February 05, 2017 (PyeongChang, Korea) – Team USA I including Sophie Caldwell and Ida Sargent landed third on the women’s Team Sprint podium at the PyeongChang World Cup Olympic test event as Sweden I claimed the gold over Norway I.

Team USA II with Liz Stephen and Caitlin Patterson were in the running as well and ended up battling with their teammates for the final podium spot in an exciting finish to the competition as Sargent out-sprinted Stephen for the bronze. Canada’s Annika Hicks and Sadie White finished 7th in their semi final and did not advance to the final.

“This course is possibly one of the hardest sprint courses we’ve encountered on the World Cup. It’s hard for a regular sprint, and then when you do it three times more or less in a row for a team sprint, it’s taken to another level. It was pretty awesome having two teams out there fighting for the podium. Ida and I are more of sprinters and Liz and Caitlin are both really strong distance skiers, and I was very impressed with everyone today,” said Caldwell.

Sargent concurred. “That was an insanely hard course but it was really fun to get a podium with Sophie and to race with the other girls during the final,” shared Sargent.

“Sophie and I had good tags except for the first one in the final I wasn’t used to seeing two US team and started skiing towards Caitlin and had to change directions quickly to go to Sophie. But the only flat on the whole course was leaving the stadium so even if the tags weren’t the best we were both strong on the flat section and it was easy to move up there,” Sargent told Trax.

Having two strong US teams in the mix kept fans on the edge of their seats. “Our two teams had very different tactics due to our different strengths and it was cool to see such different skiers and tactics come down to a sprint finish at the end. Our service team did an awesome job with our skis this weekend and I think they’ve been able to get in a lot of testing for the future,” Caldwell continued.

“I think the team sprint is one of the hardest events out there and I had a blast teaming up with Ida today. We’ve done a handful of team sprints together and this was our first podium, so that was very exciting. I think we both did a good job of staying with the pack and conserving energy when possible and hanging with people when they made a move. Podiums are always very special, but there’s something about standing on the podium with teammates that makes it even better,” she concluded.

It was Sargent’s second World Cup podium that came only two days after her career-first podium in the Classic Sprint on Friday and on a really challenging course to boot.

“The course was extremely hard.  It’s long with a lot of climbing so our strategy was to conserve and save energy whenever we could especially in the semifinal.  In the final I was always skiing with Liz and she was impressive on the hills!  I was just trying to hold on during the climbs and match her tempo and pace.  The last lap she got a little lead and I was stuck behind the Slovenian who was fading so I lost a little time trying to get around her and to catch back up.

“The Norwegian and Swede were really strong on the last climb and I was just trying to hold onto the group in 4th knowing that I could make time back up on the downhill and into the finishing sprint.  But I felt really strong all day and I was also very impressed with Sophie who skied so well in every round!  Our wax techs gave us awesome skis as well on a busy and intense day,” commented Sargent.

Results here.