December 26, 2009 (Barrie, ON) – The early season Viessmann FIS XC World Cups are over and it’s time for a mid-term report card for the international ski teams competing on the circuit. These are my opinion of course, and I would love to hear from you how you feel that the teams have done.

Norway – A
Petter Northug and Marit Bjoergen have multiple wins this season so far and the men’s sprint team has been dominant. But the rest of the cross-country team has been mediocre. Ronny Hafsass, a biathlete has decided to switch to cross-country so this should help. Too bad there are no female biathletes that can switch over too. Vikebe Skofterud had one good result but they need help in both distance and sprint on the female side.

Russia – A-
The Russians have shown strength and depth in all areas – classic, skate, distance and sprint. [Alexander] Leghov and [Maxim] Vylegzhanin are 3rd and 5th on the World Cup from distance races and [Alexey] Petukhov is 6th overall from sprint racing. [Irina] Khazova and [Natalia] Korosteleva are 6th and 7th from distance races. The only place that they show weakness is in women’s sprint races where they miss [Natalia] Matveeva who has just been banned for two years for doping.

Sweden – A-
This has been the big surprise team for me. Charlotte Kalla is back and has been joined on the podium by Anna Haag and Hanna Falk who won her first WCup in Dusseldorf. Lina Andersson and Ida Ingemarsdotter have also been strong. The men have been led by Marcus Hellner and Jesper Modin but Emil Joensson and Bjorn Lind have done poorly – Joensson has an injury and Lind is just not very fast.

United States – B-
Kris Freeman has had a very solid start to the season with a number of top 10’s. He is 9th overall in the WCup distance standings. The biggest surprise for me is his career-best 7th place result in Davos in the 15km skating race. Last year he had to stop skating because of compartment syndrome, but it appears that the operation he had in the spring was successful and he can skate again without pain. A diabetic, he had a blood sugar problem in the 30km classic distance race in Rogla and had to drop out. Andrew Newell had a number of top 10s in sprints and was the top qualifier twice. Kikkan Randall is the only other skier to have any good results with a top 10 in Davos in the sprints and stronger distance placings. The rest of the team is improving but is still well down on the results list.

Finland – B –
Matti Heikkinen is 3rd in the overall distance rankings and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen is 4th overall for the women but after that the Finns have shown no depth. Riitta-Liisa Roponen has had some good results but two-time World Cup overall champion Virpi Kuitunen has disappeared. She is hoping to do better at the Tour de Ski but her confidence appears shaken. Without her the Finnish team will have a very hard time defending their World Championship relay win in Vancouver. The men’s team has also been far back in the results and will need to ski faster if they want any podiums.

France – B-
This is another surprise team – at least for the men. They had five in the top 8 in Davos and Vincent Vittoz was on the podium in Beitostolen at the first WCup race of the year. Their women’s team is not very good and besides Cyril Miranda they have no sprinters. Maybe the race in Davos was a “waxing” race and they got lucky, but they were very fast that day and showed a lot of promise.

Italy – C+
Both the men’s and the women’s team have had mediocre results so far this year. This seems to be a pattern for this team in Olympic years. Marianna Longa and Arianna Follis have had decent results for the women. Giorgio di Centa had one good result for the men but Pietro Piller-Cottrer is not on the charts after winning the overall WCup distance title last year.

Canada – C-
The Canadians recovered somewhat from the debacle in Kuusamo, Finland and coach [Inge] Braten’s freak accident, but their results so far have not lived up to expectations or their results from last year. Devon Kershaw has the only top 10 with a 9th place in Davos. Alex Harvey looked good in Rogla in the mass start 30km where he won a prime and finished 22nd. He was the only one to race, though. Chandra Crawford made the Olympic qualifying standard with her 12th place in Dusseldorf. Sara Renner has been consistently in the top 30 but this is not good enough for a team that is supposed to help Canada to “Own the Podium” in Vancouver. Losing Braten has been a blow to the team. Let’s hope he can be back soon to help them with the final push.

Estonia – D+
Kristina Smigun-Vaehi is the only one who has skied well in any races so far this year. I wonder if Andrus Veerpalu and Jaak Mae will do what they have done in the past and peak at just the right time for the Olympics or are they finally feeling their age?

Czech Republic – D-
A year after holding the Nordic World Championships where they won only one medal and two years after Lukas Bauer won the overall distance World Cup the Czechs have been terrible so far this winter. They have no women in the top 75 and Martin Koukal is the best man at 41st. Bauer sits in 60th overall.