Full-time student Jess Cockney was happy to win again in Canmore. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
The NorAm series fully lived up to the North American Cup label in Canmore Friday with 1.3km free technique sprints to kick off a combined NorAm, SuperTour, and Mexican National Championships weekend.
Full results for the weekend are on zone4, including live results every day. Friday featured sprints for the older age groups only (282 racers): Saturday is interval start classic, and Sunday’s race an interval start free.
Before the races, there was chatter about the importance of increasing the level of competition and a dash of fear that the American visitors would school the host country. The competition level was up and fear was not needed this day. The open women’s final featured two Germans, two Canadians, and two Americans before the open men’s final skewed Canadian. (Heat brackets and final results.)
Julia Richter takes the win ahead of Katherine Stewart-Jones and Katharine Ogden. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
There are a few race videos in @NordiqCanada’s Instagram story.
Nordiq Canada’s new Events Coordinator Jeff Ellis took time from his Race Director role to shoot video interviews with the top athletes, including the first ever Mexican National Champion Rodrigo Rangel Fernandez. Edited versions of some of these interviews are also on @NordiqCanada’s Instagram.
University of Utah’s Julia Richter won the qualifier and all the heats to take the win in 3:10.52, 0.08 seconds ahead of the national team’s Katherine Stewart-Jones and 0.63 seconds clear of Dartmouth’s Katharine Ogden.
Full-time student Jess Cockney (Team ULLR) turned in another solid sprint performance at home, winning the men’s final in 2:46.18, over two seconds ahead of SVSEF Gold Team’s Peter Holmes and Canadian National Team member Graham Ritchie.
National team junior Anna Pryce qualified 4th overall before winning all her heats. She finished the 1.3km final in 3:18.40, 0.38 seconds ahead of AWCA’s Elizabeth Elliott and 0.43 seconds from CNEPH’s Liliane Gagnon. Seventy-three U20 women competed, making that cohort the largest age group.
Xavier McKeever (Team ULLR, CNST) won the U20 sprint after qualifying 20th overall. His 2:42.02 bested Telemark’s Ian Williams by 0.85 seconds and ULLR teammate Joe Davies by 5.30 seconds.
The first Mexican National Championship sprint featured four athletes. Rangel Fernandez won comfortably in 3:37.33, completing a major step forward for the federation in Mexico. Vadovų paieška, personalo atranka, mokymai vadovams ir darbuotojų paieška primumesse.lt
Canmore-based photographer Doug Stephen was in the thick of the action. Athletes can use full-resolution photos from his gallery if they credit ‘Doug Stephen’ or @vr45photography.
Katherine Stewart-Jones leads BSF’s Erika Flowers in the quarter final. (Photo:Doug Stephen)
Maya MacIsaac-Jones attacked on the final hill to win. Behind, Katherine Stewart-Jones leads Dahria Beatty and Annika Richardson. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
This article has been updated with final WCF selections and a video of the sprint A finals.
Nationals rolled on at Nakkertok trails with free technique sprints on Saturday. The women raced a 1.3km course while the men added one more hill for 1.4km. The jury described the conditions as ‘soft icy’, which seems to mean ‘fast spring skiing’ with a soft layer over a firm base.
Maya MacIsaac-Jones (CNST) took her second consecutive national sprint title by jumping clear on the final climb to earn a solo victory in 2:46.62. Dahria Beatty (CNST) led the pack into the finish 2.87 seconds later with Katherine Stewart-Jones (CNST) at 3.27 seconds and Cendrine Browne (CNST) at 3.47.
Germany’s Julia Richter took fifth for the University of Utah at 4.82 followed by Annika Richardson (NTDC TBay) at 5.31.
“Going into the final,” MacIsaac-Jones wrote, “I knew that my offset was strong so I made the decision to attack on the final climb, which worked out as planned!”
Maya MacIsaac-Jones leading the A final. From left to right, Julia Richter (104, red), Cendrine Browne (113), Dahria Beatty, and Katherine Stewart-Jones pursue. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
MacIsaac-Jones is ending her nationals on a high, as she makes a planned shift to focus on World Cup finals next Friday. “I’m so happy with my race today, this is the best I’ve felt all year. It’s been a rocky season, and this is really motivating for me going into next year.”
