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Sensational Sprint Finals In Drammen, Norway
Published: Wed Mar 09, 2005 12:00 AM MST [Author's note: the views and opinions expressed in this piece are not necessarily those of me, and stand an even less-likely chance of being claimed by fasterskier.com. Any complaints can be directed to the non-existent email adress of your choosing (for those requiring assistance in coming up with an address, please contact noonehere@fakemail.net.) If commentary is not your cup-of-tea, you can draw your own conclusions from the less-detailed, final results by clicking here: http://www.fasterskier.com/racing2086.html ] 
Marit Bjoergen: Good At Going Faster Than Other People On Skis. Photo from www.newspower.it In the women's individual qualifying round, used to determine the fastest 16 skiers who then advance to the head-to-head quarterfinal rounds, the home favorite and overall World Cup leader Marit Bjoergen skied hard to post the second-fastest time. It was Virpi Kuitunen of Finland who bettered that by roughly half a second, with the recent World Sprint Champion Emelie Oehrstig of Sweden 2.4 seconds back in third. Canadians Sara Renner and Beckie Scott both managed to qualify for the quarterfinals with 7th and 10th positions. 
Tor Arne Hetland: Good At Going Faster Than Other People On Skis The four fastest men in the qualifying round were all Norwegian. Eldar Roenning outskied everyone with an incredible time of 2:16.21. Silver medalist from the World Championship sprint, Tor Arne Hetland had the second-fastest time followed by the young Boerre Naess who won the previous World Cup sprint. Anyone who gave less than 105% of their maximum effort was left behind. For example, Keijo Kurttila of Finland ended up 0.01 seconds too slow to make the quarterfinals. (For full results from the qualification round, see the previous article: http://www.fasterskier.com/racing2084.html ) With the qualification round completed, it was time to get down and dirty with the head-to-head elimination heats. With four skiers in a heat, only the top two would advance to the semifinals, and once there, only the top two in each semifinal would earn a spot in the A-final to fight for the overall win. The first quarterfinal of the day simply featured Virpi Kuitunen skiing a whopping four seconds faster than she did in the qualifying round. Kuitunen easily advanced to the semifinals along with Norwegian Guro Stroem Solli. Women's Quarterfinal 1: 1 1 Kuitunen Virpi FIN *15:30:00 2:36.0 0.0 Q 2 8 Solli Guro Stroem NOR *15:30:00 2:36.5 +0.5 Q 3 9 Vaelimaa Kirsi FIN *15:30:00 2:38.2 +2.2 4 16 Skofterud Vibeke W. NOR *15:30:00 2:40.1 +4.1 It was in quarterfinal two that the first of many "incidents" occurred. Slovenian Petra Majdic got tangled up with Madoka Natsumi of Japan and they both went down. This meant an easy ticket to the semis for Mona-Liisa Malvalehto of Finland and Ella Gjoemle of Norway. Women's Quarterfinal 2: 1 5 Malvalehto Mona-Liisa FIN *15:35:00 2:42.5 0.0 Q 2 12 Gjoemle Ella NOR *15:35:00 2:47.8 +5.3 Q 3 4 Majdic Petra SLO *15:35:00 2:57.5 +15.0 4 13 Natsumi Madoka JPN *15:35:00 3:17.7 +35.2 Then it was time for Canadians Beckie Scott and Sara Renner to face off against the huge home favorite, World Champion, overall World Cup points leader, virtually-undefeated sprint queen: Marit Bjoergen. With Olympic and World Championship medals of their own however, the Canadians charged fearlessly to the front and almost succeeded in keeping Bjoergen out of the semis. Bjoergen came charging back in the final uphill finish to grab a qualifying spot just half a second in front of Renner, who would end up 11th overall. Women's Quarterfinal 3: 1 10 Scott Beckie CAN *15:40:00 2:36.0 0.0 Q 2 2 Bjoergen Marit NOR *15:40:00 2:36.3 +0.3 Q 3 7 Renner Sara CAN *15:40:00 2:36.8 +0.8 4 15 Peraelae Kirsi FIN *15:40:00 2:40.0 +4.0 
