UPDATED: Freeman Leads U.S. in Relay

World Cup: Beitostoelen

Sun, Nov  22, 2009 - By US Ski Team

BEITOSTOELEN, Norway (Nov. 22) - Day two of the opening weekend of World Cup cross country racing wrapped up in Norway on Sunday with the Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) leading the U.S. team strong out of the gate with a sixth in his heat of a relay race. The U.S. men finished 19th overall.

Norway's men won the race, followed by the Russian team in second and Germany team rounded out the podium in third.

According to U.S. Cross Country Head Coach Pete Vordenberg, the relay race was a great showing for Freeman and will lead him strong into races in Kuusamo next week.

"Freeman's goal of the day was to work on classic racing in a head to head mass start situation and I think he had a good race, finishing sixth in the first leg," Vordenberg said.

The U.S. relay team also consisted of Andy Newell (Shaftsburry, VT), Torrin Koos (Leavenworth, WA) and 2009 Continental Cup champion Lars Flora (Anchorage).

Vordenberg said the race was also a good showing by the rest of the men, but the team wasn't necessarily looking for the top results as much as they were warming up for the season ahead.

"Andy had a really solid race and it showed a lot of athleticism. Torin raced solid and Lars finishing 15th in his leg was a good showing," Vordenberg said. "The finish for a team is not a goal for us yet. We don't have a team yet where we can look for those results."

Without enough athletes to fill a relay team, the U.S. women didn't race in the World Cup. Sweden's women won the race followed in second by Norway and Finland finished up the podium in third.

The team now moves on to Finland where they will race a classic sprint Nov. 28 and a men's 15K and women's 10K classic race Nov. 29.

"Leading into Kuusamo we can start to look for some solid results out of everyone once we get there and I'm really excited," Vordenberg said.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 Viessmann FIS Cross Country World Cup
Beitostoelen, Norway - Nov. 22, 2009
Relay

Men
1. Norway 1 (Roenning -2; Johnsrud-Sundby - 7; Hafsaas - 7; Northug - 4) 1:48:50.7
2. Russia 1 (Vylegzhanin - 1; Pankratov - 13; Legkov - 3; Chernousov - 5) 1:48:55.8
3. Germany (Filbrich - 8; Teichmann - 4; Sommerfeldt - 4; Angerer - 7) 1:49:02.5
4. Finland (Nousiainen - 4; Jauhojaervi - 6; Kattilakoski - 12; Heikkinen - 3) 1:49:06.2
5. Norway 2 (Oestensen - 5; Djupvik - 10; Aasen - 5; Andresen - 6) 1:49:07.6
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19. USA (Freeman - 6; Koos - 24; Newell - 20; Flora - 15) 1:53:17.1

Women
1. Sweden (Olsson - 4; Lindborg - 7; Haag - 2; Kalla - 1) 58:37.1
2. Norway 1 (Skofterud - 1; Johaug - 10; Steira - 1; Bjoergen - 2) 58:53.8
3. Finland (Muranen - 2; Kuitunen - 5; Roponen - 4; Saarinen - 4) 58:59.1
4. Russia 1 (Khazova - 3; Sidko - 12; Medvedeva - 4; Korosteeleva - 3) 59:22.8
5. Germany 1 (Boehler - 5; Zeller - 9; Sachenbacher - 7; Nystad - 8) 1:00:08.6