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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 3:15 a.m., Friday, February 20, 2009

Skiing: Veerpalu wins men's 15K classic race at worlds

Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Estonia's gold medal winner Andrus Veerpalu skis during the Men's 15k Interval Start race at the Cross Country competitions of the Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic.

JENS MEYER | Associated Press

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LIBEREC, Czech Republic — Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia won the men's 15-kilometer classical race at the Nordic skiing world championships.

Veerpalu erased Lukas Bauer's nine-second lead over the last half of the race to spoil the Czech skier's chase of a first world title before a frenzied home crowd.

Veerpalu finished in 38 minutes, 54.4 seconds, while Bauer was 6.3 seconds behind for silver. Matti Heikkinen of Finland was third, 16.4 back.

The results were not yet official as some skiers had yet to finish the race.

The heavy snow that has fallen over Liberec all week continued Friday, making it tough for skiers to find the right wax setup underneath the skis.