Beckie Scott: Good At Going Faster Than European People On Skis The last remaining quarterfinal for the women highlighted how ruthlessly, impossibly competitive the World Cup sprints are. Only a couple weeks ago, Emelie Oehrstig of Sweden took the classic sprint World Championship gold. Today, she was unable to advance from her quarterfinal, bested by her teammates Lina Andersson and Anna Dahlberg. Women's Quarterfinal 4: 1 6 Andersson Lina SWE *15:45:00 2:36.7 0.0 Q 2 14 Dahlberg Anna SWE *15:45:00 2:37.0 +0.3 Q 3 3 Oehrstig Emelie SWE *15:45:00 2:40.5 +3.8 4 11 Saarinen Aino Kaisa FIN *15:45:00 2:41.4 +4.7 In the first men's quarterfinal, Eldar Roenning absolutely put the hammer down from the very start, and like Kuitunen, incredibly took four big seconds off of his winnng qualification time. Bjoern Lind of Sweden chased him as best he could and made it through to the semis. Norwegians Jon Kristian Dahl and the up-and-coming Johan Kjoelstad, who won a World Cup freestyle sprint earlier this season, were both eliminated. Men's Quarterfinal 1: 1 1 Roenning Eldar NOR *15:50:00 2:12.2 0.0 Q 2 8 Lind Bjoern SWE *15:50:00 2:13.8 +1.6 Q 3 16 Dahl Jon Kristian NOR *15:50:00 2:15.5 +3.3 4 9 Kjoelstad Johan NOR *15:50:00 2:17.0 +4.8 In perhaps the weirdest development of the day, Mikael Oestberg of Sweden had some interference from a stray balloon from the crowd during the second men's quarterfinal. Trond Iverson utterly dominated that heat, opening up a gap to the other three before finishing with another astounding time of 2:12.4. Thobias Frederiksson of Sweden ended up advancing to the semis as well. Men's Quarterfinal 2: 1 4 Iversen Trond NOR *15:54:00 2:12.4 0.0 Q 2 13 Fredriksson Thobias SWE *15:54:00 2:19.0 +6.6 Q 3 5 Oestberg Mikael SWE *15:54:00 4 12 Kveen Stig Rune NOR *15:54:00 The third quarterfinal was a matchup of two Norwegians versus two Estonians. World Championship silver medalist Tor Arne Hetland appeared unable to match the pace of the Estonians, and in the first half of the race it looked as if he would be left out. But whether it was his intentional, well-calculated tactics or the effect of a huge home crowd cheering him on, Hetland surged back in the final half-kilometer and followed his teammate Ola Vigen Hattestad across the finish line. The Estonians had opened hard and faded towards the end. Two more Norwegians were through to the semis. Men's Quarterfinal 3: 1 7 Hattestad Ola Vigen NOR *15:58:00 2:12.5 0.0 Q 2 2 Hetland Tor Arne NOR *15:58:00 2:13.2 +0.7 Q 3 10 Saarepuu Anti EST *15:58:00 2:15.6 +3.1 4 15 Jallai Erki EST *15:58:00 2:17.6 +5.1
Tor Arne Hetland: Good At Going Faster Than Other People On Skis Classic sprint ace Jens Arne Svartedal (Norway) zoomed to the front of the final quarterfinal heat, with the young Boerre Naess (also of Norway, believe it or not) staying right behind him. This heat turned out to be the tightest of the day, with all four competitors hitting the finish within one second second of eachother. Naess and Svartedal came out the right end of the battle. 
