December 19, 2015 (Toblach, Italy) – Aspen, Colorado’s Simi Hamilton took a historic podium Saturday in the men’s 1.3km FR sprint in Toblach, Italy, claiming second behind Italy’s Federico Pellegrino with Great Britain’s Andrew Young in third.

It was Hamilton’s first full World Cup podium finish since winning a stage World Cup at the Tour de Ski in Lenzeheide, Switzerland in Dec. 2013. With that victory he became the first American male to win a stage World Cup since Bill Koch’s historic first U.S. World Cup win in 1983. It was the sixth sprint podium for the USA in history.

“I’m really psyched and felt great all day. It was fun out there under blue skies and Italian sunshine,” said Hamilton. “I’m really fired up and and have been feeling good as my training has gone well. Last week in Davos I was also ready to go but I broke a pole and my day ended early so I was looking forward to this weekend and everything came together – skis were great and I’m super happy.”

Interview with Simi Hamilton

It was also a historic podium as it marked the first time that Italy, USA and Great Britain have shared a World Cup XC ski podium.  For Pellegrino it was his 5th World Cup win in free technique matching the great Christian Zorzi, as the most successful Italian sprinter of all time.

For Great Britain’s Andrew Young it was a first ever sprint final and podium finish and he becomes the first British Cross-Country skier ever to make a World Cup sprint podium with his third place finish today.  His teammate Andrew Musgrave won fastest of the day during the 25 km Pursuit event in Toblach during last season’s Tour de Ski which counts as a World Cup victory.

“It was a very fair competition with easy waxing conditions and no nations seemed to struggle with skis. Great to have 6 athletes qualify for the heats again, but not really a big surprise. The women skied great. Sophie must have been mere hundredths from going through to the finals again as a lucky loser. She executed her race plan perfectly all day.

“Simi didn’t feel that great in the qualification but felt strong in the heats. He’s been in excellent form all year and after last weekend’s broken pole in Davos, he finally had a chance to demonstrate his ability today. He executed his race plan perfectly from quarterfinals to final – relaxing early on in each heat and then making big moves to get himself to the front in the middle of the course and on the last uphill before the finish. The next sprint on the World Cup is Lenzerheide where Simi won two years ago,” said Chris Grover, head cross country coach

The Canadian team made a waxing adjustment just before the race, that didn’t pan out and no skiers qualifed. Alex Harvey was 62nd, Lenny Valjas placed 73rd, Devon Kershaw was 76th, Michael Somppi finished 78th and Jesse Cockney was 81st.

Full results here.