Tag: Laura Chamiot-Maitral

Thursday Rundown: Swirbul 3rd in Junior Worlds Skiathlon; U.S. NoCo Relay 7th (Updated)

American Hailey Swirbul (University of Alaska Anchorage) leads Norway’s Lone Johansen up a climb during the second half of the women’s 10 k skiathlon on Thursday at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

(This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Hailey Swirbul and Gus Schumacher.)

Junior World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): 10/20 k skiathlons

Hailey Swirbul is 2-for-2 when it comes to podiums at this year’s Junior World Championships; in her second-straight race this week in Goms, the 19-year-old American earned a medal in a distance race. On Thursday, it was bronze in the women’s 10-kilometer skiathlon.

The women’s 10 k skiathlon podium at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, with Sweden’s Frida Karlsson (c) in first, Norway’s Lone Johansen (l) in second, and American Hailey Swirbul (r) in third. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

Swirbul, a sophomore at the University of Alaska Anchorage, closed the gap to the leaders over the final 5 k skate portion of Thursday’s race, doing so in tough, slow conditions with heavy snowfall. She ended up third in a sprint finish with Norway’s Lone Johansen, who took second by 0.7 seconds, as the two finished 35.5 seconds and 36.2 seconds behind the winner, Sweden’s Frida Karlsson, respectively.

Karlsson won it in 32:55.7 minutes. She had been second at the transition from classic to skate halfway through the race, just behind France’s Laura Chamiot-Maitral in first. Four women came through the exchange together within 2.6 seconds of first, while Swirbul was about 15 seconds back in eighth.

“Coming into the exchange I was right where I wanted to be,” Swirbul wrote in an email to FasterSkier. “I knew that some of the girls ahead of me would not be able to sustain their pace the entire skate leg. It was important for me to remember that and not try to close the gap too quickly with the Norwegian I was skiing with.”

While Karlsson broke away over the final 5 k, Swirbul helped lead the chase, moving into second and 31 seconds back on a long, steep climb at 6.7 k.

“I won’t lie, the skate leg was tough! I think everyone was suffering out there in the fresh snow,” Swirbul wrote. “I tried to conserve energy on the gradual downhill before the big climb to use on the hill.”

On the last lap, she worked to distance herself from fourth place.

“I knew that the fourth place skier was closing in on us the last lap,” she wrote. “Going up the final hill, I had to make a move to secure a podium spot and give what I had to ski away form the fourth place girl over the second to last big climb. The last few hundred meters were so intense! I didn’t have anything left to sprint it out for second place. Gotta work on that!”

Two days ago, Swirbul placed second in the 5 k classic for her first individual medal and the best-ever finish for the U.S. at Junior Worlds.

“This means so much,” she told race organizers after taking third in Thursday’s skiathlon. “I’m so happy to represent the United States here and show how we can improve in the future and what we have in our country.”

In her email to FasterSkier, Swirbul explained that she entered Thursday’s race confident yet calm.

“After my silver medal I believed in myself more than before,” she wrote. “However, I managed to stay calm and not put high expectations on myself for the skiathlon which allowed me to race my best. I was hoping to ski smart and relaxed and not be afraid to make it hurt! In a mass start that is really all I can control.”

For much of the first leg, about 4 k, she skied with what she described as “a huge pack of girls, which was kind of stressful for me.”

“It’s harder for me to match the stride of someone almost a foot smaller than I am in a classic track, so once the group broke up I was able to find my rhythm,” Swirbul wrote. “The snow storm made the tracks super slow where they weren’t skied in, so it was a waste of energy to try to pass people outside of the skied in track. I made that mistake a few times and ended up not passing anyone, just wasting energy plowing through powder.”

But her skis felt fast in both the classic and skate legs, she noted. “The wax techs have been killing it!”

With one race left, the women’s 4 x 3.3-kilometer relay on Sunday, Swirbul wrote that she was eyeing another podium.

“I think it is fair to think that our relay team has a good shot at the podium. That would be the cherry on top :)”

Karlsson told organizers that she was focused solely on the gold on Thursday.

“It was very fun today and my body felt very good, then I was just going for the gold today,” Karlsson said. In her first Junior Worlds, she had previously placed third in the skate sprint earlier in the week.

“It means a lot,” Karlsson, 18, added. “This is a very good sign that I’m doing the right thing. I have one more year left as a junior so I’m looking forward to next year’s Junior World Championships as well.”

Also for the U.S., Kathleen O’Connell (Montana State University) placed 20th (+2:18.2), Molly Gellert was 40th (+3:59.4) and Sofia Shomento was 58th (+6:25.7).

Canada’s Natalie Hynes (University of Alaska Anchorage) placed 24th (+2:40.0), Hannah Mehain was 37th (+3:54.9), Alexandra Racine 51st(+5:16.1), and Catherine Reed-Metayer 62nd (+7:17.7).

Norway’s Harald Østberg Amundsen winning the men’s 20 k skiathlon at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

In the junior men’s 20 k skiathlon that followed, Harald Østberg Amundsen pulled out a 34.7-second victory over fellow Norwegian Jon Rolf Skamo Hope, who won the 10 k classic two days ago. Norway swept the podium with Jørgen Lippert in third, 1:00.1 minutes back, two days after Lippert placed third in the 10 k individual start.

The win was Amundsen’s first individual gold after he was on Norway’s winning 4 x 5 k relay at last year’s Junior Worlds in Utah, where he placed third in the 10 k skiathlon. On Tuesday, he was fourth in the 10 k classic.

