Sam 32nd in Sprint!

Samantha Saeger came through with an impressive 32nd place finish in the much anticipated Venice Sprint.  Here's a bit about her runs today in her own words (apologies for the text version, it's difficult to do a video interview from another country):

Couch at the finish -- check! (Photo: Kenny) 

Squeezing into the final:

"I had a lot of fun running both sprints today. Running around in Venice was truly amazing! I had a lot of 10 to 20 second mistakes during the quali and did not feel confident about my chances coming into the finish. I was really relieved to see my name in 15th, just squeezing in."

32nd best in the world:

"The final started well and I was feeling strong on the long run through the arena. I had good plans for the controls and was executing everything well, but started to tire and make mistakes around 12. I still think I chose good routes, but I often missed a turn, or slightly overran alleys. Just after I finished I was in third, and I checked an item off my bucket list -- sitting on the winners couch on the stage! I sweated in my moment in the sun, before having to move down and cool off."

Women's Sprint Final (woc2014.info)

Zoom! (Photo: Kenny)

See splits from the Final and gps tracking is also available for all your post-race, back-seat-driving analysis.

Tomorrow is a rest day and travel with just the opening ceremony and sprint medal ceremony. The team will be reunited as the sprinters head up to the hills for the rest of WOC.