March 7, 2009 (Lahti, Finland) – Petter Northug (Nor) and Petra Majdic (Slo) won the men’s and women’s World Cup 1.2km Sprints on Saturday in Lahti, Finland. The Norwegian men stormed to victory today while Slovenian Petra Majdic overcame a week of illness to take a close finish over World Champion Arianna Follis (Ita). In the men’s race, Petter Northug (Nor) continued his domination following the Liberec Worlds by unseating his nearly unbeatable team mate, Ola Vigen Hattestad, with a lunge at the line with Russia’s Morilov taking third over a boxed-in Oeystein (“The Sausage”) Petterson. The Norwegian men took five of the top eight places.

In the women’s race, Majdic took an inside line over crowd-favorite Pirjo Muranen from Finland, and left her out of the running for the final sprint and had to settle for third.

The American men qualified three racers for the final heats with Andrew Newell qualifying 7th fastest, Torin Koos 26th and Chris Cook taking the last qualifying spot when Roddy Darragon was disqualified for starting his qualification too early as officials were giving him his countdown. Koos advanced by dominating his quarter-final heat, but was boxed in during his semi-final and ended up 6th in the B-Final after tangling with a Norwegian and getting spun around as he was leading up the final hill. Newell skied strongly in his heat, but got speared by Hattestad’s pole as he tried to go around him into the final hill, losing all of his speed. He sprinted well in the final 100m, but got boxed in to finish 4th in his heat and overall 17th. Cook finished 25th overall after coming up 5th in his quarter-final heat. Canada’s Alex Harvey was the top Canadian today in 35th place.

In the women’s race Canada’s Daria Gaiazova lead the North American charge as the US was out of the running when top US sprinter Kikkan Randall – who has been struggling with sickness since earlier in the week – did not advance placing 49th in the qualifications while Liz Stephen did not start.

The weather continued a stretch of dreary grey around 0 degrees Celsius that has greeted the World Cup Tour since the beginning of the Liberec World Championships three weeks ago. The Lahti course was well-prepared and exciting, but offered many opportunities to lose the race and only a few places where athletes could make up time or position themselves to win. The loop was very similar for both men and women – basically an out-and-back run around a hairpin at the far end, into the stadium, up a short sharp hill with another hairpin, and then a fast downhill into a long corner with a 150m finishing stretch. Many crashes took place on the hill before the finish as racers fought for position.

The snow was a sugary mixture of old, manmade snow mixed with some new snow and the course got very sugary on the corners with an icy deck below, making it difficult to get good edge grip at times. Racing continues Sunday with the freestyle races – 10km for the women, and15km for men. The races will be run on a new 5km loop that features strong climbs that are much harder than previous races here.

Full women’s qualifications here.
Full men’s qualifications here.

Full women’s results here
Full men’s results here

Qualifications

Women

1. Pirjo Muranen (Fin) 2:40.55
2. Petra Majdic (Slo) 2:42.67
3. Virpi Kuitunen (Fin) 2:43.40
4. Vesna Fabjan (Slo) 2:43.62
5. Arianna Follis (Ita) 2:44.62

27. Daria Gaiazova (Can) 2:48.83
49. Kikkan Randall (USA) 2:53.10
DNS Elizabeth Stephen (USA)

Men
1. Eirik Brandsal (Nor) 2:46.69
2. Nikolay Morilov (Rus) 2:47.02
3. Alexey Petukhov (Rus) 2:47.64
4. Kristian Dahl (Nor) 2:48.19
5. Yuichi Onda (Jpn) 2:48.20

7. Andrew Newell (USA) 2:48.32
26. Torin Koos (USA) 2:50.87
30. Chris Cook (USA) 2:51.42
35. Alex Harvey (Can) 2:52.13
41. Devon Kershaw (Can) 2:52.75
68. George Grey (Can) 2:57.41
71. Garrott Kuzzy (USA) 2:57.90
73. David Nighbor (Can) 2:58.81

Finals (brief)

1. Petra Majdic (Slo)
2. Arianna Follis (Ita)
3. Pirjo Muranen (Fin)
4. Vesna Fabjan (Slo)
3. Charlotte Kalla (Swe)

28. Daria Gaiazova (Can)
49. Kikkan Randall (USA)
DNS Elizabeth Stephen (USA)

Men

1. Petter Northug (Nor)
2. Ola Vigen Hattestad (Nor)
3. Nikolay Morilov (Rus)
4. Oeystein Pettersen (Nor)
5. Renato Pasini (Ita)

12. Torin Koos (USA)
17. Andrew Newell (USA)
25. Chris Cook (USA)
35. Alex Harvey (Can)
41. Devon Kershaw (Can)
68. George Grey (Can)
71. Garrott Kuzzy (USA)
73. David Nighbor (Can)