Drammen XC: Koos (19th) leads U.S. in sprint

Torin Koos led U.S. skiers, finishing 19th in the quarterfinals of a World Cup classic sprint that ran through downtown Drammen, Norway, on Wednesday.
DRAMMEN, Norway — Torin Koos led U.S. skiers, finishing 19th in the quarterfinals of a World Cup classic sprint that ran through downtown Drammen, Norway, on Wednesday.
    The Drammen sprint brings skiers into some intense competition through streets lined with tens of thousands of spectators.
    "In Torin's round, he just narrowly missed being the lucky loser. The guy who was third in his heat was the lucky loser and there was probably only a ski boot length between the two," said sprint head coach Chris Grover. "He had a good round, but just narrowly missed advancing. It was disappointing given how our guys have skied in the past few weeks."
    The top 30 skiers make the sprint finals out of the qualifying rounds, which are six-skier heats. The top two skiers in each round move on as well as the two "lucky losers," the fastest two sprint times across each round not in the top two in his or her heat.
    Vigen Hattestad outkicked fellow Norwegian Jens Arne Svartedal in the men's final, with Sweden's Emil Jonsson finishing third. Vigen Hattestad leads Jonsson by just two points in the sprint standings with one race left in the series.
    Lukas Bauer, who leads the overall standings, skipped the race. The Czech prefers longer distances.
    American Andy Newell, hot off his second-place podium in Finland last Saturday, ran into trouble early on in the race and was unable to recover.
    "Andy fell when his wax caught and he was down maybe 300 meters into the course," Grover said. "He was actually able to catch back up to the leaders but he faded at the end because he had spent so much energy getting back."
    The Drammen sprint, which serves as a prelude to the famed Holmenkollen Ski Festival in Oslo this weekend, was dominated by Norwegians, who took eight of the 10 top men's spots.
    "It started off as a good day, but we had a bit of bad luck," Grover said. "The Drammen sprint is always a challenge because some people do it in skate gear and other people use classic technique. It's really tough to get through in Drammen."
    The cross-country team now heads to Oslo for the Holmenkollen Ski Festival for a women's 30 km and a men's 50 km on Saturday.
    Overall leader Bauer leads Rene Sommerfeldt of Germany 1,196 to 768 points with three races left.
    In the women's race, defending overall champion Virpi Kuitunen of Finland won ahead Petra Majdic of Slovenia and Astrid Jacobsen of Norway.
    Majdic leads the sprint standings with 564 points before the March 14 season finale at Bormio, Italy. Jacobsen is second (490) and Kuitunen third (488).
    Kuitunen tops the overall standings with 1,289 points ahead of Jacobsen (1,115) and Charlotte Kalla of Sweden (939). The women also have three races left.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2008 VIESSMANN FIS WORLD CUP CROSS COUNTRY
Drammen, NOR – March 5, 2008
1.2K Classic Sprints

Men
1. Ola Vigen Hattestad, Norway
2. Jens Arne Svartedal, Norway
3. Emil Joensson, Sweden
4. Boerre Naess, Norway
5. John Kristian Dahl, Norway
–
19. Torrin Koos, Leavenworth, WA
22. Andy Newell, Shaftsbury, VT
39. Chris Cook, Rhinelander, WI
58. Garrott Kuzzy, Hayward, WI

Women
1. Vipri Kuitunen, Finland
2. Petra Majdic, Slovenia
3. Astrid Jacobsen, Norway
4. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Finland
5. Lina Andersson, Sweden
–
33. Kikkan Randall, Anchorage, AK
50. Laura Valaas,