January 31, 2009 (Canmore, AB) – Canada’s Kurtis Wenzel from Calgary scored gold one day prior to his 18th birthday winning the men’s 7.5-kilometre sprint competition at the Canmore Nordic Centre during the 2009 IBU Youth/Junior Worlds. Norway’s Eriend Bjoentegaard finished second while Switzerland’s Mario Dolder was third.

“This is the best birthday present I could ever get – being number one,” said Wenzel, who is also a golden Grade 12 student at the Calgary-based National Sport School, which provides young Canadian athletes the opportunity to pursue excellence in both their athletic and academic lives. “I had visions in my training that I could do this, but I guess I never thought it would actually come true. I was really on my game today.”

Audrey Vaillancourt from Val Bélair, Que., brought home the bronze medal for Canada in the women’s youth 6km sprint. Russia’s Olga Galich and China’s Yan Zhang both crossed the line together to tie for first place. The USA’s Addie Byrne of Bovey, MN placed sixth while team mate Grace Boutot of Fort Kent, ME finished in 9th – both had one penalty in the ten-shot race.

“Sixth is not quite, what I wanted,” said Byrne, “I really wanted a medal, but I have two more races left. I knew I could be top 10. I spent a lot of time on this course and worked a lot on the areas that were troubling me. I can visualize it in my sleep.”

Italy’s Lukas Hofer won the junior men’s 10-kilometre sprint competition with a time of 27:39.3. The USA’s Wynn Roberts lead the North Americans in 15th. Nicole Wötzel from Germany was the winner of the junior women’s 7.5km Sprint competition missing only one of ten shots. Megan Tandy from Prince George, B.C. was the top Canadian in 25th – no Americans competed.

“I had very good skis,” Roberts said, “On the shooting range, I do not remember anything in standing and they all went down. I was in the zone. I did hear the announcer keep talking about Florian Graf of Germany and that fired me up.”

Complete results at www.biathlonworld.com

Men’s Youth 7.5km Sprint

1. Kurtis Wenzel, CAN, (0+1); 21:10.2
2. Eriend Bjoentegaard, NOR, (0+2), 21:14.2
3. Mario Dolder, SUI, (1+1), 21:26.5
4. Albert Herzog, AUT, (0+1), 21:46.2
5. Vitaliy Kozlovskyy, UKR, (0+1), 21:46.3

10. Scott Gow, CAN, (1+2), 22:10.9
31. Aaron Gillmor, CAN, (2+2), 23:22.0
32. Raileigh Goessling, USA, (0+2) 23:25.0
40. Marc Villette-Brosseau, CAN, (1+2), 23:52.5
41. Eathan Dreissigacher, USA, (2+2) 23:56.7

Junior Men’s 10km Sprint

1. Lukas Hofer, ITA, (2+0), 27:39.3
2. Benjamin Weger, SUI, (1+0), 27:58.7
3. Tarjei Boe, NOR, (0+0), 28:08.2
4. Florian Graf, GER, (0+0), 28:11.4
5. Benedikt Doll, GER, (2+0), 28:16.4

15. Wynn Roberts, USA, (1+0), 29:15.8
23. Leif Nordgren, USA, (1+0) 29:51.6
54. Matthew Neumann, CAN, (3+3), 32:25.0
55. Stuart Lodge, CAN, (2+1), 32:35.6
63. Joel Pacas, CAN, (3+1), 33:02.1
67. Beau Thompson, CAN, (1+3), 33:47.9

Women’s Youth 6km

T1. Olga Galich, RUS, (0+1), 19:31.4
T1. Yan Zhang, CHN (0+0), 19:31.4
3. Audrey Vaillancourt, CAN, (0+1), 19:44.6
4. Dorothea Wierer, ITA, (3+0), 19:49.8
5. Marion Charles, FRA, (1+1), 19:52.6
6. Addie Byrne, USA, (1+0), 20:01.2

9. Grace Boutot, USA, (0+1) 20:12.0
11. Yolaine Oddou, CAN, (1+1), 20:16.8
26. Rose-Marie Côte, CAN, (2+1), 22:05.0
37. Tatiana Chesham, CAN, (2+2), 24:00.1
39. Hilary McNamee, USA, (4+1) 24:18.0

Junior Women 7.5km Sprint

1. Nicole Wötzel, GER, (1+0), 23:28.8
2. Miriam Gössner, GER, (2+3), 23:37.5
3. Sophie Boilley, FRA, (1+0), 23:38.1
4. Reka Ferencz, ROU, (0+0), 23:48.0
5. Veronika Vitkova, CZE, (2+1), 24:01.2

25. Megan Tandy, CAN, (0+4), 26:15.3
31. Rosanna Crawford, CAN, (1+2), 26:26.6
36. Jessica Sedlock, CAN, (1+3), 26:52.8
46. Angela Salvi, CAN, (3+2), 28:33.3