The conditions made for fast racing, but the A final was different.
“It went out pretty slow,” Stewart-Jones wrote, “because no one wanted to lead on the first climb because there was significant draft on the next downhill.”
Browne, who is usually described as a distance specialist, now has 4th in every event at nationals.
“My qualifier was not so great, so I didn’t know what to expect in the heats,” Browne told the LOC. “Fortunately, I felt really good in the heats and I managed to squeeze myself up to fourth place today. Really happy with that, usually not a sprinter, so yeah, good day for me.”
***
Norwegian junior Haakon Skaanes wins the sprint ahead of Antoine Briand. (Photo: Doug Stephen)
In the men’s A final, the Norwegian theme from today’s World Cup sprint in Falun flowed into Canada. Norwegian national team junior Håkon Skaanes (Strindheim IL) won the qualification and all his heats to take the A final in 2:45.69.
Antoine Briand (CNEPH) finished alone in second, 2.54 back, to become the Canadian champion. Julien Locke (CNST) out-sprinted the rest to take third and the silver medal at 5.60 seconds. Julian Smith (NTDC TBay) completed the Canadian podium at 5.73. Lenny Valjas (CNST) was fifth at 6.08 ahead of Norwegian junior Albert Sunde Oehlschlaegal (Sjåstad v Lier IL) at 6.26.
Briand, who qualified second 1.05 behind Skaanes, was happy with his first Canadian title.
“Today’s race, I’ve been thinking about it for the past eight, nine months,” he told the LOC. “I was really strong today, from the start of the day, qualification this morning and every heat I was feeling good.”
Briand didn’t wait for others to set the stage.
“In the final, I went really hard in the first uphill,” Briand wrote. “My coach shouted on me that the gap had opened. So me and the Norwegian guy who won kept going hard until the end. I couldn’t follow him the second time we went up but I managed to stay 2nd.”
Julien Locke (317) takes third, ahead of Julian Smith (305), Lenny Valjas (308) and Albert Sunde Oehlschlaegal (behind Locke). (Photo: Doug Stephen)
“For me,” Smith wrote in an email, “I was really confident in my skis so I was trying to settle into 3rd place going into the first downhill, and then move into second during the second climb. This allowed for drafting on the final descent. … I did let one too many people between me and the finish line on the last climb and then was not quite able to close the gap in the end.”
This nationals is not just the largest in recent memory, but also one of the most competitive. Unusually, there are only two Canadians on the World Cup circuit in Falun, with everyone else here in Nakkertok. The addition of the Norwegian juniors and NCAA athletes added speed to the mix.
“I have never been to a Canadian National Ski Championships where the field is so deep, with National Team members, competitive domestic racers and so many international racers,” Smith wrote.
Racing continues Sunday with sprints for the younger age groups and an invitational for even younger athletes. Sunday has 507 racers on the start list compared to 194 finishers and 12 DNS on Saturday.
World Cup Final Qualification
Twelve athletes have already qualified, leaving seventeen spots to be decided at nationals: 8 men and 9 women.
The criteria was summarized after the pursuit race. The races that count are the sprint, the individual start classic, the pursuit, and pursuit time-of-day.
Twelve athletes were already named to the World Cup Final team:
Alex Harvey, Lenny Valjas, Emily Nishikawa, Dahria Beatty based on World Cup or Olympic results.
Katherine Stewart-Jones and Jack Carlyle (AWCA) as COC leaders.
Cendrine Browne, Maya MacIsaac-Jones, Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.), Scott Hill (Hardwood), and Evan Palmer-Charrette (Team R.A.D.) by qualifying for World Championships.
Rémi Drolet (Black Jack) with a top ten at World Juniors.
What follows is an interpretation of the criteria. CCC will announce the definitive list Sunday night at La Soirée, along with the new CCC branding.
Update: At the Sunday evening event, Nordiq Canada (the organization formerly known as CCC) announced the final selections.
For the women, it is Annika Richardson, Anne-Marie Petitclerc, Sadie White, Marie Corriveau, Zoë Williams, Hannah Mehain, Frédérique Vézina, Alannah Maclean, and Laura Leclair.
