2010 CROSS-COUNTRY SCHEDULE

CROSS-COUNTRY SCHEDULE
» Day 4
Monday, Feb. 15
Women’s 10-km
individual
*10-11:15 a.m.
Men’s 15-km individual
*12:30-2 p.m.
» Day 8
Friday, Feb. 19
Women’s 15-km
pursuit (7.5-km classic,
7.5-km free)
*1-1:50 p.m.
» Day 11
Monday, Feb. 22
Men’s and women’s
team sprint
10:45-12:20 p.m.
*1-1:45 p.m.
» Day 14
Thursday, Feb. 25
Women’s 4x5-km relay
*11:30-1:05 p.m.
» Day 6
Wednesday, Feb. 17
Men’s and women’s
sprint classic
10:15-11 a.m.
*12:30-2 p.m.
» Day 9
Saturday, Feb. 20
Men’s 30-km (15-km
classic,15-km free)
*1:30-3 p.m.
» Day 13
Wednesday, Feb. 24
Men’s 4x10-km relay
*11:15-1:10 p.m.
» Day 16
Saturday, Feb. 27
Women’s 30-km
mass start
*11:45-1:45 p.m.
» Day 17
Sunday, Feb. 28
Men’s 50-km
mass start
*9:30-12:15 p.m.
Six men’s events and
six women’s events
will be contested over
nine days at the 2010
cross-country skiing
venue.
*Indicates medal event
DECONSTRUCTING THE GAMES
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING: Nordic passion
An event with a long Olympic history, this sport is all about variety.
Canwest News Service writer Mike Beamish explains:
Classic or freestyle
THE COURSE
Classic technique
Free technique
N
0.1km
2 km
1 km
3 km
S TA RT
2 km
1 km
Canadian Olympic team member Devon
Kershaw explains the differences between
the classic and freestyle ski techniques:
CLASSIC:“The classic technique is the
one most people conjure in their head,”
Kershaw says.“It’s very much like linear
running.All your energy is going forward
in a linear motion.”
Classical skis are longer than freestyle skis
(typically 205-210 cm for men and 195200 cm for women).They have a sticky
substance in the middle for grip and are
designed with more pronounced tips.
3 km
FINISH
FIN
ISH
ST
AR
T
B IATHL O N
RANG E
Eleven different course configurations and seven
stadium variations will be used for cross-country skiing
over the course of the Games. “Unlike a hockey rink, with
a static field of play, there are so many different cut-offs,
permutations and formats for cross-country skiing,” says
Len Apedaile, manager for cross-country skiing at Whistler
Olympic Park.“Another aspect of the sport is that athletes
ski two different techniques [freestyle and classic].
The sport is all about variety.”
COURSE ELEVATION,IN METRES
Metres
3.75 km Red course, Classic techniqe
930
920
910
900
890
880
870
860
850 0
250
500
750
FREESTYLE:“The skating style is obviously
a newer technique,”Kershaw says.“I like to
think of it as a hockey player with 190-cm
skates and a hockey stick replaced with
poles.You’re transferring weight from one
ski to another in a V pattern like ice skating.”
Freestyle skis are shorter than classical skis
(190-195 cm for men and180-185 cm
for women).The tips are lower to the snow.
Laid on a hardwood floor,a freestyle ski
will have a slightly higher camber (bow)
than a classical ski.
1,000 1,250 1,500 1,750 2,000 2,250 2,500 2,750 3,000 3,250 3,500 3,750
A
B
C
u.t. (k)
Desc.
3.75 km Blue course, Free techniqe
890
Metres
880
870
860
850
0
250
500
750
1,000 1,250 1,500 1,750 2,000 2,250 2,500 2,750 3,000 3,250 3,500 3,750
A
B
C
u.t.(k)
Desc.
Big engine There is no substitute in this
sport for a “big engine”,or what scientists
refer to as “maximal oxygen consumption”.
Arm strength
An improvement in arm strength
relative to leg strength is needed
with today’s faster skis,which
require more force to be generated
from the upper body.This is particularly true in classic skiing,which
uses a lot of double-poling action.
