December 15, 2013 (Davos, Switzerland) – Norway’s Anders Gløersen secured his first victory since 2010 with a bold attack in the final of the men’s 1.5km Sprint FR in Davos today. But the skier that turned the most heads was Martti Jylhae of Finland, the fastest qualifier, who skied with panache yet couldn’t contain Gløersen in the final and settled for second. Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov claimed the final podium spot – it was Jylhae’s and Ustiugov’s first ever World Cup podiums.

For the USA’s Andy Newell, who qualified 12th but was recovering from being sick, it was a frustrating day as he looked smooth and in control in his quarterfinal placing himself at the front as the race wound down. But he couldn’t finish it off seeming to lose steam near the end as the chasers caught and passed him and he ended up fourth in his heat and 17th overall.

“It was a frustrating result today but I’ve been recovering from a cold so I was just happy to have been able to race. I had to take Thursday and Friday completely off trying to shake a head cold which usually isn’t the best preparation… but I felt OK for race day.

“The Davos course is a fast one for sure and I think it pays to be very agressive out there and although there are plenty of chances to pass on the flats the final turns and the fast finishing stretch make it tough to get around people in the last part of the race,”  Newell told Trax post-race.

The crucial part of his heat came on the final big climb where many skiers won, or lost, but Newell came up short as he explained. “I got off to a good start in the quarterfinal and was skiing comfortably. I made a move to the front lapping everyone through the stadium in order to get in a good position for the uphill. My big mistake of the day was not taking the lead over the top of the hill. I think all the US skis were running fast today so I shouldn’t have tried to draft.

“I ended up pulling out on the wrong side of the leader and got a bit pinched on the last corners. In sprint racing sometimes that’s all it takes – I wish I could do it over again. Although I’m not feeling 100% I think I should still have be able to advance. Now I will try to get really healthy and prepare for the classic sprint weekend in Asiago,” he concluded.

Meanwhile the only other North American skier to qualify was Newell’s teammate Simi Hamilton who was happy to back in the mix fighting for the podium.

“I’m fairly happy with the day. Davos has been good to me in the past… it’s a rolling course with good transitions and it’s at altitude. I felt good going into the qualifier and knew that if I focused on skiing relaxed and powerful I’d have a good chance at a decent qualification. I still feel like my gear on the flats is coming along and there’s room for my tempo skiing to improve, but it’s still early in the season and I’m encouraged with how things are progressing at we get closer and closer to the big show,” shared Hamilton

Hamilton was also looking good in his quarter final but as the pace quickened and skiers moved up he found himself out of the running with too much ground to make up as he is still looking for his high gear.

“In my quarter, I got off to a decent start and settled in with the pack in order to conserve as much energy for the two-lap course. I made a bit of a move going up the climb on the first lap, but I kind of got squeezed to the edge and wasn’t able to move up as much as I wanted to. As we lapped thru on the flats, the pace ratcheted up significantly and, like I said earlier, my top gear on that type of terrain is still developing this season and because of that I was unable to make any moves where the course widens and lends itself to that kind of position changes.

“On the second time up the climb, I got kind of squeezed out again but I just focused on skiing extremely hard over the top in hopes of catching a sling shot on the downhill. I was able to make up one place with that tactic, but it wasn’t quite enough to squeeze into the top two in our heat. Again, I wish my top gear on the flats/finishing stretch was there right now so that I could have tried to make one final move in the last 100 meters, but I know that gear will come as we move deeper into the season.

It was great to see such great performances by our women today and Andy looked very strong in his quarter until he had some misfortune in the last 200 meters and lost a little bit of momentum. The energy on the team is great right now and we’re all fired up for Asiago and beyond,” added Hamilton.

For the Canadian squad it was another disappointing day as Alex Harvey was the top qualifier in 45th. While the team is being careful not to come out of the blocks too fast early in the season they expected better results this weekend.

“We were bad today. There is no excuses and no two ways about it, but it was not for lack of trying and the team skiing their butts off,” said Eric de Nys, coach, Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team. “While it doesn’t show in the results, we do feel it is getting better and it is going to take time. It just doesn’t happen overnight.”

With loads of expectations for the nation’s most talented Nordic squad heading into an Olympics, the team is not panicking in its final preparations for Sochi.

“We need to keep in mind what the ultimate goal is and keep building towards it,” said de Nys.”If we can pull a couple of medals out of Sochi in February, nobody will remember the weekend in Davos so we need to be patient and it will come.”

Men’s Qualifications here.
Men’s Final here.