November 20, 2010 (Rovaniemi, Finland) – North Americans had strong showings at the FIS Finnish Cup Rovaniemi Sprints in Finland today, with Chandra Crawford (CAN) and Dasha Gaiazova (CAN) sweeping the top two spots in the women’s 1.3km Classic. In the men’s race won by Vahur Teppan (EST), Canada’s Len Valjas took second spot and Torin Koos (USA) placed fourth. Canada’s Stefan Kuhn was eighth.

Hannah Dreissigacker (USA) qualified in 10th and raced through to the B final, placing eighth overall while team mate Audrey Weber qualified 24th and finished 27th.

In the men’s race, Patrick O’Brien (USA), Torin Koos (USA), Stefan Kuhn (CAN), Frederic Touchette (CAN), Lenard Valjas (CAN), and Phil Widmer (CAN) all qualified for the rounds. Valjas and Koos raced through to the A final, finishing second and fourth, respectively. Kuhn placed second in the B final to take eighth overall.

Starting in a flat stadium, skiers spiralled up and out of the stadium, across a bridge, up a long hill, turned a one-eighty, tucked down the same hill they had just climbed, back across the bridge, looped around the stadium, and crossed a second bridge that led to a flat chute to the finish line.

As is the case in most sprints, there was some bumping of elbows, a couple of broken poles, and an entanglement causing a crash and taking down two skiers. However, for the most part, things seemed to go smoothly and everyone had smiles on their faces at the end of the day.

“I have to confess I see tremendous value in doing races like I did today to get my feet under me before hitting World Cup. I’m very grateful to Louis Bouchard for organizing this trip. Although Dasha [Gaiazova] and I were the only World Cup skiers in the field, it was a good tune up and great to do four rounds of sprinting,” said Crawford.

“I need to build up momentum and race ability after seven months of training since my last race and it’s fun and good for me to feel capable of getting the best out of myself before stepping on to the world stage,” Crawford continued. “So much of being a racer is about doing your absolute best. There’s a lot of satisfaction in knowing you couldn’t have done something any better. To have a few races to get the hang of it all… finding my good race focus, pushing beyond my limits, being efficient with the support staff etc. is really key.”

Tomorrow concludes the Finland trip with a 5/10km classic race (videos coming) – check back tomorrow for an update on the distance races.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

Final

Women 1.3km Classic
1. Chandra Crawford (CAN)
2. Dasha Gaiazova (CAN)
3. Victoria Melina (RUS)

8. Hannah Dreissigacker (USA)
27. Audrey Weber (USA)

Men 1.3km Classic
1. Vahur Teppan (EST)
2. Lenard Valjas (CAN)
3. Vasili Rotchev (RUS)

4. Torin Koos (USA)
8. Stefan Kuhn (CAN)
15. Frederic Touchette (CAN)
18. Patrick O’Brien (USA)
24. Phil Widmer (CAN)