The US Junior men's team of Reid Pletcher, Max Treinen, Noah Hoffman and Kevin Cutts, finished 7th in the field of 21 teams at the final event of the 2008 World Junior Championships. They completed the race in a time of 1:01.01, finishing just over two minutes behind the winning team from Russia.
Pletcher skied the first leg, entering the tag zone in 10th place, less than 30 seconds down. He came in with a pack of four skiers, ahead of Norway among others. Treinen took over, and while he lost time on the leaders, he moved the US up one position while posting the ninth fastest time on his leg.
Hoffman, looking for redemption after a broken ski foiled his chances at a top result in the mass-start, skied to the 6th best time on the first skate leg, and continued to move the US team up in the standings – handing off in 7th place. Cutts matched Hoffman in skiing the 6th best anchor leg and holding the US in the 7th position. He put 30 seconds on 8th place Switzerland – the Swiss started the final leg less than 1 second in back of the Americans.
Germany took silver, losing out in the final sprint to Russia. Kazakhstan was third, +35.7 seconds. There was significant turnover throughout the race, with most of the top teams outside of the top two having at least one weak link. France held a 12.5 second lead heading into the last 5km loop, but anchor skier Pierre Guedon faltered badly, dropping to 6th place while only managing the 17th time for the leg.
The Canadian men finished 9th, +2:36. They stood in 6th only 48 seconds behind the lead heading into the third leg, but a poor race by Julia Nury dropped the team out of contention for a top finish.
In the women's 4×3.3km relay, Norway edged Sweden by 1 second after the Norweigan anchor leg lost a 22 second lead to the hard charging Swedes. Finland took third, 4 seconds back.
The US team of Ida Sargent, Sadie Bjornsen, Sophie Caldwell, and Alexa Turzian skied to a 9th place finish in the 16 team field, 2:08 behind the winners. Bjornsen, skiing the second leg, had the race of the day for the Americans, posting the third fastest time for her leg, and skiing the team up to 7th place. Turzian also had an excellent race – losing only 30 seconds to the fastest anchor skier.
Canada finished 12th, +3:35 with Stephanie Drolet and Marlis Kromm posting the strongest performances on the team.
