February 4, 2006 – It’s been one stellar result after another for Canada’s Dasha Gaiazova, who closed out the Under-23 Junior World Ski Championships by hustling to a dramatic fifth-place finish in under-23 cross-country pursuit action on Saturday.

The Quebec native glided to a stellar time of 45:37.6, which put her slightly over a minute away from the top time achieved on the day by Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk.

It also amounted to something of a dramatic finish for Gaiazova, whose excellent performance on the classic leg of the race put her in third place coming into the pit. During the final stretch, she became embroiled in a neck-and-neck duel with Russia’s Ekaterina Vorontsova for the fifth-place finish, with Gaiazova ultimately prevailing by less than a second.

As a result, Gaiazova closes out the Under-23 Junior World Ski Championships with two fifth-place finishes, the other coming Tuesday in the sprint event, as well as a sixth-place result in the 10-km classic race on Thursday.

In other Canadian women’s results Saturday, Perianne Jones fell just shy of the top-30, settling for 31st spot overall after recording a time of 48:39.5, while Madeleine Williams finished 38th after clocking in with 49:34.4.

Kowalczyk claimed the race honours with a time of 44:14.7, while Russia’s Irina Artemova posted a time of 44:41.2 en route to the silver medal. Rounding out the top finishers was Russia’s Ioulia Tchekaleva, who captured the bronze medal with 44:54.5.

In under-23 men’s pursuit action on Saturday, Canada’s Dave Nighbor executed a strong performance by posting a 26th-place result in a field of 60 starters. The North Bay, Ont. native recorded a time 1:21:33.7.

In other Canadian results, Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse finished 31st; Sean Crooks of Thunder Bay, Ont., who was in 21st place after the first leg of the race, finished 36th; and Jesse Heckrodt of Salmon Arm, B.C. finished 39th.

Russia’s Alexander Legkov took the gold medal in the under-23 men’s pursuit in a time of 1:17:19.7, while fellow countrymen Sergei Shiriaev captured the silver after posting 1:17:33.6. Franz Goering spoiled a complete Russian sweep of the podium, with the German skier winning the bronze medal in a time of 1:17:35.6.