“Unbelievable,” he said during a post-race arena interview. “I tried to keep calm on the classic part, and on the skate part just tried to keep the speed up. … I tried to go fast on the beginning and end of the uphills, and a bit controlled in the middle. I think the final was great, unbelievable.”

American Gus Schumacher (Alaska Winter Stars) raced to 15th (+2:43.6) besting his two previous top 20’s this week (19th in the freestyle sprint and 17th in the 10 k classic) at his first Junior Worlds. He skied much of the race with Ben Ogden (Stratton Mountain School), who finished 18th (+2:51.2) for his second-straight top 20 (after placing seventh in the 10 k).

“My classic skis were great today,” Schumacher wrote in an email. “The techs nailed it and I had really solid kick and good glide. I was able to run up the steepest hills and kick the buildup off right at the top and glide right with everyone. During that first 10k I think I did a good job staying relaxed and now letting myself push too hard up the big climbs. The pace in the pack wasn’t bad, definitely a little rushed at the beginning but I was able to settle in well.

“On my second half I was still just focused on not pushing too hard and staying relaxed, while also keeping the pace fast and carrying speed through the corners,” he continued. “Generally I felt pretty good, but my body was just getting tired and I was hanging in there.”

While he dropped Ogden over the last kilometer, Schumacher wasn’t able to shake Italy’s Luca Del Fabbro, who finished half a second ahead of him in 15th.

“I pushed really hard up the last hill into first [ahead of Del Fabbro] but was a little weak over the top and he pulled up alongside me and crossed in front of me on the corner then almost fell,” Schumacher recalled. “Pulled up alongside on the flat, but had to get back on the inside and just couldn’t get past.

“Overall I’m pretty happy, I think I paced well and I generally executed well,” he concluded. “I think it wasn’t my best possible, but it was definitely a well-executed race.”

Also for the U.S., Hunter Wonders (Alaska Pacific University) placed 26th (+3:56.0), and Karl Schulz finished 60th (+8:30.3).

Félix Longpré led Canada in 28th (+4:07.0), Etienne Hebert followed in 30th (+4:33.3), Antoine Cyr was 32nd (+4:45.4), and Reed Godfrey 54th (+7:18.4).

Results: Women | Men

***

The Austrian team (from left to right: Johannes Lamparter, Florian Dagn, Dominik Terzer, and Mika Vermeulen) celebrates its win in the normal hill/4 x 5 k team event on Thursday at 2018 Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Germany. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

Nordic Combined Junior World Championships (Kandersteg, Switzerland): Normal hill/4 x 5 k Team Event

In the nordic combined team event at Junior World Championships on Thursday, Austria stole the show, jumping to first then finishing the 4 x 5 k relay first by nearly 48 seconds over Germany in second.

On the 106-meter normal hill in Kandersteg, Austria’s Johannes Lamparter, Mika Vermeulen, Florian Dagn, and Dominik Terzer combined for the best jumping score of the day, 11.8 points ahead of Norway (Simen Kvarstad, Andreas Skoglund, Jens Lurås Oftebro, and Einar Lurås Oftebro) in second. Germany jumped to third with Constantin Schnurr, Julian Schmid, Tim Kopp, and Luis Lehnert another 26 points back.

That put Norway 16 seconds back for the start of the 4 x 5 k relay, and Germany 50 seconds out of first in third.

The four Americans in the event, Tucker Hoefler, Jared Shumate, Stephen Schumann, and Ben Loomis, jumped to 11th out of 13 teams, and started the relay 2:46 minutes back.

Germany celebrates its silver medal in the normal hill/4 x 5 k team event on Thursday at 2018 Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Germany. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

Austria went on to hold its lead throughout the race, crossing the finish line first in 56:33.0 for the gold. Norway held onto second first Jens Oftebro’s first leg, then slipped to second behind Germany on the second leg. Ultimately, Germany claimed second, 47.8 seconds back, and Norway was third (+1:53.2).

The field remained largely strung out, as the Czech Republic finished fourth (+2:39.7) after starting fourth, France placed fifth (+3:07.7), up from eighth at the start, and Finland finished sixth (+3:27.6), after starting ninth.

The U.S. men improved to seventh (+3:36.4) thanks to a strong first leg from Loomis, who put them in seventh with the fourth-fastest first-leg time. Schumann then skied the fastest second leg and picked off two more places to tag in fifth at the second exchange. Hoefler slipped to seventh on the third leg, and Shumate held them there with the third-fastest anchor leg.

Nordic combined has one more event at Junior Worlds: the individual normal hill/5 k on Saturday.

Results: Jumping | Final

February 1, 2018
Tuesday Rundown: Swirbul 2nd at Junior Worlds; Loomis 3rd (Updated)

The women’s 5 k classic podium at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, with American Hailey Swirbul (r) in second, Russia’s Polina Nekrasova (c) in first, and Finland’s Anita Korva (l) in third. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

(This article has been updated to reflect that American Hailey Swirbul was in second for most of Tuesday’s 5 k race, not over one minute back as previously reported based on a live timing error. It has also been updated to include comments from Americans Hailey Swirbul, Ben Loomis, Stephen Schumann, and Gus Schumacher, Canada’s Antoine Cyr, University of Alaska Anchorage nordic head coach Andrew Kastning, and U.S. Ski Team Development Coach Bryan Fish.)

Junior World Championships (Goms, Switzerland): 5/10 k classic

Hailey Swirbul became the second American cross-country skier to earn an individual medal at Junior World Championships and first to take silver (Katharine Ogden claimed bronze in last year’s skiathlon) in the women’s 5-kilometer classic individual start on Tuesday in Goms, Switzerland.

