Although the placing may not sound impressive, cross country skier Ben Sim recorded his best World Cup result in the second event of his 2004/05 season, finishing 9.6% behind German Axel Teichmann in the 15km classic.

Sim was in 92nd place in a field of 98 starters, but the percentage behind the winner and his FIS points - 77.4 points on the new system, or 58.1 points on last season’s calculation – was an encouraging result, especially as he had arrived in Finland from Australia just 3 days before the event.

In his first event the day before, the 15km freestyle, Sim finished in 98th place out of 100 starters, 11.9% behind the winner Vincent Vittoz of France.