Kiira Korpi secures bronze in Figure Skating European Championships

World Cup leader Kuitunen's dominance continues in cross-country skiing

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Finnish figure skater Kiira Korpi persevered through her free skating routine thus securing a bronze medal in the 2007 European Figure Skating Championships in Warsaw on Saturday. After Friday's short program Korpi was ranked fifth. Other two Finns Susanna Pöykiö and Alisa Drei landed in fourth and sixth positions respectively.
      Since the whole Finnish trio finished in the top ten, Finland is entitled to send three representatives to next year's European Championships in Croatia.
      This year's surprise winner was Italy's Carolina Kostner.
      In the Figure Skating World Championships held in Tokyo in March, Finland will be represented by Korpi and Pöykiö.
     
In cross-country skiing, Finland's Virpi Kuitunen continues her fine performances. On Sunday, Kuitunen, the overall World Cup leader, capped the classic style sprint in Otapää, Estonia, increasing her lead in the World Cup standings to 401 points. Kuitunen's nearest World Cup rival, Marit Björgen of Norway, only managed 19th.
      Another Norwegian, Astrid Jacobsen, came in second only 1.7 seconds behind Kuitunen. Third place went to Jevgenia Shapalova of Russia.
      Another Finnish skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen saw her chances for a podium finish fall through when she collided with Sweden's Lina Andersson. In the end Saarinen finished sixth.
      On Saturday's 10 kilometers classic event Kuitunen was second after surprise winner, Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk.
     
Mona-Liisa Malvalehto, in turn, finished second in the B final, and eighth overall. The rest of the Finnish field, Pirjo Manninen (17th), Kati Venäläinen (21st), and Kirsi Välimaa (23rd) did not make it through the quarter finals.
      "It was not easy, but still better than yesterday", Kuitunen commented after the race, referring to the previous day's classic style 10-kilometre event, in which she came in second 7.8 seconds behind the surprise winner, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland.
      "My tactics for today were to stay ahead of the field for the very purpose of avoiding collisions. The end result was pleasing to say the least after yesterday's difficulties", Kuitunen concluded.
     
Speed skater Pekka Koskela nearly produced a double victory in the World Cup 500-metre events raced in the Dutch town of Heerenveen over the weekend.
      Koskela, who secured first place on Saturday, finished second on Sunday, only two hundredths of a second behind the winner, Tucker Fredricks (35.27) of the United States. Fredricks' countryman Shani Davis (35.43) came in third.
      In the Sunday race Fredricks was slightly faster from the start. Koskela, who was suffering from a minor cold, could not quite match his opponent's speed.
      "Pekka wobbled a bit right after the start. His customary drive was missing. This was definitely not one of his better performances", chief coach Janne Hänninen explained.


Links:
  FIS-Ski
  International Skating Union

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