The good news: “We’ll have a race tomorrow,” chief of competition Gary Larson said of the U.S. Junior Nationals currently taking place in Cable, Wis. Due to exceedingly warm temperatures on Tuesday reaching into the 60's, the 5-kilometer and 1.3-kilometer race courses have been jeopardized.
FasterSkier intern Eric Byram, of Canmore, Alberta, was one of 10 juniors selected to Canada's Junior B-Tour, which included two weekends of racing in Germany and Switzerland.
The final set of competitions, the team events, on Friday wrapped up the weeklong U23/Junior World Championships in Rasnov, Romania, with the U.S junior women skiing to eighth. The day before, three Americans landed in the top 15 at Junior Worlds: Jasper Good (nordic combined), Katharine Ogden and Ian Torchia.
Not many skiers are accustomed to skiing in slush, but those able to find their stride on Tuesday with temperatures in the mid-50s in Rasnov, Romania, tended to fare better on the second day of U23/Junior World Championships. Stratton juniors Katharine Ogden and Julia Kern notched top 20's and Jasper Good (U.S. Nordic Combined) achieved 11th in the first nordic-combined competition.
It was 50 degrees and sunny on Monday in Rasnov, Romania, which sounds pleasant, but what's it like racing in? "Pretty darn hot," Julia Kern explained, after racing to a career-best 16th in the freestyle sprint on Day 1 of Junior/U23 World Championships. Another American, Logan Hanneman placed 15th, and Julien Locke led Canada in 16th in the U23 men's race.
Second at the final exchange and 2.2 seconds out of first, the U.S. biathletes in the single mixed relay at the Youth Olympic Games -- Chloe Levins and Vasek Cervenka -- went on to place sixth. “Today’s race was a great learning experience for Vasek and myself,” Levins wrote. “We may not have made the podium, but I think we had the most fun today!”
Ben Loomis jumped to second and held his own in the 5 k ski race on the first day of nordic combined at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games. In the classic sprint, Hannah Halvorsen placed sixth and Hunter Wonders was 15th.
The 2016 Youth Olympic Games kicked off in Lillehammer, Norway, this past weekend with a brand-new XC-ski cross sprint event on Saturday, followed by biathlon races on Sunday and Monday. American Chloe Levins placed fourth in Monday's pursuit. "The pursuit in Lillehammer was a dream," she said.
On the final day of IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania, the Norwegian women and Russian men bested the field in the junior relays, while the U.S. women placed 12th and Canadian men finished 14th.
It was a stretch to reach the podium, but the Canadian team of Teo Sanchez, Adam Runnalls, and Zachari Bolduc were in contention until late in the youth men's 3 x 7.5 k relay at World Championships, ultimately finishing fifth. The American men placed 15th. The Canadian women were 10th in the 3 x 6 k relay and the American women 16th.
Sean Doherty's just like any 20 year old, except that he has 10 biathlon world junior titles to his name and won the last race of his junior career in Romania on Sunday. "I get nervous just like any other human,” he explained. “There’s a lot of pressure for these races I just did, and I’m really happy with how I performed with it all, but it’s something that’s not that easy to deal with.”
Sean Doherty locked up silver in Saturday's junior sprint to become the most decorated athlete ever at IBU Youth/Junior World Championships, and another American, Maddie Phaneuf landed her second-straight top seven of the week.
The Canadian biathletes are on a roll at IBU Youth World Championships with three athletes in the top 21 on Friday in the youth men's and women's sprints. Teo Sanchez led the team in 17th, Nadia Moser broke through in 19th, Adam Runnalls was 21st, and Megan Bankes 26th for Canada.
Sean Doherty reached the podium in his first race of 2016 IBU Junior World Championships, placing third in the 15 k individual. Earlier on Thursday, another U.S. biathlete Maddie Phaneuf finished fifth in the women's 12.5 k individual. "It’s a prefect day," stated US Biathlon's Chief of Sport Bernd Eisenbichler.
Two Canadian men, Teo Sanchez and Adam Runnalls, and one woman, Megan Bankes, notched career-best top 20's on the first day of IBU Youth World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania.
Anchorage-area high-school ski coaches agreed to ban the use of fluorinated waxes in non-championship races this season, citing health, cost and time saved as the primary reasons.
Julia Kern, Clare Egan, Emma Lunder, and Macx Davies talk about adjusting to their first, second, and third seasons on American and Canadian national teams for cross-country skiing and biathlon.
After nearly nine years with the Green Mountain Valley School nordic team, Justin Beckwith decided to leave his post as head coach and program director in August and has been aiding in the transition with coach Katrina Howe and new director Garrott Kuzzy.
Henrik Gustafsson, a psychology consultant to the Swedish Olympic Committee and its cross-country skiers, published new research showing that junior athletes who were perfectionists were at greater risk of burnout. The worst risk came when parents emphasized winning over having fun, feeding into these perfectionist tendencies.
“You will struggle, you will fall … You will feel all of the work is for nothing, but it will always turn out in the end,” Jacobsen recently told a group of 135 juniors at the International Junior Camp in Sjusjøen, Norway. One of the athletes at camp, Hailey Swirbul recounts the Norwegian National Team member's message, with an emphasis on happiness and hard work.