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Day 7 (last day)
Men's 50km Classic - Full results
Mika Myllylae from Finland made a mockery of reports that he wasn't going to start in the 50km by winning it convincingly. Myllylae's three gold medals and one silver is the best male indivivual performance ever in a World Championship or Olympics. (Note that Vladimir Smirnov had three gold medals and one bronze in Thunder Bay 1995, and that Elena Välbe took home five gold medals (one for the relay) from Trondheim 1997.
So Myllylae started but some of the Norwegians were not so lucky with their health. Daehlie apparently developed some minor lung infection and withdrew his name from the start list, while Bjervig, Jevne and Hjelmeset picked up the stomach bug which kept Martensen out of the 30km. Of these Bjervig was worst and pulled out, but Jevne and Hjelmeset graced the start line, despite Hjelmeset having a few multicolour yawns and trouble eating the day before. Frode Estil, who missed the 10km due to illness, took up one of the spare Norwegian places, along with Kristen Skjeldal.
The biggest surprise packet for the day was Andrus Veerpalu from Estonia. Veerpalu, who's previous best world cup result was a 6th place in a 30km classic last year, had start number 3 and quickly became the benchmark for the seeded skiers starting nearly 15 minutes later. Start number 6 Villisov from Russia was also up rubbing shoulders with the more favoured skiers from early on. When all the skiers had passed through 7.5km Myllylae held a small lead over Hjelmeset, with Botvinov (RUS) 3rd, Veerpalu 4th, Stadlober (AUT) 5th, Skjeldal 6th, Villisov 7th, Valbusa (ITA) 8th, and Fabio Maj (ITA) 9th. Jevne had already been overtaken by Maj and pulled out before the end of the first lap. Prokurorov (RUS) was also well off the pace, but not as much as Niklas Jonsson (SWE), 56 seconds behind after 7.5km.
Veerpalu continued to ski strongly and to much amazement took the lead from Myllylae by half a second at the 23.4km mark. Stadlober, Botvinov and Hjelmeset seemed to swap around for a while in the next three places, perhaps due to better wax on different sections of the 12.5km loop. For others the luck of the draw started to play a part. Myllylae picked up both Maj(started 1:30 ahead) and Jonsson(2:30), Stadlober picked up Fredriksson (1:00), and Hjelmeset picked up Estil(1:00). At the 30km mark Myllylae was back in the lead 8 seconds up on Veerpalu, Botvinov 3rd, Hjelmeset 4th, Stadlober 5th, Villisov picking up a bit in 6th, Skjeldal 7th, Maj 8th, Estil climbing up to 9th and Jonsson now up to 12th.
After three laps (37.5km) a lot of people started to look tired. Maj fell off Myllylae, Estil skied away from Hjelmeset, Stadlober took a bit of rest behind Valbusa who started 2 and a half minutes ahead. Even Myllylae pulled in behind Jonsson for a while. From nowhere Bergström jumped up into 7th ahead of Skjeldal. Veerpalu continued to look strong, still within 10 seconds of Myllylae, and Villisov moved up to 5th ahead of Stadlober. Botvinov remained in 3rd. A few kilometres later it was clear that Hjelmeset had run his race and was dropping quickly. Jonsson on the other hand was riding the Myllylae train and steadily climbing.
From then on nothing much changed. Myllylae finally managed to pick up a little time on Veerpalu, and went on to win by 32 seconds. Jonsson rode Myllylae all the way in and up to 4th place, Botvinov claiming his first individual medal in a major championship after many 4th places. Stadlober found a little something and came up for 5th, Skjeldal the first Norwegian with 6th, Villisov finally tiring and dropping to 7th place. Estil 8th, Bergström losing a lot of time in the last few km to take 9th. Hjelmeset absolutely stuffed crawled (not quite literally) in for 28th or 29th.
At the end of the broadcast there were still 10 or 15 skiers left to finish. No sign was seen of Ben Derrick, however Justin Wadsworth from the USA was sitting pretty in 25th place, up into world cup points again at last. Yeehaa Whitey.
