Nordic World Championships - Early Results

Italy went 1-2 in the first men's cross-country event, the 15km freestyle race. Piller Cottrer won after putative silver-medalist Jens Filbrich fell in the last half-k of the race, a mishap which allowed Fulvio Valbusa to skate over the line in second, Norwegian Tore Ruud Hofstad to finish third, and four others to finish before poor Filbrich in eighth. Czech racer Katerina Neumannova won the first women's event, the 10km free, just ahead of Julia Tchepalova of Russia and overall World Cup leader Marit Bjorgen of Norway. Next up: the women's 2 x 7.5km double pursuit on Saturday and the men's 2 x 15km double pursuit on Sunday.

In the men's HS100/15K nordic combined event, German Ronny Ackerman went Armstrong on the lead pack, sweeping from third to first on a downhill in the last 2000m of the race and holding on for the race win, which in turn became an event win. Ackerman has finished well in the wind-marred jumping portion of the event, positioning him for the overall win if he finished well in the cross-country race. Ackermann's German teammate, Bjoern Kircheisen, finished second, just ahead of Felix Gottwald of Austria. Americans Todd Lodwick and Bill Delong finished well off the podium, as did overall World Cup leader Hannu Manninen of Finland, who jumped very poorly. Nordic combined resumes at midweek with the team competitions: 120m jumping and 4 x 5km relay. (Ski jumping begins on Saturday.)

[N.B.: This post edited for clarity, June 20, 2005.]