Paul Murray made an impressive return to international competition at the 2007 Nordic World Ski Championships last week, finishing in 38th place in the sprint.
 
With his back injury now behind him, however, he was disappointed not to qualify for the top 30 and a place in the finals. Team-mate Ben Sim also had a pretty good race, losing a little time on the flatter sections of the course but still finishing 51st (out of 83 starters).
 
The results were not so good in the women's sprint, with KT Calder, Esther Bottomley, and Clare-Louise Brumley finishing 60th, 61st, and 62nd from the field of 71 starters.
 
In the men's team sprint the Paul Murray/Ben Sim combination finished 16th out of 21 teams. All up, 16th was a couple places better than in Oberstdorf in 2005, however the boys weren't as competitive in the pack this year and duelling it out with Greece wasn't the same as with Switzerland in 2005.
 
Unfortunately, Australia's female World Championship team sprint debut was over before it began, the team having to withdraw due to a minor neck/back injury to KT Calder.
 
In other results, Ben Sim finished in 53rd place out of 88 starters in the men's 30km pursuit after falling heavily on his fourth lap when he was skiing well and looking like he was heading for a place in the top half of the field.
 
KT Calder finished 52nd in the women's 10km freestyle, and in the men's 15km freestyle, Ben Sim finished in 61st place, Paul Murray 94th and Andrew Wynd 102nd, in a race that was a lottery because of heavy snow which fell during the event.
 
Ben Sim will now join Alex Almoukov and Aimee Watson at the World Under 23 Championships in Tarvisio, Italy, which start on March 12.
 
(With thanks to The XC Files)