February 17, 2008 (Liberec, Cze) – The men’s and women’s classic team sprint victories went to Norway Sunday while North Americans in the two-skier competition had a tough day at the office and didn’t make finals. The men skied three 1.45km laps apiece in classic technique; the women did two laps apiece. Twenty-nine teams entered the men’s race, 20 in the women’s. Five teams from each of the semifinal rounds moved into finals.

“The guys were close today but just didn’t have quite enough. We may have been a bit tired after yesterday,” said Canadian Head Coach Dave Wood. “It was a tough day but we have a busy schedule coming up so we’ll have to regroup.” U.S. Coach Pete Vordenberg added, “The results are what the results are. Our weaknesses have been further revealed.”

Norway II, comprised of Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Simen Oestensen, chewed its way to the front at the end of each round – fifth, then third and then the winners by four-tenths of a second as Sundby out-sprinted Ville Nousiainen of Finland. The winning time was 21:50.4 with Nousiainen and Sami Jauhojaervi runners-up in 21:50.8. Norway I (john Kristian Dahl and Eldar Roenning) led after two rounds but finished third in 21:55.9

Canada I – Devon Kershaw and Drew Goldsack – was 14th with USA II (Chris Cook and Kris Freeman) 15th and USA I (Torin Koos and Andy Newell) finished 17th. Canada II (Phil Widmer, George Grey) was 27th.

Former sprint world champion Marit Bjoergen and current sprint world champ Astrid Jacobsen turned up the heat in their second round and skied off with an 11.3-second win in the women’s 4×1.45km team sprint. Their winning time was 16:13.6 with Finland I (Aino Kaisa Saarinen and Pirjo Muranen) second in 16:24.9 and Russia I (Evgenia Shapovalova and Natalia Matveeva) in third, another 12 seconds back.

Americans Kikkan Randall and Laura Valaas were 13th while no Canadian women raced.

Results

Women

1. Norway I, 16:13.6
2. Finland I, 16:24.9
3. Russia I, 16:37.1
4. Sweden I, 16:49.6
5. Russia II, 16:58.0

13. USA (Kikkan Randall and Laura Valaas)

Men

1. Norway II, 21:50.4
2. Finland I, 21:50.8
3. Norway I, 21:55.9
4. Russia II, 22:05.0
5. Sweden I, 22:11.7.

14. Can I (Devon Kershaw and Drew Goldsack)
15. USA II (Chris Cook and Kris Freeman)
17. USA I (Torin Koos and Andy Newell)
27. Can II (Phil Widmer and George Grey)

Complete women’s results here.
Complete men’s results here.