Jens Arne Svartedal: Good At Going Faster Than Other People On Skis Men's Quarterfinal 4: 1 3 Naess Boerre NOR *16:02:00 2:12.6 0.0 Q 2 11 Svartedal Jens Arne NOR *16:02:00 2:12.8 +0.2 Q 3 6 Myhlback Petter SWE *16:02:00 2:13.1 +0.5 4 14 Pyykoenen Lauri FIN *16:02:00 2:13.6 +1.0 After the men's quarterfinals it was on to the women's semis, and Virpi Kuitunen took the opportunity to keep the Norwegian egos under control by winning the first semifinal ahead of her lesser-known teammate Mona-Liisa Malvalehto. Together the two Finns sent Ella Gjoemle and Guro Stroem Solli to the B-final, which consists of the four athletes who make the semis but fail to advance to the A-final. Women's Semifinal 1: 1 1 Kuitunen Virpi FIN * 2:33.8 0.0 QA 2 5 Malvalehto Mona-Liisa FIN * 2:34.2 +0.4 QA 3 12 Gjoemle Ella NOR * 2:35.3 +1.5 QB 4 8 Solli Guro Stroem NOR * 2:41.1 +7.3 QB The second women's semifinal was stacked with two medalists from the recent World Championships (Lina Andersson and Anna Dahlberg), an Olympic gold medalist (Beckie Scott of Canada), and Marit Bjoergen of Norway (if necessary, see certain paragraphs above for a brief but-nevertheless-annoying-to-repeat-more-than-a-few-times LIST of her credits and accolades.) 
Marit Bjoergen
Beckie Scott: Good At Going Faster Than European People On Skis The Swedes got the better of Scott and Bjoergen at the start. Bjoergen was sitting in third and undoubtedly waiting to make a break when, in a close runner-up to Oestberg's balloon incident, she suddenly found herself with only one ski on. Dahlberg and Andersson kept charging all the way to the finish to make the finals just ahead of Beckie Scott, who was only one-tenth of second from making the A-final herself. Meanwhile, Bjoergen re-attatched the missing ski and eventually cruised in to give herself a spot in the B-final. Women's Semifinal 2: 1 6 Andersson Lina SWE * 2:34.8 0.0 QA 2 14 Dahlberg Anna SWE * 2:35.1 +0.3 QA 3 10 Scott Beckie CAN * 2:35.2 +0.4 QB 4 2 Bjoergen Marit NOR * 3:49.9 +1:15.1 QB Then it was Eldar Roenning's third turn of the day to beat everyone home, this time taking even more time off of his previous efforts with a mind-boggling 2:11.0. Fellow-Norwegian Trond Iverson came in second in that semifinal, despite being almost twice Roenning's height (plus or minus a foot or two perhaps.) Unfortunately for proponents of multi-national athletic representation, both Bjoern Lind and Thobias Fredriksson of Sweden finished way off the back and had to settle for the B-final. Men's Semifinal 1: 1 1 Roenning Eldar NOR * 2:11.0 0.0 QA 2 4 Iversen Trond NOR * 2:12.2 +1.2 QA 3 8 Lind Bjoern SWE * 2:21.0 +10.0 QB 4 13 Fredriksson Thobias SWE * 2:22.6 +11.6 QB With four Norwegians in the only other semi-final, it was going to be an all-Norwegian A-final no matter what. The only question (except for lots of other ones) was: who exactly would advance? The most-recent World Cup sprint winner (Boerre Naess), or the only World Championship medalist of the four (Tor Arne Hetland), or the classic sprint specialist and many-time World Cup sprint winner (Jens Arne Svartedal), or the fast-improving up-and-comer-that-just-might-be-crazy-enough-to-blast-out-of-the-start-at-a-tempo-that-nobody-in-the-world-had-ever-dreamed-possible? (Ola Vigen Hattestad.)
Jens Arne Svartedal: Good At Going Faster Than Other People On Skis Off the start it was Svartedal ahead of Naess at a tempo that perhaps several people in the world had dreamed possible at some point, but that was still somewhat impressive to most of those who were watching. Just before the final finish straight, Tor Arne Hetland was at the back of the group, when suddenly (as things tend to be in an all-out sprint) Hattestad and Svartedal got enough of their limbs and/or extensions thereof involved in an inharmonious pattern of movement in order to successfully crash out. Hetland cruised in for an easy A-final ticket along with Boerre Naess.
