Publicité télé Sprint Québec 2012 from Sprint Québec on Vimeo.
In just under one month, the eyes of the world will be turned to the picturesque streets of Old Quebec City for the first Canadian World Cup of the season - two days of freestyle sprint racing!
It is expected to be a very high profile weekend of racing featuring the Canadian Senior World Cup squad of Devon Kershaw, Alex Harvey, Ivan Babikov, Len Valjas, Perianne Jones, Chandra Crawford, and Daria Gaiazova. Coming of their best-ever season of World cup, the team will be looking to make some more big impressions upon their international competitors such as Dario Cologna, Marit Bjørgen, Eirik Brandsdal, Justyna Kowalczyk, Kikkan Randall, and more.
On Friday December 7th, we will see 2011 Team Sprint World Champions Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw battle it out in Harvey's own backyard. You can expect the crowd to be roaring as they race the 1700m course on the lawn of Parliament Hill three times each, against strong teams from countries like Norway and Sweden. On the women's side, Chandra Crawford and Perianne Jones will be coming off their World Cup bronze medal last season in Milano, ITA and hoping to repeat that podium performance.
The following day, on Saturday December 8th, the athletes will be going solo for the individual 1700m freestyle sprint event on the same course. Keep an eye on Lenny Valjas, who proved he can both sprint and go the extra mile, with multiple medals on the World Cup circuit last season. As well, watch out for Daria Gaiazova, who earned multiple top-ten results in sprint events last World Cup season and will also have the hometown advantage in the Quebec City region.
In addition to the Canadian World Cup team skiers competing in the event, there be more than twenty development level athletes (male and female) from across the country proving themselves on the world stage, many for the first time. Here at XCOttawa, we have several athletes who will be racing in Canmore, AB the weekend before Quebec with hopes of earning a spot on the World Cup start list. Be sure to check the Cross-Country Canada website in the first week of December and check for names like Megan McTavish, Karl Saidla, Andre Marchand, Ingrid Hagberg, Matthias Purdon, Sheila Kealey, and Lee Hawkings to see if they have qualified. Wish them luck!
In the meantime, the XC Ottawa team will be continuing to focus on training in preparation for the race season, as we (hopefully) head up to Foret Montmorency for a weekend of skiing. Keep doing your snow dance!
Official Sprint Quebec website: http://www.sprintquebec.com/
Animated video of the 850m loop: http://vimeo.com/53100213
YouTube video of Alex Harvey/Devon Kershaw winning Team Sprint at World Championships: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrI8e4ltazw
Course map: http://www.cccski.com/getmedia/fe66113d-1b1b-48e6-9186-b3521b746b32/Sprint-Qc---Map-EN.PDF.aspx
TV Broadcasts
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Friday December 7 : 2:00PM - 3:15 PM |
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Friday December 7 2:00PM - 4:00PM WEB Saturday December 8 1:00PM - 2:00PM TV 1:05PM - 3:00PM WEB 3:00PM - 4:00PM TV |
Team Sprint Friday December 7th : CBC TV 1pm-2pm
Team Sprint Friday December 7th : Cbcsports.ca 1pm-2pm
Individual Sprint Saturday 8th : CBC TV 3pm-4pm
Individual Sprint Saturday 8th : Cbcsports.ca 3pm-4pmFIS typically also provide live updates on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/xcwclive , Live timing, and post race video highlights.
Race Website Highlight videos, updates etc.
FIS Cross Country Website Results, Press Releases, Video...
Follow the race and the official press release on the CCC website, Twitter, Facebook.
Interesting Reading. . .
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