Defago booted by rule

"But I skied well," Defago blurted at the foot of the podium to the reporter from Le Matin before brandishing his skis to the crowd, tossing them, and storming off.

The rule states that the maximum height between the bottom of the running surface of the ski and the ski boot sole is 55 mm.

When Defago's serviceman measured the ski before the race, it passed the test at 54.9 mm, but FIS officials measured 55.1 mm.

Some even say it was a fraction of a millimetre. For a dejected Defago and for Vion, this was nitpicking. For Hujara and the FIS, rules are rules.

After Nadia Styger's Super-G win in Aspen, it looked like it would finally be Switzerland's weekend. But instead, Austrians ruled the podium.

No one was more surprised by the disqualification than Michael Walcchofer. The downhill crystal globe winner was so unsure of his slaloming that last Saturday before the downhill, the Austrian pulled out of Monday's evening event in Madonna di Campiglio.

Torn knee ligaments ended Maria Riesch's season in Colorado last week. The 21-year-old Riesch missed much of last season with knee and shoulder injuries, after winning World Cup races in three different disciplines - downhill, super-G and slalom - the previous year.

As the cross-country World Cup visited Canada, Germany won the five top spots in the men's 2 x 15km pursuit, with Tobias Angerer winning, followed by Axel Teichmann, Andreas Schluetter, Jens Filbrich, and Rene Sommerfeldt.

All six of the Germans present made the top ten, dominating the 22-man lead group in the finale and making full use of the successive slipstreams of Frenchman Vincent Vittoz, Italian Valerio Checchi, and Norwegian Estil Frode.

Frode Andresen was perfect on his shooting to take the men's sprint in Hochfilzen ahead of compatriot Lars Berger by 15.2 seconds. Fellow Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was again by far the fastest skier but missed two targets to finish fifth.

Sunday's relays were a different story. Bjoerndalen again missed two targets, but Stian Eckhoff fared far worse, missing five, with two penalty loops after the standing shoot. Norway finished eighth on the day, handing bragging rights to Norway's women who Saturday won the relay ahead of Russia.

Earlier this season, all the talk was about Canada's Cindy Klassen who had smashed Anni Friesinger's 1,500m world record.

This past weekend in Turin, where the Games take place, the 28-year old German roared back with four wins in three days in the 1000m, 1500m, 3000m, and 5000m.

With Friesinger eyeing the pursuit - which makes its Olympic debut as an event this time around - bookmakers wonder if she could join Eric Heiden as only the second speed skater to win five golds in one Olympiad.

Do they do "Feelings"? What do you make of this jam session between Ivica Kostelic and Rainer Schoenfelder in Val d'Isere?

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