January 29, 2010 (Hinterzarten, Germany) – Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg (NOR) won her 9th Junior World medal on Friday in the women’s 10km Pursuit. She was so strong that she skied away from the field in the classic portion, to finish 46.6 seconds ahead of her team mate, Heidi Weng. Weng was pleased with her silver, as she didn’t like the soft, snowy conditions.

Tuva Toftdahl’s skating carried her from 6th after the classic portion to 3rd, making it a Norwegian sweep, and guaranteeing the girls extra motivation for the relay. Just off the podium again was the Japan’s, Michiko Kashiwabara, who lost the sprint with Toftahl by 1/10th of a second, to get the wooden medal.

Team USA placed three women in the top 30 – Joanne Reid was 18th, 2:10.1 seconds back, followed by Caitlin Patterson in 23rd and Jessica Diggins in 25th. Both Reid and Diggins made up tremendous time on the freestyle portion. Anne Hart was 38th.

The heavy snow and difficult conditions made it a less than successful day for Canada. Marlis Kromm was the top Canadian finishing in 41st., with Rebecca Reid 60th, Dahria Beatty 65th and Heidi Widmer in 71st.

In the men’s race, Petr Sedov (RUS), who swept the Junior Nordic Worlds last year but was shut out of the medals until Friday, dropped the entire field even before he’d finished the classic portion to win the 20km Pursuit. Next across the finish line was Romania? Petrica Hogui had a terrific race to beat third placed Finn Haagen Krogh of Norway by three seconds.

Krogh appears to have had trouble in the transition (86th overall), with a time of 51.1 seconds, where most athletes’ changeover time was under 30 seconds. And again the Japanese team couldn’t seem to pull of a win in the finishing sprint, as 5th placed Akira Lenting saw Thomas Bing (GER) grab 4th place by 3/10ths of a second.

It was a tough day at the office for the US and Canadian teams. Here are the positives: for the US Team Scott Patterson was 19th, and won the photo finish. For the Canadian team, Zach Holland had the 6th fastest transition time. For the US, David Norris and Erik Bjornsen were 43rd and 49th, Erick Packer and Joey Burton were 56th and 68th. Next for the Canadians was Patrick Stewart-Jones in 52nd and Steffan Lloyd in 70th. Most athletes will want to put this race behind them and look forward to the relay.


Results

Women

Final Results href=”http://www.fis-ski.com/pdf/2010/CC/2628/2010CC2628RL.pdf”>here.

1. Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg (NOR) 30:51.0
2. Heidi Weng (NOR) +46.6
3. Tuva Toftdahl (NOR) +58.1
4. Michiko Kashiwabara (JPN) +58.2
5. Lisa Larsen (SWE) 1:11.1
18. Joanne Reid (USA) +2:10.1
23. Caitlin Patterson (USA) +2:40.7
25. Jessica Diggins (USA) +2:46.9
38. Anne Hart (USA) +3:25.8
41. Marlis Kromm (CAN) +3:34.1
60. Rebecca Reid (CAN) +4:40.1
65. Dahria Beatty (CAN) +5:00.5
71. Heidi Widmer (CAN) +6:03.7

Men

Final Results here.

Results (brief)
1. Petr Sedov (RUS) 56:54.1
2. Petrica Hogui (ROU) +41.3
3. 3. Finn Haagen Krogh (NOR) +44.3
4. Thomas Bing (GER) +44.6
5. Akira Lenting (JPN) +44.9

19. Scott Patterson (USA) +2:32.3
33. Zach Holland (CAN) +3:41.9
43. David Norris (USA) +4:32.7
49. Erik Bjornsen (USA) +4:47.1
52. Patrick Stewart-Jones (CAN) 5:01.6
56. Eric Packer (USA) +6:17.9
68. Joey Burton (USA) +7:16.9
70. Steffan Lloyd (CAN) +7:28.7