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Yep, another Nagano Winter Olympic Special

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The Mora Olympic Files

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The Mora Olympic Files

February 3 | February 6 | February 8 | February 9 | February 11
February 12 | February 13 | February 16 | February 17 | February 18
February 19 | February 20 | February 22

Anthony's Link | Paul's Link
Anthony's Email | Paul's Email

Apologies for late updates - problems with the server in Mora. For those who may have sent mail here in the past week, try instead at banooer@altavista.net. So concludes this self indulgent half baked incomplete coverage of the cross country events at the Nagano Winter Olympics. Feel free to write in and express your own opinions.


February 22

The big last event, the Men's 50km skate. Cant be very exciting to watch that event. Strange then how many lights were on between 1 and 3:30am in Mora. After just over two hours and five minutes Björn Daehlie took his third gold medal of the Nagano games just 8 seconds ahead of Sweden's Niklas Jonsson. However the surprise packet for the race was Austrian Christian Hoffmann who led for most of the race and came out of it with the bronze medal.

Hoffmann said after the race that his tactics were to wait for Alsgaard, who started 30 seconds behind him, to come past him and try to hang on. Alsgaard never came, and after 5km Hoffmann caught up to Daehlie and thought what the heck, they both have the same suit, he'll do instead (loosely translated). After the first lap (16 2/3 km), the only other person pushing for the lead was Russian Alexei Prokurorov, usually known for fast finishes not fast starts. Italian Pietro Piller Cotter who had been in third pace and looking strong had suddenly dropped way back - the news came later that he had taken a bad fall and injured his arm. The Dahlie-Hoffmann train took aboard Jonsson, and it soon became apparent that they were moving faster than anyone else in the field, despite Prokurorov hanging on to a 3 second lead at 25km. Daehlie was the one pushing the pace, and the question started to arise - would Hoffmann be able to last the distance. Soon after starting the third and final lap, Hoffmann started to tire and dropped off the back. At the next time split Daehlie had already taken his 30 seconds back and with no-one else moving up, the gold seemed to be his, and for Jonsson the silver if he could ride Daehlie all the way home. However, it was Jonsson who then took up the race to Daehlie. With 3km to go it looked as though Daehlie would hang on, then with 2km left Jonsson broke away. 20m, 50m, 100m, Jonsson quickly extended the lead over a very tired looking Daehlie. Could he possibly make up the 30 seconds he needed to take victory. As Jonsson sprinted for the line, you could just make out Daehlie coming round into the finishing straight. Jonsson posted a time of 2:05:16, the clock ticked down in slow motion and Daehlie collapsed over the line just 8 seconds ahead. Hoffmann, in a fantastic effort for the young 23 year old in his first Olympic games, managed to hold on to third ahead of Prokurorov and Fulvio Valbusa. Take a breath.

Anthony Evans and Paul Gray finished in 48th and 59th place respectively. The highest placed North American was Marcus Nash in 34th place.

Well that's it. 13 days of competition, months of preparation, years of training, and it is difficult now not to feel a little disappointed. Not to take anything away from Paul and Anthony - just qualifying for the Olympics is an achievement in itself. Competing on the world's biggest stage, probably the toughest tracks, and in slow and difficult conditions, it is something just to make it to the finish. However, they know, we all know, that they both are capable of much much more than what the result lists show. Be proud, guys, of what you have achieved, and don't let anyone ever tell you that you are not elite skiers up there with the best of the rest of the world.


February 20

In an exciting finish to the 30km, Russia's Julija Tschepelova came from behind to win the gold medal 10 seconds ahead of Italian Stephania Belmondo. Belmondo started fast and it became soon apparent that Tschepalova was the only one up there with a chance to take her down. Running out of time, got to go.

In case there is no opportunity to post another update before the 50km, go sick Anthony and Paul. No wax problems in this race, get out there and do your best guys. We're all rooting for you.


