The Cross-Country World Cup circus is about to make a stop in the Russian capital Moscow on 2nd February. It is not the first time that the elite skiers get together for the World Cup in Moscow, however, as already in 1990 and 2000 the Russian metropolis was on the schedule. But it is the first time that the Sprint World Cup is held around the famous Luzhniki Olympic Stadium, the biggest sports stadium in Russia.

On a 1,5 km long, flat course, about 140 athletes including both sprint World Cup leaders Kikkan Randall (USA) and Alexey Petuhkov (RUS), will race for the top spots. (Text from FIScrosscountry.com)

Looking at the start field, we have most strong sprinters on the start line. Notably missing is Marit Bjørgen in the women’s class – thus Justyna Kowalczyk will get a chance to get an advantage in the overall World Cup with a good race in Moscow. Also Dario Cologna, Petter Northug and Marcus Hellner have chosen not to race the Moscow sprint.

• Set up your XC-predictions by Thursday 11:15 CET here

Men
Among the men, the Russians are big favourites on home ground after excellent performance so far this season, e.g. victory in Toblach and second spot in Rogla free sprints for Nikolay Morilov. Also look out for Swedish Teodor Peterson, the Norwegians with Eirik Brandsdal and Ola Vigen Hattestad as the top favourites.

Women
Among the women, Kikkan Randall has been the dominator on free sprint this season – except for the Rogla sprint where Randall crashed the American has been top 2 in all free sprints this season. Count in Chandra Crawford, Ida Ingemarsdotter and Maiken Caspersen Falla among the top favourites – along with Natalia Matveeva on homeground. It will also be interesting to see if Swiss Van der Graaff can be up there again after a very strong start of the season.

Name		2012 Milano 2012-01-14 SP F Final	2012 Toblach 2012-01-04 SP F Final	2011 Rogla 2011-12-18 SP F Final	2011 Davos 2011-12-11 SP F Final	2011 Duesseldorf 2011-12-03 SP F Final	2011 Oslo 2011-02-24 SP F Final	2011 Drammen 2011-02-20 SP F Final	2011 Rybinsk 2011-02-05 SP F Final	2011 Liberec 2011-01-15 SP F Final	2011 Toblach 2011-01-05 SP F Final
JOENSSON Emil			8th		3rd		3rd	1st
KERSHAW Devon			13rd	15th	4th	18th	31st	48th			1st
MORILOV Nikolay		4th	1st	2nd	6th	34th	8th		5th		13rd
BRANDSDAL Eirik		1st		6th		10th	17th			26th
HATTESTAD Ola Vigen		6th		5th	53rd	1st	4th		2nd	1st
PETUKHOV Alexey		5th	5th	9th	1st	2nd	14th		1st	27th
HARVEY Alex			6th	19th	9th		7th	2nd			14th
PETERSON Teodor		3rd	9th	8th	2nd	5th	16th	33rd		12nd
WENZL Josef		2nd	7th	37th	27th	17th	39th		6th	10th
PELLEGRINO Federico		9th	28th	7th	12nd	6th	12nd	17th	8th	2nd
GLOEERSEN Anders		13rd		3rd	17th	26th	13rd		3rd
PASINI Renato		10th		35th	38th	33rd	30th	11st	15th	4th
PENTSINEN Anssi		22nd		23rd	30th	4th	32nd	47th		37th
JAEGER Martin		18th		28th	31st	11st	11st		4th
JYLHAE Martti		24th		24th	22nd	15th	22nd	5th		34th
STRANDVALL Matias		7th		45th	46th	7th	20th	7th		5th
MODIN Jesper		21st		26th	20th	21st	5th			6th	6th
KUMMEL Peeter		25th	30th	39th	34th	52nd	6th		9th	43rd
PETTERSEN Oeystein		35th		16th	14th	29th	41st		7th
KJOELSTAD Johan				31st	40th	14th		20th	54th	7th
TAMBORNINO Eligius		31st		11st	26th	8th		35th		55th
SIMONLATSER Timo		33rd	35th			40th	47th		12nd	8th	24th
NEWELL Andrew		26th		21st	16th	16th	10th	18th		13rd	8th
FRASNELLI Loris		34th			23rd			8th	25th		17th
KINDSCHI Joeri		29th		33rd	18th	9th	38th		24th	23rd
VALJAS Len		14th		18th	28th	42nd	15th	9th		42nd
NOECKLER Dietmar		48th	10th		43rd
TRITSCHER Bernhard		28th	17th	34th	24th	61st	21st	19th	10th		11st
HAMILTON Simeon		19th		10th	33rd		25th	53rd
VOLOTKA Denis				54th	10th	44th		73rd

Name		2012 Milano 2012-01-14 SP F Final	2012 Toblach 2012-01-04 SP F Final	2011 Rogla 2011-12-18 SP F Final	2011 Davos 2011-12-11 SP F Final	2011 Duesseldorf 2011-12-03 SP F Final	2011 Oslo 2011-02-24 SP F Final	2011 Drammen 2011-02-20 SP F Final	2011 Rybinsk 2011-02-05 SP F Final	2011 Liberec 2011-01-15 SP F Final	2011 Toblach 2011-01-05 SP F Final
FABJAN Vesna		8th	5th	7th	11st	20th	4th	9th	1st	22nd	9th
INGEMARSDOTTER Ida		1st	27th	3rd		48th	12nd	6th
FALLA Maiken Caspersen		3rd		1st	3rd	8th	13rd	2nd		5th
RANDALL Kikkan		2nd	2nd	6th	1st	1st	26th	1st		1st	5th
VISNAR Katja		21st		10th	21st	13rd	21st	21st	2nd	12nd
CRAWFORD Chandra		7th		2nd	9th	4th	28th	14th		26th
MATVEEVA Natalia		4th	23rd	14th	2nd	2nd
BRUN-LIE Celine		29th					14th	7th		3rd
VAN DER GRAAFF Laurien		10th		8th	5th	3rd	40th	41st	21st	21st
KOWALCZYK Justyna			3rd	24th	8th		5th	28th	3rd		22nd
HERRMANN Denise		19th	4th	16th	13rd	37th	23rd	19th	9th	40th	17th
BRODIN Hanna		13rd	41st		4th	5th	10th	33rd		8th
BARTHELEMY Laure			36th	31st	16th	43rd	7th	38th	7th	6th	4th
OESTBERG Ingvild Flugstad			7th	4th	24th	10th		12nd			31st
KOROSTELEVA Natalia		26th	14th	5th	18th	24th	32nd	39th	15th
KYLLOENEN Anne		5th	20th	42nd	28th	17th	33rd	43rd		27th	23rd
WENG Heidi		17th	12nd		6th	23rd		47th
SARASOJA-LILJA Riikka		14th	21st	13rd	26th	6th
EIDE Mari		6th			56th	12nd		29th		10th
MALVALEHTO Mona-Lisa		11st		21st	17th	7th
KOLB Hanna			8th	15th	14th	11st	59th	32nd		17th
DOTSENKO Anastasia			16th	37th	22nd	36th	30th	17th	8th
GAIAZOVA Daria		25th		9th	30th	46th	20th	20th		14th
ERIKSSON Mia		16th			57th	9th				30th
SOEMSKAR Linn		9th		35th	36th	26th
JEAN Aurore		20th	9th	23rd		40th	31st	59th	18th		27th
JACOBSEN Astrid Uhrenholdt			17th	26th	10th		9th	13rd			21st
LAHTEENMAKI Krista			13rd	19th	20th		16th	10th			14th