January 23, 2013 (Liberec, Czech Republic) – Canada’s Cendrine Browne, in her first year on the national junior squad, lead the North Americans with a solid top-15 finish in the Junior women’s 5km FR on Day 3 of the 2013 U23/Junior Nordic World Championships as Germany’s Victoria Carl gold with a time of 12:35.3.

Junior W Podium (l-r) Teresa Stadlober (AUT) 2nd, Victoria Carl (GER) 1st and Anastasia Sedova (RUS) 3rd © Martin Sidorjak

Austria’s Teresa Stadlober celebrated the silver medal after crossing the line with a time of 12:39.6 while Russia’s Anastasia Sedova clocked-in at 12:46.7 for third. Julia Svan, the daughter of a famous skiing legend Gunde Svan, ended up in 9th place.

“I was very surprised. My objective was to be top-20 so I am very happy,” said 19-year-old Browne, of St-Jerome, Que. “I was relaxed and focused. On the last climb, I was getting tired, but I just told myself everyone was getting tired and pushed harder. You really need to keep a strong head and stay focused on this course.”

The top American was Mary O’Connell in 33rd followed by Sloan Storey in 45th; Canada’s Frederique Vezina was 50th, Emily Hannah (USA) was 51st, Anika  Miller (USA) was 52nd, Anne-Marie Comeau (CAN) placed 53rd and Katherine Stewart-Jones (CAN) finished 58th.

Junior men at the finish line © Martin Sidorjak

Leading the North American men in the 10km FR race was Raphael Couturier from St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que. (home of Alex Harvey) placing 24th, as Russian Dmitry Rostovtsev took home the gold followed by teammate Artem Maltsev in second, with Germany’s Martin Weisheit in third.

American Forrest Mahlen placed 27th with teammate Sawyer Kesselheim in 29th. Just out of the points was Canada’s David Palmer, from Revelstoke, B.C. in 32nd while Ottawa’s Ezekial Williams was 53rd. The USA’s Benjamin Saxton was 60th and Scott James Hill (CAN) finished in 62nd.

Junior M podium (l-r) Artem Maltsev (RUS) 2nd, Dmitriy Rostovtsev (RUS) 1st and Martin Weisheit (GER) 3rd © Martin Sidorjak

Junior Women’s results HERE.
Junior Men’s results HERE.