February 19

Waho, Australia's first medal in skiing! What a fantastic effort from Zali Steggall. Age link | Yahoo link | Nagano link | Nagano profile

Preview for women's 30km skate. Lazutina will be hard to keep out of the medals, in fact Tschepalova, Danilova, Vaelbe, should all be up there. A question mark still hangs over Vaelbe, whether she has fully recovered from the flu and can last the distance. Lets give her the chance and put her down for first Russian. But there is someone else out there who will be more hungry for Olympic gold - Stephania Belmondo. Belmondo to win ahead of Vaelve and Tschepalova. The wild card for the race; Maria Theurl of Austria to take 4th place ahead of Lazutina. Danilova, Switzerland's Brigette Albrecht,Ukraine's Taranenko, Norwegian Elin Nilsen and Italian Sabina Valbusa to make up the res of the top 10.

1 Belmondo
2 Vaelbe
3 Tschepalova
4 Theurl
5 Lazutina
6 Danilova
7 Albrecht
8 Taranenko
9 Nilsen
10 Valbusa

Put a dollar on it and if it comes through send half the earnings to the Kangaroo Hoppet Box 400 Mt Beauty 3699.


February 18

In a finish as spectacular as the same event in 1994, Norway took the gold medal in the Men's 4 by 10km Relay, point 2 of a second ahead of Italy. Finland took bronze.

The race however did not unfold as the Norwegians would have planned. Sture Sivertsen lead for most of the first leg, but then faded uncharacteristically in the last 3km to change in 10th place, over 20 seconds behind Germany and main opposition Italy and Finland. Italian Fulvio Valbusa and Finn Mika Myllylae opened hard to make the most of the break, dragging along Austria and Germany for a while. After 5km as Myllylae started to tire, Valbusa kicked again, leaving Myllylae in no-mans land ahead of a steadily closing Erling Jevne with Russian Prokurorov hanging off his shoulder. Valbusa handed over to Fabio Maj giving Italy a 12 seconds head start from Norway's golden child Björn Dahlie, Russia and Finland exchanging just behind. With Russia and Finland putting up their weakest skiers on the third leg, the cat and mouse game between Norway and Italy began.

Daehlie caught Maj after 3.5 km, and was content to sit behind, as Alsgaard did to him in the 15km pursuit. At 7.0 km Daehlie took the lead and tried to break but Maj stuck to him like a leach. Coming into the final change both Maj and Daehlie almost came to a standstill, neither wishing to force their team mate to start in front for the last 10km. Daehlie broke first and so Thomas Alsgaard lead out for Norway ahead of Sylvio Fauner. The pace was smooth and steady, just enough to keep a one minute buffer ahead of Finland and Jari Isometsae. Both Alsgaard and Fauner had a good record as sprinters, and neither were game enough to try and break the other before the finish and risk losing thier own edge. Alsgaard led until 3km to go, then Fauner took the lead and decided to test him out a little. And so it stayed until the final 200m. Alsgaard drew up along side and it was a head to head flat out sprint for the line. At the last moment Alsgaard threw out his leg in what should become a text book sprint finish and the gold medal went to Norway.

Sweden, anchored home by Henrik Forsberg, overcame a dissapointing start to take out fourth place, 10 seconds behind a cruising Finland. Russia took fifth and Switzerland a surprise sixth.


February 17

Unfortunately the teams for the 4 by 10km Relay aren't up yet, so some speculation here. Norway have to go in favorite, with a likely team of Sivertsen, Jevne, Daehlie, Alsgaard. Is it unbeatable with Alsgaard on the anchor leg? The biggest threat would have to come from Italy. Assuming Piller Cotter or Maj come in for one of the skating legs, a likely team could be Albarello and Valbusa skiing the classic and Fauner to bring it home. Fauner dogged Alsgaard for the last 20km of the world cup in Ramsau and then outsprinted him, but then Alsgaard knew he had the race won. Finland have one weak leg, probably to be taken by Sami Repo. If somehow Kirvesniemi and Repo can hang on, then Myllylae and Isometsae may be strong enough to bring it home. Another option could be for Myllylae to ski classic and leave Repo or someone else for the skate, but that leaves a lot of pressure on the third leg skier to hang onto a most likely going hell for leather Daehlie. A lot will depend on whether the Norwegians push the pace early on and manage to create a break. Anyhow, the safe money would be Norway, Italy, Finland. Going on the tipping record to date, that means Italy will win ahead of Finland.

