2010 China Tour de Ski champion Adam Johansson put himself back in the spotlight with a great victory in the Xiwuqi Ski Sprint. In the final 1.2km race, he clearly outsprinted Victor Gustafsson and Johan Eriksson, while Kusti Kittilae surprisingly had to settle for fourth place. In the women’s final Jenni Hoylanen sprinted faster than Lisa Svensson after Qu Ying and Frida Hallqvist got entangled in the first few metres.
Current overall Tour leader Kittilae appeared to be the man to beat this morning after the qualification session, but after lunch the Fin struggled to get into the final.Already in the quarter final he was nearly eliminated by Matthias Jonasson. In the semis he and China’s surprisingly strong Jinle Tang crashed after they jumped to the line behind Gustafsson. Luckily, nobody got injured. Meanwhile, a determinant Adam Johansson controlled his quarter and semi final races with apparent ease. Kittilae still led the final race after the first lap, but then saw the Swedish trio move ahead of him in a typical sprint tussle. Fortunately for the Fin, his main rival in the Tour standings to date, Bill Impola, was eliminated already in the quarters. As such, Kittilae remains the overall leader, but sees Johansson come closer.
Things did not go as desired for the women’s overall leader neither this afternoon. Frida Hallqvist was beaten twice by Qu Ying in the quarter and semi final races. The Chinese skier actually looked like she could cause an upset win until she accidently collided with Hallqvist right after the start of the final race. The Swedish girl went down and lost too much time to still be a threat for the others. Qu Ying herself did not seem to find her rhythm after the incident, so that Finland’s Jenni Hoylanen and Lisa Svensson sprinted to the line with Qu closely behind. Hoylanen raised her arms in the air and took the stage win (see photo on the left) .In the overall China Tour de Ski ranking, Hallqvist retains the lead.
Xiwuqi ski sprint- Men Top 12
1. Adam Johansson (SWE)
2. Victor Gustafsson (SWE)
3. Johan Eriksson (SWE)
4. Kusti Kittilae (FIN)
5. Ragnar Andresen (NOR)
6. Tang Jinle (CHN)
7. Emil Johansson (SWE)
8. Olli-Pekka Tolvanen (FIN)
9. Drew Goldsack (CAN)
10. Matthias Jonasson (SWE)
11. Li Jingdong (CHN)
12. Glauco Pizzuto (ITA)
Full results of today’s stage 3 ski sprint will be available soon on the Results page.
Tomorrow is a rest day for the skiers, as China Tour de Ski flies to Urumqi in Xinjiang, where on Monday and Tuesday stages 4 and 5 will be held at the Tianshan Tianchi International Ski Resort.
Adam Johansson approaches the finish line in the final ahead of Victor Gustafsson
Kusti Kittilae leads Johansson, Gustafsson and Eriksson into lap 2 of the final
Jenni Hoylanen wins the women’s ski sprint ahead of Svensson and Qu Ying
Podium of the women’s ski sprint in Xiwuqi
Bill Impola, in fourth place, did not survive the quarter finals
Victor Gustafsson wins his semi final while Kittilae and China’s Tang Jinle jump to the line behind his back
Frida Hallqvist and Qu Ying had an exciting afternoon together