January 28, 2009 (Canmore, AB) – The first day of events are underway at the 2009 IBU World Youth/Junior Championships being held in Canmore, Alberta. The racing began Wednesday with the youth men competing in the 12.5km event where Ludwig Ehrhart of France dominated winning by over 1 minute in a time of 37:10.9. Antti Raatikainen of Finland was second 1:07.7 seconds off the lead, followed by Aliaksei Abromchyk of Belarus.

Canadian Kurtis Wenzel finished 5th, just 32 seconds off the podium while team mate Scott Gow was 10th 2:41.5 seconds off the lead. Wenzel shot clean except for one miss in the final round. Gow had four misses. Leading the way for the Americans was Eathan Dresissigacher in 26th place.

In the junior men’s 15km race Manuel Muller of Germany won with a time of 41:18.8. Behind Muller in second place at 27.5 seconds was Russia’s Alexey Volkov, followed closely by Germany’s Erik Lesser. Germany had three skiers in the top 5. North American skiers struggled in the Junior Men’s race with the top finisher being the USA’s Leif Nordgren in 29th. He was 4:01.5 back off the lead. The top Canadian was Matthew Neumann in 57th over eight minutes back.

The women get started on Thursday with the 10km and 12.5km events.

Complete youth men’s results here
Complete junior men’s results here

Results (brief)

Youth Men
Ludwig Ehrhart (Fra) 37:10.9
Antti Raatikainen (Fin) + 1:07.7
Aliaksei Abromchyk (Blr) + 1:22.3
Nikolay Yakushov (Rus) + 1:33.5
5. Kurtis Wenzel (Can) + 1:54.3

10. Scott Gow (Can) + 2:41.5
18. Marc V. Brosseau (Can) + 4.44.5
25. Aaron Gillmor (Can) + 5:11.4
26. Eathan Dreissigacher (USA) + 5:14.8
40. Raileigh Goessling (USA) + 8:56.7
41. Nick Michaud (USA) + 8:56.7
51. Preston Butler (USA) + 11:48.5

Jr. Men
Manuel Muller (Ger) 41:18.8
Alexey Volkov (Rus) + 27.5
Erik Lesser (Ger) + 29.2
Jean Guillaume Beatrix (Fra) + 43.2
Simon Schempp (Ger) + 51.9

29. Leif Nordgren (USA) + 4:01.5
31. Wynn Roberts (USA) + 4:13.6
57. Matthew Neumann (Can) + 8:49.6
59. Beau Thompson (Can) + 9:36.9
60. Joel Pacas (Can) + 9:58.1
63. Stuart Lodge (Can) + 11:17.5