Finals: Nystad, Piller Cottrer take XC sprints

SANTA CATERINA, Italy — Pietro Piller Cottrer of Italy and Claudia Nystad of Germany won the cross-country sprint events Friday, part of the World Cup Grand Finals taking place in and around Bormio in northern Italy.
    Piller Cottrer finished the 3.3-kilometer men’s race in 8 minutes, 31.7 seconds, just a tenth of a second ahead of Norway’s Tord Asle Gjerdalen. Martin Jaks of the Czech Republic was 2.81 seconds back in third.
    Nystad took the 2.5-kilometer women’s sprint in 7:46.4, ahead of Astrid Jacobsen of Norway, 7:52.0, and Riita-Liisa Roponen of Finland, 7:55.7.
    The cross-country events at the Grand Finals continue Saturday with classical races, 20 kilometers for the men and 10 kilometers for the women.