Sweden and Norway shared the honors in the opening leg of Tour de Ski in Shangri-la, Yunnan Province, as Peter Larsson and Solfrid Braathen won the men's and women's events, respectively, on Friday.

 

On the 1,200m snow track, built in an outdoor stadium, Swede Larsson defeated a strong field of 38 skiers to take the men's title. Fabio Pasini of Italy came in second as Anders Hogberg of Sweden followed in third place.

 

In the women's event, Braathen of Norway beat teammate Elise Tyldum into the second place with a powerful final sprint. Elin Ek of Sweden finished third.

 

The high altitude proved to be a big headache for all, in particular foreign competitors who mostly came to the place, located more than 3,200m above sea level, for the first time.

 

That made the outcome of the tournament a true surprise as the absolute pre-tournament favorite Bjorn Lind of Sweden, the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic champion, was eliminated before the men's quarterfinals.

 

"The high altitude has a big impact on my game," Larsson said. "It is hard to breathe. I have a big headache and I had trouble sleeping last night.

 

"I have to go a bit little slower than I used to."

 

The best local performer was Song Bo, who narrowly missed a medal with a fourth-place finish in the highly competitive women's final.

 

She had a good start in the final and was in second place until the last 400m, but she was blocked at the final turn and relegated to fourth place.

 

"Today I made a good performance because I did not expect to make it to the final," Song said. "I had my chances in the final, but I did not take them. I need to improve my technique in the following races."

 

The two-day event attracted more than 40 of the world's top 100 skiers.

 

The competitors will move to Changchun for the second and third legs, and then to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for the final leg.

 

The event is organized by the China Ski Association and Nordic Ways.

 

(China Daily December 29, 2007)