Swirbul, a 19-year-old University of Alaska Anchorage sophomore, also tallied the best American finish at a Junior/U23 World Championships since Jessie Diggins earned silver in 2014 in the freestyle sprint. It was Swirbul’s second medal the last two Junior Worlds after she teamed up with Hannah Halvorsen, Julia Kern, and Ogden to take bronze in last year’s relay.

Going into this week’s championships, Swirbul, a Colorado native, explained she was aiming for a top 10 in one of the distance races. U.S. Ski Team Development Coach Bryan Fish pointed out that she wasn’t sure she’d feel up to racing on Tuesday.

“She had been feeling under the weather so she didn’t come up and ski yesterday,” Fish said on the phone Tuesday. “It was a little bit of a shock to Hailey herself that she skied so fast because there was some contemplation of whether she would race or not.”

“I made it a goal to stay relaxed and ski the race I would ski in a lower pressure race,” Swirbul wrote in an email. “I often find that I, and others, change their good race habits when at a high pressure event, so I was hoping to pace the race evenly and not start out too fast.

“The key for interval starts for me is to only think about skiing smoothly and powerfully for the first few kilometers of the race, and I’ve been discovering that that usually leads to decent splits throughout my race,” she continued.

She ended up racing to second place on Tuesday in the second race of 2018 Junior World Championships. The 61st starter (out of 84), Swirbul skied in second for most of the race, just behind Russia’s Polina Nekrasova, according to Fish.

“She was basically tied for second and really had a strong second half of the course, and really skied solid in particular the last kilometer,” Fish said. “Always in the top five for sure, and well within striking distance [of the podium].”

The women’s 5 k classic podium at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, with American Hailey Swirbul (r) in second, Russia’s Polina Nekrasova (c) in first, and Finland’s Anita Korva (l) in third. (Photo: Bryan Fish)

She initially crossed the finish line in first place, more than a minute faster than the previous race leader. Her time remained faster than all but one of the women who started behind her — as Russia’s Polina Nekrasova (bib 71) took the win in 13:58.7 minutes, 14.4 seconds ahead of Swirbul.

Finland’s Anita Korva started 77th and finished third, 25.4 seconds out of first.

The Czech Republic’s Barbora Havlickova (bib 81) followed in fourth (+26.8), and Norway’s Kristine Stavås Skistad (bib 67) finished fifth (+31.9), and France’s Laura Chamiot-Maitra (bib 83) placed sixth (+34.9).

“… I honestly had no idea I was in the running for the podium during my race, because about 20 girls had yet to finish, so it wasn’t until the last girls came in that I knew I claimed a spot!” Swirbul wrote.

“It was a special moment when I ran down off of the course and I knew her split,” Fish said of Swirbul’s finishing time. “I knew she was sitting in second and they kept announcing and kept announcing, and I told her, ‘You will be second today,’ and it was kind of a combination facial expression of shock and elation. She really couldn’t believe it, but [I said], ‘You’ve got a big enough gap over third place and no one’s catching you.’

“It’s our best Junior Worlds result ever,” Fish added. “Last year was the first individual medal we had ever won or team medal at Junior Worlds and to follow that up with a silver is incredible.

“She was obviously on our podium relay last year, but she came in from U.S. nationals skiing well, qualified very high and she skied incredibly well today,” he explained. “Very fluid stride and did a great job shifting gears and doing a bit more running during the second half of the course.”

“The result hasn’t hit me yet,” Swirbul wrote. “It was beyond what I expected, so my brain is still catching up to the reality! I’ve been dreaming of racing how I know I could for the past 3 years or so, and this season has finally been my chance to break through. I’m so fortunate that things aligned for me on the day that really counted. I couldn’t have done it without Bryan Fish’s unwavering belief in us athletes, and my mom and dad’s support all these years, of course.”

Fish emphasized that while snow conditions have been “very, very good” and “very stable” in Goms, which received 1 1/2 meters (nearly 5 feet) of snow a week and a half ago, the waxing had been a bit challenging due to a temperature range of around -9 degrees to 5 degrees Celsius each day.

“I’m sure there were some teams on klister, some on klister covered with hard wax,” he said of Tuesday’s classic race. “Our techs did a really good job and they were clever with what they came up with when I heard what they were trying. … They’ve been right in the ballpark the last few days and I think they really dialed it in today, and it was impressive kick and glide. To get a podium you ned to have everything going right and I definitely think we had the skis in our favor.”

Halvorsen was the second-best American in 22nd on Tuesday, 1:10.1 out of first, Kathleen O’Connell finished 38th (+1:33.5) and Hannah Rudd was 59th (+2:24.1).

Canada’s Natalie Hynes placed 36th (+1:30.5), Hannah Mehain was 45th (+1:53.3) and Annika Richardson was 67th (+2:53.7). Catherine Reed-Metayer did not finish.

Hailey Swirbul (University of Alaska Anchorage) navigating a downhill while racing to second place in the women’s 5 k classic at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

Andrew Kastning, head coach of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) nordic team, stayed up late the night before Alaska time to watch three UAA skiers (Swirbul, Rudd and Hynes) race on the Junior World Championships livestream.

“Hailey has made classic technique a priority since she stepped on UAA’s campus because that’s where she had the most potential for gain,” Kastning wrote in an email on Tuesday. “She has been working hard on a more powerful and smooth stride on the uphills while getting over elbow pain when double poling. The course looked like it played well to her strengths and that strategy.

“I saw one clip of her entering the big climb and could see that she was relaxed and striding really well,” he continued. “I knew then she was going to have a really good race.”

