January 10, 2010 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) put in a stunning performance at Sunday’s Stage 8 finale at the Tour de Ski, winning the women’s 9km freestyle race with handicap start and gruelling climb to the top of the Alpe Cermis. Petra Majdic (SLO) started the race with a 31-second lead over Kowalczyk but the Polish star is the stronger climber and fought from the start, closing the gap to 1.3 seconds with less than a kilometer to go, to win by a phenomenal 19.6 seconds and claim the 2010 Overall Tour de Ski trophy.

Kowalczyk was quick to congratulate Majdic. After battling eight stages together over the past 10 days, there’s a tremendous respect between the two competitors.

Italy’s 2010 athlete of the year, Arianna Follis (ITA), started in 3rd place, 56 seconds back and maintained her spot to finishing on the podium at 1:12.1 behind Kowalczyk. Follis was able to stay ahead of Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen who claimed fourth at 1:34.7.

Sara Renner (CAN) started in 17th overall, 5:08 behind the leader, and maintained her position throughout the race, until she was passed in the final kilometer by Svetlana Malahova-Shishkina (KAZ), to finish 18th, at 6:18.4 down on the leader, just ahead of Sabina Valbusa (ITA). Renner had the 24th best time today and maintained her position in 17th overall.

“This race we did today is the most difficult thing anyone can do in the world and I arrived at the finish with no gas left in the tank,” said Renner, who added the final stage modeled the Tour de France in cycling with thousands of spectators ringing bells and blowing horns on the sidelines. “I watched the men’s race and can’t believe the amount of pain on peoples faces. I know mine was the same, but it was pretty spectacular to see it myself.”

The 33-year-old leader of the National Ski Team has been slowly progressing into elite form with just over one month until the start of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Renner posted her best result of the Tour de Ski on Saturday where she was 14th in a 10-kilometre mass start race.

“The result yesterday was really good for me and I have gained a lot of confidence on the Tour that I can ski with the best in the world. I think I needed to do a series of hard races to find that,” said Renner. “I’m excited to go home and I think preparing for the final World Cup and the Olympics in Canmore around my family will be a huge advantage for me.”

The final Stage 8 course runs 7km before the skiers reach the foot of the gondola, where they start an ascent of 450m over 3.5km with an average slope of 13% and “walls” to 28% before they reach end of the gondola, at 1300m altitude.

Like the Alpe d’Huez stage in the Tour de France, there are numerous switchbacks thrown in by the course designers, around fifty gates, depending on snow conditions. “We wanted a trademark event,” said Jurg Capol, director of the Tour de Ski. “We wanted to show that cross-country skiing is hard.”

With files from Cross Country Canada.

Women’s live timed results here.
Women’s Stage 8 Handicap Start full results here.
Women’s Stage 8 Val Climb results here (pdf) or here.
Women’s Final TdS Overall here.

Results (brief)

1. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) 36:45.8
2. Petra Majdic (SLO) +19.6
3. Arianna Follis (ITA) +1:12.1
4. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) +1:34.7
5. Kristin Stoermer Steira (NOR) +2:08.0

17. Sara Renner (CAN) +6:18.4

Final Overall

1. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) 2:37:54.5
2. Petra Majdic (SLO) +19.2
3. Arianna Follis (ITA) +1:12.2
4. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) +1:34.7
5. Kristin Stoermer Steira (NOR) +2:08.1

17. Sara Renner (CAN) +6:18.0