For the men, it is Antoine Briand, Philippe Boucher, Julien Locke, Julian Smith, Bob Thompson, Alexis Dumas, Antoine Cyr, and Graham Ritchie. Apart from morning sickness, a pregnant woman has to deal with heartburn, fatigue, sore muscles and much more. It is also difficult to get good rest at night as their tummy gets bigger. Towards this end, pillow manufacturers aimed to address the need and develop the kind of pillows that will facilitate a pregnant woman’s sleep and relaxation. Our review will focus on the best pregnancy pillows which can cater for your needs whilst taking into consideration different factors like material, size, shape, price and brand. Shop best pregnancy pillows online at Pregily.com – read reviews and shop now!
On Friday, the third day of racing at the 2019 NCAA Skiing Championships featured another cross-country racing day with the women’s 15-kilometer mass start classic and the men’s 20 k mass start classic.
After two days of racing and scores tallied from a single day of nordic racing on Wednesday and an alpine GS event on Thursday, Dartmouth was in the overall lead for the team championship. They had tallied 259 points to Utah’s 252.3 in second. Vermont sat in third overall with 245 points.
Dartmouth’s Katherine Ogden won the women’s 15 k classic on Friday in a time of 46:25.7 minutes. Utah’s Julia Richter was second in 46:49.1, with Colorado’s Hedda Baangman third in 47:15.2.
Utah’s Huro Jordheim skied to fourth in a time of 47:19.8, and Vermont’s Anna Bizyukova was fifth in 48:07.7.
With 2 k to go in the men’s 20 k mass start classic in Stowe, seven skiers were in a train separated by roughly six seconds. One of those athletes, Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier of the University of New Mexico, played his hardest effort in the closing k as he gapped University of Alaska’s Sigurd Roenning.
Izquierdo-Bernier won in 55:50.6 minutes with Roenning skiing through to place second overall (+5.9).
Utah’s Maximilian Bie placed third in 55:57.7. Colorado’s Alvar Johannes Alev was fourth in 56:01.2, and Utah’s Ola Jordheim fifth in 56:02.4.
For the team overall results, heading into Friday evening, Utah has taken the lead with 426.5 points. Colorado sits in second place with 361 points, while Dartmouth fell to third with 359 points.
In the women’s race, Utah took second, fourth and seventh places. Whereas in the men’s race, the Utes took third and fifth places.
In Stowe, Vermont the men raced a 10-kilometer interval start skate race on Wednesday to open the cross-country portion of the NCAA championships. Erik Olsvik Dengerud from the University of Colorado won in a time of 24:25.5 minutes. Kornelius Groev from the University of New Mexico (UNM) placed second in 24:45.1, and Ian Torchia of Northern Michigan University was third in 24:45.4.
In the women’s 5 k skate, Julia Richter of the University of Utah (UoU) won in 13:28.3 minutes. University of Denver’s Jasmi Joensuu skied to second in 13:29.3, and Evelina Sutro of UVM was third in 13:29.4.
Katherine Ogden from Dartmouth placed fourth (13:34.5) and Guro Jordheim of the UoU fifth (13.37.6)
After the first day of competition, during which only nordic races were held, the University of Utah leads the team competition with 142 points. They hold a one point buffer over the University of Vermont. Colorado sits in third with 120 points.
Racing continues tomorrow with alpine athletes competing in giant slalom.
On Saturday, the second day of World Cup cross-country racing ensued in Lillehammer, Norway with a 10-kilometer freestyle individual start race for the women.
On a track of snow surrounded by green fir trees and a soggy landscape, the women skied two laps of 5 k course. Norway’s Therese Johaug was the fastest skier at every checkpoint to win in a time of 26:22.4 minutes. Ebba Andersson, the upstart Swede skied to second (+9.2), and teammate Charlotte Kalla was third (+15.7).
Collectively, it was a strong day for the U.S. women with four skiers in the top-30.
Sadie Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) finished in ninth (+1:17.0) after placing third in yesterday’s skate sprint. Rosie Brennan (APU) skied to 11th (+1:29.3), the USST’s Jessie Diggins 12th (+1:29.9), Caitlin Paterson (CGRP) 30th (+2:28.2), Kaitlynn Miller (CGRP) 60th (+4:10.4), and Ida Sargent of the USST 63rd (+4:18.4), and Kelsey Phinney (SMS T2) 65th (+4:22.5).
