pivotal 2005-06 season for Renner, who won her first World Cup medal, a bronze, in the sprint event in Vernon last December. One week later, the hometown heroine teamed up with Scott to claim the silver medal in the classical relay before a wildly cheering throng of supporters in Canmore.

“I’m on my form right now,” said Renner. “The training program and the peaking program that I have are designed for me to ski as fast as possible. I started ahead of all the really big shooters today, and I was getting hints along the way that I was in medal contention. I just charged uphill when I had to and I felt very relaxed going into the race.”

Renner finished the 10-km classic with a time of 28:30.6, just slightly more than 30 seconds off the gold-medal pace set by race winner Virpi Kuitunen of Finland.

Scott, meanwhile, also executed a strong performance that saw the Vermilion, Alta. native finish fourth and only seven seconds shy of the 28:34.9 time recorded by the bronze medal winner, Petra Majdic of Slovakia. In other Canadian results, Crawford finished 50th overall.

In the men’s 15-km classic on Sunday, George Grey, of Rossland, B.C., finished merely seven seconds out of the top-30 and settled for 35th place.

In other Canadian men’s results, Devon Kershaw, of Sudbury, Ont., who was making his first strides back on the World Cup circuit after taking most of the season off with a rib injury, posted a 43rd-place finish, while Chris Jeffries, of Chelsea, Que., finished 59th.

“The guys are moving in the right direction,” said Wood. “George was just a few seconds out of the top-30 today and that shows he’s on the right track.”

Topping the podium in the men’s 15-km was Norway’s Jens Arne Svartedal, while Austria’s Martin Tauber and France’s Vincent Vittoz took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Canada’s elite cross-country ski athletes will next hit the start line in Torino, Italy, with the Olympic Winter Games set to kick off later this week.

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 one million Canadians participating annually.

Complete Results: <http://www.fis-ski.com>

Top-5 Women and Canadian Results:
1. Virpi Kuitunen, FIN
2. Sara Renner, Canmore, Alta., CAN
3. Petra Majdic, SLO
4. Beckie Scott, Vermilion, Alta., CAN
5. Valentina Shevchenko, UKR

Other Canadian Results
50. Chandra Crawford, Canmore, Alta., 50

Top-5 Men and Canadian Results
1. Jens Arne Svartedal, NOR
2. Martin Tauber, AUT
3. Vincent Vittoz, FRA
4. Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset, NOR
5. Mathia Fredricksson, SWE

Canadian Results
35. George Grey, Rossland, B.C.
43. Devon Kershaw, Sudbury, Ont.
59. Chris Jeffries, Chelsea, Que.