He noticed that the course had some intimidating downhills and corners, but he knew Swirbul wouldn’t have a problem navigating them.

“Hailey has a solid alpine skiing background and I figured if anyone would be willing to straight line the descents and flatten the corners then a massive amount of time could be saved,” Kastning wrote. “Hailey must have done that because she put 47 seconds on a Russian she was tied with at the high point. I was sort wondering if I was dreaming at moments and had to refrain from yelling and screaming because I’d wake up three daughters and a wife if I did. What a night, what a day. Seawolf Nation and USA are very proud this morning.”

Ogden 7th, Cyr 12th

In the men’s 10 k classic that followed, the excitement continued for Team USA, with 17-year-old Ben Ogden, of the Stratton Mountain School, racing to seventh in his Junior World Championships debut.

The men’s 10 k classic podium at 2018 Junior World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, with Norway’s Jon Rolf Skamo Hope (c) in first, Russia’s Sergey Ardashev (l) in second and Norway’s Jørgen Lippert (r) in third. (Photo: JWSC2018.ch)

Ogden started 72nd and crossed the finish line in first, 16.6 seconds faster than previous race leader Alexander Terentev of Russia. Six later starters ultimately bumped Ogden to seventh, and Norway’s Jon Rolf Skamo Hope took the win in 24:58.8, 40.5 seconds ahead of Ogden.

Russia’s Sergey Ardashev placed second, 9 seconds back, and Norway’s Jørgen Lippert reached the podium in third (+27.9). Norway put four in the top five and Russia had two in the top six, making Ogden the first non-Norwegian or non-Russian male finisher on the day.

According to race splits, Ogden skied an extremely consistent race, clocking the eighth, ninth or 10th fastest times throughout the 10 k.

Canada’s Antoine Cyr placed 12th (+1:07.7) in the second race of his career at Junior World Championships. Two days ago, he finished 30th in the freestyle sprint. Cyr, 19, started 78th and also skied a consistent race, hanging mostly within the top 12 throughout it.

“I knew that classic 10 km was good race for me,” Cyr wrote in an email. “On a good day I was hoping for top 30 but the course was hard and I knew that if I played it smart and paced myself I would be happy with my race.”

He focused on skiing powerfully on his first lap, with big strides and strong double poling, and tried to attack the A-climb and “punchy climb towards the end of the loop” on the second and last lap.

“A top 12 for us in Canada means a lot and with a 25th place in the [skate sprint qualifier] and a 12th place today I think it makes me realize that I have my place on the world level scene,” Cyr wrote. “… This race was a good redemption after my crash in the sprint. I am really happy with the results !!”

Gus Schumacher notched his second top 20 of the week in 17th (after placing 19th in the skate sprint), finishing 1:19.1 out first first, Hunter Wonders placed 22nd (+1:39.1), and Canyon Tobin was 37th (+2:17.2) for the U.S.

In an email, Schumacher, of Alaska Winter Stars, explained he had been aiming for a top 10.

“For this race I really focused on keeping the first quarter super relaxed and then picking it up after that,” he wrote of his pacing. “During the race I felt like I raced the first lap well but somewhere on the second lap I must’ve pushed just a little too hard and gone over my threshold, because I really faltered in the middle of that one on the big sprint hill. Other than that I felt like I skied the flats and most of the gradual uphills well, especially before 7.5k.”

Overall he added that he was “fairly satisfied … but I know that I can do better and that kind of hurts me. I just didn’t feel like I had the spark that I normally have towards the end of a race like this.” Moving forward, he had similar goals for the skiathlon and was excited for the relay.

Canada’s Etienne Hebert finished 44th (+2:42.3), Ty Godfrey was 57th (+3:29.5), and Felix Longpre 58th (+3:29.7) out of 96 finishers.

“It’s really exciting when you look at our day in general,” Fish noted. “We had two young boys with 2000 birth years; there was only three boys in the top 40 that had a 2000 year of birth and we had two. … That’s just really exciting for U.S. skiing in general, that we have athleetes showing up not just to participate, but to really perform.”

Results: Women | Men

***

The men’s individual normal hill/10 k Gundersen podium at the first Day of Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Switzerland, with American Ben Loomis (r) in third, the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Pazout (c) in first, and Norway’s Einar Lurås Oftebro (l) in second. (Photo: Josh Parker)

Nordic Combined Junior World Championships (Kandersteg, Switzerland): Normal hill/10 k Gundersen

In the first competition of 2018 Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Switzerland (about 75 kilometers west of Goms), American Ben Loomis achieved the first podium of his career in his fifth Junior Worlds (counting his first in straight-up ski jumping), racing to third in the individual normal hill/10 k Gundersen on Tuesday.

Ben Loomis (USA Nordic) jumping to seventh on Tuesday at 2018 Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Switzerland. He went on to place third in the 10 k for his first Junior Worlds medal. (Photo: Josh Parker)

Loomis, a 19-year-old U.S. Nordic Combined national team member who grew up in Wisconsin, was recently selected to compete at his first Olympics next month in PyeongChang, South Korea. In an email, Loomis explained he found out just over a week ago, which motivated him to compete at a high level, but it didn’t change his plans or goals for his last Junior Worlds.

“My focus of the winter has always been the Junior World championships so my Olympic nomination has not changed my training in the last few weeks,” he wrote. “Going into this week, and for the last 2 years now my goal was always a podium finish.”

He started out Tuesday by jumping to seventh on the 106-meter “normal” hill, then started the 10 k race 38 seconds out of first.

