February 08, 2015 (Almaty, Kazakhstan) – Norway edged out Russia by a mere 0.4s to win the Junior Women’s 4×3.3km Relay on the final day of the 2015 FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan. A strong final leg from Victoria Carl brought the bronze home for Germany at 35.3s behind the winners.

Julia Kern, Hailey Swirbul, Katharine Ogden © courtesy of Julia Kern

The US team of Julia Kern, Vivian Hett, Katharine Ogden and Hailey Swirbul made the top 10 finishing 8th at 2:11 behind improving on their start time from last year.

“The relay today went really well, it was so cool to come together as a team for our last day at worlds. Everyone skied really hard and we were super psyched to beat our start spot from last year (10th),” commented Ogden.

(l-r) Sophie Carrier-Laforte, Anne-Marie Comeau, Maya McIssac-Jones, Annah Hanthorn, Katherine Stewart-Jones © CCC

Team Canada’s Katherine Stewart-Jones, Annah Hanthorn, Anne-Marie Comeau and Maya McIssac-Jones were 10th at 3:04 behind. A fateful clip of her ski tail saw Stewart-Jones go down on the first leg. The crash caused major damage to her binding, but the quick action of the Canadian support crew minimized the time loss.

In the men’s relay it was a see-saw battle between Russia and France throughout the first three legs. On the final leg Alexey Chervotkin of Russia pulled away to claim the gold with a 17.3-second margin over France who settled for the silver. Norway claimed the bronze at 1:01.5 behind.

Canada’s Alexis Dumas, Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier, Zachary Cristofanilli and Phillipe Boucher finished 10th at 3:40 behind while the USA’s Thomas O’Harra, Ian Torchia, Evan Weinman and Thomas Bye placed 11th at 4:51 behind Russia.

Women’s race video here.
Men’s race video here.

Women’s results here.
Men’s results here.