Thanks for coming. It's not always the easiest to report on a event via television, especially when you're doing your tipping the night before without a start list. If you've got any comments feel free to send them in to "banooer@hotmail.com" Bye now.
Women 30km Classic - Full results
Could it be possible, no individual gold medals for the Russian team in Ramsau 1999. Nope, Larissa Lazutina comes up with the goods in the 30km classic, leading at every major time check and taking the gold over a minute and half before team-mate Danilova.
Notably a few of the guns were absent from the start list. Favourite Bente Martensen picked up the stomach virus that was going round and was up until 11pm the night before tossing her bickies. She slept okay and was feeling okay in the morning, but wisely chose not to start. Katerina Neumannova decided to skip her least favourite distance and go home. Gavriljuk, who knows, maybe she was just giving relatively unknown team-mate Baranova a chance to start.
At the first minor time check at 1.5km it was Baranova who lead the field, one tenth of a second ahead of Lazutina. Ordina opened strong just a few seconds off the pace, though it seemed she was having some wax problems. However not as much as Belmondo, who seemed to be struggling and had already lost 16 seconds. Danilova, Nageijkina, Taranenko, Paruzzi, Smigun, looked like names to be reckoned with.
Apologies for the next 25km as the Tjej-Vasa was on in Mora and who can resist a chance to see six or seven thousand women battling it out over 30km. For those interested, Elin Ek of Sweden won in a sprint ahead of junior Swede Karin Holmberg and Norwegian Guri Knotten.
Race resumed at 26.3km mark. Ordina has disappeared and no-one's telling where she went. 1998 World Junior Champion from Norway Hilde Glömsaas has the early lead. Smigun comes through to take a clear lead, followed only 10 seconds after by Lazutina who started 2 minutes behind. Danilova takes a clear second place. Aparently Baranova was close to Smigun at the last change but now she is tiring. Taranenko has been steadily moving up and now has 5th. Nageijkina is also gaining on Smigun and is now only 17 seconds down.
Glömsaas' time lasts a long time at the finish and she ends up in 7th place, first Norwegian. Smigun gives it all in the last few km and crosses the line 6 seconds ahead of Lazutina, who waves to the crowd as she knows she has it easily won. Danilova too takes a comfortable 2nd place. The biggest surprise is perhaps Sinkevitch from Belarus (White Russia) who finishes strong for 6th place, not long behind Taranenko. Nageijkina gives it her best but fails to pick up the last 10 seconds on Smigun and ends up 4th, perhaps finishing her career without an individual medal at a major championship. Baranova 8th, Theurl 9th, Paruzzi 10th. So ends the women's races at the 1999 World Championships.
Other places were not yet available, you'll have to check the official sites.
Day 5 (race day 5)
Men's 4 by 10km relay - Full results
Yeehaa, what a fantastic finish. My legs are still shaking. Once again the men's relay has come down to a sprint in a major competition, and this time Austria is the triumphant winner. Christian Hoffmann outsprinted Norwegian Thomas Alsgaard to give Austria their first ever relay gold and indeed their first relay medal since 1933.
It was a fantastic team effort from the Austrians, who had set their sights on a World Championship relay gold all season, and had the lead at every change. Here follows a race summary as seen on Swedish TV.
First leg: Norway opted for Espen Bjervig on the first leg over surprise 10km classic bronze medal winner Odd-Björn Hjelmeset. Other starters included Di Centa (ITA), Gandler (AUT), Ivanov (RUS), Kirvesniemi (FIN), Bergström (SWE), Schluetter (GER), Batori (SVK), Bauer (CZE) and Veerpalu (EST). No Canadian or US teams in the competition. A pack soon formed with all of these skiers, Bergström having the most problems with wax and bobbing like a yo-yo at the back. Early in the second lap Bergström lost complete contact, followed soon after by Kirvesniemi. Gandler did a lot of the leading, but then Batori came forward and picked up the pace. Italy and Russia were the next to drop off, and when Batori broke clear only Gandler was able to follow, and he kept the pace going when Batori started to slow. The only one able to bridge the gap was Veepalu. At the change, the gap from these three skiers back to Norway and Germany was 18 seconds, the rest of the group spread out back to Finland in 9th place, 37 seconds back. Sweden? Over a minute back and effectively out of the race.
