World Cup Nordic Skiing - Lahti Ski Games
The World Cup weekend was dominated by the Lahti Ski Games in Lahti, Finland, where four cross-country events and two jumping events were held. Saturday saw the men's and women's sprints: Sweden's Lina Andersson skied away from the other three women in the women's 1.2 km final, while Boerre Naess edged fellow Norwegian Tor Arne Hetland in the men's final. (Follow the link above for a great photo of the men's finish.)
In the two distance events, things were much less tight. Both events featured staggered starts, in which individual skiers are released at thirty-second intervals, creating a hunter-quarry effect on the trails as each skier tries to catch the skier just in front - or to avoid getting caught by the skier just behind. Czech Lucas Bauer easily won the men's 15km freestyle race, setting the fastest time at every check. Unknown Finn Juha Lallukka took advantage of the home snow, skiiing from well down in the field to finish fourth, with Austria's Christian Hoffman and Italian Thomas Moriggi in second and third. In the women's 10km, Russian Julia Tchepalova continued to ski well. Having won a distance event at the world championships last week, she had the legs and the wiles to narrowly outrace Katerina Neumannova by four seconds. France's Karine Philippot, who started well outside the elite group, skied up the field for third. The weekend's results had big effects on the overall World Cup standings. Though too ill to compete, Marit Bjorgen of Norway sealed her women's title. Vincent Vittoz of France raced poorly in the distance event, but still overtook Tor Arne Hetland for second place in the men's World Cup, behind Axel Teichmann, who was also too ill to race.
In the ski jumping competitions at Lahti, Norway handily won the team competition on the 130m hill, with all four of its athletes jumping over 120m - a rare display of discipline and skill. The home-country Finns wound up in second and Austria took third. In the individual competition on the 130m hill, all eyes were on hometown hero Janne Ahonen, but he jumped very poorly and ultimately failed to make the podium. First, though, event officials had to undo the first twenty jumps due to bad winds and an unwisely low choice of starting gate, which made it hard to jumpers to build up enough speed for good flights. After the restart, the jumpers began from further up the slide, and the unheralded Finn Matti Hautamäki quickly took over, leaping 127.5m and 124.5m. Norway's Roar Ljoekelsoey, fresh off a medal at the world championships, had the day's best jump, at 128.5m, and finished second, just one point back of Hautamäki. (Notice his sponsor - get it?) Austrian Thomas Morgenstern wound up in third, less than two points up on Ahonen, who can still earn the World Cup championship by winning on home soil on Wednesday in Kuopio.
In the two distance events, things were much less tight. Both events featured staggered starts, in which individual skiers are released at thirty-second intervals, creating a hunter-quarry effect on the trails as each skier tries to catch the skier just in front - or to avoid getting caught by the skier just behind. Czech Lucas Bauer easily won the men's 15km freestyle race, setting the fastest time at every check. Unknown Finn Juha Lallukka took advantage of the home snow, skiiing from well down in the field to finish fourth, with Austria's Christian Hoffman and Italian Thomas Moriggi in second and third. In the women's 10km, Russian Julia Tchepalova continued to ski well. Having won a distance event at the world championships last week, she had the legs and the wiles to narrowly outrace Katerina Neumannova by four seconds. France's Karine Philippot, who started well outside the elite group, skied up the field for third. The weekend's results had big effects on the overall World Cup standings. Though too ill to compete, Marit Bjorgen of Norway sealed her women's title. Vincent Vittoz of France raced poorly in the distance event, but still overtook Tor Arne Hetland for second place in the men's World Cup, behind Axel Teichmann, who was also too ill to race.
In the ski jumping competitions at Lahti, Norway handily won the team competition on the 130m hill, with all four of its athletes jumping over 120m - a rare display of discipline and skill. The home-country Finns wound up in second and Austria took third. In the individual competition on the 130m hill, all eyes were on hometown hero Janne Ahonen, but he jumped very poorly and ultimately failed to make the podium. First, though, event officials had to undo the first twenty jumps due to bad winds and an unwisely low choice of starting gate, which made it hard to jumpers to build up enough speed for good flights. After the restart, the jumpers began from further up the slide, and the unheralded Finn Matti Hautamäki quickly took over, leaping 127.5m and 124.5m. Norway's Roar Ljoekelsoey, fresh off a medal at the world championships, had the day's best jump, at 128.5m, and finished second, just one point back of Hautamäki. (Notice his sponsor - get it?) Austrian Thomas Morgenstern wound up in third, less than two points up on Ahonen, who can still earn the World Cup championship by winning on home soil on Wednesday in Kuopio.
posted by Christopher Tassava at Monday, March 07, 2005
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