Other possibilities: Sweden could have been in with a chance if they hadn't been ravaged by the flu early in the games. Jonsson and Elofsson should be strong on the skating legs, but it remains to be seen whether one of Fredriksson, Mogren, and Bergstroem have recovered from illness and can pull a blinder out of nowhere. Russia have barely been sighted in races to date. Austria, even without Botvinov, may well get up for fourth place with Gandler, Stadlober, Urain and Walcher all in exceptional form (enhanced by an in form wax team). Estonia could be up there after the classic legs but lack skaters. Okay, Sweden to outsprint Austria for fourth place. The Germans would be dark that they didn't rate a mention, sorry guys.

Australians, nope sorry, they didn't make the top 6 required for selection. The US should knock off the Canadians, but maybe not much else.


February 16

Technical difficulties (sleeping through the alarm) prevented full viewing of the Women's 4 by 5km relay. There were no real surprise in the first two placings - the Norwegians hung on to the Russians for the classic legs and then the Russians were too strong in the skating legs. All the excitement happened in the fight for third place. Sweden held it after the first leg, then Ukraine after the second leg. Brigette Albrecht hauled Switzerland up to the third position on the third leg, just ahead of Germany and the Czech Republic. On the final leg, in the last 500m, just when it looked like these three countries were going to sprint it out for the bronze medal, along came Stephania Belmondo from nowhere in the Italian blue and white dress. (For those unfortunate enough to be listening to the Eurosport english commentary, Finland was the surprise team to come through into third place. To the commentator: If the Italian suit and Belmondo's distinctive technique are hard to recognise, try reading the number she is wearing.) Belmondo stormed through for bronze two seconds ahead of the Swiss and the Germans.

As for the 15km Pursuit on the weekend, yep Alsgaard pulled out a big one allright. Starting 24 seconds behind Daehlie, for the first 3km Alsgaard seemed content to sit with Smirnov and Myllylae and take in Gandler, and Daehlie extended his lead. Then Captain Eyebrows (nickname from the Rodent files) started the hunt. The first to break was Myllylae. Then Gandler. Then Smirnov. Then the two norwegians were together. Alsgaard had commented earlier that his tactic would be to catch Daehlie and then wait for the sprint, and that was how it went. When they hit the final straight Daehlie didn't have a chance, and Alsgaard claimed his first medal of the Nagano games. Smirnov held on for a well deserved bronze medal, and Italians Fauner and Valbusa came through together for fourth and fifth. Anthony Evans skied a solid race, outsprinting Canadian Chris Blanchard for 55th place. Of note, Niklas Jonsson of Sweden posted the 2nd fastest time for the race, moving up from 25th to10th. Relay preview late tomorrow.


February 13

I've just read a couple of articles from the age Winter Olympic site that I feel require some comment. The first was 'Waxing lyrical about lost chances', by Roy Masters dated Friday 13. Roy may have a valid point about being wary of making excuses for performances. However, most of the examples he referred to are isolated incidents. Waxing is very much a part of cross country skiing, and in difficult conditions it can make a huge difference in performance. There is no doubt that it has played a large part in the results in Hakuba for all teams. This does not alter the fact that the Australian results in the 10km were disappointing. It does, however, offer some explanation as to why the results were disappointing.

It should also be noted that Australia has a wax team of one person compared to other teams of 10 to 20. Not an excuse, an observation.

The other article, 'Seven comes a cropper on the slopes', by Richard Hines dated Thursday 12th, just made me feel a little sick. Okay, it is always the done thing to bag a television coverage of the Winter Olympics, no matter which station has the rights. I haven't seen any of it so I cant comment on whether it has been good or bad. But as surprising as it may seem to Richard Hines, there are people in Australia who are interested in sports other than cricket and football. There are people who would like to hear some commentary from someone who has at least done some research and can make some informed comments. If Richard Hines wants to tell someone about his ignorance of skiing and speed skating, surely he could instead choose his parents or, and he'd probably enjoy it more, just tell it to himself in the mirror.

