January 14, 2018 (Dresden, Germany) – USA I team’s Sophie Caldwell and Ida Sargent raced to third on the podium in the women’s Team Sprint in a photo-finish at the inaugural City Sprints in Dresden as Sweden II’s (Ingemarsdotter / Dahlqvist won over Sweden I (Falk, Nilsson) by 0.15.

Caldwell crossed the line in a photo finish with Nilsson that went to the Swede by a mere 0.07 seconds. The podium finish for Caldwell and Sargent matched their finish in the Olympic test event at Alpensia in PyeongChang, South Korea last February. The duo had been fifth in Planica, Slovenia a year earlier.

Caitlin Patterson and Kikkan Randall teamed up for USA II to finish eight for the women in front of huge crowds in the historic old city along the Elbe river.

“That was a really fun and exciting race and I’m so happy to be on the podium with Sophie,” said Sargent. “The course was so fast so the pack stayed together. We tried to stay near the front and stay out of trouble.”

The high speed of the course also created chaos in the tag zone. “We had a couple of rough tags where we lost a little time to the Swedes but luckily we stayed on our feet,” said Sargent.

“It was another great day for our team,” said Caldwell, who scored her second straight sprint podium. “Our goal was to stay towards the front, stay out of trouble, and save some legs for the last lap of each heat. I think we executed our plan really well and I was proud of how both Ida and I skied.”

Results here.