Nordic Roundup: Back at it on the World Cup

Nordic Roundup: “Back at it” on the World Cup{mosimage}The various nordic World Cup schedules resume this week following the end of the world championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. Lahti, Finland, is the first stop with cross-country, ski jumping and nordic combined at the 80th Salpausselka Games, the so-called Finnish Ski Games.

Lahti also is the first stop on the series-within-the-series, the Nordic Tournament for ski jumpers. The tournament , part of the World Cup schedule since 1997, includes end-of-season jumping meets in Finland and Norway. The schedule starts in Lahti with a team event Saturday and a large hill (HS130) competition Sunday, moves to Kuopio, Finland, for another LH (HS127) event March 9, a night comp March 11 on the Olympic large hill in Lillehammer, and concludes March 13 at Holmenkollen, high above Oslo.

Sweden hasn’t hosted ski jumping World Cup events on a regular basis for a decade or more. For some reason, the Swedes have done a walk-away on jumping and nordic combined. One of the biggest ironies, of course, is it was Swede Jan Bokloev, who “invented” the V-style of jumping in the lat’80s when he suffered a mild seizure in mid-jump, immedaitely spread his skis into a V and landed safely. He was scoffed at for several years but eventually he began to perfect the technique, which provides a greater platform for jumpers than the old skis parallel and up to the skier’s face. He won the 1989 World Cup title and by the ’92 season, the V was revolutionizing the sport.

No crying in cross-country racing?

Tom Hanks delivered one of the most memorable lines in cinematic history when, during “A League Of Thier Own,” he admonishes, “There’s no crying in baseball…”

Maybe yes, maybe no. But what about cross-country skiing? Norwegian women’s Coach Svein Tore Samdal wasn’t afraid to show some emotion when his star, Marit Bjoergen, won the 30-kilometer, mass start, classic technique race that completed the women’s cross-country schedule at worlds. “I know how much and how hard she had worked for this,” Samdal said, “and how far it was to this level when she started.”

Birkie to Italians; Baughman 3rd, Zimmerman 4th

Italians again ruled the 52km freestyle American Birkbeiner February 26 from Cable to Hayward, Wisconsin, with distance ace Marco Cattaneo winning in 2:04.12.8, about seven minutes faster than last year’s win by Giantonio Zanetel; it was his third Birkie title.

Top Americans were Leif Zimmerman, a U.S. development squad racer from Bozeman, Montana, who finished fourth, part of a sprint to the finish by a small handful of racers, and Brooke Baughman of Ketchum, Idaho, who was third behind Italians Lara Peyrot and Kristina Paluselli. It also was the third Birkie crown for Peyrot, who finished in 2:15.20, six minutes ahead of Paluselli, who was a half-minute up on Baughman.

The throng of 6,368 were started by the venerable – and ever durable – Sven Wiik, who got the pack off and then joined the racers. He finished in 7:24.27, third in the 80-89 age group.

Meanwhile, the 81st running of the fabled 90km classic Vasaloppet takes place March 6 in Mora. An estimated 14,000 skiers are expected to compete.

Medals hat trick for Ahonen

World Cup ski jumping leader Janne Ahonen returned to Finland this week from the world championships with three medals – one of each color. He laid down a blockbuster 142.5-meter jump to clinch the gold in the large hill (HS137) event February 26 after capturing bronze in the small hill event and being part of the Finns’ silver-medal team.

It was a pleasant rebound for Ahonen, who has boosted the World cup one-season victory mark to 12 this winter. He had been sidelined for three weeks before the championships in Oberstdorf, struggling with the flu and dealing with reduced training. But Ahonen, who won the opening Four Hills Tournee event in Oberstdorf in December, came back to town and pronounced himself healthy and comfortable with the hill. Then he went out and proved it – with his wife Tia and son Miko at the bottom of the jumping hill to watch his heroics and to lead the cheers.

It was the first time a Finn had won the big hill title since Jari Puikkonen pulled off the trick on a chilly night at the 1989 worlds in Lahti before a crowd estimated at 80,000 or more. Adding to the fervor: Puikkonen, who once broke both legs and shattered his ankles in a large hill competition when he was caught in a wind gust and jumped an estimated 140 meters – onto the flat, is a Lahti homeboy. The folks went understandably crackers with his winning performance.