January 31, 2017 (Soldier Hollow, UT) – Rising Canadian star, Dahria Beatty, led the North Americans in 12th as Anna Dyvik of Sweden blew apart the field in the U23 women’s CL Sprint A Final for the win. Norwegian Thea Krokan Murud utilized fast skis and strong double poling to lock up the silver, as Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist won a tight race for bronze.

It was another sunny day at Soldier Hollow, with temperatures near -8 C for the start of the qualifiers at 10am, and rising to -2 C by the women’s final.

The challenging three-climb course kept all of the women competing on kick wax, and forced most into a herringbone at the top of the final climb. While it was important to have good kick for the three climbs, the final descent offered the chance for a slingshot maneuver, and fast skis made the difference in a number of heats.

In the qualification round, Dyvik led a Scandinavian-heavy top 10 as seven North Americans led by the USA’s Kelsey Phinney in 6th made the top 30 and advanced to the heats. Beatty was 8th, Nicole Bath (US) claimed 14th, Jesse Knori (US) was 19th, Jennifer Jackson (CAN) finished 22nd, Corey Stock (US) was 26th, and Katherine Stewart-Jones (CAN) raced to 28th. Maya MacIsaac-Jones was less than 4 seconds out of the top 30 finishing 32nd in the qualifier.

North Americans raced well in the quarterfinals, but struggled to match the pace set by the Europeans as Beatty was the only one to make the semis. She finished 3rd in her quarterfinal at 2.45 seconds behind Norway’s Murud, but was fast enough to advance as a Lucky Loser. Fellow Canuck, Stewart-Jones, was in the same quarterfinal but was knocked out finishing 5th.

American Nicole Bathe finished 4th in her heat at 7.14 second behind Sofie Krehl of Germany. The USA’s Phinney and Stock placed 4th and 5th respectively behind their heat winner Lotta Udnes Weng from Norway. Phinney looked to be in good position before losing kick on the final climb, and dropping to 4th on the downhill into the finish. American Knori and Canadian Jackson raced well with Knori 3rd and Jackson 5th behind winner Tiril Udnes Weng of Norway.

In her semifinal Beatty struggled to maintain contact on the climbs, finishing 6th at 8.04 seconds behind Norway’s Murud to claim 12th overall. Knori was the top US skier in 15th overall, Jackson finished 21st, Stock was 22nd and Stewart-Jones was 24th on the day.

After an intense day of racing top qualifier Dyvik of Sweden skied her way to gold as she was one of only a couple of women to stride the entire final climb, which is where she made her break. Murud claimed the silver and Dahlqvist put another Swede on the podium capturing the bronze. Norway’s Lotta Udnes Weng was taken out of contention by a fall part way through the final.

Racing continues tomorrow with the Junior women’s 5km Freestyle competition.

Qualifications here.
Brackets here.
Overall here.