![The Swedish women's relay team of Anna Dyvik, Sofia Henriksson, Maja Dahlqvist, and Jonna Sundling celebrate after defending their Junior World Championships relay title with another win on Monday in Val di Fiemme, Italy. (Photo: Fiemme2014)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/02/arrivo_Svezia.jpg")
Monday’s final event of the Junior World Championships included the women’s 4×3.3-kilometer and men’s 4×5-kilometer relays. Both events alternated classic and skating legs in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
According to a press release, Russia, France and Sweden led through the classic legs, while Norway and Finland sat patiently. On the last leg, Norway’s Eirik Sverdrup Augdal was first to pick up the pace at the end of a long uphill. Alexey Chervotkin, of Russia, and Jean Tiberghien, of France, were surprised and forced to react quickly. Over the final sprint, Augdal found the best line and captured gold for Norway in 53:36.6, exactly 1 second ahead of Tiberghien who outskied Chervotkin by a tenth of a second for second.
![Norway's Eirik Sverdrup Augdal looks back after anchoring his 4x5 relay to gold on Monday on the last day of Junior World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. France took second, 0.1 seconds ahead of Russia. Augdal teamed up with Eivind Krane Heimdal, Petter Reistad, and Johan Hoel. (Photo: Fiemme2014)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/02/arrivo_augdal.jpg")
In the women’s relay, Russia led the first leg, but Sweden’s Sofia Henriksson did not let the Russian off easily, according to press release. Early in the the skate portion, Sweden was a hair ahead of Russia, while Norway was shortly behind, attempting to make up ground. At the final exchange, Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva started off with a slight advantage over Jonna Sundling of Sweden, but by the end of the last leg, Sundling had gained enough ground to surpass — and even create a gap on — Nepryaeva, sealing the win for Sweden in 39:54.8. Russia took second, 7.7 seconds behind, and Norway’s Lotta Weng followed in third, 26.8 seconds behind the Swedes.
With four gold, two silver, and eighth bronze medals, Norway was crowned as the winning team at the 2014 FIS Nordic Junior/U23 World Ski Championships.
Among the North Americans, Canada placed just above the U.S. women in 10th (out of 14 teams). The Canadian females chosen to participate in the day’s event included Frédérique Vézina of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre (CNEPH), Dahria Beatty (Alberta World Cup Academy), Anne-Marie Comeau (CNEPH), and Katherine Stewart-Jones (Nakkertok). They raced in that order and Team Canada finished 2:49.9 behind the winners.
“I love mass starts so I was pretty pumped when I knew what position I had for the relay,” Vézina wrote in an email. “It was a great fast fight right from the start. My body felt very good and I was able to stay with the lead pack up the first long up hill.”