Second leg: Stadlober (AUT) dragged Slovakia and Estonia along for 3.4 km and then left them to work their way back down the field. Jevne (NOR) and Teichmann (GER) stayed roughly the same distance behind until Stadlober picked up the pace on the second lap. Behind them Myllylae (FIN) and Valbusa (ITA) caught up to Prokurorov (RUS), however it soon became apparent that Myllylae was suffering. A few km into the second lap Valbusa caught Norway and Germany, junior Axel Teichmann doing a very fine job sitting behind Jevne. By the 8km mark Prokurorov joined them as well. At the change, Austria's lead was 31 seconds, ahead of Norway, Germany, Russia, Italy a few seconds back, Finland in 6th, 46seconds behind.
Third leg: The tension began to mount. Would Daehlie (NOR) be able to hunt down Botvinov (AUT). When Daehlie broke away from his pack of four, Maj (ITA) tried to go with him, but was at the back and never quite got into contact. After 1.8km Daehlie had taken in 5 seconds on Botvinov, and 8 seconds behind him Maj lead Krianin (RUS) and Neuber (GER). Repo, Finland's weakest link, a further 21 seconds behind. For the first lap Daehlie continued to pick up seconds on Botvinov, but then Botvinov turned things round and took his lead back out to 30 seconds at 8.4km. Then disaster struck. Botvinov fell on a downhill, broke a pole and undid the strap on his boot. He quickly received a new pole, but by the time he got going again he had lost nearly 20 seconds. The boot remained undone at the change, and Austria lead with just 10 seconds from Norway. Italy finally got away from Germany in the last few km and changed in third place, while Russia faded badly Russia dropped to 6th place behind Finland.
Fourth leg: With a 30 second lead Hoffmann (AUT) might have some chance against Alsgaard (NOR). But with a 10 second lead things looked grim (Considering that Alsgaard took in 57 seconds on the field to win in the 15km pursuit). For the other placings it didn't look as though things were going to change, except for Sweden moving up past Russia. With his seemingly effortless technique Alsgaard pulled in behind Hoffmann after 3km. The question would be whether Alsgaard would try to break away before the finish, or wait and count on his sprint. Hoffmann had proven himself to be no mean sprinter himself in sprint competitions, but it can be a different story to sprint at the end of 10km.
Alsgaard said no thanks to Hoffmann's offer to take the lead on the
first lap, but took the lead anyway as they came through for the second
lap. Mind you, Hoffmann nearly stopped, and the pace Alsgaard set seemed
pretty cruisy. What do you think Alsgaard will do, Bjorn Daehlie is asked
in the background. He might try and ski away on the hills, said Daehlie.
The pace picked up enough that the two leaders stopped losing time to the
skiers behind them, but otherwise. The crowd is deafening on the side of
the track, HOFFMANN, HOFFMANN, HOFFMANN! If there was any doubt that Alsgaard
was waiting for the sprint, there was none after Alsgaard pulled to the
side at 8.5km and ushered Hoffmann through. Pretty damn confident he seemed.
Under the bridge and in towards the stadium Alsgaard skied on Hoffmann's
skis a little, and prepared himself for the sprint. Hoffmann too seemed
to take a deep breath and free skated for a bit. They swung into the final
straight. Hoffmann chose the middle lane so Alsgaard was forced wide into
the outside lane. They sprint like mad. Hoffmann holds ground. Hoffmann
holds ground. Hoffman lunges for the line and wins by 0.2 of a second.
The crowd and the Austrian team go wild. Italy takes bronze, Germany a
great effort for a surprise 4th place ahead of Finland.
