August 07, 2010 (Wanaka, New Zealand) – Bowing out of Friday’s 10km classic mass start race during the competition at the Waiorau Snow Farm has paid off for Canada’s Chandra Crawford. The 2006 Olympic sprint gold medalist took the win in the women’s 1.6km freestyle sprint event on Saturday amid worsening weather.

The sprint was the second race of the FIS Australia – New Zealand Cup. Crawford skied smart, tactical heats and was able to top Australia’s Esther Bottomley (2nd) and the USA’s Liz Stephen (3rd) in the final. The final was a mirror image of the qualifier, where Stephen had taken the win followed by Bottomley and Crawford.

Crawford’s strongest challenger, the USA’s Kikkan Randall remained off the start list again on Saturday, and will not contest Sunday’s final race. She’s nursing a cold, and plans to take it easy until the team travels home on Monday. That’s likely a smart move for the American sprint queen as soon after she’ll be heading to Southern Ontario for the annual Ontario High-Performance Camp where she’ll be guest coaching along side her husband and decorated former Ontario/ Mono Nordic racer Jeff Ellis.

“For the sprint race, the conditions started out perfect, about -2C and freshly groomed, fast snow,” commented Kikkan Randall . “The course was a bit on the long side at 1.6km but skied fast.”

“In the women’s A final, it was a tactical race,” explained Randall. “Crawford and Bottomley got off to a fast start and then slowed the pace down while skiing side to side. Stephen and Obayashi were trying to get around, but it was a solid block.  When they headed down the hill, Stephen was able to get in the front and she tried to drop the hammer.  But Crawford and Bottomley were able to stay on her heels.  Coming into the finish straight Crawford accelerated for the clear win, Bottomley passed Stephen for 2nd as Stephen hung on for 3rd.”

On the men’s side the final saw a finish-line sprint, with Simi Hamilton (USA) taking the win by inches over fellow American sprinting star Andy Newell. Canada’s Stef Kuhn was 3rd and Alex Harvey (CAN) was 4th in what was, by the time the final rolled around, a serious slog of a heat.

The qualifier, won by Newell earlier in the day, was run in calm, clear weather. That all changed when the clouds rolled in and the snow began to pile up. “As the rounds began, snow started to fall and by midway through the quarterfinals it was snowing pretty hard. Kind of an odd scene for August,” commented Randall.

The heats became quite the strong-man competition as the athletes pushed themselves through the deepening troughs looking not only to win, but also to get the best workout that they could. Friday’s winner Devon Kershaw (Can) chose not to start the Saturday sprints, leaving 5th to team mate Ivan Babikov, who won the B-Final heat.

“The men’s A final was a tactical race,” said Randall. “Lots of accelerations and lead changes. About halfway through Andy Newell took over and tried to make an acceleration to drop the train.  Simi hung with him and they battled down the homestretch. Simi won in a lunge.”

With files from Cross Country Canada

Results

Mens Final

1. Simeon Hamilton (USA)
2. Andrew Newell (USA)
3. Stefan Kuhn (Can)
4. Alex Harvey (Can)

Mens B Final

5. Ivan Babikov (Can)
6. Callum Watson (Aus)
7. Ben Koons (Nzl)
8. Lev Kroit (Rus)

Womens Final

1. Chandra Crawford (Can)
2. Esther Bottomley (Aus)
3. Elizabeth Stephen (USA)
4. Chisa Obayashi (Jpn)

Womens B Final

5. Sarah Murphy (Nzl)
6. Maddy Pfeifer (USA)
7. Yuki Sekiya (Jpn)
8. Chandra Wisneski (USA)

Qualifications

Elite Men

1. Andrew Newell (USA) 03:03.7
2. Simeon Hamilton (USA) 00:04.7
3. Stefan Kuhn (Can) 00:09.1
4. Alex Harvey (Can) 00:10.3
5. Lev Kroit (Rus) 00:11.4
6. Ben Koons (Nzl) 00:14.6
7. Callum Watson (Aus) 00:14.9
8. Ivan Babikov (Can) 00:19.3
9. Pavel Sotskov (USA) 00:20.6
10. Nils Koons (Nzl) 00:21.1
11. Andrew Pohl (Nzl) 00:24.3
12. Justin Fereshetian (USA) 00:28.7
13. Nat Anglem (Nzl) 00:29.4
14. Chris Darlington (Aus) 00:31.9
15. Leon Spiller (Aus) 00:33.5
16. Andrew Nesbitt (USA) 00:42.7
17. Cam Day (Nzl) 01:00.9
18. Cesar Baena (Vza) 01:11.3
19. Paul Richter (Nzl) 01:33.7

Elite Women

1. Elizabeth Stephen (USA) 03:40.4
2. Esther Bottomley (Aus) 00:04.7
3. Chandra Crawford (Can) 00:05.6
4. Chisa Obayashi (Jpn) 00:19.1
5. Sarah Murphy (Nzl) 00:30.8
6. Yuki Sekiya (Jpn) 00:32.4
7. Maddy Pfeifer (USA) 00:33.9
8. Zoe Asher (USA) 00:36.5
9. Chandra Wisneski (USA) 00:39.9
10. SHELBY Aseltine (USA) 00:41.4
11. Belinda Phillips (Aus) 00:54.7
12. Irene Henninger (USA) 00:56.9
13. Jessica Metuzals (Can) 01:12.1
14. Emily Deacon (Nzl) 01:23.0