Kirvesniemi Wins Cross-Country Skiing Event

Harri Kirvesniemi of Finland took the gold medal after a furious finish in the men’s 15-kilometer classic-style cross-country ski race today at the World Nordic Ski Championships.

Kirvesniemi, 30, one of the late starters in a field of 89 skiers, won the first major championship of his career by 3.3 seconds over Pal Gunnar Mikkelsplass, who is from Norway.

A partisan crowd of 25,000 fans went wild as Kirvesniemi crossed the finish line in a time of 42 minutes 40.7 seconds.

Less than 10 minutes earlier, Mikkelsplass had finished his race in 42:44.0. Mikkelsplass also was runner-up in this distance in the Olympics last year at Canmore, Canada.

Vegard Ulvang of Norway was third in 43:08.4, 27.7 seconds behind Kirvesniemi. Ulvang was a silver medalist in the 30K classic-style race Saturday.

Kirvesniemi’s victory boosted host nation Finland’s medal-leading total to four gold, three silver and three bronze medals.

Aki Karvonen, another Finn, placed fourth, 37.1 seconds behind.

Todd Boonstra of Burlington, Vt., was 41st in 46:29.5 for the best American finish.

Greg Stone of Ketchum, Ida., was 47th in 47:00.4; Justin Wadsworth of La Jolla was 48th in 47:01.6, and Kevin Brochman of Park City, Utah, was 50th in 47:16.0 out of 84 finishers.