Breakdown of each leg
Leg 1:
1 AUT 24.21.7 2 EST +0.3 3 SVK +1.6 4 NOR +17.6 5 GER +18.0 6 RUS +24.1 7 CZE +30.1 8 ITA +32.0 9 FIN +37.3 10 KAZ ? 11 SWE +1.03 |
Leg 2:
1 AUT 48.32.5 2 NOR +31.3 3 GER ? 4 RUS ? 5 ITA +35.8 6 FIN +46.1 7 SVK ? |
Leg 3:
1 AUT ?? 2 NOR +10.4 3 ITA +54.5 4 GER +1.02.7 5 FIN +1.27.6 6 RUS +1.55 7 SWE +2.05? |
Leg 4:
1 AUT ?? 2 NOR +0.2 3 ITA +1.30.6 4 GER +1.46.4 5 FIN +1.48.8 6 SWE +2.43.4 7 RUS +2.58.1 8 CZE ? 9 SUI ? 10 EST ? 11 SVK ? 12 KAZ ? 13 BLS ? 14 JAP ? 15 FRA ? |
The Fabio Maj Fan Club. Apparently Maj is idolised by the rest of his team. As Italy came in towards the finish and a bronze medal, SilvioFauner went to side of the track to pick up an Italian flag. On the side read clearly Fan Club Fabio Maj. And as the Italian team climbed up onto the podium, Fulvio Valbusa carried the same flag. Great to be loved by your peers.
Women 4 by 5km Relay - Full results
No surprises as the Russian women's team added yet another relay gold to their tally. In fact the last time Russia (or Soviet Union) lost a women's relay in a World Championships or Olympic Games was back in 1989 when they finished 2nd to Finland in Lahti. Italy took a comfortable second place after Norway dropped to as low as ninth position on the 3rd leg, and Germany surprised many to come though for third.
First leg: Danilova didn't take her time in sending the Russian team on its way. Already after 1.5km she had a 10 second lead and kept on going. Various teams led the pack behind, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, but it was Anna Fritihof from Sweden who took them into the change, 30 seconds behind Danilova. Of other hopefuls, Ukraine and the Czech republic were back in 9th and 10th, 48 seconds behind Russia.
Second leg: Don't worry about Russia, they just went further and further ahead. Sweden had bad luck as Karin Öhman stumbled and fell off the side of the track, only managing to climb back up as Schevchenko from Ukraine went past. Italy, Norway, Switzerland and Germany broke away from the rest, with Schevchenko and Neumannova (CZE) trying to bridge the gap. Just after the 3.4km time split Moen (NOR) and Huber (SUI) started to suffer up a small hill and lost contact. At the change it was Germany ahead of Italy, 5 seconds back to France (where did they come from), Ukraine, Norway in 6th.
Third leg: Taranenko went straight to the front of the pack and broke away straight away. If Ukraine was to have any chance of a medal then she needed a big lead on the last leg for their weakest link, Jakimchuk. In the group behind Norway, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic jostled for position. Somewhere along the way Albrecht (SUI) spread out the pack, Sachenbacher (GER) giving chase, while Antonino Ordina (SWE) came up into contact with the back of the group. At the change, Russia with over a minute and half from Ukraine, 23 seconds back to Germany and Switzerland, another 10 seconds to Italy and 5 more to Sweden. Norway now back in 9th place, a minute behind Ukraine.
Fourth leg: It was expected that Belmondo (ITA), would have to chase
down Martensen (NOR) to take 2nd place. In fact Italy's weakest leg, Antonia
Confortola, extended their lead on Norway on the third leg. Belmondo cruised
through (actually she went like the clappers) past Switzerland, Germany
and Ukraine, and for a while it seemed like she was going out after Russia.
