Pole, Russian Earn First-Day Wins
January 22, 2008
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Canmore World Cup Coverage Special to CrossCountrySkier.com See the rest of our coverage

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The rest of the American women and men were in the last third of their respective fields. The course’s unrelenting nature caused everyone to struggle more with the trails than against each other. USST coach Nathan Schultz commented at one point that “no one looks good,” as the entire men’s field, save the lead group, labored around the multiple classic and skate laps with drawn faces and deep exhalations.

The Women’s 15 k – the Slow Goodbye

In the beginning of the women’s pursuit, the race was defined by about a 10-woman lead group. At 5.5k into the race, Renner and Arritola followed 44 seconds behind the leaders. By late in the second and final classic lap, three women, including Kowalczyk, moved together at the front followed by small and strung out groups of fellow racers.

After the change to skate, the lead four racers formed a line with Kowalczyk in front, then Medvedeva, then Rotcheva, and fourth place Valentina Shevchenko of the Ukraine—this would eventually be the same order in which they would finish the race. Around the end of the first skate lap, Arritola put a 10-foot gap on Renner through the swooping rollers.

When the racers began the descent into the finish, Kowalczyk was far enough into the lead to have wrapped things up. The finishers arrived one at a time or in small groups. Arritola glided through the finish composed, slowed herself to a stop and calmly recovered while standing upright on her skis. Some of the other women in the finish corral heaved for breathe while slumped over their poles. One Russian female collapsed for a good two minutes.

Racers are naturally divided into types that reflect their strengths and weaknesses. This course fit Arritola, whose graceful mechanics handled the course’s steady climbing and who also benefited from the lack of what U.S. coach Bryan Fish called the need to “arm it;” that is, there was virtually no extended double-poling where raw power comes into play.

The Men’s 30k Pursuit – Don’t Be in Front

Pankratov Wins the 30km men's pursuit at Canmore. (see a larger version of this image)

The first two men to get any separation were Curdin Perl of Switzerland and Ville Nousiainen of Finland. Perl ended up 25th and Nousiainen did not finish. In the early part of the race, contrary to the slow elongation of the women’s race, the men accordion-ed back and forth, coming together several times at the bottom of descents.

The Canadians were crossing their fingers as their own Devon Kershaw actually took the lead midway through the classic leg. In a post-race interview, he described this move as “true inexperience…I kinda got moved up through the lead pack and was feeling good…I probably used up too much energy in the front”.

Before the transition to skate, the lead group of roughly 20 skiers was established and mirrored the eventual finish order. Oddly, there were very few Norwegians in the group. Tor Arne Hetland did not finish. Tord Asle Gjerdalen, who did so well in the Tour de Ski, finished 23rd though he did sport his 1980s California Highway Patrol sunglasses.

Freeman’s yo-yo-ing was admirable. After the transition to skate, he encountered the severe terrain with a group of two other skiers chasing about 30 seconds behind the lead group. Freeman managed to bridge the gap to the tail of the lead group despite the increasingly critical pace. In bib number 30, Freeman just barely hung on to that group until the last kilometer or so of racing. After losing contact again, he backed off the intensity just a little as he must have realized that the gap was too big to conquer so late in the chase.

In the last lap, Germany and Italy were engaging in the beginning of the cat and mouse game so typical of racing. Di Centa actually gained a small gap but was reeled in by German skiers desperately working together.

Coming down the penultimate downhill, Anders Soedergren of Sweden and Valerio Checchi of Italy skied at the sharp end of the red-lined pack. Two more rollers later and on the final descent, Checchi led followed closely by the straight line group. Pankratov achieved what so many other canny racers have subtly pulled off by staying hidden in the lead pack until the very end, by which point he had just a little more gas in the tank than the others. When Pankratov crossed the line, he spontaneously let out a primal yell, it was not a proud sound so much as one of relief and triumph at once.

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