Morilov and Kuitunen Top Sprint Standings
Tour de Ski
Fri, Jan 4, 2008 - By Tour de Ski
With five stages completed Morilov and Kuitunen top the Sprint standings in the Tour de Ski. The sprint leaders wear the Silver bib during the competitions however as Kuitunen also holds the Golden bib of the overall tour leader Follis will wear the Silver bib for the Stage 6 Sprint event in Asiago.
Men Sprint Standing after Stage 5
1: 60 sec Morilov, RUS
2: 56 sec Oestensen, NOR
3: 54 sec Parfenov, RUS
4: 52 sec Hetland, NOR
5: 44 sec Northug, NOR
6: 40 sec Vylegzhanin, RUS
Women Sprint Standing after Stage 5
1: 79 sec Kuitunen, FIN
2: 60 sec Follis, ITA
3: 57 sec Saarinen, FIN
4: 56 sec Muranen, FIN
5: 52 sec Bjoergen, NOR
6: 49 sec Genuin, ITA
The Sprint classification is heavily weighted towards the two Sprint stages, where the winner takes 60 seconds and bonuses are awarded to the top 30 athletes. Stage 1 had bonus seconds only for the top three at the finish, while Stage 5 had one intermediate sprint and the finish bonus seconds. The Stage 7 mass start in Val di Fiemme has bonuses for the best three athletes at two intermediate sprints and at the finish.
The top of the men's Sprint standing is dominated by Russians and Norwegians. Morilov and Parfenov gave everything for the intermediate sprint in the 15km Classic on Stage 5, and while Morilov got no bonus seconds for his efforts Parfenov picked up 5 seconds to move up to third place. Norwegian sprinter Dahl picked up the maximum 15 seconds for this intermediate sprint to take his total to 30. The overall leader Bauer (CZE) with 40 points is the only athlete in the top 20 of the Sprint standing not to have made the finals in the Stage 3 Sprint in Prague. Even if Bauer skied off the front of the pack in Stage 7 and took the maximum 45 seconds (which is unlikely), he would still need to be in the finals in the Sprint in Asiago to be a contender in the Sprint classification.
In the women's Sprint competition the overall winner will likely need to take seconds in both the Sprint stages and in the intermediate sprints. Too many of the overall contenders are also among the best skiers in the sprints. Follis could win in Asiago to have a total of 120 seconds, but if Kuitunen or Saarinen just make the semi-finals and pick up 30 seconds or better they are still in with a good chance to win the Sprint classification by taking intermediate sprints in Stage 7. Kuitunen may ski conservatively and not risk her lead in the overall classification; however Saarinen will almost definitely be out to pick up bonus seconds.
Of course there will also be many skiers in the Asiago sprint who are only interested to take the Stage win.