Two minutes over 5km was perhaps a bit much to catch up. Sigrid Wille (GER)
was the only one to ski behind Belmondo for any time at all, taking Germany
up to third place ahead of Switzerland and Ukraine. And that looked like
the finishing placings until it became apparent that Martensen was out
show the world she can skate as well. First past Ukraine, then past Switzerland,
could it possibly be a bronze medal? The finish line came too soon, Germany
took bronze 3 seconds ahead of Norway. A fantastic effort from the relatively
young German team, with no real guns but no weak links either.
Breakdown of each leg (as seen on Swedish TV, apologies no splits for Canada or USA.)
Leg 1:
1 RUS 13.30.4 2 SWE +30.0 3 NOR +31.1 4 SUI +32.8 5 GER +34.2 6 ITA +35.9 7 FRA ? 8 FIN ? 9 UKR +47.5 10 CZE ? 11 CAN ? 12 USA ? 13 EST ? |
Leg 2:
1 RUS 26.43.0 2 GER +1.06.0 3 ITA +1.06.7 4 FRA +1.11 5 UKR +1.12.4 6 NOR +1.14.8 7 CZE +1.16.7 8 SUI +1.19.6 9 EST ? |
Leg 3:
1 RUS 39.32.7 2 UKR +1.35.8 3 SUI +1.58.8 4 GER +1.59.2 5 ITA +2.10.5 6 SWE +2.15.5 7 CZE +2.32.5 8 FRA +2.33.0 9 NOR +2.38.0 10 FIN +2.43.4 |
Leg 4:
1 RUS 53.08.3 2 ITA +1.24.5 3 GER +2.07.8 4 NOR +2.10.8 5 SUI +2.25.8 6 UKR +2.37.0 7 CZE ? 8 FRA ? 9 SWE ? 10 EST ? 11 FIN ? 12 JAP ? 13 BLS ? 14 USA +5.23 15 CAN +5.47 |
Women 10km skate pursuit - Full results
Another day of snow in Ramsau and another gold to Stephania Belmondo. Belmondo came from 8th place and over 40 seconds behind to blitz the field in spectacular fashion.
It was not a complete surprise that Belmondo came through for gold. At the pursuit world cup in Ramsau last year she came from behind to take first place, albeit with a little help from a fall by Lazutina. What was most impressive today was that Belmondo wrapped up the race after 6km and went on to win by nearly 30 seconds.
Danilova took the early lead away from Martensen, with Gavriljuk not far behind and slowly closing. But already the Belmondo train was gaining momentum. Before the end of the first 5km lap Belmondo, Smigun and Taranenko also passed Martensen, and the time up to Danilova was only 12 seconds. Gavriljuk joined the train, though it seemed already that some were struggling to hang in behind Belmondo. As Belmondo pulled out to pass Danilova she made a small gap, which quickly extended to 10, 20 metres and the race for the gold medal was over.
Now the battle was on for silver and bronze. Gavriljuk led the pack, then Danilova again, with Smigun, Taranenko, and now Reztsova following behind. On a small downhill Taranenko glided up from fourth to first, proceded to put on a burst and broke away. Gavriljuk put up the chase, caught back up again after a few hundred metres and went straight past. For a while it looked as though Reztsova might catch up and sprint with Taranenko, but Taranenko found something and held on for third. Danilova 5th, Smigun 6th, then a gap back to Antonina Ordina in 7th place.
Other placings
29 Beckie Scott CAN
45 Amanda Fortier CAN
50 Rebecca Quinn USA
56 Wendy Wagner USA
Did not finish: Kemppel USA, Dassie CAN, Benoit USA, Melvey AUS
It was pretty tough conditions so we'll wait to hear from the team in
Ramsau to see what happened.
Men 15km Skate Pursuit - Full results
In a fantastic display of pursuit racing, tactics and sprinting, Thomas Alsgaard came through from 14th place to win todays men's 15km pursuit and his first individual World Championship gold medal. Though he does have two Olympic individual gold medals.
