December 3, 2009 (Kuusamo, Finland) – The second World Cup weekend is in the books and as I predicted last week we have a completely different set of winners. This was an “all classic” weekend at the Ruka Ski Resort north of Kuusamo in northern Finland and the top classic skiers came out to play.

With round #1 winner in Beitostolen, Norway, Marit Bjoegen (Nor) not racing because she is sick (I hope this won’t be a repeat of previous years), Finland’s Aino Kaisa Saarinen won her first World Cup since winning the classic race in Kuusamo last year. She loves these tracks. Saarinen is a great climber in classic and has the best diagonal stride (male or female) on the World Cup so the big uphill at Kuusamo is perfect for her. She was also 4th in the classic sprints which is another great result for her.

I have always felt that big uphills, especially in classic, are where the Russian skiers shine. These races are no exception. In the 15km for the men they were 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 12th. In the 10km for the women they were 2nd, 5th and 8th. They also had a 3rd place finish in the sprints for the men. The finger pointing last week about the lack of doping controls on the World Cup looked to me like they were directed mostly at the Russians. I think that they might have had a little extra motivation at these races.

The biggest surprise for me was Norwegian Petter Northug’s win in the 15km. He has never really done that well in individual start races, but he is a great climber and he paced the race perfectly to come from way back to win by a little over a second. He will not race in Dusseldorf this weekend but will return to the World Cup in Davos where he has had little success. He told the media after the race in Kuusamo that he hates Davos and is only going there to get some altitude training. He is expecting to lose the yellow jersey as overall leader after that weekend.

Another skier who loves Kuusamo is Kris Freeman. This is the second time he has been in the top five there and it looks like he’s over his early season operation on his shins and has his training dialed in correctly this year. He will be a threat in all of the classic races – but can he do the same in the skating? Watch out for him in Vancouver in the 15km individual classic race.

I don’t think it matters what a sprint course looks like, Ola Viggen Hattestad (Nor) is likely going to win. He dominated every heat including the final and once again NO ONE is close to him in sprint racing. Classic or skating – it doesn’t matter, he is the best by far.

So is the Norwegian men’s sprint team. They were 1st, 2nd and 4th in the final and if Kriukov had not been there for 3rd they would have swept the podium. It would be a major upset if they did not do the same thing in Vancouver in the classic sprints there.

The win by defending World Cup champion, Justina Kowalczyk (Pol) in the women’s sprints was very interesting. This is her first ever win in sprints after a poor race in Beitostolen last week. She said that she did not like the icy conditions in Beitostolen and that the difficult course in Kuusamo suited her much better. She is a very strong skier physically with marginal technique so these harder courses suit her better. She was also 7th in the 10km.

It was a disastrous weekend for the Canadian team. While there are likely a number of reasons why this might happen, I feel that the biggest reason was the fall by Inge Braten. Inge is a great coach and leader and he has the Canadian team believing that they can be successful in Vancouver, especially the women. The shock of his fall and broken hip and the fact that he may not be back for a long time had to have a huge effect their results. The team should just treat the weekend like “a blip, not a rut” and regroup for Dusseldorf. They have had a great year of training and there is no physical or technical reason for them to be so far back. They need to continue to believe in their abilities and remember their past performances.

So the White Circus is off to Dusseldorf where the skating sprinters will shine. I love the World Cup – every week there is something different.