SAPPORO, Japan (Feb. 23) - With the individual and team sprints
completed at the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, the cross
country focus turns to distance races with the first competition
Saturday - the men's 30K pursuit, mixing a mass start 15K classic
technique race which leads into a 15K classic technique race.
The
sprints were staged at the Sapporo Dome while the remaining races are
scheduled for Shirahatayama, a traditional outdoor race course. The
pursuit will feature four laps in each technique.
Live interval timing is available at midnight ET at
http://livetiming.usskiteam.com.
Coach Pete Vordenberg has named four starters - Kris Freeman (Andover,
NH), Andrew Johnson (Greensboro, VT), James Southam (Anchorage, AK) and
Lars Flora (also Anchorage). Freeman, Johnson and Flora have been
teammates at the last two Olympics while Southam is a 2006 Olympian.
With temperatures expected again in the 30s, if not higher, waxing
could be problematic. Vordenberg said, "It's changing daily, sometimes
hourly. We've found very volatile weather," he said Friday. "We expect
it to be cool in the morning and then warm to zero [C. - or 32
F.]...and it again promises to be exciting in the waxing cabin."
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There will be no U.S. jumpers competing Saturday night in the large
hill competition at Okurayama Jumping Hill. Clint Jones (Steamboat
Springs, CO) missed the top-30 cut by one place Friday in the
qualifying event on the 134-meter hill and Alan Alborn (Anchorage, AK)
was farther back.
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International newcomer Laura Valaas (Wenatchee, WA) has a special
relationship to enjoy while she's competing in Japan - her maternal
grandmother is from Murakami, Japan, on the northwest coast of Honshu,
the main island (where Tokyo is located). grandmother married a Swedish
sailor and they moved to the United States, according to Valaas. On her
father's side, there's another Scandinavian tie since her paternal
great-grandfather moved to the USA from Norway.
"It's a little complicated," said the Whitman College alumna. For a
hasty visit to her family tree:
http://www.ussamedia.com/photos_audio/2006_07/cross_country/sapporo/
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Former nordic combined sprint world champion Johnny Spillane (Steamboat
Springs, CO) may sit out Sunday's combined team event so he can
continue regaining use of his left shoulder, which was reinjured this
week while playing volleyball in dryland training.
"There wasn't any crash or anything dramatic, but Johnny said at one
point his shoulder was bothering him," Head Coach Lasse Ottesen said.
When Spillane, a three-time Olympian who won gold in the combined
sprint at 2003 Worlds, didn't jump well Friday in the sprint, he
decided to skip the 7.5k race to reduce potential aggravation to his
left shoulder, which underwent reconstructive surgery last spring.
"If we sit Johnny for the team event, that gives him another few days
for his shoulder to get stronger for the individual event [March 3].
We'll decide [Saturday] after checking with him, of course, and with
the doctor and the PT [physio therapist]," Ottesen said.