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Soldier Hollow

For fans of North American skiing, some of the last races of U23 and Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, proved beyond captivating, surpassing most expectations and previous results. But for the U.S. junior women’s relay, a group of four that had set a goal two years ago at a U.S. development training camp, the podium was exactly where they had envisioned themselves. Relay bronze Hailey Swirbul, Julia Kern, Hannah Halvorsen, and...

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this past week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2017 USANA Nordic Junior World Championships and U23 Cross Country World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 19-year-old Bill Harmeyer, of the University of Vermont, who represented the U.S. at his first Junior Worlds. To start the week, Harmeyer...

Ogden Claims Bronze, First U.S. Individual Medal at Junior Worlds

Almost exactly two years. That’s how long 19-year-old Katharine Ogden recalled her longing for a medal at Junior World Championships, but she can trace her inspiration back to much earlier as a kid growing up in southern Vermont. Her father, a ski coach,  third in the World Cup classic sprint in PyeongChang, South Korea. That got Ogden excited for the day, and she went on to navigate her usual pre-race nerves, which were somewhat amplified...

Earlier this week, Gareth Williams, 19 of Kelowna, British Columbia, had no idea what to expect in his first Junior Worlds Championships race. Was top 20 realistic? He’d soon find out. Williams, of the Telemark Race Team, which, he explained will soon be known as the Okanagan Racers, raced to 20th to lead Canada in the told the U.S. Ski Team in a post-race interview. “When I did the first race in the sprint, I...

FIS Nordic Junior World Championships (Midway, Utah): 10/20 k skiathlon A Junior World Championships medal has been on Katharine Ogden’s mind for some time — two years, to be exact. “Every day in training, it’s kind of something that I think about. It’s the little thing that helps me push myself,” Ogden, a 19-year-old member of the Stratton Mountain School and U.S. Ski Team D-team, said in a post-race interview with the U.S. Ski Team on Friday....

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Paddy Caldwell.) Three years ago, American Patrick “Paddy” Caldwell made his debut at Junior World Championships, racing to classic sprint. Then, on Thursday in the men’s 15 k freestyle, he cracked the top 10 for the first time in his U23/Junior Worlds career. “I was really excited going into today’s race,” Caldwell wrote in an email on Friday morning. “15km FS is one of my...

FIS Nordic U23 World Championships (Midway, Utah): 10/15 k freestyle Paddy Caldwell, of the Stratton Mountain School and U.S. Ski Team D-team, raced to the first top 10 of his career at a U23 World Championship on Thursday, placing ninth in the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle individual start at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Caldwell started 44th (of 53) and crossed the finish in sixth before being bumped down three places to ninth. Upon being passed by the eventual...

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Katharine Ogden and Taeler McCrerey, as well as Canada’s Gareth Williams.) Katharine Ogden’s name had already been in the target race on Friday. “In the skiathalon I’m really hoping for another top 6 and maybe (hopefully) a podium.” “It’s really encouraging to know that all those U.S. Ski Team girls that are doing so well [on the World Cup] right now were in the same place that...

Two weeks after being Cole Morgan still felt like he had something to prove, goals to chase, races to qualify for. That’s where U23 World Championships came in. For Morgan, a former University of Vermont skier who graduated last spring and began a professional racing career with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) in Sun Valley, Idaho, his goal for the one race he was competing in at his first U23 Worlds was to finish in the top...

A year ago, Canada’s breakthrough at the Ski Tour Canada classic sprint in Canmore, Alberta. Beatty lives and trains in Canmore as a member of both the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) and Canadian National U25 Team. She led the NorAm (Continental Cup) standings at the end of last season, reiterating her position as freestyle sprint prologue at U.S. nationals at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Then on Tuesday, on the same 1.3-kilometer sprint course...

FIS Nordic U23 World Championships (Midway, Utah): Classic sprint [UPDATED] All four American women and three Canadians qualified for the women’s classic sprint heats on the first day of U23 World Championships on Tuesday, and in the men’s qualifier, three Americans finished in the top 30 to advance to the quarterfinals at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Kelsey Phinney led the Americans in sixth in the women’s 1.3-kilometer qualifier, clocking in 2.77 seconds off the fastest women’s...

Germany, Germany, Germany. That was the way the women’s 1.3-kilometer classic sprint started on Monday at the first day of Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, with Antonia Fräbel putting down the fastest qualifying time in 3:40.83, a full 6.15 and 8.03 seconds faster than her German teammates Coletta Rydzek and Julia Richter, who qualified in second and third, respectively. The 10th woman to qualify (out of 30), Russia’s Polina Nekrasova, was...

On the first day of 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, there was one man who appeared to be dominating the 1.5-kilometer classic sprint from top to bottom. Norway’s 19-year-old Petter Stakston, in his second Junior Worlds, started Monday off with a qualifying win, by 0.61 seconds over Finland’s Turo Sipilä, in 3:45.33 minutes. Then he won the first men’s quarterfinal of the day and proceeded to win the first semifinal as...

FIS Nordic Junior World Championships (Midway, Utah): Classic sprint [UPDATED] On the first day of Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, three U.S. women, four U.S. men and two Canadian men finished in the top 30 to qualify for the heats in the women’s and men’s classic sprints. Of those nine North Americans, three reached the semifinals: Julia Kern, Hannah Halvorsen and Bill Harmeyer, all representing the U.S. Germany’s Janosch Brugger beat out four Norwegians...

Wasting No Time, Holmes Works Hills Hard for 20 k Title

MIDWAY, Utah. — As she headed up Soldier Hollow’s infamous Hermod’s Hill for her fifth and final time, there wasn’t another skier in sight. At least none of the ones she started with. Chelsea Holmes, of Alaska Pacific University (APU), was fine with that. She never liked sprints to the finish, and on Tuesday, Holmes would have it her way. Of course, there was still the possibility that she would slip and skid to a...