“The hill here in Kandersteg is very new which is nice because it feels similar to other modern jumps,” Loomis explained. “I was satisfied with my competition jump but not 100% happy. There are still a few things I need to fix on the technical side of my jumping.”

The Czech Republic had the two best jumpers on the day, with Ondrej Pazout leading after the jump portion, followed by his teammate Jan Vytrval in second. Pazout started the 10 k with an 11-second head start on Vytrval and ended up holding off his challengers to secure gold, finishing first in 22:58.3. Norway’s Einar Lurås Oftebro raced from 10th after the jump to second at the finish, just 2.3 seconds behind Pazout, with the second-fastest 10 k time.

Loomis passed four skiers to finish third, 8.3 seconds out of first, with the third-fastest time. Norway’s Johannes Lamparter slipped from third to fourth overall (+16.2), and Vytrval finished fifth (+21.6).

“I knew with a good race a podium was still possible from 38 seconds back,” Loomis wrote. “The track here is really tough with technical decent which leaves good opportunity to make up time.”

Working within a group, he caught up to third place on the first of four laps and was up to second on the second lap.

American Ben Loomis (7) racing with Norway’s Einar Lurås Oftebro (l) during the 10 k Gundersen on Tuesday at 2018 Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Kandersteg, Switzerland. Loomis went on to finish third for his first Junior Worlds medal and Oftebro placed second. (Photo: Josh Parker)

“We had 5 or 6 guys in this group and on the 3rd lap I took the lead,” Loomis explained. “Towards the last hill on the 4th lap, I made a move alongside Einar Oftebro. Einar was strong on the last stretch and able to beat me as well as almost catching the leader Ondra.

“Taking a step on the podium was an excellent feeling today,” he added. “I have been working very hard, especially towards this specific race for a long time now. Accomplishing this is a huge relief and very motivating for the future.”

The U.S. had two in the top 15 with Stephen Schumann in 13th (+1:29.1). Schumann was 29th after the jump and started the 10 k 1:47 out of first, then posted the fifth-fastest course time to pick off 16 places.

“Going into today I was really just hoping to put together a solid jump and a good race and hopefully finish within the top 10 like last year,” Schumann wrote in an email. “Unfortunately I did not have the jump I was hoping for. I was about 1 meter late off the end of the take off, taking away some of the power and height that my legs otherwise would have given me. Luckily the conditions on the hill were pretty consistent today so I knew about where I would be standing after jumping going into the race.”

Given his starting position, he believed a top 15 was within reach. He ended up catching Italy’s Aaron Kostner, who started 27th, and the two worked together to catch one group after another.

“I felt pretty good but he got me on the last lap,” Schumann wrote of Kostner, who finished about 20 seconds ahead of him in 11th place. “But over all it was a pretty good race and I finished with the 5th fastest time. Behind Aaron with the 4th fastest.

“Overall I feel that had I had a little bit better jump on the hill I could have contended for a top 10 maybe top 5 but was happy with my race and my 13th place finish,” he added. “Coming across the line I was pretty sure Ben had finished in the top 5 at least, as I could see him going up the last hill as I was staring down it. But when I actually crossed the line and saw him I could tell he had gotten to the podium and I was psyched for him, went and gave him a hug and congratulated him.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, Schumann’s hoping for a medal in the 4 x 5 k team event.

“And personally I hope to finish in the top 10 in the 5km race with a better jump and another solid race,” he wrote.

Also for the U.S., Jared Shumate placed 35th (+4:06.3), up from 49th in the jump, and Tucker Hoefler was 51st (+6:37.4), up from 53rd.

Results: Jumping | Final

January 30, 2018
Caught in the Middle, Ben Loomis Holds On for YOG Silver; Halvorsen Sixth

American Ben Loomis (2) leads Germany’s Tim Kopp (1) during Tuesday’s Nordic Combined Men’s Individual Gundersen NH/5 k cross-country race at Birkebeineren Cross-Country Stadium at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer Norway. Loomis went on to place second behind Kopp. (Photo: Thomas Lovelock for YIS/IOC)

(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Hannah Halvorsen.)

Ben Loomis sounded a little subdued on the phone Tuesday. Maybe he was still absorbing his silver-medal performance at Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Lillehammer, Norway. Or it could be that he’s 17 years old.

“The only thing I can compare it to was I had a fourth-place finish in international competition this year,” Loomis, a U.S. Nordic Combined skier told FasterSkier after placing second in his first competition at YOG, the normal hill/5-kilometer Gundersen start.

Two months ago, he missed the podium by 4.3 seconds at the Continental Cup in Park City, Utah, finishing fourth behind two Austrians (David Pommer and Armin Bauer) and U.S. World Cup skier Taylor Fletcher, who placed second. All three were at least five years older than Loomis, of Eau Claire, Wis.

“That was kind of the big stepping stone for me, but this was also something new,” Loomis said of Tuesday’s YOG competition. “But way more exciting than anything else I’ve ever experienced.”

At the Youth Olympics, competitors are younger than 18, and nations can enter a maximum of two athletes per gender per sport.

American Ben Loomis (left) standing with podium finishers, German winner Tim Kopp (c) and the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Pazout in third. (Photo: YIS/IOC-Thomas Lovelock)

After posting the second-best jump on the 100-meter hill, Loomis started the 5 k cross-country race 8 seconds behind Germany’s Tim Kopp, the jump leader. Kopp held off Loomis by 5.2 seconds for the win in 13:31.4, and Loomis remained 2.7 seconds ahead of third place, Ondrej Pazout of the Czech Republic, at the finish.