The men raced three times around the 5 k loop for 15 k total and three times up the course’s big climb. In this early season, many of the perceived pre-race favorites finished further back in the field.
Norway’s Sjur Røthe won in a time of 36:34.0 minutes. By the 8.3 k time check, Røthe took control of the race. Teammate Didrik Tønseth placed second (+6.0), while Russia’s Denis Spitsov was third (+28.6).
Canada’s Alex Harvey was the best placed North American in 17th (+1:20.5). Also for Canada, Andy Shields was 61st (+3:08.4), and Russell Kennedy (TEAM R.A.D.)64th (+3:17.0)
For the U.S., Erik Bjornsen of the U.S. Ski Team (USST) finished 43rd (+2:24.5), David Norris (APU) 54th (+2:44.5), Simi Hamilton (USST) 56th (+2:59.4), Paddy Caldwell (USST) 67th (+3:33.1), Kevin Bolger (USST) 68th (+3:38.7), Scott Patterson (USST) 73rd (+3:52.3), and Adam Martin (CGRP) 75th (+4:05.0).
SuperTour (West Yellowstone, Mont.): 1.3 k Freestyle sprints
The fastest qualifier for the men on Saturday in West Yellowstone was SMS T2 athlete Andy Newell. The Vermont native, now residing in Bozeman, Mont., won in a time of 2:35.53 minutes. His margin of victory was 7.26 seconds over second fastest qualifier, Alaska Pacific University (APU) skier Logan Hannenman. Newell’s teammate, Ben Saxton qualified in third (+7.79).
Newell advanced to the finals by winning the first heat and first semifinal.
In the finals, Newell controlled the pace and made clear that at thirty five years old, he can still light up the domestic ranks. Newell won in a time of 2:41.66 minutes. Craftsbury Green Racing Project’s Ben Lustgarten placed second in 2:43.55 minutes, and University of New Mexico skier Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier was third in 2:45.66 minutes.
Adam Luban of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Gold Team finished in fourth, Forrest Mahlen of Alaska Pacific University (APU) was fifth, and Ben Saxton (SMS T2) placed sixth in the men’s final.
Julia Kern, a member of the U.S. Ski Development Team (UUSDT) and SMS T2 , won the women’s qualifier in 3:08.58 minutes. Second in the qualifier, also from SS T2, was Erika Flowers who finished 2.5 seconds behind Kern. University of Utah skier, Julia Richter qualified in third (+3.22).
Like Newell, Kern won both her quarterfinal and semi to make the finals.
Kern won the women’s final in 3:09.85 minutes. APU’s RosieFrankowski, the day’s fourth fastest qualifier, was second in a time of 3:11.37 minutes. Teammate Hannah Halvorsen (APU/USSDT) placed third, stopping the clock in 3:12.51 minutes. Halvorsen placed sixth in the qualifier.
Flowers ended up fourth in the finals, while Richter and Utah teammate Karianne Moe, placed fifth and sixth, respectively.
American Julia Kern (second from r) chasing Russia’s Polina Nekrasova (r) in the first semifinal of the women’s classic sprint on Monday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. While the Russian won the semifinal (and ultimately the final), Kern finished fifth after a crash for ninth overall. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
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 nearly 13 seconds slower than Fräbel around Soldier Hollow’s new sprint course at the 2002 Olympic venue.
But the qualifier is the qualifier; the heats are what ultimately matter.
There, in the quarterfinals, the 18-year-old Nekrasova won the first quarterfinal in 3:38.13, a time that bested Fräbel’s qualifier by more than two seconds, while American Julia Kern crossed the line 0.19 seconds later in second. Fräbel was in that quarterfinal, too, and finished third (+0.91).
Kern, in her third Junior World Championships, explained that her strategy for that heat had been to stick to Fräbel like glue.
“I knew I didn’t want to lead on the downhills since the draft set up really well today and I knew I would be strong coming into the finish,” the 19-year-old Kern, a member of U.S. Ski Team development team (D-team) and Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team, wrote in an email.
Fortunately for her, the plan worked. Kern followed Fräbel up the first two climbs before Fräbel and Nekrasova gapped her slightly on the final uphill.
