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| Saturday, February 2, 2008 - NorAm Canada Cup Series |
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Jones and Nishikawa Win Teck Cominco Sprints in Cantley, Quebec
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Perianne Jones rebounded after a slow start to cruise to her second Teck Cominco Sprint victory of the season at the Haywood NorAm event staged at the Nakkertok Ski Club in Cantley, Quebec. Performing in front of home-club fans, the 23 year old from nearby Almonte, Ontario finished almost 3 seconds behind the blistering pace set by NST Team 2010 teammate Dasha Gaiazova in the qualifying round. "I'm not crazy about soft snow," commented a disappointed Jones after the morning interval start qualifier, "I was hoping to pick up the Madshus <fastest qualifier> bonus," continued the youngster who pickup up her first World Cup heat experience last week at the Canmore World Cup. Brooke Gosling picked up the bronze in the final heat.
Jones not only strengthened her lead in the Teck Cominco Sprint Series but overtook Madeleine Williams to gain control of the overall Leader bib in the Haywood NorAm Series. Jones leads Williams by 2 points 225 to 223 and will wear the green Leader bib in Sunday's mass start 15 km classic event. Williams is currently in Europe preparing for her first European World Cup appearance of the season by virtue of being the overall FIS NorAm Leader in the second points period of the North American season.
The men's sprint final came down to a three way sprint between the eventual winner Graham Nishikawa of Yellowknife, Stefan Kuhn the skier with the fastest qualifying time of the day and Brent McMurtry of Foothills Nordic. Nishikawa, whose previous best Teck Cominco sprint of the season had been a 5th in Val Cartier prior to Christmas, surprised the field with his first sprint win of the season. By virtue of his victory, Nishikawa takes over the overall Leader bib for the Haywood Series and will wear the green bib in the 30 km mass start on Sunday. He will be faced with defending his slim one point lead over Kuhn and his 5 point lead over McMurtry as the three line up in the mass start event. Kuhn finished second while Brent McMurtry ended up in third.
Complete results, when available will be posted at www.zone4.ca.
 Nishikawa leading Widmer in 2007 NorAm sprint action in Canmore
 Jones in Qualifying action earlier in the season
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