Hometown Crawford Takes Sprint
January 26, 2008

Canmore World Cup Coverage Special to CrossCountrySkier.com See the rest of our coverage

Photos and text by Matt Muir

Victory for Crawford in freestyle sprints; stadium goes electric for hometown girl. Randall second in B final, eighth overall

Emil Joensson of Sweden takes men’s sprints in his first World Cup podium
Garrot Kuzzy 9th, Torin Koos 11th after B final.

Canada's Chandra Crawford celebrates a World Cup sprint victory in her hometown (see larger version of the photo).

Chandra Crawford was golden again for her first time since the Torino Olympics. Finland’s strong sprint skier Pirjo Muranen arrived nearly a ski length behind for second place and Italy’s Magda Genuin grabbed the last women’s podium spot.

Crawford was one of the few skiers, men or women, capable of earning any finishing gap over her close competitors in the later heats on the 1.1k course that finished on a slightly uphill, false flat.

Sweden’s Emil Joensson led a young newcomer’s men’s podium over Russia’s Ivan Ivanov and Finland’s Matias Strandvall. By the closing sprint heats, all the finishes came down to all-out V2 double-pole matches at jackhammer-like tempos on the final straightaway. Both Ivanov and Strandvall are still eligible as U23 racers and spoke of plans to attend the recently postponed Junior and U23 World Championships in Poland.

The Men’s Race

Americans Garrot Kuzzy and Torin Koos both advanced to the men’s B final via the two “lucky loser” spots in the semifinals.

Kuzzy, the 25 year-old CXC athlete from Minneapolis, ended up in ninth place overall in his first ever World Cup sprint race after a tough week of competition. Never once did he lose contact with the group in any of his heats nor did he get caught up in any of the day’s tangled wipe-outs around the course’s hairpin turn. At least once, he calmly made up space after letting things settle out in front of him.

Like many of the top skiers on the World Cup today, Kuzzy is tall with a moderate build that allows him to move in big strokes over the snow. In combination with his performance in the 15k freestyle, Kuzzy is making a case for himself as a full member of the U.S. Ski Team.

Andy Newell considers what might have been.

Koos was a fighter. The lucky loser spots are not determined until the end of an entire round of heats, leaving the bubble athletes unaware of their status for a time. In order to get a lucky loser spot, the skier must continue to suffer and push for a best time after the automatic first and second place spots are established in each heat. In Koos’s case, first and second visibly crossed the line in front of him in his semifinal heat but he battled and crossed the line so stretched out that he fell an instant later. His reward was an eventual spot in the B final and a World Cup 11th place finish.

Normally strong USST sprinter Andrew Newell was boxed out in his semifinal heat as he came through the course’s crucial hairpin turn. Unable to find a clear lane for the sprint finish, his body language reflected his own realization of the missed opportunity. He searched for a spot in those few available moments only to realize that his race was done, despite still gliding a few hundred meters away from the line. Too bad – Newell had fast skis in his quarterfinal.

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