In the men's race, Olympic Champion Giorgio Di Centa (ITA) took his first ever World Cup victory. The 37-year-old top athlete finished the race, which took place under great weather conditions, in a time of 34:08.0min. The runner up in this race was his team mate Pietro Piller Cottrer with a time gap of 5,1 seconds to Di Centa. Dario Cologna from Switzerland was ranked third, 11,9 seconds behind the winner.
Di Centa started like Kalla not in full speed into the race but took over the lead on the last kilometres. Pietro Piller Cottrer, who was always very good in Canmore, were in the first 10 kilometres in the lead before Di Centa took it over.
In the overall World Cup ranking, Petter Northug (NOR, 1060 points) is still in the lead ahead of Lukas Bauer (CZE, 763 points). Dario Cologna (SUI, 675 points) moved up with his today's podium spot to the third place in this ranking. In the distance World Cup ranking, Northug is ahead of Markus Hellner and Lukas Bauer.
Giorgio Di Centa (ITA)
I'm just happy. It is my first World Cup victory ever in my career. I was here in Canmore always strong and be satisfied that I could take today with 37 years the victory. I tried to start not to fast as I was in altitude training before and if you are start then to fast you have not too much power for the finish. So my tactic was to take the first lap a bit easy. At the Olympics, it is planned that I compete in the 15 km, the Pursuit, the 50 km as the Olympic Champion and maybe the relay if my coaches are announcing me for that.
Pietro Piller Cottrer (ITA)
I should move with my family to Canmore. I was always very good here and had great results and a victory. I like the landscape, the mountains, the courses and the people. Today I had rockets under my shoes - the ski's were just amazing and I have to say thank you for that to my technicians. I had always a good feeling during the race but at the end Giorgio beat me. I'm very happy to be with Giorgio on the podium and that he took his first World Cup victory today - this is awesome.
Dario Cologna (SUI)
I tried to get not too fast into the race. We had a tough training in the last three weeks, first in the Engadin and than here in Canmore and after such trainings you have to be careful with the race speed at the beginning. But I felt well during the race and be satisfied with my podium spot. It is a good sign for the Olympics and gives self confidence.
