Vancouver Now - Cross-Country Skiing

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Cross-Country Skiing Headlines

Breakout Games for Canada's cross-country men: Traditional Nordic powerhouses owned the cross-country skiing events at Whistler Olympic Park, with Norway winning nine medals and Sweden taking seven.
Norway's Northug golden in 50K, Canada's Kershaw 5th: Petter Northug of Norway captured the men's 50-kilometre cross-country race Sunday on the final day of competition at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Emotional Renner caps career in final race: Sara Renner of Canmore, Alta., who "caught the bug" as a 12-year-old when the 1988 Calgary Winter Games staged cross-country ski events in her hometown, wrapped up a celebrated career Saturday at age 33 in another Games in Canada.
Brian McKeever's Olympic dream over: The head coach of the Canadian cross-country ski team confirmed Saturday that legally blind skier Brian McKeever will not start Sunday's 50-kilometre mass-start classic race at the Vancouver Games, ending McKeever's dream of becoming the first Paralympic athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics.
Coach made right call on McKeever: The easy decision would have been to let Brian McKeever race. The easy decision, for Dave Wood, the Canadian cross-country team coach, would have been the politically correct one to make. The easy decision would have been a disaster.
Women's cross-country team looks to future: The hunt is on for the next great hope among Canada's female cross-country skiers, and some eyes are turning to a young woman in Montreal who wants to make her Russian granny proud in 2014.
Coaches debate starting McKeever in 50-km race: Canadian cross-country ski coaches are struggling with whether to give legally blind skier Brian McKeever the chance to race Sunday in the Olympic 50-kilometre classic race.
Norway wins women's 4x5-km cross-country: Team Norway came first in the women's 4x5-kilometre relay on Thursday, with Marit Bjoergen skiing the anchor leg to collect her third gold medal of the 2010 Games.
Sweden wins cross-country relay: Sweden won the gold medal in the men's 4x10-kilometre cross-country race Wednesday, with Canada placing 7th, at Whistler Olympic Park.
Norway wins cross-country sprint, Canada 4th: Petter Northug of Norway earned some redemption on Monday, overtaking Germany in the sixth and final lap for a gold medal in the men's cross-country team sprint.
German women take cross-country team sprint: Claudia Nystad and Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle won gold for Germany on Monday in the women's cross-country team sprint at Whistler Olympic Park.
Cross-country men's team emerges under radar: Canada's men's cross-country ski team has been flying under the radar at these Games, but by Wednesday they may be household names.
Crawford has sense of humour about bad luck: Chandra Crawford needed something positive to hold onto when she woke up Wednesday. She needed to feel good about herself, since her chances heading into the ladies individual sprint classic were not good.
3 Canadians finish in cross-country top 10: Sweden's Marcus Hellner overtook compatriot Johan Olsson late to win the men's 30- kilometre pursuit, a cross-country race marked by three Canadians finishing in the top 10.
Norway's Bjoergen 1st double gold winner: Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen came into the competition not having stepped atop the Olympic podium, but on Friday she became the first double gold medallist of the Vancouver Games.
Olympic Contenders: Women's 15km pursuit: Norway's Marit Bjoergen might have ousted World Cup leader Justyna Kowalczyk for the gold medal in the women's sprint classic final -- but the 15 km pursuit is an entirely different race. A race that Kowalczyk won on this very Whistler course during a World Cup stop last January.
Norwegian cross-country champion pulls out of team sprint: Norwegian sprint specialist Ola Vigen Hattestad has pulled out of the Olympic men's cross-country team sprint because of a sore throat.
Norway's Bjoergen adds gold to Olympic collection: Marit Bjoergen of Norway captured a gold medal in the individual sprint classic at Whistler Olympic Park on Wednesday for her second cross-country skiing medal of the Vancouver Games.
Russia 1-2 in men's cross-country sprint: Russia's Nikita Kriukov narrowly edged compatriot Alexander Panzhinskiy for gold in the men's individual sprint classic.
O'Connor: Renner foiled by traffic jam at Olympic Park: Sara Renner's day ended early at Whistler Olympic Park. It could have been longer if Renner, an Olympic silver medallist in the cross-country team sprint in 2006, had been able to pass a fellow competitor in the qualifying round of the 1.4 km individual sprint. As it was, Renner found herself trapped in a two-skier traffic jam.
McKeever sees the big picture: When Brian McKeever was very young, perhaps three or four years old, his parents warned him that if he ever experienced problems with his vision, if he saw anything strange at all, he was to tell them.
Olympic contenders: Women's sprint classic final: Petra Majdic of Slovakia was just a blip on the cross country radar when she finished in sixth place at the 2006 Olympics.
Switzerland's Cologna wins cross-country gold: For the second time in one day, Switzerland has struck gold — Dario Cologna won the men's 15-kilometre freestyle cross-country race in his Olympic debut on Monday.
Swede takes cross-country gold: Charlotte Kalla of Sweden took the Olympic gold medal Monday in the women's 10-kilometre cross-country race at Whistler Olympic Park; Canadian Madeleine Williams, who is not on the national team, also competed.
2 Olympians barred 5 days after hemoglobin tests: An Estonian cross-country skier and a Russian nordic combined competitor have been prohibited from competing for five days at the Vancouver Olympics after pre-games tests detected too-high hemoglobin levels.
Podium finish for Renner in hometown: Canada's Sara Renner picked up a bronze medal in front of a hometown crowd Saturday in the 1.4-kilometre classic sprint at a cross-country ski World Cup event in Canmore, Alta.
Babikov takes 10th, Renner 25th: Ivan Babikov lived up to his nickname as the "bulldog" of the Canadian men's cross-country ski team on Friday, as he pushed up painful hills for a 10th place finish against a world class field at the Alberta World Cup. Meanwhile, Sara Renner finished 25th out of 66 competitors in the women's race.
Russell: Canadian homecoming: For Canada's winter Olympians the migration from the mountains of Europe and the Nordic trails of Scandinavia is almost complete. No longer the visitors, they're making their way back to friendly territory. Cross-country skier Chandra Crawford won't apologize for feeling more than a little festive.
Ethiopian cross-country skier laying down tracks: Ethiopia's distance runners are world renowned, but given the East African country's climate and negligible snowfall, its winter sport athletes are scarce, to say the least. But cross-country skier Robel Teklemariam is doing everything in his power to change that.
Four more added to Olympic cross-country team: Canada will send four more cross-country skiers to the Vancouver Olympics next month after being given additional spots by the International Ski Federation (FIS) on Wednesday. Drew Goldsack of Red Deer, Alta., Calgary's Brent McMurtry, Gordon Jewett of Canmore, Alta., and Brittany Webster of Caledon, Ont., have been added to the team.
McKeever 1st Paralympian to compete in Winter Olympics: Brian McKeever, a visually impaired cross-country skier from Canmore, Alta., will make history at the Vancouver Olympics when he becomes the first Paralympian to compete in the Winter Olympics.
Petra Majdic: Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic is favoured to win gold in the sprint event at the 2010 Games after finishing eighth at Salt Lake Games and sixth at the 2006 Games.
Germany's Neuner is sport's fastest, youngest: Born in 1987 in the Bavarian town of Wallgau, Magdalena Neuner started competing as a biathlete at nine years old. By the time she was in her teens, she had won five golds at junior world championships and seemed poised for greater fame.
Randall: USA's best hope for cross-country medal: Kikkan Randall is a cross-country skier who is considered the United States' best Olympic medal hope in the sport since Bill Koch won the nation's first and only cross-country medal — a silver in the 30 kilometres — at the 1976 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.