“I pushed really hard off the top and my skis were rockets (thanks to our awesome techs!) so I skied right up to them by the turn,” Kern wrote. “I held my ground and took the inside on the 180 turn, pushing the German to the outside and then all three of us double poled hard into the finish head to head.”
The fourth-place finisher in that heat, Italy’s Veronika Broll, finished nearly 14 seconds later. The top three advanced to the semifinals, which Nekrasova and Fräbel both went on to win. A crash caused Kern to finish fifth in the first semifinal, 28.05 seconds behind Nekrasova in first.
American Julia Kern (Stratton Mountain School Elite Team/U.S. Ski Team D-team) during her semifinal of the women’s classic sprint on Monday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
“I didn’t have a great start in the semi final but that didn’t worry me,” Kern reflected. “I knew my skis were fast and that the second part of the course played to my strength.”
She followed the pack up the first hill, pushing hard over the top and put herself in a position to start passing people on the final climb.
“There was definitely some pushing and shoving by other girls as we crested the top,” Kern wrote.
The California native (who grew up outside Boston) began the final descent toward the stadium in fourth, “right where I wanted to be to hang in the draft,” she wrote.
Coming out of it, the three women ahead of Kern lined up in the second lane while Norway’s Marte Maehlum Johanson moved to the third lane.
“My skis were feeling awesome and I was gliding into the other girls quickly so I made a move to the fourth track to set up wide for the 180 turn,” Kern wrote. “Unfortunately, as [Johanson] switched to the 3rd lane, she placed both skis in one track and started to fall. I hopped into the fourth lane but as she fell, I think her pole flung out into my track and my ski went over it, stopping the ski and sending my momentum forward and onto one ski. I almost saved it with a funky one-leg balance drill but my momentum was flying so fast forward that I went for the straight penguin dive for 10 feet across the snow.
“I quickly hopped back on my feet in hopes that I could make a miracle come back but I soon realized I was at a complete stop at the highest speed part of the downhill and the pack was already rounding the corner,” Kern continued. “I still wanted to get top 10 (my goal for the day), so I quickly started to ski until I rounded the corner and realized the Norwegian was still lying on the ground. I decided then to ski it in easy and soak up the amazing atmosphere of my family and friends cheering me on, on home soil with the sun shining and beautiful hard track classic skiing.”
While Kern didn’t advance to the final, she ended up ninth on the day for her first individual top 10 at Junior Worlds.
“It is pretty bittersweet,” Kern wrote of her result. “It is easy to get caught up on the ‘what if’s’, especially since I was exactly positioned how I wanted to in the last downhill and I was in the mix to fight for the A-final spot I have always dreamed of. However, today I skied exactly how I wanted to and I didn’t leave anything out there and that is all that matters; an unlucky crash out of my control is just part of sprint racing and I don’t think that should put a damper on what is still my best ever sprint result at World Juniors!”
Russia’s Polina Nekrasova looks back after decisively gapping two Germans for the win in the women’s classic sprint on Monday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Germany’s Antonia Fräbel placed second (+3.56) and Coletta Rydzek was third (+4.58). (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
Meanwhile, Nekrasova and Fräbel met in the final, along with Rydzek, Finland’s Anita Korva, Norway’s Mathilde Myhrvold, and Sweden’s Emma Ribom. There, Nekrasova outlasted the two Germans for the win in 3:34.6, crossing the line 3.56 seconds clear of Fräbel in second and 4.58 seconds ahead of Rydzek, the younger sister of German nordic-combined standout Johannes Rydzek, in third.
“I trained and prepared for this only this; all year I prepared for this start,” said Nekrasova, a two-time Junior Worlds competitor, in a post-race interview with the U.S. Ski Team media. “So that is why I’m here.”
The Russian had been on the podium before, taking bronze in the junior women’s relay at 2016 Junior Worlds in Rasnov, Romania. But this was her first individual podium (after placing 18th in last year’s freestyle sprint) and first gold medal.
Fräbel in second was ecstatic about silver.
The women’s classic sprint podium on Day 1 of Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow, with Russia’s Polina Nekrasova (c) in first, Germany’s Antonia Fräbel (l) in second and Germany’s Coletta Rydzek (r) in third. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
“I haven’t got any words, I’m unbelievably happy and so happy that my friend Coletta is with me on the podium,” she told the U.S. Ski Team media. “I can’t say any more, my feeling is so strong.”