Snow dumped down throughout the race, at times making it hard to make out the skiers on the television. Daehlie was the early pace maker, moving quickly up to 2nd place and making it clear that only first place would satisfy him. Hjemeset was the first to drop off the train, then Stadlober, then Prokurorov. Behind Valbusa had already moved up to 8th, others making up a few seconds on Myllylae included Alsgaard and Elofsson. Just after 3.5 km Daehlie caught up to Myllylae (starting 26 seconds behind) and went straight to the front, though Myllylae may have backed off the pace a little when it became apparent Daehlie was closing quickly.
At 5km Daehlie led with Myllylae on his shoulder, Prokurorov in third with Stadlober on his. Then came a large pack with Alsgaard at the fore, the big Norwegian having made up 25 seconds to be now 32 seconds off the lead. Alsgaard quickly dropped the pack and by 6.5km passed Prokurorov and Stadlober, of whom only Stadlober managed to jump in behind, until he too was spat at about 8km. Valbusa moved up to 6th place, just ahead Isometsae, and surprisingly Jaak Mae hanging on doggedly.
At 10km all of a sudden Alsgaard was right behind Myllylae and Daehlie and the cat and mouse game began. Myllylae pulled to the side, but no-one wanted the lead so he ended up in front again, although they all seemed to be cruising. Behind them a large group of Valbusa, Stadlober, Prokurorov, Mae and Isometsae had formed and were gaining slightly. Still no-one picked up the pace. Then just before 12km Myllylae took off, gaining quickly 15m on Daehlie with Alsgaard sitting at the back. As they started to climb Alsgaard came out from behind Daehlie and bridged the gap, Daehlie unable to follow and losing time to the pack behind. Alsgaard took the lead but Myllylae was going nowhere. It was going to come down to a sprint.
Myllylae took the lead as they headed into the stadium, 250m to go. Alsgaard waited until the final straight, chose his lane and for a second it seemed as though Myllylae might hold on. And then the norwegian came steaming past, Myllylae conceding victory with a few metres left and crossing the line 0.7 seconds back.
Behind, Valbusa was the first to come past Daehlie and led the pack of six into the final straight. With the snow falling so thick and arms and legs everywhere it was hard to see who was who. Valbusa held on to take third place, Isometsae 4th, Mae and Daehlie nearly brought each other down and took 5th and 6th, Prokurorov 7th and Stadlober 8th. Elofsson came through from 22nd place to take 9th in a sprint with Fabio Maj.
Action plus, we can only hope for something as exciting in the relays later in the week.
Some other placings
29 Jahn Bauer USA
43 Marcus Nash USA
44 Justin Wadsworth USA
46 Donald Farley CAN
Women 5km classic - Full results
Bente Martensen from Norway opened her individual World Championship account with a gold medal in the 5km classic today. Martensen has not finished below 2nd in any classic World Cup this season.
Neumannova started the fastest and had a full 5 second lead on the rest of the field after 1.5km. But from then on the race belonged to Martensen. She took 8.5 seconds off Neumannova up to 3.4km, to lead by one hundreth of a second, with Danilova, Nageijkina and Gavrijuk all within a few seconds some 12 or 13 seconds further back. At the finish Danilova was the only one to remain within 13 seconds.
Neumanova had overtaken Belmondo after 3.4km, but then started to tire, dropping to third place behind Danilova. Belmondo, who seemed to have pretty average grip on the long uphill (22 seconds behind after 1.5km) passed Neumannova back and gained 4 seconds in the last few hundred metres, and took 8th place. Nageijkina 4th, Gavriljuk 5th, and relatively unknown Ukrainian Valentina Shevchenko 6th.
This sets the scene for an exciting pursuit race tomorrow. Starting 40 seconds behind Martensen is a very strong skating quartet consisting of Belmondo, Taranenko, Smigun and Villeneuve, with Gavrijuk only 10 seconds ahead. With the first four starters being relatively weaker in skate (Martensen in particular), it will be very interesting to see if someone can hold off the Belmondo train. Don't count out Reztsova and Theurl only another 10 seconds further back.
