February 25, 2012 (Erzurum, Turkey) – American Noah Hoffman lead a strong performance by the North Americans competing in the men’s 30-kilometre skiathlon race at the U23 World Championships in Erzurum, Turkey on Saturday.

The skiathlon combines 15km of skiing in the classic technique, followed by an additional 15km of skate skiing. Athletes enter a transition zone between the two legs to change equipment while the clock continues to run.

Hoffman raced a strong classic leg and was third at the transition and ended up finishing 8^th, only eight seconds back of the race winner, Raul Shakirzianov from Russia.  Fellow Russian Evgeniy Belov skied for the silver medal while Germany’s Hannes Dotzler scored the bronze. The course was extremely tough due to the high altitude of Ezurum, some 1,900 meters above sea level.

“Today was really good experience for me. I felt great and in control the entire race,” Hoffman wrote SkiTrax by email. “The race was very tactical. I don’t have a lot of experience with races like that. My goal for the first 25km was to take it as easy as possible. I did that well and felt good with 5km to go.

“I tried to make a break, but couldn’t get it to stick,” he added. “I am happy to finish with the pack eventhough I know a sprint finish is not going to get me my best result. I learned a lot today and am looking forward to more opportunities soon.”

Canada’s Graeme Killick had a solid performance as the top Canadian finishing 15^th at 21 seconds back.  Killick was well positioned in the top-10 for the first 26km of the race before crashing on an icy downhill.

“It was a fantastic race for Graeme and who knows what could have happened if he didn’t crash. A top-10 or top-six was right there for him today,” said Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team coach, Eric de Nys, in a team release. “Graeme had really good skis today and was in control. This is a really difficult course that pushes the limit of altitude for a World Cup so it was a good day for sure.”

Fellow Canuck, Jesse Cockney, was also on pace for a solid outing before crashing on a left corner coming off a steep downhill at the 14 kilometre mark of the classic-skiing portion of the race. Cockney held on for 29th while fellow Canadians David Greer & Chris Hamilton finished 35^th and 40^th respectively. Ryan Scott of the USA rounded out the North American men by finishing in 56^th position.

SkiTrax caught up with Cockney who described his race today. “The race today went so much better than the previous two. I felt relaxed in the classic and had hopes to stay smooth in the skate portion and continue fighting for top 20. Unfortunately I fell on the high speed downhill coming back towards the stadium on the final classic lap and lost contact with the lead group and was never able to catch back on.

“The day’s conditions were much the same as the entire race week with very cold temperatures heating up to around -10 C with bright bluebird skies. I’m really happy with the classic leg but at the same time still disappointed to not be fighting for a better position in my last U23 race. Now it’s time to go home! I haven’t been home since February 1st and I’m definitely happy to be going home.”

Women’s 15km Skiathlon

Meanwhile, in the women’s event, it was USA’s Jessica Diggins leading the North American women’s charge finishing 15^th in the 15km combined technique event.  Norway’s Martine Hagen won the race with a time of 43:52.5, while Italy’s Debora Agreiter scored a silver medal and Sweden’s Emma Wiker grabbed the bronze.

“I had much higher expectations for myself today and I did a pretty bad job of putting way too much pressure on myself for this race, expecting to somehow bounce back from being really sick,” Diggins confided to SkiTrax. “The first half of the race went really well – I felt relaxed and smooth, and skied how I wanted to; getting ahead over the top of the big hill so I could step the sharp corner and not have to skid it surrounded by skiers. But in the skate half I simply ran out of energy – my usual energy stores were just not there. The second half of the race was pretty horrible for me but not every race is going to go well. That’s ski racing!

“The course was really fun – no super steep climbs but long gradual ones and the classic skiing especially was amazing. The tracks were perfect and you could ski with big long strides. The team atmosphere here in Turkey has been really fun, especially getting to explore town, meeting the other teams and getting to see our juniors experience the Junior Worlds for the first time.

Following Diggins were fellow Americans Sadie Bjornsen in 16^th and Rebecca Rorabaugh finishing in 19^th place.  Canadian Emily Nishikawa led a trio of Canadians by placing 27^th  with Annika Hicks in 33rd, Marlis Kromm was 36th and Heidi Widmer was 38th.

“Today wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. I had a good classic leg (13th), but faded pretty hard during the skate,” said Nishikawa. ” I was hoping to improve on my 17th place from the 10km classic race.  The course was great today – sunny and cold. We had really great skis and it was an exciting race as mass starts usually are!”

The Junior and Under-23 World Championships wrap up on Sunday in Turkey with the relay races.

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

With files from CCC.