U.S. Ski Team News Bureau
http://www.usskiteam.com

Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2001

Wadsworth 8th in Soldier Hollow 30-km


SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah (Jan. 10) - Justin Wadsworth (Bend, OR), given a
boost when his girlfriend finished fourth in the morning race, started
fast and kept it up Wednesday to finish eighth in a mass-start, World
Cup 30-km freestyle race on Day One of the Visa U.S. Nordic Ski Festival
on the 2002 Olympic nordic venues - the best U.S. result by any cross
country racer since 1984.

Defending World Cup champion Johann Muehlegg of Spain reclaimed the lead
with just over a kilometer to go and went on to edge Austrian Christian
Hoffmann by 10 seconds in the 30-km with a time of 1:11.12.7. Germany's
Rene Sommerfeldt was third, another minute back.

Wadsworth, a two-time Olympian whose best previous finish was 24th in
the 1997 World Championships in Trondheim, Norway, jumped into the front
group and stayed there for the best U.S. result since Jim Galanes was
fifth in Murmansk in the old Soviet Union in March 1984. The 1994 and
'98 Olympian was timed in 1:13.54.2 with Andrew Johnson (Greensboro, VT)
25th in 1:16.12.2 and Rob Whitney (Anchorage, AK) 29th in 1:17.20.7.
They are the first World Cup points for Johnson and Whitney, and mark
the first time three U.S. skiers scored World Cup points in the same
race since December 1991.

Quick payback from new skis

He was racing on a new pair of (Atomic) skis. Wadsworth lost 13 pairs of
skis on a flight home from Canada last month, and he received the new
skis Tuesday; "I don't think they had five Ks on 'em," he said. He was
stiff at the end of the race, he said, and planned to possibly take some
time in the hot mineral pools where the Ski Team is staying, at The
Homestead in nearby Midway.

"I just skied relaxed. I didn't worry about where I was the first couple
of Ks," Wadsworth said. "I knew I could work the downhills because I've
just done this course so many times and that's my strength, and I was
actually picking up a lot of people on the downhills. I just got in it,
and then the last two laps were step by step. I had to focus every
stride. I couldn't think about the result - everyone was yelling,
'Eighth place,' or whatever and I had to stay within myself because I
was at the limit.but the crowd was so unreal today.

"Honestly, in a normal race maybe I couldn't have hung in there because
the last hill it was all I could do to move my legs. The crowd was
pumping, Gordon [Lang, former U.S. coach] was yelling at me down at the
bottom of the hill. It was awesome.

"This was what our team needed," he said. "It's pretty cool. I'm
stoked."

Lift from his girlfriend

And did he get a pick-me-up when Beckie Scott of Canada, his girlfriend,
finished fourth in the women's pursuit a couple of hours earlier? "That
made me so happy and so relaxed. I wasn't even worried about my race. I
was so relaxed this morning, mainly because of her result. I was so
psyched for Beckie that no matter what happened to me it was going to be
a good day.and now it's even better," he said.

The Nordic Ski Festival, which has attracted skiers from nearly 20
nations to sample the 2002 Olympic layout, continues Saturday with the
men's 15-km classic race and the women's 4x5-km relay. It concludes
Sunday with the sprint events.

BUDERUS WORLD CUP CROSS COUNTRY
Visa U.S. Nordic Ski Festival
Soldier Hollow, UT - Jan. 10
Men's mass-start, 30-km FR
1. Johann Muehlegg, Spain, 1:11.12.7
2. Christian Hoffmann, Austria, 1:11.23.4
3. Rene Sommerfeldt, Germany, 1:12.35.5
4. Ron Spanuth, Germany, 1:12.58.1
5. Christian Zorzi, Italy, 1:13.26.3
6. Pietro Piller Cottrer, Italy, 1:13.26.9
7. Fulvio Valbusa, Italy, 1:13.27.2
8. Justin Wadsworth, Bend, Ore., 1:13.54.2
9. Giorgio DiCenta, Italy, 1:14.02.7
10. Mikhail Botvinov, Austria, 1:14.09.4
11. Gerhard Urain, Austria, 1:14.12.5
12. Fabio Maj, Italy, 1:14.18.3
13. Achim Walcher, Austria, 1:14.52.5
14. Ivan Batory, Slovakia, 1:14.59.6
15. Markus Hasler, Liechtenstein, 1:15.07.9
-
25. Andrew Johnson, Greenboro, Vt., 1:16.12.2
29. Rob Whitney, Anchorage, Alaska, 1:17.20.7
31. Carl Swenson, Boulder, Colo., 1:17.57.9
37. Marc Gilbertson, Hyde Park, Vt., 1:18.51.5
38. Patrick Weaver, Lenox, Mass., 1:18.51.7
44. Justin Freeman, Andover, N.H., 1:21.13.1
48. James Southam, Anchorage, Alaska, 1:24.40.9
-
DNF: Marcus Nash, Fryeburg, Maine; Nathan Schultz, Boulder, Colo.; Cory
Smith, Littleton, N.H.; and Chris Klein, Utica, N.Y.
--
Buderus Cross Country World Cup
Men (9 races)
1. Per Elofsson, Sweden, 345
2. Muehlegg, 312
3. Tor Arne Hetland, Norway, 279
4. Thomas Alsgaard, Norway, 273
5. Valbusa, 248
6. (tie) Zorzi and Vincent Vittoz, France, 210 each
8. Jan Jacob Verdenius, Norway, 197
9. Piller Cottrer, 196
10. Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset, Norway, 186
11. Kristen Skjeldal, Norway, 184
12. DiCenta, 179
13. Frode Estil, Norway, 170
14. Hoffmann, 161
15. Mika Myllylae, 147
-
51. Wadsworth, 32
84. Johnson, 6
95. Whitney, 2