“I had probably my best jump all week in the competition,” Loomis said. “I just tried to catch the guy in front of me pretty quickly and I did that. I was able to ski with him for pretty much the entire race, but then there was also the third place guy who I knew was a fast skier. He caught us about half way through the race. So all three of us skied until almost the finish and then the Germany kid was able to pull away about half a kilometer before the finish.

“I tried my hardest, but I just couldn’t stay with the first-place guy,” he continued. “But I was able to maintain second.”

According to Adam St.Pierre, the U.S. cross-country coach at YOG, Loomis looked “relaxed” while skiing with Kopp.

“The Czech athlete caught them at around 2.7km,” St.Pierre wrote. “The trio skied together for the rest of the race with the German making a decisive move at 4.5km … Ben had been planning to make his move on this hill too, but the German beat him to it! Ben covered the move, but was slightly gapped, but he got a gap on 3rd and skied in for silver!”

After first meeting Loomis this week, St.Pierre explained that he wasn’t responsible for his success beyond helping wax his skis. Blake Hughes is the U.S. jumping coach at YOG.

On Thursday, Loomis will team up with the two American ski jumpers (Casey Larson and Logan Sankey) in the ski jumping/nordic combined mixed team event, where three jumps on the 100-meter hill are scored as a unit. Then on Saturday, he’ll participate in the “nordic team relay” as both a jumper and a skier.

“The two American jumpers and myself jump and then I’ll race and the two cross country skiers will race as well,” Loomis explained.

“The relay start will be staggered based on the jumping results and we’ll ski a 3 by 3.3km relay with the Nordic Combiner [Loomis] and the male and female XC skiers [Hunter Wonders and Hannah Halvorsen] — all skate,” St.Pierre elaborated.

After Youth Olympics, Loomis is headed to Nordic Combined Junior World Championships in Romania.

“That’s a big deal as well,” he said. “I think I really surprised myself with showing how well I can perform. It just really gave me a lot of confidence going into the next competitions…”

Results: Nordic Combined

***

Hunter Wonders (l) and Hannah Halvorsen (r) are the two cross-country skiers representing the U.S. at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Adam St.Pierre)

Also on Tuesday, Hannah Halvorsen of Sugar Bowl Academy near Truckee, Calif., placed sixth in the cross-country classic sprint final. She had qualified in 13th, then went on to win her quarterfinal, and place third in her semifinal, 1.53 seconds behind Russia’s Yuliya Petrova, who won that semifinal. Moa Lundgren of Sweden automatically advanced in second and Halvorsen reached the final as a lucky loser.

American Hannah Halvorsen between rounds at the Youth Olympic Games classic sprint in Lillehammer, Norway. She went on to place sixth in the final. (Photo: Adam St.Pierre)

Sweden’s Johanna Hagström won the final in 3:19.55, Petrova placed second (+2.4), and Norway’s Martine Engebretsen was third (+3.27). Lundgren finished fourth (+6.44), Laura Chamiot Maitral of France (+8.84) was fifth and Halvorsen sixth (+13.65).

“I was surprised to make it through as a lucky loser when I saw that our semi final heat was a couple seconds slower, so I was really excited,” Halvorsen wrote in an email. “I lost contact with the top girls by the first hill and started to move back throughout the heat despite putting in my best fight to the end.”

“Hannah skied well today,” St.Pierre observed. “She felt a little flat for the XC Cross on Saturday, but had her normal energy today.”

On Saturday, Halvorsen, who turns 18 on Friday, placed 13th in the YOG opening event: the ski cross sprint.

“Although the skier cross was a fun experience, it was nice to be back in a race I knew well,” Halvorsen wrote. “I skied [Tuesday’s] qualifier a little tense, but it was a good signifier that I was feeling good and my fitness was there. This made me feel confident going into the heats.”

“She looked very strong in her quarterfinal,” St. Pierre wrote. “The course started with a big climb, which Hannah was able to ski very relaxed. … The decisive moves were typically made on the second major climb of the course. Hannah made some tactical errors on this climb in her semifinal, switching tracks cost her some momentum over the top. But she finished out the semi strong, earning a lucky loser spot with her 3rd place finish.

“I wish I would’ve given her just a little more kick for the final,” he added. “She battled and ended up 6th on the day, happy but hungry for more!”

Canada’s Annika Richardsson finished 33rd in the qualifier, missing the top 30 needed to advance to the heats by 1.4 seconds.

In the men’s classic sprint, Hunter Wonders qualified 29th and placed 15th overall. He missed advancing to the semifinals after placing third behind Adam Matous of the Czech Republic in a photo finish for second. The two finished 0.11 seconds behind Norway’s Thomas Helland Larsen, who won the heat in 3:04.54, but only Matous moved on with Larsen.

“He was in fourth on the last downhill but the Russian skier ahead of him fell,” St. Pierre wrote of Yaroslav Rybochikin, who finished sixth in that quarterfinal. “Hunter avoided the fall and closed on 1st and 2nd just getting out-lunged.”

Larsen went on to win the final in 2:55.39, Korea’s Magnus Kim placed second (+0.33) and Vebjørn Hegdal of Norway was third (+1.1).

Like his Canadian counterpart, Levi Nadlersmith finished 33rd in the men’s race, 0.74 seconds out of qualifying.

Racing continues tomorrow with the biathlon single mixed relay at 4:50 a.m. Eastern time.

Results: Women | Men | Complete results

February 16, 2016
Bumps, Jumps, XC Cross, and Biathlon: YOG Weekend Roundup

(Above: Complete race video of inaugural Cross-Country Cross event at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games. To view on YouTube, click here.)

