February 8, 2003, Solleftea, Sweden – Canada's Gregory Baxter may only be 13-years-old, but his young age certainly didn't faze him during the individual ski jumping competition at the World Junior Nordic Ski Championships in Solleftea, Sweden on Saturday.

The 13-year-old Calgary native, nearly four years younger than the majority of the field, led the Canadian charge with a gutsy performance at the World Juniors, jumping to his best-ever finish 21st-place with a point total of 175.8 in a competition that boasted 61 of the world's top junior ski jumpers representing 16 nations.

With a goal of becoming one of the first Canadians since 1992 to represent Canada at the Olympics in ski jumping, Baxter narrowly missed his ultimate goal for the week – a top-20 finish on one of the most difficult jumping towers in the world.

But Baxter wasn't the only Canadian who posted a strong result. Each of the four Canucks in the competition finished in the top 40 on the K108 tower. Close on Baxter's heels was 15-year-old Andrew Osadetz in 24th with 172.0 points. Dominik Bafia, 14, was 31st with 153.7 points, while 15-year-old Stefan Read rounded out the Canadian contingent in 38th after jumping to 142.4 points. All of the Canadians are from Calgary and train on the ski jumping facilities used for the 1988 Winter Olympics at CODA's Canada Olympic Park.

While the Canadians are climbing their way up the world rankings, the Austrians and Slovenians continued their dominance of the sport today. Thomas Morgenstern, who has finished in the top-12 six times in the seven events he has entered this year, captured the world title with 261 points. Rok Benkovic of Slovenia landed in second with 258.2 points, while Olympian Jan Mazoch of the Czech Republic locked up third with 241.9 points.

The World Junior Nordic Ski Championships wrap up on Sunday. Max Thompson and Wesley Harris Will represent Canada in the final Nordic combined event of the World Championships.

The following is the top-10 and Canadian results from Saturday's individual ski jumping competition on the K108 tower at the World Junior Nordic Ski Championships in Solleftea, Sweden.

Rank Name Country Points
1 Thomas Morgenstern Austria 261.0
2 Rok Benkovic Slovenia 258.2
3 Jan Mazoch Czech Republic 241.9

4 Rok Urbanc Slovenia 235.4
5 Stefano Chiapolino Italy 221.4

6 Manuel Fettner Austria 215.5

7 Jiarrko Hiekkonen Finland 214.0
8 Roland Muller Austria 210.3
9 Olli Pekkala Finland 210.0
10 Christoph Strickner Austria 203.5
CANADIAN RESULTS
21 Gregory Baxter Canada 175.8
24 Andy Osadetz Canada 172.0
31 Dominik Bafia Canada 153.7
38 Stefan Read Canada 142.4

CODA is Canada's leader in developing Olympic winter sport excellence, from the grassroots level to the country's Olympic best. Contributing more than $7 million annually to national sport organizations and operational support for facilities shared by the public and our nation's top athletes, CODA is Canada's largest private funder of Olympic winter sport. On behalf of Canada's athletes, CODA has launched a national call to action to gain widespread public support to build Canada's first Canadian Centre of Sport Excellence. For more information on CODA or the Canadian Centre of Sport Excellence, please visit us at www.coda.ab.ca on the Internet.