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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: Pierrick Sarthou

  • (U20) Junior World Ski Champs Classic Sprint in Images

    (U20) Junior World Ski Champs Classic Sprint in Images

     

    In stadium sprint viewing at the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    Images from the U20 women’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint from the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. (U.S. in white/blue, Canada in red/black.)

     

    Images from the U20 men’s 1.4-kilometer classic sprint from the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. (U.S. in white/blue, Canada in red/black.)

    Noel Keeffe, pictured above (left), placed 12th overall for the U.S. in the U20 men’s field. He is currently enrolled at the University of Utah where is also a member of the cross-country ski team. Keeffe grew up skiing with the Steamboat Winter Sports Club. He earned his first U.S. National’s podium recently in the skate sprint. 

    “The sprint race was a tough one,” Keeffe wrote in an email explaining his U20 Worlds experience. “The course was super challenging because of a pretty large sustained hill right out of the start. I believe it was one of the hardest courses I have ever raced.

    “I am super stoked with my performance and the performance of the team. We were one of the best nation’s out there. It’s pretty cool when the top skiers from every nation start watching out for the kids in the red, white, and blue.”

  • World Juniors Classic Sprint Rundown: Ogden 8th, Keeffe 12th

    World Juniors Classic Sprint Rundown: Ogden 8th, Keeffe 12th

    Noel Keeffe (bib 15) showing here in his quarterfinal why time is what you make of it. Keeffe placed 12th overall in Sunday’s classic sprint at the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    Sunday featured the first day of racing at the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. To kick things off at the crown jewel of Finnish ski venues was the U20 classic sprint. The men raced a 1.6-kilometer loop, the women a 1.4 k course.

    Several North American males qualified for the heats after Russia’s Alexander Terentev qualified first in a time of 3:28.74 minutes.

    Ben Ogden (bib 3), skiing for the U.S. at the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. Ogden placed 8th overall. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    For the U.S. all four athletes entered in the race advanced to the heats. Ben Ogden qualified in third (3:36.94), Gus Schumacher 12th (3:40.80), Noel Keeffe 15th (3:41.56), and Luke Jager 20th (3:42.27).

    Remi Drolet of Canada qualified in 28th (3:44.98) and was the only one of his teammates to ski in the rounds. He was bounced after his fifth place in heat five. Drolet was 25th overall. Xavier McKeever skied to 52nd overall, Thomas Stephen 59th, and Pierrick Sarthou 67th.

    (McKeever, at fifteen years of age, is the youngest competitor at World Juniors.)

    Ogden leaped to the semis by placing first in the fifth heat. Ogden exited the rounds after sprinting to fourth in the second semi. Ogden was the best placed North American finishing eighth overall.

    Keeffe advanced as a lucky loser to the semis after placing third in the second heat. He placed 12th overall after his sixth place in the first semi-final.

    Schumacher was bounced out of the heats after he placed fourth in heat four. He ended his day 16th overall.

    Jager’s 20th place overall rounded out the U.S. performances. Jager was eliminated when he placed fourth in the first quarterfinal.

    Coming in second overall to Terentev in the men’s final were Norwegians Ansgar Evensen and Håkon Skaanes in second and third respectively. Jules Chappaz of France was fourth, Sweden’s Axel Aflodal fifth, and Aron Åkre Rysstad sixth.

    U20 Men’s Results

    U.S. skier Sydney Palmer-Leger was the only North American women to qualify for the heats. She placed 29th in qualification, skiing the 1.4 k course in 3:46.82 minutes. Sweden’s Frida Karlsson skied the fastest qualifying time of 3:27.32.

    Palmer-Leger was eliminated when she placed fifth in the fourth quarterfinal to end her day 25th overall.

    Also for the U.S., Mara McCollor was 43rd overall, Sophia Mazzoni 49th, and Waverly Gebhardt 51st.

    Canada’s Anna Pryce during her classic sprint qualifier at the 2019 Junior World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: Doug Stephen)

    For Canada, Anna Pryce finished 42nd overall, Molly Miller 52nd, and Isobel Hendry 69th. Canada’s Anne-Marie Petitclerc did not finish as a result of breaking her binding moments after she started.

    Norway’s Kristine Stavaas Skistad was first overall. Poland’s Monika Skinder placed second in the final, with Finland’s Anita Korva third. Linn Svahn of Sweden placed fourth overall, while teammate Frida Karlsson was fifth. Russia’s Anastasiya Faleeva was sixth.

    U20 Women’s Results

    And just because this sequence is so solid, here’s an addition to Keeffe’s lunge. (Click images to enlarge.)