January 31, 2017 (Soldier Hollow, UT) – The USA’s Cole Morgan raced to a top-10 finish claiming 9th in the U23 Men’s Classic Sprints behind winner Fredrik Riseth from Norway who claimed a decisive victory with a 1.05-second margin over Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov. Norwegian Joachim Aurland took bronze at 2.3 seconds back. The top Canadian was Evan Palmer-Charrette in 33rd.

It was another sunny day, with temperatures near -8 C for the start of the qualifiers at 10am, and rising to -2 C by the finals. The challenging three-climb course kept almost all of the men competing on kick wax, and forced many into a herringbone at the top of the final climb. While it was important to have good kick for the three climbs, the final descent offered the chance for a slingshot maneuver, and fast skis made the difference in a number of heats.

In the qualification round Bolshunov and Russian Andrey Sobakarev took the top two spots. Three Americans made the top 30 to advance to the heats, led by Morgan in 11th. Patrick Caldwell was 20th, and John Hegman was 23rd. Callan Deline finished on the wrong side of the bubble in 31st, a mere 0.14 seconds out of the top 30. The three Canucks racing stacked up within half a second of one another with Palmer-Charrette in 33rd, Julian Smith in 34th, and Scott James Hill placing 35th.

The men’s heats were hotly contested, with the decisive move often coming on the final climb of the course, and plenty of double-pole drag races into the finish. In the first quarterfinal, Morgan went hard from the gun, double poling to 2nd place, only 0.85 seconds behind Russian Bolshunov.

Caldwell raced to fourth in the same quarterfinal as Morgan, crossing the line at 6.17 seconds back. Morgan was the only skier to double pole the course. Hegman raced well in a challenging fifth quarterfinal, finishing in 6th at 5.71 seconds behind Norway’s Chrisander Skjoenbe Holth.

Morgan was the lone American in the semifinals, where he placed 5th in a fast first semifinal after fading on the final two climbs ending up as the top North American finishing 9th overall.

The A Final was a showdown between Norway and Russia with three Norge skiers and three Russians toeing the line. When the dust settled it was Norwegian Riseth taking a decisive victory over Bolshunov with Aurland giving Norway the bronze as well. Russian Andrey Sobakarev was in contention for the win until the final 50m, when he fell while switching to an outside track, eventually finishing 6th.

Racing continued today at the World Junior and U23 World Ski Championships being held at Soldier Hollow, UT with the U23 men’s and women’s CL sprints. –

Qualifications here.
Brackets here.
Overall here.