Pre-view for men's 15km pursuit. Yep, here's some ignorant comments of my own. As hard as it is to come to grips with, Daehlie is unlikely to be beaten in this event. The only serious threat could be Alsgaard if he pulls out a big one, put him in for second anyway. Smirnov and Myllylae to sprint for third. Gandler, well after his 10km he could do anything, count him in on that sprint to. Fauner and Valbusa to move up for 6th and 7th.

It will be hard for Anthony to make any major impact on this pursuit race from 66th place. Just get out there and get back some respect and confidence before the 50km Ant. If Paul starts at all it will only be to bring him up to form for the 50km.

Note - due to technical difficulties, these latest updates may not be uploaded the day they were written. Apologies.


February 12

Difficult waxing conditions again plagued the track at Hakuba. Anthony Evans placed 66th, 3 minutes 48 seconds behind winner Björn Daehlie of Norway. Nobody seemed to have great skis, except maybe the Austrian team, who must have jagged some super wax from somewhere. Even Daehlie slipped 3 or 4 times on camera, and 5th place Alsgaard fell flat on his face coming up to the 6.5 km mark.

Paul Gray's result of 88th place is absolutely not indicative of what he is capable of, but considering his disrupted leadup and only 5 days in Japan, perhaps not too unexpected. It is only hoped that the 10km and the 15km (if indeed he starts) can bring him up to some kind of form for the 50km.

Might as well just give up on tipping the men's races. Daehlie and Myllalae performed, but who could possibly have picked Marcus Gandler to take the silver medal for Austria? Maybe the pursuit will be easier to pick. Results

The women's 10km skating pursuit. The tipping would have been pretty good if Neumannova from the Czech Republic and Taranenko from Ukraine hadn't been completely ignored. The Belmondo-Tschepalova train came through as expected, but Danilova and Taranenko climbed onboard and then proved too strong in the finish. Neumannova messed it with Lazutina until a km and a half to go, and just hung onto 3rd place in the sprint, inbetween Danilova and Taranenko. The final result - four Russians in top 7
1 Lazutina
2 Danilova
3 Neumannova
4 Taranenko
5 Belmondo
6 Tschepalova
7 Gavriluk

Full Results


February 11

The start list is out for the 10km classic tomorrow morning and both Paul Gray and Anthony Evans are on the list. Anthony has number 4 and Paul number 80 in a field of 98. Ahead of Ant are the two strongest skiers from the US Justin Wadsworth and Marcus Nash. The news from Hakuba is that Ant did have bad skis in the 30km, which is good news as it means he could still have his pre-olympic form. The fact that Paul is even starting in the 10km after only four days in Japan is amazing enough. The pressure is now on wax man Christer Skog (also coach, manager, cook, and drinking partner) to come up with the goods in the waxing department. Take two for the first ever Australian top 30.

Well after dipping out badly in the tipping for the 30km (only Myllylae and Jevne finished in the top 5), here goes again for the 10km. Myllylae has to stay as his 30km was sensational, and also Jevne, though he started a little slow. Daehlie stays in as it is not often that he blows it twice in a row. Coming in is dark horse Albarello who started so well in the 30km. Prokurorov is an unknown but proven big time performer. Hmm. What the heck, bring in Valbusa instead as the Italians seem to have been doing well with waxing and maybe Prokurorov was a little sick. Botvinov, where the hell is Botvinov? His continued absence from the start list may be explained by his winning appearance in the Tartu Marathon on the weekend. Is he making too much money from Worldloppet or are the Russian's still refusing to let him start after his 'defection' last year. Interesting to see if Japan's Ebisawa can start fast again after he died big time in the 30km.

1 Myllylae
2 Daehlie
3 Jevne
4 Albarello
5 Valbusa

Sivertsen, Fauner, Prokurorov also strong. Alsgaard bombed out too badly in the 30km. After that statement, he'll probably win.

What a night, men's10km at 1am, women's pursuit at 4am. Time to demonstrate as much ignorance of the women's world cup as possible. Lazutina wont get caught. Gavriljuk Martinsen and Danilova will get together then Martinsen will get spat. Belmondo will come through like a steam train, dragging Tschepalova with her and probably Albrecht for a while. Maybe one of the Norwegians, Mykkelsplass, or Moen-Guidon, can hang in for a top 5 finish, but unlikely. The train will catch Danilova but Gavriljuk will just stay clear for 2nd place. Four Russians in the top 5.