THE ATHLETES
MEDAL FAVOURITES
WOMEN
Virpi Kuitunen,Finland
The good: Won three gold
medals at the 2007 world
championships.
The bad: Served a two-year suspension
and relinquished a world championship
silver medal for using a banned substance.
Justyna Kowalczyk,Poland
The good: In 2006,she became
the first Polish athlete to win an
Olympic cross-country medal
(a bronze in the 30-km event).
The bad: Suspended by FIS for
taking a banned substance but
reinstated six months later on appeal.
Sara Renner,Canada
The good: Won a silver medal
in team sprint with teammate
Beckie Scott at the 2006
Olympics after a Norwegian
coach replaced her broken ski
pole.
The skinny: A strong starter
who stays out of trouble,
Renner will pair with Chandra
Crawford,a wicked finisher,
in the 2010 women’s team sprint.
MEN
Emil Joensson,Sweden
The good: The explosive skier
won both individual and team
events at a pre-Olympic test in
Whistler.
The question:Is Joensson ready
to supplant countryman Bjorn Lind,
a double gold medallist at the
2006 Games?
Petter Northug,Norway
The good: The “Sidney Crosby”
of Norwegian cross-country
skiing,Northug won three gold
medals at the 2009 world
championships.
The bad: Despite winning four gold at the
junior worlds,this rising star was left off the
2006 Norwegian Olympic team.
Alex Harvey,Canada
The good: Precociously
talented son of Pierre Harvey,
considered Canada’s greatest
male cross-country skier,won
two bronze medals in his first
season on the World Cup circuit.
The skinny: He’ll anchor our Olympic relay
team,a pressure-filled job for a 21-year-old.
FOR MORE ON THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES GO TO VANCOUVERSUN.COM/2010
Height and weight
Generally,Olympic cross-country skiers
are heavier than distance runners but not
as heavy-set as rowers.While there is no
perfect body type in the sport,shorter
and stockier athletes gravitate to the
sprint events where explosive power
rules.Unlike running or cycling,crosscountry skiing is a whole body sport.
SMART FACTS
1.WHISTLER
OLYMPIC PARK
Situated in the
Callaghan Valley,
10 kilometres from
the Sea to Sky
Highway south of
Whistler,it’s the first
Olympic venue to
include ski jumping,
cross-country and
biathlon in the same
network.Each
competition venue is
just 300-400 metres
from the next.
2.THE COST:
$120 MILLION
Whistler Olympic
Park had the highest
price tag for Olympic
organizers.
At $178 million,the
Richmond Olympic
Oval cost more,
but a number of
components were
underwritten by the
City of Richmond
and didn’t fall under
Vanoc’s budget.
3.A FEMALEFRIENDLY SPORT
Since 1928,
when Canada
first participated
in Olympic crosscountry skiing,
no Canadian male
athlete has won a
medal in the sport.
Beckie Scott won
Canada’s first
Olympic medal
on skinny skis,a gold
in the 5-km pursuit
in 2002.
4.A CLASSIC
CHALLENGE
Canada’s Chandra
Crawford,a surprise
gold medallist in the
women’s freestyle
1.1-km sprint at the
2006 Olympics,
will face a supreme
challenge to defend
her title this year.
She will be required
to win in 2010 using
her less favoured
classic sprint
technique.
5.FROM RUSSIA,
WITH LOVE
Ivan Babikov has
lived in Canada since
2003,but will race for
his adopted home at
an Olympics for the
first time in 2010.
A threat in the 15-,
30- and 50-km events,
as well as the relay,
in January 2009,he
became the first male
Canadian skier since
1988 to top a World
Cup podium.
EQUIPMENT ADVANCES SINCE 2006
Manufacturers,who first experimented with the use of graphite and carbon fibre to make poles
lighter,have introduced carbon plates to give ski boots more torsional rigidity.In addition,
carbon has replaced more conventional materials at the tips and tails of skis to reduce
the swing weight and the thickness of the sidewall.With less drag,
Carbon lite
skiers are able to go faster with more control.
ski boot
GRAPHICS:BY ROGER WATANABE AND MAGGIE WONG/VANCOUVER SUN