CROSS-COUNTRY:

U.S. skier Randall nets XC win, Canada’s Gaiazova 14th

Jan. 15, 2011

LIBEREC, Czech Republic — Ola Vigen Hattestad of Norway and Kikkan Randall of the United States won cross-country skiing World Cup sprint events Saturday.

It was a winning return for Hattestad to Liberec, where he won the men's sprint at the World Championships two years ago.

"It's amazing," Hattestad said. "I'm really, really happy."

Hattestad won the 1.6-kilometer freestyle race in 2 minutes, 55.3 seconds, beating Federico Pellegrino of Italy by 1.0 second. Dusan Kozisek of the Czech Republic was third 3.0 seconds back.

Dario Cologna of Switzerland remains atop of the overall standings with 1,197 points, followed by Petter Northug of Norway with 706 and Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic on 698.

Len Valjas, the lone Canadian male entered, finished 42nd in qualifying, failing to advance.

Randall led Hanna Falk of Sweden by 0.5 on the 1.3-kilometer course to win in 2 minutes, 37.6 seconds, while Celine Brun-Lie of Norway was 0.6 second back in third. It was the second career World Cup win for Randall, who finished second in the sprint in Liberec at the 2009 worlds. Her first World Cup win came in a sprint race in Rybinsk, Russia, in December 2007.

"I really like Liberec," Randall said. "It's been a good city for me to race in and it was great to be on the podium today."

Daria Gaiazova was the top Canadian, finishing 14th. Both Gaiazova and Chandra Crawford qualified for the knockout rounds. They were drawn together in the same heat along with Falk. Gaiazova was third, 2 seconds from Falk, with Crawford running into difficulties and finishing last in her heat, 26th overall, well back from the lead.

Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland leads overall with 1,271 points. Italy's Arianna Follis is second with 880 and Norway's Marit Bjoergen third on 796. Randall jumped to tenth with 445.

The World Cup continues with team sprint events in Liberec Sunday.  S-Magazine

— The Canadian Press and Cross Country Canada contributed to this report