Nesselwang disabled WC: Cook, Klebl roll again

Steve Cook won his second consecutive disabled World Cup cross-country race Friday and Chris Klebl captured two more podiums to bring his total to six top threes on the season as the second World Cup week wrapped up in Germany.

NESSELWANG, Germany — Steve Cook won his second consecutive disabled World Cup cross-country race Friday and Chris Klebl captured two more podiums to bring his total to six top threes on the season as the second World Cup week wrapped up in Germany.
    Friday's races were a 15-kilometer for sitting men and an 18.7 km for the standing skiers, while Saturday saw a sprint moved from Nesselwang to nearby Isny, where race volunteers spread snow over a field that made for some pretty challenging and at times, muddy conditions, according to head coach Jon Kreamelmeyer.
    "It was a long trip for our team, that's for sure, but the results were awesome. We had 12 podiums, so I'd say we're pretty happy with the results," said Kreamelmeyer. "Cookie skied a great distance race on Friday and then had a pretty tough time in the sprint on Saturday. Conditions were really sketchy, but they all skied the same course. Chris just plowed through both days and is solidly locked into second on the overall World Cup standings."
    The victory for Cook initially leaped him into the overall points lead for standing men, but a disappointing ninth-place result on Saturday dropped him back to second behind Kjartan Haugen of Norway.
    "It's amazing," said Kreamelmeyer. "Steve was just flying on Friday and nearly lapped Kjarten to move into the overall lead, but then he finished 15 seconds back in the sprint for ninth place and dropped back to second, but that's a sprint and he'll bounce back. And I couldn't be more proud of what Chris is doing right now. He values his skiing and has such a renewed attitude. It'll be exciting to watch what he does when we move to Sweden in a couple of weeks."
    Also skiing well was Greg Mallory and Sean Halsted, as both U.S. Disabled Ski Team members powered into the top 10 on both of the final races. Part of the success for the entire team, Kreamelmeyer said, was due to Clark Sullivan, who stepped up to assist the team with ski prep for the German World Cup stop.
    "Clark was with us in Torino and decided to come over and support us for these races and it was huge for us. It helps to have a good mental attitude when you're competing and having good skis adds quite a bit to having a good attitude, so we have Clark to thank for that."

Disabled World Cup results
Nesselwang, Germany — Jan. 26, 2007

Men's 18.7 km — standing
1. Steve Cook USA, 53:22.9
2. Ilkka Tuomisto FIN, 54:12.3
3. Svein Lilleberg NOR, 54:16.1

Men's 15 km — sit-ski
1. Irek Zaripov RUS, 50:22.5
2. Chris Klebl, USA, 50:47.8
3. Aliaks Davidovich BLR, 52:44.0
7. Greg Mallory USA, 55:02.9
10.Sean Halsted, USA, 58:07.0

Jan. 27, 2007
Men's Sprint 1 km — standing
1. Kjartan Haugen NOR, 2:00.26
2. Kirill Mikaylov RUS, 2:03.99
3. Ilkka Tuomisto FIN, 2:08.55
9. Steve Cook, USA, 2:16.25

Men's sprint 0.7 km — sit-ski
1. Irek Zaripov RUS, 2:31.84
2. Chris Klebl, USA, 2:41.81
3. Vladimir Kieselev RUS, 2:44.49
6. Greg Mallory, USA 2:52.37
7. Sean Halsted, USA 2:56.34