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News stories from the Ski World Cup 2003 Story preview shown for each story ... click view story to see full text
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| 12:26 Friday, March 7 | The Russian Day - photoes |
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| 15:50 Thursday, March 6 | The happiest young man in Russia |
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What a smiling face the Norwegian Eivind Tonna had today. For the first time in his life he won an international competition, but he was not alone on the top of the podium: Eduard Khrennikov and the Norwegian had exactly the same time. Tonna took his first international medal at the European Championships in Russia two years ago. Last year he tried too hard and didn't make any progress. This year he allowed himself enough rest and as a result his body has been working perfectly, but his brain hasn't done all the right things... "Earlier this year I made some mistakes in almost every race, so it was certainly time for a perfect race. It was really good to beat the Russians on their home ground. Russia is number one nation in ski orienteering," smiled the Norwegian. ........... |
| 15:49 Thursday, March 6 | I am not a sprinter... |
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Salla Lehto won her second World Cup race today. It was a short distance race victory again for the 22-year-old Finn, but she denies that she is a sprinter. "I don't especially prefer the sprint. I like all the distances", said the young Finn. "But why are you so good in sprint and short distance ski orienteering?" "I can't really say, but I think I am better in orienteering than in skiing. Maybe it is because I can orienteer quickly and not make mistakes", she said. Her first victory in this year's World Cup was in Sundsvall in Sweden. There it was a sprint distance, this time a short distance race. Today she won ahead of two Russians: Tatiana Vlasova was second, 11 seconds after the Finn, and Irina Onishchenko took the last place on the podium. ........... |
| 11:32 Thursday, March 6 | Salla Lehto and the other stars from the short distance - photos |
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| 17:20 Tuesday, March 4 | Khrennikov Best in the World |
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There's no doubt any longer: Eduard Khrennikov is this year's overall winner in the World Cup, after today completing his fourth victory this winter. At the finish he was met with a congratulatory kiss from his wife Tatiana. Natalia Tomilova won the race in the women's class and has extended her lead in the World Cup standings on a day which was astoundingly successful for the Russian team. Khrennikov is one of the really big sportsmen in ski orienteering. He has won four gold medals in World Championships and has also won the World Cup before. This winter he won the sprint in the European Championship and has won half the races he has started in this winter's World Cup. With one race still to go he has made it again. "It's a bit different from the last victory in 2000. Now I know I will be the winner before the last race starts", he said. His counting scores in this year's World Cup are three second places alongside the four victories. "Khrennikov has been really consistent this winter", said Bertil Nordqvist. The Swede has been leading the standings for a few days. He had hopes of winning overall, but he had no chance today. Even without any mistakes, Khrennikov was faster. The gap between the two top men was1minute 50 seconds. ........... |
| 16:27 Tuesday, March 4 | Khrennikov Wins Again - The Photos |
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| 07:09 Tuesday, March 4 | Mighty Close Race for Top Honours |
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The 2003 World Cup draws to a close this week with two individual races and a relay in the Ural Mountains in central Russia. And an exciting week it will certainly be, with three possible outright winners in both men's and women's classes and the relay competition wide open. Russia's Natalia Tomilova won both races in Estonia last week and now heads the standings by one point from compatriot Tatiana Vlasova. Stina Grenholm, Sweden is also still in contention for top position; she is 13 points down on the leader, but the 7 best races count and she had an outstanding start to the World Cup season in Italy. Sweden's Bertil Nordqvist is the new leader in the men's class with Eduard Khrennikov, Russia 8 points down and Arto Lilja, Finland a further 10 points down. Khrennikov made a tactical decision to miss the Estonia races and save all his energy for the Russian round; with the most victories in the World Cup so far, he has to be the favourite for overall victory. ........... |
| 17:02 Monday, March 3 | Marie's great finish |
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| 15:23 Sunday, March 2 | The Big Battle for Total Victory |
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Today was the last race in the World Cup before the two final competitions in Russia. Natalia Tomilova, Russia and Peter Arnesson from Sweden won today's middle distance. Natalia Tomilova and Bertil Nordquist are the overall leaders in advance of the decisive competitions. In the Ural mountains in Russia Bertil especially will be under hard pressure from Eduard Khrennikov. Khrennikov didn't take part in the races in Estonia - he wants to concentrate on the final events and save energy: "He is not a machine", says the Russian team leader Natalia Morosanova. Khrennikov has in effect the best position in the men's class because he has most victories and because only the 7 best results from the 11 races count in the overall standings. Khrennikov needs only one good result in one of the two last competitions to pick up a lot of new points; just now he is placed 2nd. Bertil Nordquist and Arto Lilja have also been close to the top in almost every competition this winter, so it will be a really tough battle in Russia. ........... |
