January 28, 2014 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – New snow fell last night reports US Development Coach, Bryan Fish, as American star Jessie Diggins will also be in Val di Fiemme for the tomorrow’s Sprint FR races that launch the 2014 Junior/U23 Championships.

The 2014 FIS Nordic Junior & Under 23 World Ski Championships kicked off tonight in Val di Fiemme, Italy with the opening ceremonies at 8.45pm in the Predazzo main square. Over 650 athletes from every continent already gathered up amongst the Dolomites and paraded at the official opening ceremony.

The Ski Jumping Stadium will house the very first event tomorrow at 5pm, and Junior ski jumpers will have the honour to declare the Champs open. Japanese teenager and current World Cup leader Sara Takanashi and compatriot Yuki Ito are certainly the most favourite to capture a gold medal, but French Coline Mattel, Norwegian Maren Lundby, Slovenian Ursa Bogataj and German Katharina Altaj will attempt to climb the podium as well.

On Wednesday from 10am onwards, the XC Sprint FT events will get on track at the Cross Country stadium in Lago di Tesero. All Nordic disciplines will be staged on Thursday, starting at 8.45 with the Women’s team SJ HS 106, followed by both XC 10km and 15km from 10am, Nordic Combined (HS 106 – 10k) at 11.30am and Men’s team SJ HS 106 at 6pm.

The US and Canadian teams are both settled in on site and ready for championships. We caught up with Bryan Fish, Development Coach, U.S. Ski Team for his take on the scene in Val di Fiemme.

“We’re excited to kick off the World junior and Under-23 Championships tomorrow with the junior and U23 sprint.  It will be a full day with the U23’s starting at 10AM with qualification and conclude with their heats at 13:25.  The junior qualification starts shortly after at 13:45 and conclude their heats at 16.45.  It will be a busy and exciting day racing on the same courses that were used in last year’s World Championships.

“The weather had been unseasonably warm with rain that had melted all of the natural snow and a great deal of the man-made snow, however last night brought about 5 inches of new snow that has revitalized and softened the course.

“Our squad is 22 strong with 11- U23 athletes and 11 Junior athletes. We have a diverse group with athletes like Jessie Diggins and Erik Bjornsen who competed on these courses in the World Championships last year and young talent making their debut at Junior Worlds. We also have a diverse group as it relates to personal strengths. We have strong distance skiers, strong sprinters and skiers that can excel in either sprint of distance.

“Most of the team was in Toblach, Italy since January 20th in preparation for this event.  The team is healthy and ready to kick off the Championships,” Fish told Trax on the eve of the Championships.

Several entertaining events are also scheduled during the week throughout the valley. The complete programme is available here. The whole FIS Nordic Junior&U23 World Ski Championships event in Val di Fiemme will be broadcast live and delayed on Rai Sport national channels and internationally on SVT, Eurosport, NRK, WCSN and JSNA – more info here.

Race Schedule here.
More photos at SMS Blog here.

2014 Junior/U23 World Junior World Championships

Team Canada XC Ski

Juniors
– Katherine Stewart-Jones (Nakkertok)
– Anne-Marie Comeau (Club Nordique MSA-CNEPH)
– Frédérique Vézina (Club Nordique MSA-CNEPH)
– Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse – AWCA)
– Sophie Carrier-Laforte (Skinouk)
– Scott Hill (Team Hardwood – T-BAY NDC)
– Angus Foster (Big Thunder)
– Benjamin Wilkinson-Zan (Nakkertok – T-BAY NDC)
– Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (Fondeurs Laurentides)
– Alexis Dumas (Skibec)

U23
– Heidi Widmer (Foothills Nordic – AWCA)
– Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Fondeurs Laurentides-RMR)
– Cendrine Browne (Fondeurs Laurentides-CNEPH)
– Patrick Stewart-Jones (Nakkertok-AWCA)
– Andy Shields (Lappe – T-BAY NDC)
– Knute Johnsgaard (Whitehorse)
– Sebastien Townsend (Nakkertok (AWCA)

Team USA XC Ski

Juniors
– Nichole Bathe (University of Alaska)
– Patrick Caldwell (SMS / Dartmouth)
– Lars Hannah (Steamboat Springs Winter Sports)
– Jack Hegman (University of Vermont)
– Stephanie Kirk (University of Vermont)
– Adam Martin (Northern Michigan University)
– Cole Morgan  (University of Vermont)
– Thomas O’Harra (APU)
– Sloan Storey (SVSEF)
– Maggie Williams (University of Vermont)
– Marion Woods (University of Vermont)

U23 Team
– Erik Bjornsen (APU)
– Rosie Frankowski (Northern Michigan University)
– Elizabeth Guiney (Craftsbury Green Team)
– Mackenzie Kanady (University of Alaska)
– Tyler Kornfield (APU)
– Ben Lustgartenv (Middlebury College)
– Scott Patterson (University of Vermont)
– Annie Pokorny (SMS / T2)
– Mary Rose (SVSEF)
– Ben Saxton (SMS)
–  Skyler Davis  (SMS / T2) not attending