Other notable placings
36 Beckie Scott, CAN
54 Amanda Fortier, CAN
58 Nina Kemppel, USA
60 Milaine Theriault, CAN
62 Nancy Dassie, CAN
69 Wendy Wagner, USA
70 Rebecca Quinn, USA (Shown to fall on Swedish TV, presumably from
wax catching)
72 Camille Melvey, AUS
73 Tessa Benoit, USA
75 on start list, 75 in finish.
Men 10km classic - Full results
After trailing by 2 seconds at 1.5km Mika Myllylae took the lead and was never challenged on the way to his third World Championship gold medal. It looked as though his wax was a little on the slippery side, running out of track on some of the steeper sections and double poling more than most on the gradual uphills, but it certainly didn't stop him from going fast. The question might now be how many more gold medals can Myllylae win.
Daehlie took the early lead in the race at 1.5km, closely followed by compatriot Espen Bjervig and Olympic 10km sensation Marcus Gandler. Also within a few seconds were Estonians Veerpalu and Mae. But by 6.4km things looked quite different. Prokurorov suddenly appeared up in 2nd place, 13.4 seconds behind Myllylae. Mae stayed up in the running but Gandler and Veerpalu dropped off the pace. Jevne climbed up to 4th while Bjervig and Daehlie dropped down to 5th and 6th, with only two skiers yet to come through. Then...
Second last on the start list Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset came storming through just ahead of the other Norwegians. Apparently Hjelmeset only was able to start because Frode Estil was out due to illness. And then starting last came Alois Stadlober. In 22nd place after 1.5km, over 15 seconds off the pace, the 36 year old Austrian was now under 15 seconds behind Myllylae and skiing like a demon. How does a demon ski, doesn't matter, he was looking strong and going fast, while Austrian coaches and service men ran all over the place yelling at him.
Down at the stadium Myllylae had already collapsed over the line and Prokurorov was sitting in 2nd place. Everyone finishing was poling outside of the wind blown ski tracks. Daehlie pushed himself to the limit to get back ahead of Jevne, Mae, and Bjervig. The seconds counted down. Hjelmeset lunges and pips Prokurorov by 1.7 seconds, proceeds to show extreme jubilation. Stadlober comes in to take Hjelmeset by 2.4 seconds and is just as excited. It's gold to Finland, silver to Austria and bronze to Norway.
Again very interesting for the upcoming pursuit. Hjelmeset, Jevne, Mae and Bjervig can probably be counted out as classic specialists. This leaves Daehlie, Prokurorov and Stadlober starting within 10 sconds and 15 seconds behind Myllylae. Myllylae is in great form but now he is the rabbit for the others to hunt. The question will be whether Daehlie or Prokurorov will be strong wnough to bridge the gap. Stadlober has proven himself on previous occasions to be extremely good at hanging on. If somehow this chasing group gets caught up playing tactics then there are a number of skiers behind such as Isometsae, Valbusa and Alsgaard who will be happy to come up and sprint for the medals.
Other notable placings
27 Donald Farley CAN
41 Marcus Nash USA
42 John Bauer USA
57 Justin Wadsworth USA
69 Robin McKeever CAN
72 Rob Whitney USA
78 Steve Cyr CAN
88 Peter Mysey NZ
97 skiers on the start list, 92 in the finish
Ben Derrick did not start, in fact it was never his intention to compete in any other events apart from the 30km. It has rumored that he has started training for the Vasaloppet (two weeks time).
Men 30km Freestyle - Full results
Snow dumped down in Ramsau and Mika Myllylae from Finland won the first gold medal of the 1999 World Championships.
Most of the favourites started well, Daehlie, Myllylae, Elofsson, Botvinov all within about 5 seconds after 1.5km. Also up there was Christian Hoffmann, reminiscent of his start in the 50km in Nagano. Alsgaard was notably a bit further back in 12th place. Then in the last few kilometres of the first lap (3 by 10km) things started to change. Myllylae and Daehlie continued to look strong and pulled away a little. Botvinov moved up to third place, but very soon after began to lose a few seconds to those behind him. Hoffmann and Elofsson settled back to 7th and 8th place. Alsgaard and Alois Stadlober put their hands up to counted. Most significant was perhaps Fulvio Valbusa tucking in behind Myllylae and getting a bit of ride.
