Paul Murray has finished 53rd out of 69 starters in the 1.
Paul Murray has finished 53rd out of 69 starters in the 1.5km freestyle sprint in the opening cross country World Cup of the season, just making it under the 80% of field mark he needed as one of the qualification criteria for the Australian team for Torino 2006.
Murray posted a time of 3 minutes 19.40 seconds in the elimination sprint, 14.74 seconds behind fastest qualifier Bjoern Lund of Sweden. Lund's team-mate Peter Larsson went on to win the men's A-final.
After the race Paul said "I didn't come here to finish 53rd, but in the circumstances I'll take it. I'm relieved to get one (qualifying) result out of the way. Now I have another six weeks to get into better form for the next one."
Andrew Mock finished 66th in the same event, struggling to get the power down in the soft wet snow. The race course on the banks for the Rhine in downtown Dusseldorf was constructed the night before with man-made snow from the nearby indoor ski hill in Neuss. With air temperature of about +15 and light rain falling as the morning progressed, the snow softened up quite quickly. Mock returns to Australia on Monday, after possible the shortest season in Europe ever for an Australian skier.
In the women's sprint Esther Bottomley finished 53rd out of 58 starters. With the women's event only 830m, long expectations were particularly high for Esther, who is normally very fast and competitive on any course so short. But unfortunately this was not her day. She looked really good for the first 150m, but became light-headed after possibly starting too fast and definitely wasn't displaying her normal dynamism in the latter part of the race.
She can definitely ski a lot faster (and has!), and there is plenty of time to find form before the next event. On Monday she flies directly to Canada, where the next sprint World Cup takes place at Sovereign Lakes on December 11.
The women's A-final was won by 2005 World Cup champion Marit Bjorgen of Norway. (Story with the assistance of The XC Files)
Murray posted a time of 3 minutes 19.40 seconds in the elimination sprint, 14.74 seconds behind fastest qualifier Bjoern Lund of Sweden. Lund's team-mate Peter Larsson went on to win the men's A-final.
After the race Paul said "I didn't come here to finish 53rd, but in the circumstances I'll take it. I'm relieved to get one (qualifying) result out of the way. Now I have another six weeks to get into better form for the next one."
Andrew Mock finished 66th in the same event, struggling to get the power down in the soft wet snow. The race course on the banks for the Rhine in downtown Dusseldorf was constructed the night before with man-made snow from the nearby indoor ski hill in Neuss. With air temperature of about +15 and light rain falling as the morning progressed, the snow softened up quite quickly. Mock returns to Australia on Monday, after possible the shortest season in Europe ever for an Australian skier.
In the women's sprint Esther Bottomley finished 53rd out of 58 starters. With the women's event only 830m, long expectations were particularly high for Esther, who is normally very fast and competitive on any course so short. But unfortunately this was not her day. She looked really good for the first 150m, but became light-headed after possibly starting too fast and definitely wasn't displaying her normal dynamism in the latter part of the race.
She can definitely ski a lot faster (and has!), and there is plenty of time to find form before the next event. On Monday she flies directly to Canada, where the next sprint World Cup takes place at Sovereign Lakes on December 11.
The women's A-final was won by 2005 World Cup champion Marit Bjorgen of Norway. (Story with the assistance of The XC Files)
