Cross-Country Skiing

LIBEREC, Czech Republic - Cross-country skiing got what it wanted out of this year's world championships, even if the Czech Republic didn't.

The event ended Sunday with Norwegian Petter Northug's victory in the men's 50-kilometre freestyle race and it has given the sport the two things it needs most leading up to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver - a true star and, seemingly, a clean image.

As an unexpected bonus, the unprecedented success of the U.S. team may even help boost interest in the American market.

While home favourite Lukas Bauer failed to get the gold medal his country expected, Northug emerged as the big star of the championships after using his sprinting ability to take home three gold medals, also winning the 30-kilometre skiathlon pursuit and anchoring Norway's relay team.

Northug appears nearly unbeatable in mass-start races, where he can bide his time right behind the leaders until blowing by them at the end, and he has the potential to be the sport's most dominating figure since all-time great Bjorn Dahlie.

Perhaps worrying for his rivals, he also seems to relish his status as the man to beat in the Olympics.

"I think it's great,'' Northug said. "In Norway, I've felt the pressure this whole season, so I have no problem with some extra pressure going into Vancouver.''

Norway had the most medals as well with 12, including five gold.

The big surprise was the team with the second-best medal haul. The United States tripled its total medal count for all world championships by taking four golds, a silver and a bronze.

The Americans dominated the Nordic combined events, but also saw Lindsey Van become the first ever women's ski jumping champion while Kikkan Randall got the country's first cross-country medal on the women's side.

"Randall's medal was a huge breakthrough for us,'' U.S. team director John Farra said. "I was happy to walk out of here with a couple of medals.

"It was hard to imagine we'd even get three, let alone six. ... It's validation for us that we're doing the right thing, and that our hard work is paying off.''

Meanwhile, the increased doping controls going into the championships also seem to have been successful, with no positive tests having been announced despite a record number of athletes and nations competing. All test results will not be available for another couple of weeks, but International Ski Federation president Gian Franco Kasper said the crackdown on doping cheats is working.

"We'll never have a clean sport, we know that. It's just like on the street, there will always be people who speed,'' Kasper said. "But we're very hopeful and optimistic that things have worked out in the proper way.''

There were a number of disappointments for the home fans, however, as Bauer had to settle for silver in the opening 15-kilometre classical race after being bested by Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia, and never came close to a medal again. Bauer and the Czech team had a miserable relay, finishing more than five minutes behind Norway in 12th place.

Bauer, the poster boy for these worlds, then chose not to race the 50-kilometre event, saying he still hadn't fully recovered from a recent illness and wanted to focus on the remaining World Cup races.

"The 50-kilometre would be too risky for me,'' Bauer said. "After I could have only limited preparations, it would be too difficult for me to cope with such a tough race in a solid way.''

Women's ski jumping made its debut here and Kasper said he was "quite confident'' the athletes had done enough to earn a spot in the Olympics for the 2014 Sochi Games.

"We had a good start, no doubt,'' Kasper said, but added that he was still concerned about the large gaps in ability between the jumpers. "The level between the top and the other ones is quite high.''

The championships were billed as the biggest sports event ever hosted by the Czech Republic, and there had been concerns over local organizers' finances and ability to stage large-scale races.

However, Kasper hailed the organizing committee for dealing with the sometimes difficult weather conditions and attracting as many as 37,000 spectators to the cross-country races.

"We've had excellent championships,'' Kasper said. "The level of competitions were extremely high.''