The Sprint, the first race of the Championships at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, brought victory for home athletes Alena Trapeznikova by 25 seconds and Sergey Gorlanov by 12 seconds.
On a cold and cloudy day, Trapeznikova was fastest throughout, completing the course in 14.21. Silver went to Tatyana Oborina who had a slow start, only 12th fastest at control 1, but skied very well after that. A third Russian, young Marina Vyatkina, took the bronze, 32 seconds down on the winner. The closest challenger to the Russians was Isabel Salen, Sweden, in fourth place, and her compatriot Linda Lindkvist was sixth. Best Finn was Salla Koskela in seventh place, and Norwegian Evine Westli Andersen was eighth.
Gorlanov started strongly in the men’s race and was the fastest by eight seconds at control 1. He too led throughout, but second-placed Vladislav Kiselev, fresh from his recent successes in Sweden, had the same time at control 6. Audun Heimdal, Norway and Tuomas Kotro, Finland, both receive bronze medals with a time 27 seconds down on the winner. Top-ranked Russian Andrey Lamov could only manage sixth place today, 14 seconds slower than fifth-placed Stanimir Belomazhev, Bulgaria.
The Championships continue tomorrow with the Middle distance race, with mass-start. As today, there will be live coverage of the races with English commentary, and full GPS tracking: click on ‘Live’ on the IOF website.
Leading results, Sprint
Women
- Alena Trapeznikova RUS 14:21
- Tatyana Oborina RUS 14:46
- Marina Vyatkina RUS 14:53
- Isabel Salen SWE 15:00
- Kseniia Terekhova RUS 15:03
- Linda Lindkvist SWE 15:06
Men
- Sergey Gorlanov RUS 14:58
- Vladislav Kiselev RUS 15:10
3= Audun Heimdal NOR & Tuomas Kotro FIN 15:25
- Stanimir Belomazhev BUL 15:26
- Andrey Lamov RUS 15:40