Otepaeae XC: Kowalczyk claims 1st career win

Axel Teichmann won the men's 15-kilometer classic race at the FIS World Cup cross-country meet Saturday, while Justyna Kowalczyk took the 10-kilometer women's title.

OTEPAEAE, Estonia — Axel Teichmann won the men's 15-kilometer classic race at the FIS World Cup cross-country meet Saturday, while Justyna Kowalczyk took the 10-kilometer women's title.
    American Kris Freeman finished 32nd and Andrew Johnson 51st, while no U.S. women raced.
    The 27-year-old Teichmann of Germany covered the men's race in 41 minutes, 0.7 seconds, beating runner-up Frode Estil of Norway by 6.4 seconds. The win in Otepaa brought the 27-year-old's World Cup ranking to 14th, with 221 points.
    Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset, also of Norway, came in third place.
    The 24-year-old Kowalczyk took her first World Cup win in the women's sprint in 30:54.2.
    ''This first victory feels fantastic,'' she said.
    Finnish skier Virpi Kuitunen was a close second, only 6.8 seconds behind the Pole.
    Valentina Shevchenko of the Ukraine came in a third place, finishing at 31:08.7.
    "Kris just got here Thursday — we wanted to delay his arrival because they didn't have much snow [for training] — so we didn't have great expectations, since it takes a while to adjust … but he'll go tomorrow in the sprint and then when we're back in Davos [Switzerland] for the next races, he'll really settle in," U.S. head coach Pete Vordenberg said.
    "It was gnarly all day. It snowed all through the women's [three-lap] race and then turned to blowing, lots of wind during the men's race." Temperatures were in the low 20s.
    Classic technique sprints are on top for Sunday — the men racing a 1.2 km loop while the women compete on a 1 km course.

— The Associated Press and USSA contributed to this report

Otepaeae World Cup cross-country results

Men’s 15 km classical
1. Axel Teichmann, Germany, 41 minutes, 7.0 seconds.
2. Frode Estil, Norway, 41:13.4.
3. Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset, Norway, 41:35.7.
4. Franz Goring, Germany, 41:44.8.
5. Jaak Mae, Estonia, 41:46.4.
6. Tobias Angerer, Germany, 41:48.3.
7. Martin Larsson, Sweden, 41:53.0.
8. Rene Sommerfeldt, Germany, 41:53.5.
9. Ivan Batory, Slovakia, 41:58.7.
10. Serguei Novikov, Russia, 42:03.1.
11. Nikolai Pankratov, Russia, 42:06.8
12. Fulvio Scola, Italy, 42:12.8
13. Mathias Fredriksson, Sweden, 42:13.4.
14. Martin Jaks, Czeck Republic, 42:17.5.
15. Vassili Rotchev, Russia, 42:18.7

Overall standings (after 10 of 20 races)
1. Tobias Angerer, Germany, 762 points
2. Alexander Legkov, Russia, 573.
3. Tor Arne Hetland, Norway, 448.
4. Eldar Ronning, Norway, 393.
5. Eugeni Dementiev, Russia, 297.
6. Franz Goring, Germany, 270.
7. Sami Jauhojarvi, Finland, 242.
8. Simen Ostensen, Norway, 241.
9. Nikolai Pankratov 238.
10. Frode Estil, Norway, 231.

Women’s 10 km classical
1. Justyna Kowalczyk, Poland, 30 minutes 54.2 seconds.
2. Virpi Kuitunen, Finland, 31:02.0.
3. Valentina Sjevtsjenko, Ukraine, 31:08.7.
4. Marit Bjoergen, Norway, 31:14.1.
5. Marianna Longa, Italy, 31:26.5.
6. Aino Kaisa Saarinen, Finland, 31:40.7.
7. Vibeke Skofterud, Norway, 31:48.8.
8. Therese Johaug, Norway 31:50.7.
9. Lina Andersson, Sweden, 31:53.8.
10. Kamila Rajdlova, Czech Republic, 31:55.8.
11. Pirjo Manninen, Finland, 31:58.6.
12. Sara Lindborg, Sweden, 31:58.7.
13. Milla Saari, Finland, 32:01.4.
14. Claudia Kunzel-Nystad, Germany, 32:01.6.
15. Petra Majdic, Slovenia, 32:10.6.

Overall standings (after 10 of 20 races)
1. Virpi Kuitunen, Finland, 997 points.
2. Marit Bjoergen, Norway, 684.
3. Katerina Neumannova, Czech Republic, 552.
4. Aino Kaisa Saarinen, Finland, 503.
5. Petra Majdic, Slovenia, 482.
6. Valentina Shevchenko, Ukraine, 459.
7. Riitta Liisa Roponen, Finland, 363.
8. Arianna Follis, Italy, 323
9. Vibeke Skofterud, Norway, 298.
10. Evi Sachenbacher Stehle, Germany, 294.

Click here for complete results.