December 03, 2011 (Dusseldorf, GER) – The USA’s Kikkan Randall stormed to victory in the women’s 800m freestyle sprint race in Dusseldorf on Saturday, her second trip to the podium in this event in the last two years and her fourth WCup win. Randall took control of the scrappy final in the second half, overtaking Russia’s Natalia Matveeva and Canada’s Chandra Crawford. Matveeva finished second, while Crawford was caught at the line by Switzerland’s Laurien Van der Graaff for third.

In the men’s final, Norway’s Ola Vigen Hattestad took the victory after taking over control of the race from Russia’s Alexey Petukhov, who set a blistering early pace. Hattestad’s Norwegian teammate, Pal Goldberg, finished third. Goldberg was also the top qualifier on the day. The USA’s Andy Newell and Canada’s Devon Kershaw qualified 14th and 15th, respectively, but both were eliminated in the quarterfinal heats. Newell was pipped by Thomas Northug (NOR) at the line settling for third while Kershaw couldn’t quite overtake Federico Pellegrino (ITA) and Nikita Kruikov (RUS) to finish his heat in fourth.

A number of other North American women came close to cracking the top 30 today. Perianne Jones qualified 32nd, a mere 0.2 of second out of the top 30. Teammate Alysson Marshall came in 38th, also less than a second from posting a qualifying time. Dasha Gaiazova was 46th.

Among the US women, Sadie Bjornsen also came close to qualifying with a 34th-place finish. Farther back were Holly Brooks and Ida Sargent in 51st and 52nd respectively.

On the men’s side, Canada’s drew Goldsack and Len Valjas were a little off the pace, finishing in 41st and 42nd, respectively. The only other American male to race was Skylar Davis, who finished 71st. Simi Hamilton, who has been battling illness, did not start this morning.

Tomorrow’s racing in Dusseldorf features the chaotic team sprint event.

Results (brief)

Women
1. Kikkan Randall (USA)
2. Natalia Matveeva (RUS)
3. Laurien Van der Graaff  (SUI)
4. Chandra Crawford (CAN)

Men

1. Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR)
2. Alexey Petukhov (RUS)
3. Pal Goldberg (NOR)

Women’s final results HERE.
Men’s final results HERE.