| 16:39 Friday, February 28 | Pictures - long distance race, Estonia |
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| 16:22 Friday, February 28 | I am Not the Winning Type! |
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Finland's Arto Lilja has been the king of ski orienteering for the last two weeks. He has won two world competitions in a row, but he says he is not the winning type... "My goal is the perfect race. I want to orienteer with 100% accuracy and also ski 100%. If I win after that is it OK", says Arto Lilja. "How does it feel to win a race in the World Cup then?" "Well, it is something I have dreamt about, but I am not the winning type! I do not think about winning. If I started thinking about winning, I believe I would not do so well. I just concentrate on having a good race", he says. ........... |
| 17:41 Saturday, February 15 | Thrilling middle distance in Timrå |
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The last race of the second World Cup round was a middle distance with courses of 13.5 km for men and 10.5 km for women. The event turned out to be a real thriller: Marie Lund from Sweden won the women's class, just six seconds ahead of Russian Tatiana Vlasova. Lund's compatriot Stina Grenholm came third. The gold medallist was very pleased after the race: - Fantastic! I cannot yet understand that I really won today. ........... |
| 14:10 Thursday, February 13 | Top three results, World Cup sprint in Timrå, SWE |
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Results: Women (2.9 km) 1. Salla Lehto, Finland 14.45 ........... |
| 16:31 Tuesday, February 11 | The Russians took it all: Gold for Onischenko and Khrennikov |
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The spectators were hoping for Stina Grenholm and Bertil Nordqvist to win gold in today's race in Östersund, but the Russian athletes wanted otherwise. Both physically and technically, the race was extremely demanding. The men's course was 22.7 km with a total climb of 590 m. The length of the women's course was 15.5 km and the total climb was 390 m. The tracks were hard and icy, which required a good downhill skiing technique. In addition to this, the multitude of tracks called on a high degree of concentration so as not to make mistakes. In the women's class, Russian Irina Onischenko took the gold medal after a very good race. Onischenko now took her second World Cup victory - the first one came in Austria three years ago. She is currently third in the overall World Cup standings. ........... |
| 12:52 Tuesday, February 11 | Top ten results, World Cup long distance, Östersund, SWE |
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Men 1 Khrennikov, Eduard Russia 1:37:11 2 Nordqvist, Bertil Sweden 1:37:17 3 Löfgren, Tomas Sweden 1:38:38 4 Olsen, Tommy Norway 1:38:54 ........... |
| 08:51 Monday, February 10 | A Russian and Swedish affair |
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Russia did not give the other teams any chance at all in the men's relay. The Russian skiers were in the lead from start to finish. On the first leg, Vassily Gluharev came to the changeover 36 seconds ahead of Sweden's Peter Arnesson. The Norwegian starter Öystein Kvaal-Österbö came third but was disqualified because of a missing control punch, and the Finnish team thus moved up to third place. On the second leg Jarkko Urpalainen managed to pass Sweden's Tomas Löfgren but he was not able to catch up Gritsan Ruslan. The Russian anchor Eduard Khrennikov therefore had no problems in securing the gold. He crossed the finish line one minute and fifteen seconds before Finland's Arto Lilja, who simply commented: "A really good relay". Sweden got the bronze. ........... |
| 14:51 Sunday, February 9 | Results, World Cup relay event in Östersund, SWE |
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Men 1. Russia (Gluharev Vassily, Gritsan Ruslan, Khrennikov Edvard) 2.10.13 2. Finland (Kiiskinen Pasi, Urpalainen Jarkko, Lilja Arto) 2.11.28 3. Sweden (Arnesson Peter, Löfgren Tomas, Nordqvist Bertil) 2.14.17 ........... |
| 18:31 Saturday, February 8 | Gold again for Grenholm and Khrennikov |
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The current World Cup leaders, Sweden's Stina Grenholm and Russian Eduard Khrennikov both took a convincing victory in the middle distance event in Östersund. The women's course was 8 km, and Grenholm was more than one minute faster than the silver medallist Tatiana Vlasova from Russia. On the men's course of 11 km, Khrennikov's winning time was 48.30, whilst Finland's Arto Lilja came second with 48.55. Stina Grenholm was one of the first starters in the red group but her rival competitors with late start times were not able to beat her. - The competition went really well. I was all the time able to concentrate on my own performance. A couple of times I could perhaps have made a better route choice, though. ........... |
| 15:52 Saturday, February 8 | Results, Middle distance |
