February 03, 2017  (Soldier Hollow, UT) – The USA’s Katharine Ogden claimed a historic podium in the Junior Women’s 10k Skiathlon winning bronze becoming the first American to medal at the Nordic Junior World Championships.

Norway’s Marte Maehlum Johansen came from behind in the final half of the freestyle leg to take gold while Swede’s Ebba Andersson earned her third medal of the championships, finishing second at 6.6 seconds back. Ogden finished 10.4 seconds behind Johansen.

“It’s been my goal to medal here for the past two years. Everyday in training it’s kind of like something that I think about, it’s the little thing that helps me push myself. Even in the middle of June I’ll be like, ‘you know what I want to be? – On the podium at World Juniors,” said Ogden post-race.

It was Johansen’s second medal at the championships having won silver behind Andersson two days earlier in the 5k freestyle. “I’m so happy,” said the winner. “My shape was good and I felt strong almost all the way. I just had to go all the way.”

The USA’s Hailey Swirbul was 24th, Natalie Hynes, was the top Canadian in 28th followed by teammate India McIsaac in 30th (30:31.1). Lisle Compton skied to 33rd, the USA’s Lauren Jortberg was 37th with Taeler McCreery 38th and Canuck Annika Richardson in 41st.

Johansen took the early lead, with Italy’s Anna Comarella and Ogden close behind. Swedish star Andersson, who already had two gold medals to her credit, lurked a few positions back.

On the second of four classic laps, Andersson made her move to the front – seemingly in a position to dominate as she had in the 5k freestyle two days earlier and held it into the exchange. Johansen and Comarella were right on her tail as was Ogden.

Her ski change in the pits was flawless and Ogden skated out in pursuit of the leaders and quickly got past Comarella. As they came into the final short climb before the stadium, Johansen made an inside move on the corner leading up the hill, crossing over in front of Andersson to take the lead on the downhill. Ogden remained in third, but lost a few seconds to the leaders and a gap formed.

Through the final lap, Andersson and Johansen duked with the Norwegian taking the title as Ogden kept putting valuable seconds on Comarella. Coming off the final downhill, she put her head down into an aerodynamic tuck to carry her as far as possible. Rounding the corner to her left, she glanced back and saw no sign of a chase.

“Historically I’m a little bit stronger of a skater, so my strategy was mostly just to hang on for dear life in the classic so I could put myself in a good position for the skate,” said Ogden, 19, who took home a 5th-place finish in the 5k freestyle event for the second-best finish ever for an American at Junior Worlds. “I was pretty happy with where I was in the classic part and I knew that once I got on skate skis, I’d probably be at a little more of an advantage because I’m historically better at that.”

Results here.