The Otepää distance races were the last big test of classical-technique form before the marathons at the World Championships in early March. The women's race was won decisively by Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, who used her hunched-over style to post the fastest time at every check on her way to capturing her first World Cup win. Virpi Kuitunen (Finland, my pick to win) finished almost eight seconds back in second; Valentina Shevchenko (Ukraine) continued her recent run of good finishes by taking third. Norway's Marit Bjørgen took fourth, allowing Kuitunen to amass more points toward the World Cup overall and distance titles. Hometown favorite Kristina Smigun couldn't even break the top 20.
On the men's side, the story was much different, but the results no less demonstrative. Axel Teichmann "skied into the race" by posting the fastest split at only one place: the finish line. The German's furious finish put him ahead of two Norwegians who appeared to have the race sewn up: Frode Estil, who finished in second (6.7 seconds down), and Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, my pick to win but third by nearly 30 seconds. Teichmann's teammate Tobias Angerer was running in second with just 3000 meters to go, but faded badly and wound up in sixth, just behind Estonian Jaak Mae, whose fifth was the best national result on the day.
Sunday's sprints will be run over twisting racecourses with few straightaways and plenty of technical corners. My picks:
women's sprint