December 22, 2013 (Asiago, Italy) – Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Anne Kylloenen were on fire on Sunday dominating the women’s 6×1.25km Team Sprint CL for a well-deserved victory winning by a strong 10s-margin over Norway I (Oestberg, Falla) in second with Germany I (Zeller, Herrmann) just behind in third.

(l) Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) and Anne Kylloenen (FIN) © Nordic Focus

Norway 2 claimed 4th and the USA 1’s Kikkan Randall and Sadie Bjornsen won the bunch sprint for 5th. The Americans had two teams in the final – only matched by Norway and Russia – as Ida Sargent and Sophie Caldwell finished 8th on the day.

Kikkan Randall (USA) leads Laurien Van Der Graaff (SUI) © Nordic Focus

Team Canada’s Dasha Gaiazova and Perianne Jones finished 16th and did not make the final. Some observers wondered if Chandra Crawford might have been a better selection to up the Canadian team’s chances to make the final as Jones had only just arrived in Europe and raced her first WCup this season the day before.

Perianne Jones (CAN) © Nordic Focus

Saarinen and Kylloenen established and early lead that they never relinquished and were all smiles at the finish. We caught up with Randall post-race for a brief interview as she packed to begin her holidays… while the team was not in the medal hunt it was still a decent day at the office.

Kikkan Randall Interview

We also caught up with US Head Coach Chris Grover for his assessment of the day and the first period of the season. “I wasn’t in Asiago today so I haven’t seen the race, but I was excited that both of our women’s teams were in the final and in the hunt for the podium. I believe this result today by Sadie and Kikkan ties our best classic Team Sprint  World Cup result from Sochi last season, where Ida and Sadie were also 5th. On the men’s side it looks like both the US and Canada were close to making it to the finals but perhaps suffered from being in a slightly slower semi-final,” Grover told Trax.

(l-r) Sargent, Saarinen, Bjornsen at the front. © Nordic Focus

We wondered it he was satisfied overall with the team’s results and performances to date? “We are feeling very satisfied with where the Team is after Period 1. We were not expecting to be skiing at our fastest entering the season, due to the big training loads that athletes had completed this fall, so we’ve been pleasantly surprised to see such solid results.

“We’re also excited that almost every member of the Team has had some stand-out results already. I’m also really proud of our service and coaching team; they have made great skis each weekend and allowed the athletes to really demonstrate their ability,” commented Grover.

Final podium (l-r) Norway 2nd, Finland 1st, Germany 3rd. © Nordic Focus

He was diplomatic when asked where he would like to see improvements going forward. “There are many things that we are working on but I don’t want to advertise what they are,” he replied.

Going forward Bjornsen, Sargent and Randall are sitting out the Tour de Ski while Caldwell, Newell and Hamilton will complete three or four stages; Noah Hoffman, Liz Stephen and Jessie Diggins plan to complete the Tour while Holly Brooks will play it by ear.

For now it’s time for a well-deserved rest for both camps until the training begins in earnest for the second period. Until then happy holidays.

Full results here.