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...
Malles, Val Venosta, ITA—Alex Harvey added another chapter in the Canadian cross-country skiing history books after storming to a silver medal finish at the Nordic Junior World Championships on Monday in Malles, Val Venosta, Italy. Last year the teenager from St-Ferreol les Neiges, Que. became the second Canadian ever to win a medal at the most prestigious event for junior cross-country skiing when he captured a bronze in the 10-kilometre skate race. Today, he becomes...
Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, February 23. Laura Spector (Lenox, MA) finished 6h in the Junior 10K Pursuit today, at the European Biathlon Championships. Spector, in her final major competition as a junior competitor, moved from 12th position at the start to finish sixth, with five penalties, 3:16.4 behind Marine Bolliet of France. Bolliet, winning in 37:34.5, had three penalties, but was unchallenged throughout the competition. Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic finished second,...
Alex Harvey (CAN) finished 4th in the men's freestyle sprint at the World Junior Championships in Malles, Italy. Harvey qualified in 20th and skied his way through the heats. Calle Halfvarsson (SWE) won his first Junior World Championship title ahead of teammate Jesper Modin. Raul Shakirzianov (RUS) was third. Canada had all four starters qualify for the heats with Frederick Touchette finishing 18th, Julien Nury 25th, and Len Valjas 28th. “We have had a great...
Upon the conclusion of Intermountain's JNs qualifying races in McCall this past weekend, the final points were tallied and this year's Intermountain Junior National team was named. So, junior racers, here's your competition [Race Day AND Dance Day] from Intermountain this year… J1/OJ Girls: Mali Noyes [Pre-Qualifier], Sun Valley SEF Kate Dolan [Pre-Qualifier], Bozeman SF Ase Carlson [Pre-Qualifier], Bozeman SF Monica Markvardsen [Pre-Qualifier], Black Jack Ski Club Elizabeth Guiney, Park City's NSF Erika Flowers, Bozeman...
USSA Club Trophy: This year there will be a new award will be given to the best club teams at the Junior Olympics. The three individual races will be scored using the World Cup scoring system. A club's team score for a given event is calculated by adding all the points earned in each age class. There is no limit to the number of club members that may be scored. A separate trophy will be...
This past weekend McCall, ID hosted the final weekend of races in Intermountain’s JNQ series. Bear Basin Nordic Trails, a new 30km network of trails just outside of McCall, was the site for Saturday’s 5/10/15km freestyle races and Sunday’s 5km classic races. With 170 inches of snow falling so far this winter in McCall, the banks were huge and the skiing was perfect. The sun was out both days and all the kids were really...
You may not see them immediately. We’re all tired, and boy, is the jet lag hard… but twelve athletes have just returned to the US after nearly two weeks of tasting international ski racing on the Scando Trip. For most, it was their first time racing abroad; for many, it was also their first time traveling abroad. Besides the predictable challenges of jet lag, occasional language barriers and a new diet (pickles and mini hot...
OTEPAEAE, Estonia. U.S. cross country skiers produced eight top-15 performances over three days at the J1 Scandinavian Championships, competing against traditional Nordic powers Norway, Sweden and Finland as well as Estonia and Latvia. The two U.S. women's relay teams finished in the top six. The championships bring together top juniors for a sprint, a distance race and a relay. Fifteen U.S. athletes were named for the trip which is integral in building international experience for...
Ruhpolding, Germany, January 29. Leif Nordgren (Marine-on-St. Croix MN), just 48 hours from a Bronze Medal in the Pursuit competition on Sunday, today finished 10th in the 12.5K Youth Individual competition, while Russell Currier (Stockholm, ME) finished 15th in the Junior 15k Individual at the Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championships here. Ethan Dreissigacker (Morrisville, VT) with just one penalty in the four-stage competition joined Nordgren in the top 20 finishers. Nordgren with three penalties, finished 3:01.6...
Ruhpolding, Germany, January 26. Leif Nordgren (Marine-on-St. Croix MN) led the US Biathlon Team here today with sixth place in the Youth 7.5K Sprint at the Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championships. Nordgren, who had one penalty in the prone stage, finished a mere 24 seconds behind the winner, Vladimir Alenishenko of Belarus, who won in 22:53.8. The sixth place is an outstanding achievement, based on how the prone stage went for Nordgren. He had trouble bolting...
Ruhpolding, Germany, January 27. Leif Nordgren (Marine-on-St. Croix MN), in fourth place just 100 meters from the finish, burst past Lukas Hofer of Italy in the final 10 meters to win the Bronze Medal in the Youth 10K Pursuit competition today at the Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championships. The Bronze Medal is the first medal won by the US at these Championships since 2002, when the US won two medals in the Junior Women’s category, the...
Sprinting has always been considered a “young person’s†sport in the annals of cross country ski racing, as those youngsters with fast-twitch muscles and quick technique turnover tend to be the ones most capable of posting the fastest times around the short, 1 kilometer sprint course. In the case of the women’s race at Auburn Ski Club on Sunday, this axiom held particularly true. A Junior Olympic Qualifier event for the Far West Nordic team...
They say “It takes a village,†and in the case of last Friday’s CNISSF SPRINTS at Surprise Stadium, it takes a village at least the size of Truckee to pull off what has become one of the premier exhibits of cross country ski sprint racing in the West. Blessed this year with “Goldilocks Conditions†(not too little snow, but not too much of it, either), plus incredible weather and conditions for sprint racing, the school-league...
We’ve said earlier this year that Nordic ski racing is definitely alive and well in the Sierra Nevada, and as if to prove that axiom in spades, a record 200 enthusiastic competitors lined up to the starting line at Tahoe Donner Cross Country for the 2008 running of the Sierra Skogsloppet, a 15 km. premier event for cross country ski racers. And along with Juniors racing in the shorter 10 and 5 kilometer events for...
The USBA was nice enough to share some great photos of this past weekends Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championship Team Trials. Enjoy! Source:
Coleraine, MN. Hilary McNamee (Fort Fairfield, ME) and Meagan Toussaint (Madawaska, ME) again swept away the competition today to win their respective categories (Youth Women and Junior Women) at the Youth/Junior World Championships Team Trials. With today's victories, the two athletes from the Maine Winter Sports Center completed a three-for-three sweep of the Trial's competitions. McNamee continued to dominate the Youth Women's category, with another significant margin of victory (1:27) over second place Addie Byrne...
Coleraine, MN, The two women form the Maine Winter Sports Center won the Youth and Junior categories. They were the only repeat winners today, as both Leif Nordgren (Marine-on—St. Croix, MN) in the Youth Men and Wynn Roberts (Battle Lake, MN) in the Junior Men were edged out of first place by small margins. With their victories today, McNamee and Toussaint, along with Mark Johnson (Grand Rapids, MN) in the Junior Men’s category have now...
Coleraine, MN. Wynn Roberts (Battle Lake, MN) left his nearest competitor over one minute behind today as he won the Junior Men’s 10K Sprint in the first day of competition at Youth/Junior World Championships Trials. Roberts, a pre-qualifier for the 2008 Youth and Junior Biathlon World Championships, next month today reconfirmed his status as the top US junior biathlete. He and second place finisher Mark Johnson (Grand Rapids, MN) each had a single prone penalty,...
On Saturday December 1st, five skiers from the Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont joined an enthusiastic crowd in a Winter Opener hosted by Montana State University and the Bohart Ranch. It was a cold and beautiful Montana day and the courses were in great shape. MSU's team uses the race as a small fund raiser, but mainly as a chance to give a good time to local young skiers. Short distance races are held and...