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World Cup cross-country skiing leader criticizes Olympic ski tracks

WHISTLER, B.C. — The top woman on the World Cup cross-country skiing circuit is the latest to criticize the Olympic course in Callaghan Valley.

WHISTLER, B.C. — The top woman on the World Cup cross-country skiing circuit is the latest to criticize the Olympic course in Callaghan Valley.

After placing fifth in the 10-kilometre freestyle race, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland told reporters, “the track is not for me, the track is not for the Olympics.”

She complained there were a lot of corners, and a lot of “dangerous downhills,” and she said, “it was the first time in my life I see a track like that in the Olympics.”

Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla won gold with a time of 24 minutes 58 seconds.

Estonia’s Kristina Smigun-Vaehi took the silver, finishing just six seconds behind the 22-year-old Swede, and Norway’s Marit Bjoergen grabbed the bronze in her third Olympic Games.

Canada’s Madeleine Williams finished 51st in her first Olympic competition.

“It was kind of a tough day, but I was able to push at the end having the crowd there on the last hill . . . and I was happy how I was able to finish at the end of the race,” said Williams.

She said she had no complaints about the course or the conditions.

“They (conditions) were great. It was hard, it was fast,” she said. “It seemed like a good course to me.”

Kalla won the same distance race just a week ago at a World Cup in Canmore, Alta., and said she’s enjoying the Canadian-based races.

She said winning the World Cup boosted her confidence, and she praised the course in the Callaghan Valley, calling it “very good.”

The director of communications for the competition, Alessandro de Franzoni, said Kalla is one of the youngest winners of a gold medal in the history of women’s cross-country skiing.

Kalla said she focused on a race plan to take the race as though it were a World Cup competition.

“I tried to fight as far as possible for every second I could get,” she said.

Last year at the World Cup at Callaghan Valley, Italy’s Pietro Piller Cottrer won a cross-country World Cup race, then said it’s a shame organizers couldn’t have built a better course.

“I have to admit the previous Olympic courses were better,” said Piller Cottrer. “If they made this up as new, they could do something better.”

Last year Kowalczyk also was critical of the Whistler Olympic Park course, levelling similar criticisms.

At the time she said, “after my first training here I was almost crying because for me this is a very easy track.”

She also said one of the corners on the course was too tight and “very dangerous.”