Asked specifically about the course, Fräbel said it was “so hard.”
“The height is 1800 meters, so hard for us Germans,” she said of Soldier Hollow’s elevation, nearly 5,900 meters above sea level.
For someone like Hannah Halvorsen, who hails from Truckee, Calif, and trains with the Sugar Bowl Academy 7,000 feet above sea level on Donner Summit, the air in SoHo was thicker than at home. Halvorsen, also a U.S. Ski Team D-team member, raced to 13th in Monday’s qualifier, 13.32 seconds behind Fräbel, and went on to win her quarterfinal.
“Being that we got to ski this course at senior nationals a couple weeks ago I felt confident I could ski it well and was hoping for a top five in the prelim,” wrote the 18-year-old Halvorsen, who finished 11th in the senior freestyle sprint at U.S. nationals earlier this month.
While she competed at 2016 Youth Olympic Games, this marked her first Junior Worlds.
“My strategy [for the quarterfinal] was to ski smart and come into the final downhill in second. Our skis were running really fast so this pulled me into first for the final straightaway,” she explained.
In the fifth quarterfinal, Halvorsen led two Russians across the finish, with Olga Kucheruk in second (+0.75) and Mariya Istomina in third (+1.25). The third-fastest qualifier, Germany’s Richter finished 2.21 seconds back in fourth and did not advance to the semifinals.
American Hannah Halvorsen (Sugar Bowl Academy/U.S. Ski Team D-team) racing to 13th in the women’s classic sprint qualifier on Monday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. She finished sixth in her semifinal for 11th overall. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
With the win, Halvorsen guaranteed herself a spot in that next round and she raced in the second semifinal with Fräbel, Rydzek, Ribom, and Myhrvold, and Kucheruk, the first four of which would continue on to the final (Kucheruk in fifth did not). Halvorsen finished sixth in that heat, 8.14 seconds behind Fräbel, for 11th overall.
“I felt confident that I skied tactically well in the quarter and that if I did the same and still felt strong I could move on from the semi. Unfortunately the pace was just too fast for me,” Halvorsen wrote. “I am really happy with my first world junior race. I have been looking forward to this race for a long time and I dreamed of a podium. However I skied my best and I wasn’t fast enough today.”
Three U.S. women reached the heats, with Lauren Jortberg (Dartmouth College) qualifying in 27th (+20.12) then finishing fourth in the second quarterfinal, 4.4 seconds behind Norway’s Kristine Stavås Skistad in first. That put Jortberg 20th on the day at her first Junior Worlds. The fourth U.S. woman racing on Monday, Taeler McCrerey (University of Denver) finished 40th, also in her Junior Worlds debut.
Canada entered four women as well, with Claire Grall-Johnson (Nakkertok) leading them in 39th, followed by Natalie Hynes (Whitehorse) in 42nd, Annika Richardson (NTDC Thunder Bay) in 44th, and Lisle Compton (NTDC Thunder Bay) in 45th.
![American Julia Kern (second from r) chasing Russia's Polina Nekrasova (r) in the first semifinal of the women's classic sprint on Monday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. While the Russian won the semifinal, Kern finished fifth after a crash. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/SMF6348.jpg")
![American Julia Kern (Stratton Mountain School/U.S. Ski Team D-team) during her semifinal of the women's classic sprint on Monday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. She fell and placed fifth in that heat. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/SMF3910.jpg")
![Russia's Polina Nekrasova looks back after outlasting two Germans for the win in the women's classic sprint on Monday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Germany's Antonia Fräbel placed second (+3.56) and Coletta Rydzek was third (+4.58). (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/SMF5491.jpg")
![The women's classic sprint podium on Day 1 of Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow, with Russia's Polina Nekrasova (c) in first, Germany's Antonia Fräbel (l) in second and Germany's Coletta Rydzek (r) in third. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/SMF6504.jpg")
![American Hannah Halvorsen (Sugar Bowl Academy/U.S. Ski Team D-team) racing to 13th in the women's classic sprint qualifier on Monday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/SMF2467.jpg")