USA’s Hoffman Captures U23 Worlds 15km CL Silver as Bjornsen Nails 5th in Women’s 10km

by skitrax.com, with files from the US Ski Team and Cross Country Canada

February 23, 2012 (Erzurum, Turkey) – The USST’s Noah Hoffman won a silver medal in the 15km classic at the U23 World Championships in Erzurum, Turkey on Thursday, battling Germany’s Hannes Dotzler most of the race before pulling ahead by a few seconds in the final kilometers.

Final U23 Men's 15km CL podium (l-r): Hoffman 2nd, Belov 1st, Dotzler 3rd. © Nordic Focus

With the day’s result Hoffman becomes just the fourth American in history to medal at the U23 Championships. The last American man to win a U23 Worlds medal was Kris Freeman (1st, 30km classic) back in 2003. Russia’s Evgeniy Belov was today’s gold medal winner, 25 seconds ahead of Hoffman.

Hoffman started out fast but in control on this cold, dry day, skiing a very strategic race, pacing well, and surging in the last 5k to grab silver.

“I feel really good,” Hoffman said in a USST team release, “That was fun to race today. Evgeniy Belov was very fast. It’s my fifth time at the Junior/U23 World Championships and I am happy for the podium. I was getting the split times on the course but I was trying to stay focused on my performance.”

Also racing for the US in today’s men’s race were Erik Bjornsen (37th), Eric Packer (39th), and Ryan Scott (54th).

Women’s 10km Classic
In the women’s 10km classic event, the USA’s Sadie Bjornsen was an impressive fifth in a race won by Russia’s Mariya Guschina. Furthermore, the Alaska Pacific University skier finished just five seconds out of 2nd place. Teammate Rebecca Rorabaugh placed 29th.

Sadie Bjornsen © Nils Ribi file photo

Reflecting on the day, USST Development Coach Bryan Fish was ecstatic: “It was a great day for our whole squad, with Sadie leading the charge for the women in fifth – just 5.2 seconds out of second. Noah’s second place made today even more exciting. The course, conditions and environment required a high focus on remaining consistent,” commented Fish in the release.

A number of Canadians posted some solid results including Graeme Killick who skied as high as 7th after the first 5km and was in 11th at the 10km mark, but faded to tie for 19th by the end of the last lap. David Greer finished 36th, Jesse Cockney 47th and Chris Hamilton was 52nd.

On the women’s side, Emily Nishikawa finished in 17th place, while teammates Marlis Kromm (35th), Annika Hicks (37th), and Heidi Widmer (40th) finished further back.

The Junior/U23 World Championships continue with skiathlon races on Friday (Juniors) and Saturday (U23s).

Women’s results CC_C73A_3.0l23.pdf.
Men’s results CC_C73A_2.023.pdf.

Men