March 27, 2012 (Craftsbury, Vermont) – Canada’s Chandra Crawford put on a clinic in the women’s 1.6km classic sprint event at the USSA SuperTour Finals today in Craftsbury, Vermont, winning both the qualifier and the final in convincing fashion.

After crushing the field in the morning qualification – her closest rival by nearly 7 seconds was Sadie Bjornsen (APU/USST) – Crawford went on to win the final handily. Young American phenom, Jessie Diggins (CXC/USST) was second, followed by her CXC teammate Jennie Bender.

World Cup overall sprint champion Kikkan Randall (APU/USST), fresh off the plane from competing in the Red Bull Nordix competition in Oslo, Norway, qualified third and finished fourth in today’s final.

Crawford is coming off of one of her most successful seasons yet, finishing 7th in the World Cup sprint rankings. Not previously known for her classic sprinting prowess, Crawford has made major improvements in the discipline this year and recently achieved a personal best in classic sprinting on the World Cup circuit, including making her first final in Drammen, Norway, earlier this month, where she placed 5th.

Crawford is also fresh off a victory in the classic sprint event at the Canadian Championships in Mont Ste. Anne, Quebec, last week.

Randall was upbeat about her return to competing on home soil: “It feels SO good to be back in the US!!,” she told SkiTrax by email earlier today. “You never realize how much you miss it until you come back!!”

“It was great to see everyone today and mix it up out there,” Randall continued, “it’s encouraging to see everyone still fired up at the end of the season and we’ve got many great performances from across the board to celebrate come Saturday!”

Diggins loved the competition as well. “I felt like the qualifier went by a little too fast…I should have pushed harder sooner! But it was amazing to be out racing with such talented women. Chandra blew us all away today, and it was so fun to try to keep up!

“I think everyone’s a little tired for sure, but it’s cool to see such enthusiasm for racing even at the end of the season. The final was really cool because there was such high quality of competition; the bar was up there! It’s always great to get to race with those girls.” she added.

Randall admitted to having caught a cold in transit from Oslo, which affected her somewhat in the early stages of the day. “Unfortunately I picked up a cold last week and woke up today without much of a voice.  I still wanted to give it a try however and was optimistic about my feelings today during the warm-up.  I felt okay in the qualifier but definitely a little heavy after the travel.  The quarterfinals probably felt the worst for me and then I felt a little better in the semi and final.”

Randall also paid tribute to the performance of Crawford, a friend and periodic training partner. “I did some classic intervals with Chandra a few weeks ago and she was on fire. She was super strong in Drammen and Stockholm as well, and it seems she has found another gear in her classic sprinting.

“So it was no surprise that she lit it up out there today. Sadie has also been skiing really strong this last month  and it was great to see her lay down a good one. This all bodes well for our North American Women’s Training Alliance (NAWTA) training camps this summer!”

The US Super Tour Finals competition continues tomorrow with the 6km hill climb competition up Jay Peak.

Qualifications HERE.
Sprint result brackets HERE.