Bumps? Jumps? An uphill and downhill slalom? While racing through an obstacle course on skis is challenging enough on its own, competitors at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Lillehammer, Norway, maneuvered around obstructions and other racers as well last Saturday, Feb. 13, for the opening event: the Cross-Country Cross (XCX) 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint.

Beyond ‘bumps,’ the YOG’s first-race event competition also differed in sprint brackets. After racing a qualifier, the top-30 athletes advanced to one of three semifinals.

The top two finishers in each semifinal then automatically advanced to the sprint final. The sprint final totaled 10 skiers: the two winners from each semi-final, as well as two lucky losers from the two fastest semifinals.

The Cross-Country Cross (XCX) course at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games

Once on course, four 1.5-meter high ‘bumps’ greeted the athletes a little over 100-meters from the start. Competitors then cruised into a sharp lefthand turn, followed by a sharp righthand turn through a part of the course called ‘The Snake.’

After The Snake, skiers tackled the course’s first major climb. In the following descent, racers spent some hang time while passing over a 1-meter high drop.

With increased speed, competitors soared into the second major incline on course, as well as another series of three 1.5-meter high rollers and a 0.5-meter high drop.

The next course challenge tested athlete’s coordination and balance during an alternating ‘bumps’ section. The section prompted many skiers to take on a classic striding arm and leg swing movement.

After a tight hairpin turn, athletes then worked their climbing strength and stamina in an uphill slalom. Immediately upon cresting the top of the incline, competitors descended into a downhill slalom.

With no major climbs left, racers worked their way over another jump and one final set of 0.4-meter high rollers before the flat 100-meter sprint to the finish.

Sweden’s Moa Lundgren proved most adept on course. She remained unchallenged by any competitor all day, winning the qualifier in 3:27.59, as well as her semifinal and eventually the final in a time of 3:26.36.

Finishing 1.7 seconds behind Lundgren was Swedish teammate, Johanna Hagstrøm.

Rounding out the women’s top three was French skier Laura Chamiot-Maitral who crossed 3.21 seconds after Lundgrun.

Hannah Halvorsen (Far West/Sugar Bowl Academy) qualified 10th in the first-ever Cross-Country Cross event at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Far West/Facebook)

Two North Americans competed in Saturday’s XCX event for the first time, American Hannah Halvorsen and Canada’s Annika Richardson.

Halvorsen qualified in 10th, 16.45 seconds back from Lundgren. She then advanced to semifinal 3, where she raced in third behind Chamiot-Maitral and Germany’s Anna-Maria Dietze until the uphill slalom.

Losing steam during the climb, Halvorsen moved into fourth, while China’s Chi Chunxue cranked her way into third. Hot on Halvorsen’s heels through the slalom gates was Russia’s Yuliya Petrova.

As the women came through the final bumps, Halvorsen moved to the outside right and Petrova gained momentum in the middle lane.

Halvorsen finished the heat in fifth, 1.7 seconds off of earning a lucky loser spot and advancing to the final, and 3.7 seconds off the heat winner Maitral-Chamiot (3:36.20).

After qualifying in 25th (+26.3), Richardson advanced to the first semifinal where she finished in ninth, 19.7 seconds back from her heat’s winner, Lundgrun.

Canadian wax technicians Mike Mappin (l) and Camille Cheskey (r) hard at work during the during the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games on Feb. 10 in Lillehammer Norway. (Photo: Jon Buckle for YIS/IOC)

“It went really really well all things considered,” Richardson said in an interview with Cross Country Canada.

“Definitely a lot of stuff I can work on with the technical aspects of the course, but I felt really strong in the last half of my heat going up the hill. I’m just really grateful to be here and be experiencing all the Olympic spirit,” she added.

Women’s results

***

In the men’s event, Korea’s Magnus Kim topped the results. He won the qualifier in a time of 3:01.45, his semifinal and eventually the final in 2:59.56.

In second place, 1.17 seconds off of Kim was Norwegian skier Thomas Helland Larson.

Rounding out the men’s top three was Lauri Mannila of Finland, finishing 2.28 seconds behind Kim.

Canadian skier Levi Nadlersmith and American Hunter Wonders nabbed the last two qualifying spots in 29th and 30th, respectively.

Wonders advanced to the first semifinal, where he finished ninth, 8.8 seconds behind the heat’s winner, Kim.

In his first international race ever, Nadlersmith also finished in ninth (+16.51) in the second semifinal.

“I felt really strong climbing a the top of the course,” Nadlersmith told Cross Country Canada.

“Going down into the last corner I had a weird line and I guess someone stumbled in front of me, so I had to do a quick maneuver to go around them. Then kind of after that I felt good, but lost a bit of my steam going over the last hill. I think for the most part I felt really good,” he added.

Men’s results

***

Day 2: Biathlon Begins

While some were shooting cupid’s arrows on Sunday, Feb. 14, biathlon competitors at the YOG shot targets. The second day of events included the men’s 7.5 k and women’s 6 k biathlon sprints at the Birkeneineren Biathlon Stadium.

On the men’s side, Emilien Claude of France won the event in a time of 19:01.5 after shooting clean during both the prone and standing stages.

“In lap three, in my head it was ‘maybe I win, maybe second’,” Claude said, according to an Inside the Games press release. “But when I finished and saw that I was first, I thought, ‘Wow.’ ”

Taking the second place silver medal, 7.1 seconds back, was Norway’s Sivert Guttorm Bakken, who missed one shot prone and one standing.

