Kikkan Randall wins sprint in Muonio
Fri, Nov 12, 2010 - By FIS
U.S. top female athlete Kikkan Randall led two biggest rivals for the Big Crystal Globe in the Finnish sprint opener in Muonio and swept victory.
It’s been snowing all day in Muonio for the skate sprint races and it was a successful day for the U.S skiers. Petra Majdic of Slovenia showed she has not lost anything from her sprint boost and won the qualifier over Kikkan Randall (USA) and Italian free technique specialist Arianna Follis. Polish star Justyna Kowalczyk qualifed as fourth.
Finals were occupied by the U.S. sprint specialist Randall who edged out Petra Majdic. Justyna Kowalczyk could improve by one spot and finished third. Arianna Follis captured fourth place whereas best Finnish was Pirjo Muranen fifth.
On the men's side it was Czech Martin Jaks who surprisingly won the qualifier. Jaks is more known as distance skier. "I am a bit surprised as well but my qualification round was superb and I was feeling very well" said Jaks to Czech media. U.S. top athlete Andy Newell qualified as second and Russian Sergey Shiriaev third. However, finals was dominated Estonian Timo Simonlatser who edged out Alexey Poltoranin of Kazakhstan. Estonian success was completed by Peeter Kummel. Qualifier winner Martin Jaks took fourth spot.
Results