OLYMPICS, CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING. Russian team dominated finals of the sprint classic in Whistler. Nikita Kriukov took gold medal followed by Alexander Panzhynskiy who claimed silver. Russians arrived in the finnish with a big margin. In a downhill there was a collision between Oyestein Pettersen and Alexey Poltaranin (KAZ). Petter Northug jr. returned after bad performance in 15 km Free and won bronze.

It is the first ever victory for Nikita Kriukov, he never won even a World Cup before. But his shape increased in this season and Kriukov finished twice on the podium in this season. Kriukov commented on his race: "It was a really difficult race for me. I actually cam in fourth in the qualifying and Alexander came first. In the Final, I really didn't agree on a strategy with him. But our coach remind us that there would be three Norwegians against us and we really needed to get ahead. I'm really happy with my victory and I had never expected this."

Alexander Panzhinskiy should a great performance as well with winning the qualification and beeing second at the end of the competition. It was his first ever podium spot: "It was really unbelievable. I fact Nikita is my roommate and we've trained together many years. It is really a dream for us to be together on the podium and we didn't know it was going to happend today.

Bronze medalist Northug was also satisfied with his performance today: "I didn't see myself as a favourite, but I always hope to fight for a Gold especially in the final. From the start it was a bit too slow. I had to use a lot of power on the first hill. Then I had a good feeling."

FIScrossscountry.com
Wednesday 17 February 2010