With the leaders on course, Fletcher began one minute, 22 seconds back, closing the gap on the leaders with each push in a fast-moving train of up to eight skiers. By lap four, the leaders were in sight.
This helps my confidence a little bit, period. It was tough over in Europe. I felt really good before I left but the skiing was not as fast as I'm used to. I just didn’t feel as strong as normal
It was fun to ski today. I felt strong and the public here cheers us to a top performance. For sure I am happy with my second victory after Düsseldorf in this season
I was not so sure that I could be so strong today but I did my best and won the race.
In the finals, Kowalczyk beat Randall across the line for third, relegating the American to a spot just off the podium. Kowalczyk, though, drew an immediate penalty, relegating her back into sixth.
"He was having a good race for about 11k and then didn't have a good last 4k, he didn't pace quite right," said Head Coach Chris Grover.
The first Junior Olympic Qualifier is coming up in Ironwood, MI this weekend. There will be an opportunity to try your hand at biathlon at this event.
As a part of the collaboration between Fischer and the notable event, 25 sets of junior equipment will go to the City of Lakes Loppet Foundation.
As of Monday, December 6 there are 7411 skiers registered for the 2011 American Birkbeiner and Kortelopet. This means that there are less than 1000 positions remain in these events.
Olympic silver medalist Todd Lodwick completed a sweep of the weekend Continental Cup in Steamboat with another convincing win on Sunday. Lodwick will now head for the World Cup in Austria after the pair of tuneups in his hometown.
"It was a little bit better but definitely not up to our expectations," said Nordic Combined Coach Chris Gilbertson. "Bryan jumped OK, Billy jumped better, but not where we expect him to be."
Mich. - Northern Michigan University swept the top spots in Sunday's Husky Challenge, winning both the men's 10k Classic and the women's 5k Classic, taking 7 of the top ten spots.