February 22, 2016
The World Junior/U23 Championship sprints got underway today and temperatures reached the double digits for the competitions. Snow conditions were described as "greasy", fast and dirty as the Canadians hit the course in the qualifier.
On the Women's U23 side Jenn Jackson made the knockout rounds after qualifying 25th. Alannah MacLean tied for 31st, 1 place and a 10th of a second from reaching the knockout rounds. Sophie Carrier-Laforte finished 40th and Kendra Murray was 47th. Jenn wasn't able to make progress in the quarters, finishing 6th, a bit over 2 seconds behind the heat winner.
The race was won by Sweden's Jonna Sundling.
Women's U23 Results
For the U23 Men it was Julien Locke (Black Jack Cross Country Ski Club, Rossland) that had the top result, qualifying 29th. Scott Hill was 39th, Angus Foster (bothered by a broken pole) 50th and Jack Carlyle 56th. Julien had a strong quarterfinal, finishing 3rd, less than a second from the lead and just behind the eventual 7th place finisher, Maki of Finland. Julien's result moved him to 16th in the final results.
Some familiar names from World Cup cup racing were at the top of the both sets of results and France's Lucas Chanavat was the winner, with 3 French and 2 Swedish skiers in the final.
Men’s U23 Results
In the Men's Junior sprint there were no Canadian qualifiers. Antoine Blais had the top result in 41st, with Will Dumas 44th, Philippe Boucher 52nd and Joey Foster 63rd.
In the Woman's Junior qualifier Marie Corriveau moved on to the quarters, with a 29th place finish. The relatively young team finished with Sadie White in 44th, Hannah Mehain (Sovereign Lake Nordic Club, Vernon) in 47th and Natalie Hynes in 70th. Marie pushed hard in the quarter-final but didn't advance, finishing in 6th. Her result moved her up to 25th overall.
The women's race was won by Amalie Haakonsen Ous of Norway.
Junior Results
Norway also won the men's race with Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo narrowly beating young South Korean sensation Magnus Kim, a double gold medallist at the recent Youth Olympic Games.
Check back later for more updates.
Up next tomorrow, classic distance races.