January 21, 2012 – (Otepaa, EST) – Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland was in familiar form in Otepaa as she dominated her heats after qualifying second behind her nemesis Norwegian Marit Bjoergen, and then slammed the door on Bjoergen in the final for her first sprint win in Estonia. Natalia Matveeva, who qualified 4th and showed well in all of her heats, claimed 3rd for Russia.

It was the first time Kowalczyk and Bjoergen had faced off since their monumental Tour de Ski battle. “I like Otepää very much,” said Kowalczyk at the post-race press conference. “I feel like home here it’s an amazing place for me. My shape has been very good. After the Tour de Ski I was only resting in my bed for five days. Now I’m feeling better and better.”

As for the WCup overall battle with Bjoegen…”I’m not thinking about that right now,” said Kowalczyk, “Right now my focus is tomorrow’s race.”

It was a strong day for the North Americans as four advanced to the heats lead by Kikkan Randall (USA) in 7th. Randall was third behind Matveeva and Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg (NOR) but her /4 final was the fastest and and she and Katja Visnar (SLO) advanced to the semis as Lucky Losers.

In her semi Randall lost steam through the heat to finish 5th as Mona-Lisa Malvalehto (FIN) and Matveeva surprised Bjoergen who was leading to take first and second. The fast heat saw Bjoergen make the final as a Lucky Loser as Randall ended up 9th overall.

“My skis were right in there,” Randall told SkiTrax post race. “We went a little lighter on the kick with so much double-poling out there. It was a solid day for me.

“I skied strong through the qualification and quarterfinal but ran out of gas a little bit in the semi-final. Really exciting finishes in all the heats today with such a long finishing stretch.”

For Canada Daria Gaiazova qualified a solid 13th and was leading her quarter final heat but then found herself mid-pack to finish 5th and failed to move on finishing in 17th place.

Bad luck saw Canmore’s Chandra Crawford, who qualified in 24th, in the same quarter final as the USA’s Randall and Ida Sargent. Crawford’s classic skiing continues to improve, and while placing 5th in the heat meant not advancing, she moved up two spots to finish 22nd on the day.

The USA’s Sargent, who continues to make gains as a rookie World Cup skier, advanced to make the heat races again by qualifying 27th. Finishing 6th in her 1/4 final heat she ended up 29th overall.

“I’m feeling good and was really psyched to be in the heats today,” Sargent told us. “I tried to ski relaxed and more smooth in the qualifier and I think that made a big difference. The sprint course wasn’t my favorite because it only has one uphill in it and a lot of double poling at the end. I would have preferred much more striding.”

We asked Sargent what she’d do different in her quarterfinal if she could race it again. “In the quarterfinal I was in the outside lane and in the back after the start. I just stayed behind everyone on the uphill and it didn’t feel that fast to me.  But then when we hit the flats and started double poling everyone took off and I started falling off the pace.

“I was able to catch back up on a short little climb later in the course but then it was a long double pole finish and everyone was really fast!  So if I could do it again, I would try to go for it on the uphill rather than conserving energy for the finish. I’m really excited for tomorrow’s distance race.  I think that course suits me better as it has a lot of climbing.  It’s going to be a really hard race so I’m going to try to pace it well and ski the first lap conservatively.  Should be fun!”

Randall is also looking forward to the 10km CL on Sunday – here’s her strategy. “Go out strong, build a good rhythm and try and hold a strong pace through both laps.  I think it could be a good course for me, I like steeper climbs.”

So does she feel more pressure wearing red leader’s bib…?  “I am really getting quite attached to the red bib and I want to defend it as best as possible,” confided the Sprint WCup leader. “I know to keep it I have to be strong in all of the remaining races. It’s definitely on my mind.”

Women’s Qualifications HERE.
Women’s Final HERE.