January 21, 2013 (La Clusaz, France) – Once again Norway proved unstoppable claiming yet another relay title in the women’s 4x5km race with Finland showing good form in 2nd and Norway II taking third. A fateful day saw Team USA’s podium aspirations quickly undone as their lead-off skier, Holly Brooks, was caught up in a crash just after the start and found herself in 8th by the 1.2km mark.

Decked out in their fashionable knee-high socks, the team that has been turning heads since the start of the season, found themselves in a deep hole from which they would not recover.

“Today was pretty darn tough. Norway and Sweden went down in front of me literally 7 seconds into the race and took me out. It was unavoidable,” explained Brooks. “After the crash we all had to sprint back up to the pack and the pace was a bit too much for me. My body, legs especially, flooded and I had a hard time for the entire race after that.”

The race quickly sorted itself out as France, Finland and Norway I battled for the lead while Russia I chased behind at 21s with Germany, Italy and Sweden in tow. Brooks finally tagged team leader, Kikkan Randall, who was in no man’s land in 9th place. Up ahead Norway’s Therese Johaug caught and dropped Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen to take over the race lead as Germany’s Nicole Fessel caught her French rival, Celia Aymonier, to take over third as Russia I and Norway II  remained in contention with Randall trying in vein to make up ground.

“It was pretty weird to be racing so late in the day.  The sun was out when we arrived at the venue but by race time the clouds had rolled over and the light was super flat, making it hard to see the tracks,” Randall told Trax by email. “The track was more glazed than yesterday which made it another slightly tricky waxing day.  I was very careful with my ski selection today, making sure I had good kick but hoping to avoid the icing from yesterday. My skis ended up being pretty good.

“Holly had some tough luck getting caught up in a fall right after the start and so we came into leg 2 some time behind.  I did my best to try and pull back time to Sweden, Italy and Russia that were just ahead but I basically felt like I was skiing alone.  My body was feeling a little flat already on the first lap and unfortunately I was not able to make up any ground.  I think everyone on our team felt a little bit flat and tired today,” she added.

For the third leg Liz Stephen took over and continued to push hoping to make up ground but it was academic for the USA and many teams. Meanwhile the race for first was getting interesting as Norway’s Kristin Stoermer Steira was chased down and passed by Finland’s Riitta-Liisa Roponen.

“Today didn’t go the way we wanted, but they can’t all be amazing ones and we’ve had a fair share of great ones so far this year already and are hoping for more in the coming month,” shared Stephen. “I am really proud of the effort we put forward today, even though we were behind early on, we all fought as hard as possible and that is something good to take away from today.

“We also all supported each other as much as we do when things are going great and our entire boys team, Sadie and Ida and all our staff were out there cheering their faces off and that was incredible. We have a rad team. Now off to Les Saisies for a week of training before Sochi,” continued the Vermont skier.

As the last leg approached Steira rebounded on the final climb to take over the lead but Roponen was not done yet passing the Norwegian just before the final tag to her teammate Kerttu Niskanen, who quickly had Marit Bjoergen right behind her.

The cat-and-mouse game began but the outcome was foretold as Bjoergen bided her time attacking on the first climb on the second lap and her young rival could not respond – yet silver was a worthy celebration for the Finnish team. Behind Norway II’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen pulled away from France and Sweden to claim the final podium spot.

As noted yesterday the Canadian women were not on the start line as finding a fourth skier was a challenge given the volume of travel involved as all candidates are preparing for the 2013 Nordic Worlds Trials soon up. When dust settled it was time to look ahead to the Sochi World Cup this coming weekend and a chance for an Olympic preview.

“While many teams are heading back to their respective countries for their National Championship races, the US team will head over the mountains to the 1992 Olympic cross-country venue in Les Saisies. We hear the training conditions are great and this should give us a good chance to put in some altitude training before we head to Sochi,” commented Randall. “We hear that many of the top-ranked skiers are not going to Sochi so we are looking forward to the advantage of getting to know the Olympic race trails and getting prepared for just over a year from now.”

Full results HERE.