Ben Derrick has put in a gutsy performance in the Konig Ludwig Lauf 55km freestyle, missing the podium by about a metre.
Ben Derrick has put in a gutsy performance in the Konig Ludwig Lauf 55km freestyle, missing the podium by about a metre. Derrick fought back incredibly after falling and breaking a pole in the mass start and starting the race way back in the pack.
He quickly received a replacement pole from team manager Brian Keeble, but by the time he caught back up to the main pack the first two skiers, Christian Seeger and Johann Muhlegg of Germany, had gone off the front. Seeger went solo from about 30km to win comfortably, but Derrick was able to drag the pack up to within a minute of Muhlegg before losing the sprint for third place with German Falk Goepfort.
Andrew Mock’s sprinting form has also been good. Mock progressed to the semi-finals of the Konig-Ludwig invitational sprints before being narrowly knocked out by Silvio Fauner of Italy and Harvard Skorstad of Norway.
And in the Gibswil Swiss Cup, Esther Bottomley gambled her way into another top sprint result, posting the second fastest qualifying time, only 0.6 of a second behind Sereina Mischol, and then double-poled her way through the 1/4 and semi-final into the A-final.
Unfortunately in the final Esther took a spectacular crash on a downhill only 150m into the race, and so she was unable to contest for a podium spot.
Ben Sim skied a pretty good race in the men's classic sprint, qualifying in 11th place with sprint FIS points probably under 100. In the 1/4 final he came up against tough opposition but wasn't outclassed, hanging in right to the end to miss out on the semi-final by only a couple of metres.
Meanwhile, Paul Murray returned to his earlier season sprint form, qualifying in fifth place in the Sweden Cup classic sprint in Hudiksvall. Paul was 5.3 seconds behind the fastest qualifier Fredrik Ostberg but within two seconds of the World Cup Champion Tobias Fredriksson and ahead of several skiers with realistic chances of making the Swedish World Championship team.
Unfortunately he bowed out in the quarter finals. Even with this tenth place overall, Paul is still sitting in second place overall in the Sweden Sprint Cup with only one race to go in the series.
Most of the team for the World Championships will compete next weekend in the World Cup in Reit-im-Winkl in Germany.
(Story courtesy of The XC Files)
He quickly received a replacement pole from team manager Brian Keeble, but by the time he caught back up to the main pack the first two skiers, Christian Seeger and Johann Muhlegg of Germany, had gone off the front. Seeger went solo from about 30km to win comfortably, but Derrick was able to drag the pack up to within a minute of Muhlegg before losing the sprint for third place with German Falk Goepfort.
Andrew Mock’s sprinting form has also been good. Mock progressed to the semi-finals of the Konig-Ludwig invitational sprints before being narrowly knocked out by Silvio Fauner of Italy and Harvard Skorstad of Norway.
And in the Gibswil Swiss Cup, Esther Bottomley gambled her way into another top sprint result, posting the second fastest qualifying time, only 0.6 of a second behind Sereina Mischol, and then double-poled her way through the 1/4 and semi-final into the A-final.
Unfortunately in the final Esther took a spectacular crash on a downhill only 150m into the race, and so she was unable to contest for a podium spot.
Ben Sim skied a pretty good race in the men's classic sprint, qualifying in 11th place with sprint FIS points probably under 100. In the 1/4 final he came up against tough opposition but wasn't outclassed, hanging in right to the end to miss out on the semi-final by only a couple of metres.
Meanwhile, Paul Murray returned to his earlier season sprint form, qualifying in fifth place in the Sweden Cup classic sprint in Hudiksvall. Paul was 5.3 seconds behind the fastest qualifier Fredrik Ostberg but within two seconds of the World Cup Champion Tobias Fredriksson and ahead of several skiers with realistic chances of making the Swedish World Championship team.
Unfortunately he bowed out in the quarter finals. Even with this tenth place overall, Paul is still sitting in second place overall in the Sweden Sprint Cup with only one race to go in the series.
Most of the team for the World Championships will compete next weekend in the World Cup in Reit-im-Winkl in Germany.
(Story courtesy of The XC Files)