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Men: 1 Khrennikov,Eduard RUS 48:30 2 Lilja,Arto FIN 48:55 3 Nordqvist,Bertil SWE 49:07 4 Löfgren,Tomas SWE 49:14 ........... |
| 15:20 Friday, January 17 | Russian Power Demonstration |
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Irina Onichtechenko skiied the first leg for Russia in the European Championships and World Cup relay event today, but took away all the excitement by giving Russia a very clear lead. When Natalia Tomilova also had a good race on the second leg, Tatiana Vlassova only had to consolidate on the good preparation the first two girls had made. So it was just as in the World Championships in Bulgaria last year - a Russian victory. The women's triumph was one of three Russian golds during the Championships. They also took four silver and a bronze. Russia and Sweden were the two big nations during the competitions in the Italian Alps - Sweden won three gold medals. The good Russian results were no surprise. The Russians are really taking their sport professionally. For the best athletes in Russia, ski orienteering is their occupation. In fact there is no time left for regular work. Head coach Alexandr Bliznevsky says that the best runners are together for two weeks in the month, most months of the year. In October and November it is three weeks. "There is a lot of training and work with maps. That's why it's going so well", says Bliznevsky. ........... |
| 14:44 Friday, January 17 | Russian Power in Relay - pictures |
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| 16:53 Thursday, January 16 | A Day for Sweden to Cherish! |
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What a day for Sweden in the beautiful Seiser Alm in the northern part of Italy! Stina Grenholm won her second European Championship gold, and Bertil Nordqvist won his first individual victory ever on the long distance course. "This is my biggest win ever - wonderful!" said Bertil Nordqvist. "I simply cannot believe this!" exclaimed Stina Grenholm. Stina had a lot of problems at the end of last year. Her body didn't really respond in the way she wanted, but now she is incredibly strong and undisputed queen of the Championships. Stina was in her own class on the long distance course; the gap to the Russian Tatiana Vlasova was 1.34 minutes. She, just like Stina, has been on the podium every day so far in this European Championship which is also the start of the 2003 World Cup. Natalia Tomilova took the bronze medal; she is from Russia like Vlasova so it was also a Russian day. In the men's class Edouard Khrennikov, champion on the sprint distance, also got a medal - the silver. ........... |
| 16:48 Thursday, January 16 | Sweden's Day - pictures |
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| 12:52 Thursday, January 16 | Leading Placings WC Event 3 Long |
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1) Stina Grenholm SWE 46.39 2) Tatjana Vlasova RUS 48.13 3) Natalia Tomilova RUS 48.20 4) Irina Onitschenko RUS 48.56 ........... |
| 19:09 Tuesday, January 14 | Khrennikov: "Ski Orienteering must get into the Olympics!" |
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Four times, the Russian Edouard Khrennikov has had a World Championships gold medal around his neck. Today he won the European Championship in sprint orienteering. Now he wants an Olympics gold. "Ski orienteering should be a part of the Olympics. There you find the best sportsmen in the world", says Khrennikov. The 29-year-old Russian has become one of the big stars of ski orienteering after all his titles in the World Championships in recent years as well as overall victory in the World Cup three years ago. "The World Championships is bigger than the World Cup, but this is the next best after that", said the winner. Participating in the Olympics would certainly be a bigger occasion than a World Championships. The IOC has said 'no' to the most recent application from the IOF, but Khrennikov hopes the efforts to get in will be sustained, even though the hurdle to be accepted into the Olympics is very high. ........... |
| 17:24 Tuesday, January 14 | Pictures from EC sprint race |
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Pictures EC sprint and WC 2 ........... |
| 13:41 Tuesday, January 14 | Leading Placings WC Event 2 - Sprint |
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Sprint race: Women (1) GRENHOLM STINA / (2) TOMILOVA NATALIA / (3=) ANTTILA LIISA and VLASSOVA TATIANA. Men (1) KHRENNIKOV EDOUARD / (2) NORDQVIST BERTIL / (3) LANKI JUKKA ........... |
| 18:43 Monday, January 13 | Leading Placings WC Event 1 |
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Men 1) Tommy Olsen NOR 49.32 2) Eduard Khrennikov RUS 50.02 3) Arto Lilja FIN 50.23 4) Öystein K. Österbo NOR 51.18 ........... |
| 15:31 Monday, January 13 | A Norwegian Triumph |
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A Norwegian triumph Eleven years after the last big Norwegian individual international triumph, it was a Norwegian winner again in the first race of this year's Ski Orienteering World Cup, also the European Championships. 35-year-old Tommy Olsen enjoyed a comfortable victory today in the medium distance race with mass start. Tatiana Vlasova triumphed again both for herself and for Russia in the women's class. "Controlled? I felt I had control at the end of the race, but I also felt very nervous and I tried to orienteer very safely", said Olsen. ........... |
| 15:07 Monday, January 13 | First World Cup race - pictures |
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