Close and Closer

A full(ish) account of the weekend's nordic racing is upcoming, but in the meantime, and even if you don't care that much about ski racing, check out this amazing shot of the photo finish between Sara Renner, a Canadian racer, and Hilde Peterson, a Norwegian, in their semifinal sprint heat at Vernon/Sovereign Lake on Sunday. After 1300 meters of racing, Renner and Peterson were equal to 1/1000 of a second!


Due to this tie, both Renner and Peterson were passed on to the final, which thus featured five racers, not the usual four. Renner finished third, behind countrywoman Beckie Scott in first and Claudia Kunzel of Germany in second - the best showing by North American racers on the World Cup on a looooong time, if not ever. (The previous day, Scott had finished second by less than a second in the women's pursuit.) Read more on the "foto-foto" (as the Euros call it) here or more on the final.