The Torino Olympics was the third Winter Games for Italian cross-country skier Girogio di Centa. (Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Here are the Final Results of the only other event today, besides the Men’s Ice Hockey Final …

1 - ITA - Giorgio di Centa (2:06:11.8)
2 - RUS - Eugeni Dementiev (2:06:12.6 / +0.8)
3 - AUT - Mikhail Botwinov (2:06:12.7 / +0.9)

44 - CAN - George Grey (2:09:38.4 / +3:26.6)

Well .. must have been exciting when the top 28 skiiers all ended with 1 minute behind the leader … And especially exciting to all the Italian fans for Giorgio’s win .. as the medal ceremony (and national anthem) was done as part of the Closing Ceremonies!

CBC News

Canadian Chandra Crawford surprised everyone, including herself, by winning the gold medal in the 1.1-kilometre cross-country skiing sprint at the Torino Winter Games Wednesday.

She led the race early and held it throughout over Germany’s Claudia Kuenzel and pulled away to win in a time of two minutes, 12.3 seconds.

Kuenzel edged out Russian Alena Sidko to earn the silver in 2:13.0 and Sidko won the bronze medal in a time 2:13.2

Crawford broke out with a smile a few metres before she crossed the finish line. In only in her second year on the national team, her best finish prior to the Olympics was a third-place showing on the World Cup circuit less than a week before the Games. She was 46th at the world championships last year.

Beckie Scott became Canada’s 10th athlete to finish 4th in an Olympic event in Torino.

“I wanted to be on the podium,” said Scott. “That’s what I was going for and I missed it. This has happened a few times in the past. I’ve been fourth at a world championships. It’s a hard place to be, I’ll admit it. I’ll live.”

This medal and the double Klassen-Groves in speed-skating brings the total of medals for Canada to 17, 5 Gold, 7 Silver, 5 Bronze.

Source: CBC

The Italian Team of Fulvio Valbusa, Giorgio di Centa, Pietro Piller Cottrer, and Cristian Zorzi wins the Gold (1 hour 43 minutes 45.7 seconds) at the 4X5km Men’s Cross-Country Skiing Relay. It was a victory won in spectacular fashion; the men had to trudge through the difficult terrains as snow falls on the Italian Alps.

The men’s victory essentially avenged the ladies’ third place finish in the same event yesterday.

The Italian Men Cross-Country Dream Team
(Source: International Olympic Committee)

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According to the news …

Italian law enforcement authorities raided the residences of some staff members of the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams early Sunday morning, apparently searching for banned substances, said two separate news reports.

The International Olympic Committee also confirmed it has conducted out-of-competition doping tests on “a number of Austrian cross-country and biathlon athletes,” according to Reuters and Associated Press.

[..more..]

The Russian Team of Natalia Baranova-Masolkina, Larisa Kurkina, Yulia Tchepalova, and Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova (what a mouthfull) takes the Gold (54 minutes 47.7 seconds) at the 4X5km Women’s Cross-Country Skiing Relay.

However, their victory didn’t come easy. Evi Sachenbacher Stehle built a considerable 12.5 second lead for the German team, in desperate chase were the Russian, Italian, Swedish, and Norwegian Skiers.

Medvedeva-Abruzova ecstatic after crossing the finish line
(Source: NBC)

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A day after Estonia’s Kristina Smigun won her second Gold in the Women’s 10km Classical event (her first was in the 15km Pursuit), compatriot Andrus Veerpalu took the Gold today in the Men’s 15km Classical.

Weather conditions was poor as overnight snow carried on into the competition. Despite that, Veerpalu posted a time of 38 minutes 1.3 seconds. He was 14.5 and 19.2 seconds ahead of the Silver and Bronze Medalists (Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic and Tobias Angerer of Germany).

Veerpalu triumphant (Source: NBC)

Veerpalu was the Gold Medalist in the same event at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

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Belarussian cross-country skier Sergei Dolidovich has had to leave the olympics after testing positive twice for high haemoglobin levels his orginal ban of 5 days has now been extended by another 5, meaning that he will miss the men’s sprint event next Tuesday,

Dolidovich was one of 12 athletes to have had high haemoglobin values but four were cleared on Monday,Haemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells which carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body.

Source BBC Ban puts Dolidovich out of Games

Canadian Ladies Beckie Scott and Sara Renner won a silver medal in the women’s team sprint cross-country skiing event today bringing the total of medals for Canada to 3, 1 for each flavour. And each won by a woman (come on guys, don’t you have any pride?) ;-).

Remarkably, Renner was able to recover from a broken a pole on the third lap of the six-lap race on the Pragelato course. In only a few strides, she found a coach to replace the snapped ski pole.

In the final half-kilometre, Scott kicked up a hill to take the lead over Finland and Sweden. It was a tight race to the line with Scott unable to kick ahead for the lead on the final decent.

Sweden’s Lina Andersson and Anna Dahlberg took gold. Canada, anchored by Scott took second, while the Finnish team of Aino Kaisa Saarinen and Virpi Kuitunen took third.

Congratulations!

Renner (left), Scott (right)

brem

In an event missing nearly 12 athletes for blood doping, Kristina Smigun won Estonia’s first gold of these Olympic Games.

Kristina Smigun of Estonia skated to gold in the women’s 15-kilometer pursuit Sunday, the first cross-country event since 12 athletes were suspended from the sport for failed blood tests.

World Cup leader and favorite Marit Bjorgen of Norway dropped out before the midway point of the race with a stomach problem.

The field was also without Salt Lake City gold medalist Evi Sachenbacher of Germany, one of the skiers suspended this week for high levels of hemoglobin in their blood.

“It was a clean race,” said Canada’s Beckie Scott, the defending champion who finished sixth. “Things are getting better in our sport. The testing is good and I’m confident it was a clean event.”Smigun made a strong push in the home stretch through the stadium to overtake silver medalist Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic, winning in 42 minutes, 48.7 seconds - 1.9 seconds ahead of Neumannova. The two broke away from the pack in the final couple of kilometers.Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova earned bronze in 43:03.2.

source: Cross-country gold for Estonia

Dramatic fall, but manages to take 2nd place
It happened only few seconds after start - in the crowd of people out from the start gold favorite Estil takes a fall and breaks his skis and sticks.

(Translated) “It was extremely clumsy of me. My ski slipped and I fell. From behind came 70 guys that tried to move over and around me “, says Eskil in a comment afterwards, “I was not even sure if I was allowed to continue, I could not remember if we were allowed to switch skis.”

After getting new skis he puts in an incredible run and remakes for the lost time.

Russia takes gold
Gold: Eugeni Dementiev of Russia took gold, 1 hour 17 minutes and 0.8 seconds.

Silver: Frode Estil of Norway, 33, 0.6 seconds behind Dementyev.

Bronze: Pietro Piller Cottrer of Italy, 31, 0.9 seconds behind the Dementyev.