After 20km the excitement began to build up. Myllylae extended his lead on Daehlie to 16 seconds, however Alsgaard now in 4th place and a further 23 seconds behind had started to pick up on everyone. Myllylae moved to the side and made Valbusa, now carried up to 3rd, take the lead. Bergstrom also in the same train shot up to 6th. Hoffman and Elofsson continued their duel for 7th. Botvinov was now completely out of it.
At 25km the race clearly belonged to Myllylae; now the battle was on for the silver and bronze. Valbusa still hanging on to Myllyla sneaked into 2nd place, with Daehlie and Alsgaard within 10 seconds. Cut to the finish. Daehlie crossed the line first and collapsed to his knees in the usual fashion. Alsgaard cruised in with typical Alsgaard style and took the lead by 7 seconds. Where was Myllylae and Valbusa? Somewhere between 25km and 28km Valbusa was dropped, Myllalae took a finnish flag from the crowd and strolled in for a gold medal. Valbusa having met a wall just managed to hold onto 4th ahead of Stadlober.
Other notable placings:
Juan Jesus Guitierrez, SPA 13th
Botvinov 18th
Marcus Nash, USA 26th
Steve Cyr, CAN 60th
Ben Derrick, AUS 61st
84 skiers on the start list, 77 in the finish
Having finished his first lap just before the red group started, Ben was seen on the television quite frequently. Unfortunately most of the time he seemed to be pushed to the side to let faster skiers come through. More to come on Ben's race when the report comes through from Ramsau.
Women 15km Freestyle - Full Results
The snow continued to fall and Stephania Belmondo claimed her first World Championship gold medal since 1993 (four silver medals in 1997). And she claimed it with such authority that maybe there are more to come in Ramsau.
Belmondo took the lead by just 2.3 seconds at the 1.5km mark, with many of the usual suspects making up the top ten - Reztsova, Neumannova, Gavriljuk, Nilsson, Danilova, Taranenko, Smigun. Lazutina (triple gold medal winner in Nagano) was a bit off the pace, but she hadn't had such a good season to date anyway. Welcome addition, Austrian Maria Theurl in fifth place. Notable absence from the start field, Bente Martinsen, presumably skipping her weaker technique to concentrate on the classic races to come.
Then, Pang! (as they say in Sweden). Belmondo's lead out to nearly 28 seconds after 5km and the race for gold effectively over. Estonian Kristin Smigun moved up to second place, having made a big step from her previous world cup best of 5th to first in the 15km skate in Nove Mesto just over a month ago. Reztsova in third, only a second ahead of Theurl looking quite strong. At 10km Belmondo's lead increased a bit more, Smigun consolidated to clear second, and Theurl up to third place. It seemed as though some of the Russian skiers had quite slow skis, Gavrijuk in particular dropping right out of contention.
Nothing more to do but put the results on the board. Belmondo 1st, Smigun 2nd, Theurl 3rd, and Elin Nilsson from Norway climbing past Rezsova to 4th. The women's world cup has in recent years been so dominated by Russians that todays result was somewhat of a breath of fresh air. However, if slow skis were indeed to have played a large part then don't count out the Russians for the rest of the medal count.
Other notable results
Nina Kemppel, USA 40th
Amanda Fortier, CAN 51st
Beckie Scott, CAN 53rd
Jennifer Douglas, USA 54th
Nancy Dassie, CAN 56th
Camille Melvey, AUS 57th
63 skiers on the start list, 59 in the finish
Not much was sighted of Camille on the telecast, however at first look this result seems pretty good. Within 1 minute of the first Canadian and just 3 seconds behind Dassie kicks sand in the face of Camille's results in Canada in December. More to come later in the Ramsau Report.
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