January 22, 2005 – Beckie Scott continued to lead the way for Canada’s men’s and women’s cross-country skiers after finishing 17th in a World Cup 15 kilometre pursuit race on Saturday in Pragelato, Italy.

The Vermilion, Alta. native who is competing in just her third event of the season, posted a time of 45 minutes 23.0 seconds, nearly 2.5 seconds behind the leading pace.

The women’s pursuit race combines 7.5 kilometres of classic skiing with an additional 7.5 kilometres of skate skiing. Athletes hit a transition area to change equipment at the midpoint of the race while the clock is still running, similar to a triathlon.

While Scott continues to find her elite racing legs in preparation for the 2005 World Championships, two other Canadian women are also striding towards the top of the podium. Scott’s 2002 Olympic teammates, Sara Renner of Canmore, Alta., and Milaine Theriault of St. Quentin, N.B. finished 26th (46:24.5) and 31st (47:17.6) respectively.

Kristin Steira Stoermer of Norway captured top spot on the women’s podium with a time of 42:56.5. Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic was close on her heels taking the silver medal with a time of 42:57.8, while Germany’s Claudia Kuenzel grabbed the bronze medal after crossing the line at 43:04.4.

“It was a fairly good day but ideally we’d like to see Beckie and Sara about five spots higher in the standings right now,” said Dave Wood, head coach, Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team. “Our whole focus is on training and preparing for the World Championships so we’re going to continue working on that. But we’re pleased with where the team is at right now, and it was also nice to see George (Grey) have a stronger race today.”

Canada’s George Grey rebounded to post his best result of the post-holiday break finishing 35th in the men’s 30 kilometre double pursuit. Grey stormed back from 48th position at the mid-way point of the race to finish in the top half of the pack, and as the leading North American athlete, with a time of 1:27:53.4.

Similar to the women, the men’s pursuit combines 15 kilometres of classic and skate skiing. Chris Jeffries of Chelsea, Que. was the only other Canadian male to suit up. Jeffries posted a time of 1:31:11.1 to finish in 53rd place.

Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic was the first man to make his way into the finish area on Saturday. Bauer grabbed the gold medal with a time of 1:22:57.9. Sweden’s Mathias Fredriksson was second at 1:22:58.3, while Kristen Skjeldal of Norway took home the bronze medal with a time of 1:23:03.6.