February 07, 2015 (Almaty, Kazakhstan) – Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt scored Team Canada’s best performance of the week placing 12th in the U23 women’s 7.5CL/7.5FR Skiathlon at the Nordic U23 World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Saturday. The Morin Heights, Que., skier made her move on the field towards the end of the classic leg, and kicked things into top gear following the transition where she posted the 6th-fastest skate leg on the day.

Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt © CCC

Switzerland’s Nathalie Von Siebenthal took the win with Norway’s Barbro Kvaale claiming the silver medal at 22.5s behind while Italy’s Giulia Stuerz grabbed the bronze close behind at 26.1s back.

Joanne Reid © USSA

Joanne Reid was the top American in 22nd at 2:47.8 behind Von Siebenthal followed by Cambria McDermott in 29th and Cendrine Browne in 30th, all in the points. The USA’s Anne Hart finished 33rd with her teammate Deedra Irwin in 34th.

It was overcast in Almaty, a change in the weather from the last few days of bright sunshine and the temperatures rose to +4 C for the women’s race. Von Siebenthal took an early lead that she never relinquished. She led by four seconds in the transition zone and skated away from the field to claim the gold.

Irwin, Reid, McDermott © USSA

Bouffard-Nesbitt moved up from 23rd to 18th in the second half of the classic and pushed the pace on the skate. With 2k to go she started to hammer and gapped the small group she was in catching Russia’s Alisa Zhambalova near the finish to claim 12th – with the 6th fastest skate race on the day.

Annie Hart © USSA

The race was marred by a serious crash around the 11k mark as Russian Evgenia Oschepkova caught an edge on a moderate downhill and crashed into the metal guardrail that was marking the edge of the race course from the steep hill below. She was carried away in a blanket/stretcher and looked to have a fairly serious lower body injury from the fall.

Dahria Beatty was leading the way for the Canadians until pulling out of the race near the midway mark. The Whitehorse resident had been fighting a flu bug overnight.

Full results here.

With files from CCC.