December 18, 2010 (La Clusaz, France) – With every race the headline gets more cliché – Marit Bjoergen Wins Again. The Norwegian racing queen proved once more that she’s neigh untouchable, winning the women’s 15km freestyle at WCup #5 in La Clusaz, France today in sprint to the line over Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk at 1s back. Third went to Bjoergen’s teammate Kristin Stoermer Steira.
“I’m very happy – it is amazing,” Bjoergen told FIS XC after the race. “I have 42 victories, as Bente Skari and I will hopefully beat her. I felt great, my skis were excellent and my shape was very good today. I am also happy for Kristin to be on the podium. She attacked in the uphill in the last lap as well as Kowalczyk and I had to fight hard. We created quite fast a gap on the rest of the field.”
US skiers Liz Stephen and Morgan Arritola both skied to their best-ever World Cup finishes, placing 18th and 19th respectively. Until today, the Stephen’s previous best individual result was 15th in the 15km pursuit at the 2009 Nordic Worlds in Liberec while Arritola racked up a 22nd in the 30km free there. Today’s WCup field was deeper and definitely more challenging.
“I had a tough start but it’s a long race so I stayed calm and increased my pace along the way,” Stephen told SkiTrax. “Morgan had a better start and I was glad to catch up to her – I really enjoyed skiing with her.”
“Liz had a poor start out of the stadium,” said U.S. coach Matt Whitcomb. “She was second to last out of the gates. But when they met up they skied together, pushing each other, as they have done a million times. I am so proud of these gals, most of all they were patient out there, and they worked together.”
The two skied most of the race together, getting split times from their coaches. Towards the end, as the splits were getting lower Stephen said they realized how well they were doing, and upped the pace, shooting for the top 20.
They got it, and the good result came as a relief for Arritola. “I’m really pleased with my result after a rough start to her season,” said Arritola. “It’s good to see the hard work pay off and it feels like I got a money off my back.”
“They had similar results at the World Championships in Liberec, but in a full world cup field with full world cup quotas, this is by far their best,” US top racer Kikkan Randall (who is in Davos and chose to rest today instead of racing) told SkiTrax in an email.
“I knew they had it coming and I’m super stoked for them. I’m also excited to see what Kris [Freeman] can do in the men’s race. Man it’s hard to be sitting on the couch right now!!”
“It was great to see Morgan and Liz work through the field today as teammates,” added Whitcomb. “While they missed the leadership of Kikkan today in the mass start, they stepped up to the plate with a great combination of patience on the flats and aggression on the climbs. They are heading home with some needed confidence after being knocked around a bit last weekend in Davos. It is not always easy as a developing racer on the World Cup, but today they got a taste of progress. A top-20 is a career best for both of these girls on the World Cup, and I’m confident that the ball is just starting to roll.”
No Canadians competed as Chandra Crawford and Daria Gaiazova returned home after Davos. The impressive results made a nice pre-Christmas present for the US girls, who are going home for the holidays before heading to the US Nationals in Maine in the new year.
Full results HERE.