Third place and the bronze medal went to Russian racer Egor Tutmin. Tutmin skied the first of the three 2.5 k laps the fastest and shot clean during the prone stage. However, after two penalties standing, he finished 18.0 seconds back from the race winner’s time.

Two Canadians competed in Sunday’s event, including Ben Churchill and Leo Grandbois.

Churchill finished in 17th overall (+1:35.5) with one penalty (1+0). Grandbois placed 22nd (+1:58.6) after missing two shots during the standing stage.

The American men also had two competitors in Sunday’s 7.5 k sprint, Vasek Cervenka and Eli Nielsen.

Cervenka was the first American across the line in 36th place (+2:50.7) after skiing four penalties (1+3). Nielsen finished one minute and 7.4 seconds after Cervenka in 46th, (+3:58.1) after a total of six penalties (2+4).

Canada’s Gillian Gowling receives a pole during the women’s 6 k sprint at the Youth Olympic Games on Sunday in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Lillehammer 2016 Olympic Games/Facebook)

With perfect shooting on Sunday, Germany’s Juliane Fruehwirt won the women’s 6 k sprint event, covering the 3 x 2 k course in a time of 18:23.5.

Norwegian skier Marthe Krakstad Johansen was the next closest contender for the gold medal. After missing one shot standing, Johansen finished in second place, 5.6 seconds behind Fruehwirt’s time.

Rounding out the women’s podium finishers on Sunday was bronze medalist Arina Pantova of Kazakhstan. After two penalties (1+1), Pantova completed the course 17.1 seconds behind Fruehwirt.

American Amanda Kautzer cracked the top 10 on Sunday and finished in 10th overall (+58.9) after skiing two penalties (1+1). U.S. skier Chloe Levins missed the top 20 by 1.7 seconds, and finished in 22nd overall with a clean round of prone shooting, but two standing penalties.

After cleaning both the prone and standing stages, Canada’s Gillian Gowling finished 30th (+2:27.8). Her Canadian teammate, Tekarra Banser finished 14.4 seconds later in 35th (2:42.2) after two penalties (0+2).

Results: Men | Women

***

Chloe Levins shoots clean and races to a historic fourth place for the U.S. in the women’s 7.5 k pursuit at the Youth Olympic Games on Monday in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: US Biathlon/Twitter)

Day 3: Levins Just Outside of the Medals, Fourth in Pursuit

Monday marked the third day of the YOG and the second set of biathlon races with the 7.5 /10 k pursuits.

The women’s 7.5 k pursuit event saw Ukraine’s Khrystyna Dmytrenko at the top of Monday’s podium.

Starting 26 seconds back from Sunday’s race winner, Dmytrenko missed two shots during her first stage of prone shooting and then cleaned the rest of her shots to finish the 5 x 1.5 k course in a time of 25:12.9.

In a photo finish, Norway’s Johansen bested France’s Lou Jeanmonnot Laurent by one tenth of a second. Johansen finished 7.5 seconds behind Dmytreno after skiing four penalties (2+0+1+1). Jeanmonnot Laurent finished 7.6 seconds off of Dymtrenko’s time after missing two shots standing (0+0+1+1).

With perfect shooting, American Chloe Levins finished in fourth overall (+34.7), just outside of medal contention.

“The pursuit in Lillehammer today was a dream,” Levins said according to a US Biathlon press release. “As Susan [Dunklee] said earlier in the season, every race is a team effort. We had great skis and excellent conditions for today’s race. My race was made on the shooting range. Of course, it is bittersweet to be close to the podium in 4th position, but I shot clean and skied well, so it is an incredibly satisfying result.”

Read more about Levins’ historic result here

American Amanda Kautzer finished in 27th (+4:04.2) with a total of eight penalties (3+2+1+2). Canada’s Banser finished in 35th (+ 5:43.6) after missing five shots (1+0+2+2) and her teammate Gowling placed 45th (+9:45.30) after missing six shots ( 1+1+2+2).

After winning Sunday’s sprint, France’s Claude was the first skier on the Birkebeineren Biathlon Stadium’s 5 x 2 k course.

Norway’s Sivert Guttorm Bakken after winning the men’s 10 k biathlon pursuit at the Youth Olympic Games on Monday in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Lillehammer 2016 Olympic Games/Facebook)

Starting 7.0 seconds later was Monday’s eventual race winner and Sunday’s silver medalist, Bakken of Norway. Bakken missed four shots (1+1+1+1), but ultimately came away with the 10 k pursuit win in a time of 28:10.7.

Moving up to second place after Sunday’s event was Russia’s Tutmin. With an extra penalty (0+1+3+1), Tutman completed the course one minute and 10.7 seconds behind Bakken’s time.

Taking the event’s bronze medal was Said Karimulla Khalili of Russia. Khalili shot the same as Bakken and finished 1:17.7 behind the race winner.

With two penalties (0+0+1+1), Canada’s Churchill crept into the top 10, finishing in 10th overall (+2:49.1). Cervanka of the U.S. improved his result from Sunday to 20th overall (+3:54.2) after missing just one standing shot.

“Vasek also made a great comeback with 95 percent shooting score and a good skiing performance,” U.S. coach Jean Paquet said in a US Biathlon press release.

“He looked more at ease on the skis and liked the fight on the course. He gained 16 positions by shooting well on the shooting range.”

The next North American was Canada’s Grandbois, who placed 25th (+4:40.7)after skiing five penalties (1+0+1+3).

In 46th was Nielsen of the U.S. (+8:13.4) with six penalties (0+2+2+2).

Results: Women | Men

February 16, 2016