Tor Arne Hetland: Good At Going Faster Than Other People On Skis
Jens Arne Svartedal: Good At Going Faster Than Other People Except When Not On Skis . Photo from www.newspower.it Men's Semifinal 2: 1 2 Hetland Tor Arne NOR * 2:11.2 0.0 QA 2 3 Naess Boerre NOR * 2:12.8 +1.6 3 7 Hattestad Ola Vigen NOR * 2:44.2 +33.0 QB 4 11 Svartedal Jens Arne NOR * 3:11.7 +1:00.5 Moving on to the women's B-final, Marit Bjoergen had a more encouraging lap this time around, winning the heat comfortably ahead of Guro Stroem Solli, while Beckie Scott held off Ella Gjoemle to place third in the heat, and seventh overall for the day. Women's B-Final: 1 2 Bjoergen Marit NOR *4 2:33.4 0.0 2 8 Solli Guro Stroem NOR *4 2:34.0 +0.6 3 10 Scott Beckie CAN *3 2:35.8 +2.4 4 12 Gjoemle Ella NOR *3 2:39.5 +6.1
Marit Bjoergen: Good At Going Faster Than Other People On Skis. Photo from www.newspower.it Finally, it was time for the big show: the battle for the top three spots between the two Swedes, Lina Andersson and Anna Dahlberg--both medalists in the World Championship classic sprint two weeks ago--and the two Finnish skiers, Mona-Liisa Malvalehto and Virpi Kuitunen. On the line was more than national pride, media attention, fame, and dump truck loads of prize money (depending on the type of currency in which you prefer to count); the sense of personal accomplishment that comes with winning at the highest level in the world after years of hard work--or serving doping suspensions as the case may be--was also at stake. As she had done all day, Kuitunen led from the start, held on in the middle, and picked it up at the end. In other words, she won. Dahlberg trailed early on, but wasn't trailing by too much at the end. She got third. Lina Andersson was second, just like in the World Championships sprint. Mona-Liisa Malvalehto was fourth and didn't get a medal or anything because everyone else went really fast. Women's A-Final: 1 1 Kuitunen Virpi FIN *1 2:30.7 0.0 2 6 Andersson Lina SWE *1 2:31.6 +0.9 3 14 Dahlberg Anna SWE *2 2:32.9 +2.2 4 5 Malvalehto Mona-Liisa FIN *2 2:38.4 +7.7 On to the not-quite-as-big-but-still-pretty-big show: the men's B-final with Thobias Fredrksson, Jens Arne Svartedal, Bjoern Lind, and Ola Vigen Hattestad. Hattestad won the (unofficial) highest-ranked-skier-to-crash-twice-in-one-day award, making it less incoveniant for Bjoern Lind to make sure he didn't do worse than third in the heat, seventh overall. But the battle for the fifth and sixth overall positions was much closer, with Thobias Fredriksson bravely holding off home-boy Jens Arne Svartedal despite the large angry crowd who wanted Svartedal to win, not Fredriksson, cause Svartedal was Norwegian and so were most of the people in the crowd, and a lot of people like it when other people from their country win or at least get fifth place. Men's B-Final: 1 13 Fredriksson Thobias SWE *4 2:13.6 0.0 2 11 Svartedal Jens Arne NOR * 2:13.8 +0.2 3 8 Lind Bjoern SWE *3 2:21.3 +7.7 4 7 Hattestad Ola Vigen NOR *3 2:42.2 +28.6 The home crowd had less at stake in the men's A-Final since all four finalists were Norwegian, but they made a lot of encouraging noise anyway. The giant Trond Iverson went for it right from the gun, gambling all-or-nothing on a fast start and hoping to hold on in the end. Iverson was unable to match his own pace however, and sank like a rock or some other heavy thing that doesn't float as the other three charged up the final straight within one second of eachother. Hetland and Roenning pulled slightly ahead of Naess and were still dead-locked at the line. After a close examination of the finish photo, officials determined that Tor Arne Hetland had a slightly more Norwegian-sounding name than Eldar Roenning, and as if that weren't enough, the front of Hetland's boot had crossed the line quite a few nanoseconds before Roenning's, who has smaller feet. Therefore, Hetland was determined the winner, as you can see below.
Tor Arne Hetland: Good At Going Faster Than Other People On Skis Men's A-Final: 1 2 Hetland Tor Arne NOR *1 2:09.4 0.0 FD 2 1 Roenning Eldar NOR *1 2:09.4 0.0 FD 3 3 Naess Boerre NOR * 2:10.3 +0.9 4 4 Iversen Trond NOR *2 2:16.3 +6.9 And that's all I have to say about that. 
The Author: Good At Going Faster Than People, Even Without Skis
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