February 29, 2008 (Mals, Italy) – Both the US and Canadian teams delivered middle-of-the-field relay performances on Friday as Norway won the women’s 4×3.3km Free relay in 41:50.1, and Russia took the men’s 4x5km Free race in 59:06.1.

But overall the 2008 Nordic Junior/U23 Worlds ended as one of the best all-around performances in the history of the North American teams at these championships – both on the quality of results and depth.

Multiple medals were won and more top-30 finishes were accomplished as both teams delivered. Eric Bailey, the Canadian coach, referred to the fact that athletes placing in the 20s were disappointing as expectations were high.

The US Team was 7th in the men’s relay and 9th in the women’s on Friday, while the Canadians trailed them finishing 12th in the women’s race and 9th in the men’s. For the women both NA teams had two weak legs while in the men’s race it was one weak leg for each team that otherwise would have put both more in the mix.

Bailey commended the organizers on a fantastic championships considering they only took on the event with two weeks notice as lack of snow and very warm temperatures in Szczyrk-Wisla, Poland forced the date and location to change. Many of the teams were in Europe and had to return home until the event could be re-located to a site with snow and then returned to Europe for the championships. Both teams are now headed home after a job well done.

Full results here.