February 22, 2016 (Rasnov, Romania) – The FIS Nordic World Junior/U23 Championships 2016 kicked off on Feb. 22 with a 1.3km freestyle sprints in warm, wet and sloppy conditions. The USA’s Logan Hanneman led the North Americans placing 15th with Canada’s Julien Locke 16th in the U23 Men’s race. For the U23 women it was Canadian Jennifer Jackson leading in 29th at her debut Worlds with Kelsey Phinney the top US skier in 34th.

Logan Hanneman © FIS

American Julia Kern (Stratton Mountain School), was the top junior woman in 16th as Canada’s Marie Corriveau placed 25th overall. In the Junior men’s races Henry Harmeyer placed 35th overall while Antoine Blais led the Canadians in 41st.

Julia Kern © Peter Leonard

France’s Lucas Chanavat won the men’s U23 sprints by 0.92 seconds over Sweden’s Karl-Johan Dyvik in second and France’s Jean Tiberghien in third. Hanneman qualified 25th which advanced him to the quarterfinal heats. But in the quarterfinals, Hanneman finished third 2.57 seconds behind and was unable to move on as the lucky loser. Locke had a strong quarterfinal, finishing 3rd, less than a second from the lead and just behind the eventual 7th place finisher, Maki of Finland.

Julien Locke © courtesy of CCC

Sweden’s Jonna Sundling won the U23 women’s sprint by 0.36 seconds over Switzerland’s Nadine Faehndrich. Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist finished third. Jackson made the knockout rounds after qualifying 25th but wasn’t able to make progress in the quarters, finishing 6th, a bit over two seconds behind the heat winner.

Jenn Jackson © courtesy of CCC

Norway’s Johannes Klaebo claimed the junior men’s 1.3k sprint victory, 0.67 seconds over Korea’s Magnus Kim, who came in from dominating the Winter Youth Olympic Games last week. Italy’s Giacomo Gabrielli stole third in a photo finish with Russia’s Denis Spitsov.

Marie Corriveau © Kieran Jones

In the junior women’s sprint, Norway’s Amalie Ous snatched first from teammate Lotta Weng by just .22 seconds, followed by Sweden’s Jenny Solin in third. Kern led the US team, starting out the sprints strong and qualifying 14th, which advanced her to the quarterfinal heats. The quarterfinals were close and Kern finished fourth in her heat and was unable to move on further. She was only 2.08 seconds from qualifying for the semifinals, ending up 16th. Corriveau moved on to the quarters, with a 29th place finish. She pushed hard in the quarter-final but didn’t advance, finishing in 6th ending up 25th overall.

U23 men here – Q here.
U23 women here – Q here.

Junior men here – Q here.
Junior women here – Q here.