Blowing & Drifting

The 1200 meter sprint course in Canmore is a tough one, featuring a 15 meter climb at the midpoint of the course and three hairpin turns, including one halfway down the descent to the finishing straightaway, just at the point of near-maximum exhaustion. I expect to hear of some crashes there. All in all, it's a power course, not a finesse one, and the winners today are likely to be the literally strongest racers, not the wiliest or luckiest. 

 The course exacts its penalty during the qualification round: a number of highly-ranked sprinters don't even qualify for the heats, American Kikkan Randall among them. Finn Virpi Kuitunen qualifies first, more than a second up on Slovenian Petra Majdic and Norwegian Astrid Jacobsen, who floundered in yesterday's pursuit. Perhaps the only surprise in the 30 racers who qualified for the heats is Canadian Sara Renner, back from a year off to have a baby and clearly in good form. Fellow Canuck Chandra Crawford, the 2006 Olympic sprint champion, also qualified for the heats; no Americans did.

Quarterfinal Round The heats are being tightly contested, but most of the big guns are going through to the semifinals. In heat 1, Virpi Kuitunen and Justyna Kowalczyk both advance in a photo finish. In #2, Finn Pirjo Muranen qualifies just behind the Russian sprint ace Natalia Matveeva. Then in heat 3, Canadian Chandra Crawford and Finn Aino-Kaisa Saarinen stage another "photo-photo" at the line, and both are through. Sara Renner finishes third, and won't go through - a tough break for her, but she is clearly on form and could do well in Saturday's freestyle sprint events. Petra Majdic wins heat 4 handily; Natalja Naryshkina (Russia) finishes a distant second but advances. In the last, fifth quarterfinal, junior world champion Alena Prochazkova wins just ahead of world sprint champ Astrid Jacobsen. After the addition of Seraina Mischol (Switzerland) and Julia Ivanova (Russia) as the two "lucky losers"(the racers with the two fastest QF times after all the first- and second-place racers), the semis are going to be well-stocked with topflight racers.

Semifinal Round Heat 1 is half Finns: Kuitunen, Saarinen, and Muranen. Matveeva, Mischol, and Kowalcyzk are also there, but this should be Kuitunen's to lose. The heat quickly turns into a three-way affair, with Kuitunen and Muranen vying against Kowalcyzk. The Finns have another photo finish, which goes to Kuitunen! All three qualify for the large final, though. Petra Majdic should be able to dominate SF #2, though Jacobsen is there too, as is Crawford. But Majdic wins handily, posting the fastest time of the day so far. Jacobsen in second and Prochazkova in third also advance to the final

Finals The two finals are going to be drag races. By this point in the day, everyone in one of the finals - the "large final" for the top six semifinalists and the "small final" for the other six - have been up, over, and around the sprint course three times already. They know the bumps and corners, but they're also dead tired. Though Kuitunen's definitely on form today, I think this one's going to go to Majdic: she's just got something extra today. But given this course's brutal climb and ridiculous corners, anything could happen in either race. The small final for places 7-12 on the day is dominated by Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, who wins going away, 3.3 seconds up on Natalia Matveeva. Ouch. But the large final turns into a head-to-head matchup between the towering Majdic and the elfin Jacobsen: another photo finish, which is given to Majdic! Incredible. What a day for the Slovene. Kowalczyk finishes third, taking her second podium spot in two days. Kuitunen finishes a distant fourth, Muranen fifth, the youngster Prochazkova sixth in the heat and on the day.

Qualification Round The mens' qualification sees similarly big gaps at the top of the order, with the seven Norwegians massed in the top ten. Boerre Naess qualified in the first position, a jawdropping 1.56 seconds up on unknown Russian Nikita Kriukov. Americans Torin Koos and Andy Newell qualify seventh and sixteenth, respectively, and Wisconsite Chris Cook sneaks into the heats by qualifying thirtieth - a great result for him. Two Canadians also qualify for the heats: Sean Crooks (18) and Phil Widmer (24). According to reports from FasterSkier.com, some of the Norwegians are double-poling the entire course, which quite a display of strength.

Quarterfinal Round Heat #1 is another tight finish: Naess takes the win, just ahead of countryman Anders Gloersen. American Chris Cook finishes fourth, behind Swede Mats Larsson, who qualifies for the semis as one of the two lucky losers. In Heat #2, American Torin Koos is facing off against Norwegian Eldar Roenning and Russian Vassili Rotchev, two of the best sprinters in the world. Canadian Phil Widmer is in this heat, too. But the North Americans are burned off - Roenning and Emil Joensson of Sweden go through; Rotchev is fast, but will have to hope for a lucky loser slot.  If anything, Heat #3 is worse, with Andy Newell pitted against Norwegians Tor Arne Hetland and Oystein Pettersen, both of whom have World Cup sprint wins. And those two advance, taking first and second in a three-way finish. Young Russian Michail Devjatiarov goes through as a lucky loser. In Heat #4, another Russian, Nikita Kriukov, dominates the field to take the win; Finn Kalle Lassila also advances. In the last quarterfinal, Norwegian Ola vigen Hattestad wins by a comfortable margin ahead of Swede Bjoern Lind, a former star who's building his way back up. Canadian Sean Crooks finishes fourth and out.

Semifinal Round As in the women's bracket, Heat 1 is dominated by one nation's racers: four Norwegians, including no. 1 seed Naess, line up along with Joensson and Devjatiarov. Heat 2 features two Norwegians, two Swedes, and a Russian (no. 2 seed Kriukov) and a Finn. The odds are pretty good that a Norwegian or three will be on the podium, and we'll probably see some team racing tactics - the Norwegians don't have qualms about boxing others out. True to form, the first SF heat sees its Norwegian quartet finish 1-2-3-4, led by Naess in a photo finish with Eldar Roenning. Anders Gloersen also qualifies for the A final as one of the lucky losers. In the other SF heat, Hattestad goes through, and Kriukov and Hetland wind up in another photo finish which sees them both advance. Five Norwegians and a Russian in the large final! I'd hate to be Kriukov right now: he's going to be bashed around.

Finals It's no brave guess to put three Norwegians on the podium today, but we'll have to see if Kriukov can somehow punch through - perhaps literally. In the small final, Swede Joensson wins easily, while his countryman Mats Larsson takes second ahead of Russian Devjatiarov. In the day's final event, it's all Norway. Kriukov must have fallen, winding up last, 27.1 seconds down to the winner - #1 bib Boerre Naess. What a day Naess had, winning the quals and alll three of his heats. Hattestad takes second, Roenning third, Gloersen fourth in his best-ever finish, and Hetland fifth.