1 Lazutina
2 Gavriljuk
3 Belmondo
4 Tschepalova
5 Danilova

Other big movers in the field to include Maria Theurl, Valbusa, and Villeneuve.


February 9

Who knows what the coverage of the 30km was like in Australia, but in Mora it was shown from start to finish on two channels, choose English or Swedish. Actually the Swedish commentary is better. Anthony was on the screen about 4 times, and looked like he was doing it tough. His glide didn't look good, but it can be hard to tell from the TV. Snow dumped down the entire way through the race. Finland's Mika Myllylae lead from start to finish, no-one else got a look in. Jevne and Fauner both finished strong to take 2nd and 3rd places. It looked as though waxing played a major part, and the Finns and Italians were the one's who got lucky. Daehlie was never in the hunt, finishing 20th, and Alsgaard didn't finish. The surprise packets early on were Italy's Albarello and Japan's Ebisawa. Albarello hung on for 7th place, but Ebisawa hit it big time in the last 5km and dropped out of the top 20. The only Swede to do well was Per Elofsson in 10th place. This is his best classic result in world cup and bodes well for the rest of the Olympics. Botvinov and Prokurorov didn't start. 30km results | Age article

There are quite a lot of articles etc floating around the net. The Yahoo site in particular has interesting stories and XC Ski World is always colourful.

Apologies for no info on the women's 15km classic from Sunday. Unfortunately live coverage at 1am is tough to stay up for every night. Just lucky the official Nagano site put's results up straight away hey.


February 8

Not much to say before Anthony's first race, the 30km classic. No inside information, no last minute words from the Rodent. Maybe start number 36 is lucky as that was his best place in last year's World Championships. The news is Sweden is that 6 of their cross country team are sick. Despite this, two of those reported sick, Forsberg and Håland, are on the start list. Because of Ant's start number he has no chance of meeting skiers on different laps. If (when!) he is skiing well, the only people he should see on the track are people he overtakes.

Finn's hot tips:

1 Jevne
2 Smirnov
3 Daehlie
4 Myllylae
5 Sivertsen

25 The Rodent, yeah he can do it!

Valbusa and Alsgaard should also do well. Alsgaard is not in the top 5 as he is the hot tip for the pursuit.


February 6

Paul Gray late selection for Olympics!!

Well bite our tongues, it is not past the point of no return. The news came through to Paul Gray in Mora late last night, pack your bags and get on a plane.

Paul's preparation has been disrupted slightly and it will be too late for him to be ready for the 30km classic on Monday Feb. 9. How fast Paul acclimatises to Japanese time will determine whether he will start in the 10km classic on Thursday Feb. 12, and the ensuing pursuit next Saturday. There should however be no problems for the 50km skate on the last day of the games.

The rumour from Hakuba is that Anthony has slotted nicely into the time zone and is feeling in great shape. The 30km starts at 9:00 am Japanese time, so for a change it is the Europeans who have to get up in the middle of the night to watch the coverage. Damn.


February 3

By now the news should be well spread that Anthony Evans is the only Australian cross country skier in the team for Nagano. Paul Gray's non-inclusion was very disappointing for the ASI cross country team and no doubt the entire Australian cross country community. Though steps have been taken to appeal this decision, with the Olympics starting in 4 days it is pretty much past the point of no-return. All hopes of Australian success now lie on the shoulders of Anthony Evans.

Anthony has been in fantastic form leading up to these Olympics. His 37th place in the 30km World Cup in Ramsau is Australia's best ever World Cup result. Top 30 in Nagano is a very real possibility, and top 20 is no longer just a wax room dream.

For those wishing to send their support to Anthony in Japan, his email address is:

<0030258@naoc.or.jp>

The cross country events are held in Hakuba, about an hour from Nagano, so it may be likely that Anthony can only access his email when they return to the main athletes village.



XC is the official website of the Skiing Australia Cross Country Committee. It is produced with the assistance of the Australian Sports Commission, the Australian Ski Institute and the Kangaroo Hoppet. The editor can be contacted via hoppet@netc.net.au.