December 15, 2018 (Davos, Switzerland) – The USA’s Sophie Caldwell was the top qualifier en route to her first sprint podium of the season as she claimed second behind Sweden’s Stina Nilsson in the women’s 1.5km Sprint in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday.

Sadie Bjornsen finished 14th, Ida Sargent was 21st, Jessie Diggins placed 26th and Rosie Brennan was 29th as five U.S. women advanced to the quarterfinals and all ended up in the points. No Canadians competed.

“My strategy going in the finals was to tuck in behind some skiers the first lap to conserve some energy as I knew I had fast skies and was taking the final corner well,” said Caldwell after finishing 0.72 seconds behind Sweden’s Stina Nilsson, and 2.60 second ahead of Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist in third in the final. “I was thrilled with today. This gives me a confidence boost as I have been a little sick and I am now looking forward to the second period.”

On the men’s side, Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won, followed by Italy’s Federico Pellegrino in second, and Baptiste Gros of France third. Simi Hamilton advanced the final heats after qualifying 17th and ended up finishing 12th on the day after running out of gas in the semifinal. Kevin Bolger missed qualifying for the heats by one place ending up 31st. The top Canadian was Alex Harvey in 37th.

“I chose to set a slightly more realistic goal of making the semifinals today and so I sacrificed a bit of recovery time in order to have the best shot of achieving that goal,” said Hamilton. “I pretty much burnt all the matches I had in my quarterfinal heat and was left with the needle on empty in my semifinal. But, I consider any day you race in the heats as a good day, so I’m encouraged with where I am right now.”

Results here.