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ASI Team Reports 97/98

Report 4 - Mora, Sweden, November 24

News from the Beitostolen World Cup. - results -
Paul Gray opened his 1997 World Cup account with an very impressive result in the 10km classic at Beitostolen. He finished in 86th place,1 minute and 50 seconds behind Bjorn Daehlie of Norway, giving him FIS points of 46.88. This is the best ever FIS points an Australian skier has recieved since FIS points have been used for ranking in cross country skiing. For those more familiar with percentages, this corresponds to 7.8% behind the winner. Paul had something like this to say:

"It was satisfying to start with a good solid performance. You know you've done the training and know you can perform, but it still feels a whole lot better when you've actually put the results on the board. Looking at all the skiers who finished around me, most of them have made World Cup points before. That is the next step to take."

Some of the talent behind Paul included Niklas Jonsson of Sweden, Switzerland's best placed finisher Jeremias Wigger, and 1994 Olympic relay gold medalist Giorgio Vanzetta. From 3rd place to 96th place the time difference was less than 90 seconds. With every second counting, this places even more importance on having fast skis and good wax.

Finn Marsland finished 2 minutes and 48 seconds behind Daehlie, 71.82 FIS points, or 11.9%. After 4km he was within 10s of Paul Gray but was unable to maintain the pace for 10km.


Daehlie was skiing like a demon as usual, and it was good to see Smirnov back in form again. Up and coming Swedish star Per Elofsson was back in 48th place, but the story is that he went down like the proverbial on a downhill corner and lost 20-30 seconds. He seems a pretty cool character and more will be seen of him this season.

The two stars of 96/97, Vaelbe and Belmondo, are still battling it out but this time down in 14th and 15th place. Bente Martinsen should be competitive in all classic races this season, and Lazutina has returned to the form that saw her take 3 gold medals in the 1995 World Championships.

Unfortunately the team travelled back to Mora straight after the 10km and missed the exciting relay on the Sunday. Have a look at the relay results to see how close the 4 by 10km relay was.


Beitosprinten, November 15 -results-

The first race of the season is often very tough and this was no exception. Paul Gray and Finn Marsland finished 2:27 and 3:58 respectively behind Daehlie. Even though it happens every year, you can forget how much it can really hurt and how fast you have to ski. From here the only way has to be up.


Anthony Evans has arrived in Sweden after a week of rollerskiing and cycling in southern Germany. He will spend as much time on snow as possible over the next few weeks, starting with 4 or 5 days at Gronklitt, half an hour from Mora. Look out for Anthony's report on skiing in New Zealand in the next update of the XC Files.
The email at Moraparken has been out of action for nearly 2 weeks. Hopefully this situation will be rectified soon and the ASI team will be back on-line. If you're trying to contact us without success, try emailing to pgray@albury.net.au.