It's a 15km classic
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ByEurosport
Published 17/02/2006 at 08:43 GMT
The men's cross-country event returns to the demanding course in Pragelato on Friday for the 15km classic race. With the stunning victory of Estonian Kristina Smigun in the women's 10km classic, eyes now turn to her compatriot Andrus Veerpalu who has a go
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING - Andrus Veerpalu
Image credit: Reuters
Veerpalu is the defending Olympic champion in this event. He stormed to victory in Salt Lake City in 2002 to claim gold ahead of Frode Estil and compatriot Jaak Mae.
Veerpalu has had a mixed start to this season though, with a couple of top-ten finishes but will be most definitely spurred on by Smigun's cracking start to the Winter Games.
His best result came on the Finnish tracks of Kuusamo where he bagged a fifth place finish. He has shown the sort of determination and focus needed to produce top-class results and what other time to do so than on the Olympic stage..
But he will have to pull something special out of the bag if he is to get the better of the likes of Germany's Tobias Angerer, Vincent Vittoz of France and Norwegians Jens Arne Svartedal and Frode Estil.
Apart from the Norwegian contingency, Angerer and Vittoz are yet to produce the kind of results they put in during the start of the World Cup season and the feeling of the 'calm before the storm' seems quite appropriate.
Angerer won the 15km classic in Kuusamo and has never been far away from the top spot in the distance events throughout the season.
Vittoz has also had a disappointing Games so far, the Frenchman came sixth in his speciality event, the double Pursuit.
The Norwegians are always a dangerous force to reckon with, certainly with skiers such as Svartedal.
30-year old Svartedal impressed in Davos - the last World Cup event before the Games - with a powerful victory in the 15km classic ahead of Austrian Martin Tauber and Vittoz.
The course will put the skiers through their paces as it boasts a maximum climb of 54 metres, and a total climb of 522 metres.
The track has a total length of 7.5km therefore the athletes will make their way twice around the circuit.
If the weather continues to produce the wet snow of the last couple of days coupled with the demanding climbs ahead the preparation of skis and equipment will be crucial, notably the waxing of the skis in order to get optimum grip.
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