Winter Universiade 2019 in full swing
Mar 07, 2019·Cross-Country
Czech Republic’s Petra Hyncicova golden in cross-country ski sprint at Winter Universiade 2019
The 24-year old Olympian and FIS World Ski Championship athlete adds a Winter Universiade gold to her sparkling university sports career. In the process, the Czech skier denies the Russian team their first clean sweep of the podium in cross-country skiing. In men’s event, Russia’s Terentev edges Kazakhstan’s Dyussenov in a dramatic sprint duel.
KRASNOYARSK, 6 March — The Czech Republic's Petra Hyncicova began the Winter Universiade 2019 cross-country ski sprint competition by posting the fastest time in qualifying around the 1500m course.
The 24-year old continued her winning all the way through the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. In the process, she denied Russia a third-consecutive clean sweep of the medals here on the Sopka Arena ski trails.
“I didn’t expect to get the first place, but I did it,” Hyncicova said. “I had tactics and I made a slight mistake – once or twice I went ahead. Nonetheless, I left the girls behind and I’m really happy.”
Still, Russia was well represented on the medal podium as Hristina Matsokina finished +0.8 seconds behind Hyncicova for second and Polina Nekrasova in third (+1.20). The silver and bronze performance, though, left at least one Russian wanting more.
“I went to the start tired,” Matsokina said about the final, the fourth race of the day. “The semifinals were very quick, and time was running fast. It was all working out the way that I wanted – to catch Tatiana Aleshina. I caught her, we started racing and we missed our opponent.
“To be honest, I’m a little less than satisfied.”
Rounding out the final was Tatiana Aleshina and Alisa Zhambalova of Russia in fourth and fifth, and Italy’s Francesca Franchi in sixth. For the women’s 5km classic and pursuit victor Zhambalova, it was the first time the world’s 20th ranked distance skier didn’t earn gold here in the Siberian capital city.
A Russian trifecta led by Aleshina and followed by Matsokin and Nekrasova pushed the pace and controlled the race throughout much of the race around the gradual-but-grinding course.
The defining move, though, came from Hyncicova as the skiers swept into the backstretch of the stadium before making a gradual lefthander for home. Relying on an aggressive high-speed no-pole skate the Czech moved into leading position and was never seriously challenged in the home straight to the finish line.
The 25-year-old from Liberec, who competed for four years for the University of Colorado Boulder in the USA’s NCAA university sport system came into Siberia fresh off the plane from the FIS World Ski Championships. In Seefeld, Hyncicova placed 11th and 13th with her Czech teammates in the 4x5km and sprint relay competitions.
This Universiade gold adds to Hyncicova's illustrious sports career, where she was named the women’s university nordic national skier of the year and a two-time national collegiate champion in the USA. An all-around who performs well in both sprint and distance events, Hyncicova also represented the Czech Republic at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games in four events: sprint, 10K, 30K and skiathlon.
