Juniors

These trips again received a notable number of well-qualified coaching applicants, indicating a high level of enthusiasm for the development of US skiing. From the perspective of the US Ski Team, these trips are an integral component of the coaching development pipeline, and exist as a pivotal education piece for all elite-level coaches. Listed below are the current available details for each trip. World Junior / U23 World Championships Location: Wisla, Poland Airport: Krakow, Poland...

One of the things that keeps me coming back even after skiing kicks me in the ass is the amazing people involved in the sport. I simply can’t stay away from them. Maybe I am slightly biased in my opinion, but I think that a lot of folks would agree that skiers are the most supportive, fun (and also the best looking) group of people you’ll find anywhere. I’ve seen evidence of this across the...

Aerial view of Kincaid Park (looking south). The stadium is in the middle/left portion of photo. The new access bridge to the stadium. Athletes will use this to access the start of all races. The new and improved Elliott's Climb hill (about 1 km out of the start of distance races).

Karoline Bjerkeli Grœvdal is winning junior Norway cup races in the winter and crushing records on the track in the summer, but the 16-year old is waiting to choose one sport.

In its meeting in Beijing last week, the IOC Executive Board unanimously welcomed the idea of establishing Youth Olympic Games. The idea has been conceived by IOC President Rogge to address the decline in the relevance of sport amongst the younger generation. The concept will be presented for final approval by the IOC Session in Guatemala City in July in order for a debut of the summer edition to take place in 2010 with the...

We recently received this email from Pete Phillips, Head Nordic Coach at Burke Mountain Academy… March 30: Sun Valley and Burke are in Sweden for two weeks. We watched the finals of the world cup in Falun, and are racing now in the Vattenfall Cup.

March 18, 2007 (Rangeley, ME): In the midst of a late-season snowstorm, the best high school skiers in the East competed at the Rangeley Lakes XC Ski Center this weekend, racing state against state for the overall title of TD Banknorth Eastern High School Nordic Champion. Teams from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York raced 24 of their best girls and 24 of their best boys, making this one of the most competitive...

The relays concluded the World junior championship on Sunday. Norway won the girls race ahead of Sweden and Finland. Sweden won the boys relay ahead of Russia and Austria. Team USA was 9th in both relays. Canada was 15th and 13th. Girl’s 4 x 3.3 kilometer mixed relay: 1. Norway 34.09 2. Sweden 34.12 3. Finland 34.56 4. Italy 35.01 5. Switzerland 35.01 Other: 9. USA 35.37 15. Canada 36.34 Complete results including individual leg...

Ioulia Tchekaleva of Russia won the women’s 15 kilometer pursuit at the U-23 Worlds in Italy on Saturday. Caroline Hugue of France was second, 7 seconds out. Ivana Janeckova (CZE) captured the bronze, 8 seconds from silver. The top North American was Tazlina Mannix, USA in 9th place. Other North Americans: Morgan Arritola, USA 23, Amanda Ammar, Canada 29, Lindsey Williams, USA 35, Morgan Smyth, USA 36, Periane Jones, Canada 40. Complete women’s results at...

**Mark Nadell was at Soldier Hollow coaching for Far West Nordic, and took hundreds of great photos of a variety of skiers from all different teams. Because of the lack of an official photographer, he is planning to sell prints of his photos via an online photo ordering site, with a percentage of the proceeds going to benefit the Far West Nordic Junior Program. The original intention was not to publish these photos, or to...

**NOTE: Stay tuned for a BIG photo gallery of even more JO's pictures tomorrow! Another JO’s have come and gone. Last week (Mar 5-10) at Soldier Hollow, the nation’s best junior skiers gathered for competition at the 2002 Olympic ski venue. There were four races over 7 days. Multiple champions were crowned, racers gave it their best, and some of the fastest junior skiers were showcased in fine fashion ……right in time, as the snow...

Charlotte Kalla of Sweden claimed her second gold at the 2007 World Juniors in Italy by winning the girl’s 10 kilometer pursuit on Friday. Kalla actually didn’t just win, she crushed the competition! The boys’ 20-kilometer was won by Eirik Kurland Olsen of Norway, 1.2 seconds ahead of Ondrei Horyna (CZE). Sjur Roethe of Norway was third while Alex Harvey of Canada was fourth and barely missed his second podium at these Worlds. Frederic Touchette...

Swiss skiers claimed the gold in both the men’s and women’s races at the U-23 Worlds in Italy on Thursday. Tazlina Mannix, USA was 14. Silvana Bucher of Switzerland won the women’s 10 kilometer individual start freestyle race at the U-23 Worlds on Thursday. She was 19 seconds ahead of the silver medalist Sofia Blechur of Sweden. Marina Piller of Italy was third. Top North American was Tazlina Mannix (USA) in 14th place. Amanda Ammar,...

Alex Harvey of Canada was the top North American in the boys 10 k individual start freestyle race at junior Worlds on Wednesday with a great 3rd place finish. It has been reported that this is Canada's first medal in a men's event at the World Junior Championships, though FasterSkier.com has not been able to confirm that. The Boys 10 kilometer freestyle race was won by Martti Jylhae of Finland. Alexey Poltaranin of Kazakhstan was...

Photos from the Under 23 World Championships in Tariviso, Italy. These photos are from Tuesday's sprint race, where Laura Valaas earned a silver medal. Photos submitted by Andrew Gerlach, Endurance Enterprises.

In the end it was skate skis and a gold medal for Astrid Jacobsen of Norway at the Junior World Championships in Tarvisio. She tried it only once previously in an official race. It was in the prolog at Beitostolen in the Norwegian season opener this past fall that Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen raced on skateskis and double poled the entire classic sprint course. She easily advanced from the prolog, but then switched to classic skis...

Laura Valaas finished second today in the classic sprint event at the Under 23 World Championships in Tarvisio, Italy. The race was won by Alexa Prochazkova of Russia, and Piret Pormeister of Estonia was third. Morgan Smyth and Lindsay Williams, fresh off their top three finishes at NCAA Championsips in New Hampshire on Wednesday and Friday, finished 8th and 13th respectively. Perianne Jones of Canada was 15th and Amanda Ammar was 35th to round out...

Rosie Brennan of Park City, Utah was the top North American in the girl’s classic sprint race at junior Worlds in Tarvisio, Italy on Monday with an encouraging 10. place. Alex Harvey, Canada was the top North American in the boy’s race in 16. place. The girl’s race was won by Astrid Jacobsen of Norway. Charlotte Kalla of Sweden was second and Denise Herman of Germany was third. Other North Americans: Kate Brennan, Canada 20....

2007 Junior Nationals Relay race photos. Photos by Rob Whitney J2 J2 J1 J1/OJ J1/OJ J1/OJ J2 J1 OJ