Liberecated

The Nordic Ski World Championships are finally open in Liberec, Czech Republic. A colossal slate of competitions, with the largest-ever complement of athletes and countries, started today with an unusual event: short qualification races to help determine who would be permitted to start in the 10km women's and 15km men's classical races, to be held on Thursday and Friday, respectively. (155 women and 236 men from 60 countries are registered for XC events.)

I hope we can provide some analytic coverage of the cross-country racing between now and Sunday, March 1, but for now I'll just offer my picks for the first XC race:

women's 10km individual-start classic race
1. Kowalcyzk
2. Majdic
3. Johaug
Renner: top 10
Randall: top half of the 76 registered starters