Men’s Relay
Russia, France and Sweden led out the classic portion of the Men’s 4x5km relay, while Norway and Finland appeared to struggle. Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (CAN) led out the Canadian squad, starting three rows back and moving up into the top few spots by a bit of a circuitous skiing at the start.

As the leg progressed, Izquierdo-Bernier was joined by Sweden, who took over the lead, along with the Russians and a few other nations. On a downhill, just before the stadium, Norway and Germany tangled and fell. Fortunately, Izquierdo-Bernier made his way past them safely and was sixth at the 2.5km mark, 4s from the lead. The USA’s Adam Martin was also in the mix sitting in 9th.

Martin handed off to Lars Hannah in 9th at the 5km mark while Izquierdo-Bernier was just behind handing off to Alexis Dumas (CAN) in 10th, at 5s from sixth. Russia was in the lead just ahead of France. At the halfway way mark of the race, Canada had slipped to 13th, skiing just ahead of the U.S. in 14th with Estonia 10s ahead.

Russia’s Evgeniy Vakhrushev (RUS) attacked directly after the changeover from classic to skate, with the France’s Jules Lapierre (FRA) right on his heels. Johan Hoel (NOR) took over third as he caught and passed Sweden’s Marcus Ruus (SWE) who was clearly in difficulty.

Scott James Hill (CAN), who skied the third leg for Canada, had a strong race, quickly catching 11th-place Estonia. Soon it was Estonia, U.S. (Thomas O’Hara) and Canada skiing together but then Hill increased the pace, losing the other two skiers and starting to make inroads on Germany’s Christian Stiebritz in 10th.

On the last tag for the final leg Russia, France and Norway were all together and so the cat and mouse game began to see who would take gold began. Sweden’s Oskar Svensson dangled behind in 4th trying to bridge in vain.

At the final handoff Canada’s Hill tagged Ben Wilkinson-Zan in 11th, with a chase group 20s back consisting of Austria, Slovenia and the USA’s Patrick Caldwell. By the halfway point on the lap, they were skiing together, minus Austria, and then Slovenia’s Miha Simenc moved on leaving Caldwell in 12th with Wilkinson-Zan just behind in 13th.

Alexey Chervotkin (RUS) and Jean Tiberghien (FRA) battled each other for the lead as Norway’s Eirik Sverdrup Augdal sat in 3rd conserving his energy. The pace at times slowed down allowing Sweden a glimmer of hope but the leaders were not going to let anyone spoil the party.

In the last 1.5km as he sensed his rivals were tiring, it was Augdal’s turn to show his cards. He launched an attack at the end of a long uphill drag, catching both Chervotkin and Tiberghien by surprise, suddenly putting them under a lot of pressure. While his breakaway was shortlived the move forced the Russian and the Frenchman to react and re-challenge as Chervotkin took the lead again.

Over the final roller coming into the finishing sprint, Augdal took the best line on the inside lane and caught and passed Chervotkin as Tiberghien took the outside lane. Augdal seized the moment and the gold medal as Chervotkin was clearly spent letting up near the line it seemed when he realized the gold was lost. As Tiberghien passed him on the outside he was too late to recover as he forfeited the silver and ended up with the bronze.

In the end Team USA finished 12th just ahead of Canada in 13th as Caldwell clocked the 5th fastest time.

Results here.

In the junior women’s race, Russia led the first leg, but Sweden put up a strong challenge with Sofia Henriksson (SWE). Canada’s Frédérique Vézina and the USA’s Nichole Bathe were their teams respective lead off skiers, and like many others, were unable to match the early pace. Coming through the halfway way mark it was Canada in 11th with the U.S. in 12th at 30s behind the leaders.

By the exchange, Canada was still in 11th and the USA was 12th at 24s behind 10th placed Italy. Dahria Beatty (CAN) skied the second classic leg for Canada puting out a great effort, logging the seventh fastest time and pulling Canada back up to ninth. The USA’s Marion Woods also skied well placing 9th overall on the stage but the team remained in 12th. At the exchange, Canada was just ahead of Italy and 8s behind Belarus while at the front Russia and Sweden were skiing together in the hunt for gold.

By the beginning of the skating legs, Sweden was a few metres in front of Russia, while Norway was tried to make up ground. Anne-Marie Comeau (CAN) skied the third leg for Canada, while Stephanie Kirk went to work for the US. Comeau managed to track down Belarus, but she was overtaken by Slovenia and Italy, leaving the Canadians 10th at the exchange with the Americans just behind in 11th.

At the final exchange Natalia Nepryaeva (RUS) started off with a 10s advantage over Jonna Sundling (SWE). But on this last leg, Sundling proved to be untouchable and was able to catch and put a gap into the Russian, while Norway’s, Lotta Weng (NOR), stayed comfortably in the bronze medal position.

Katherine Stewart-Jones (CAN) skied the anchor leg for Canada, but was unable to close the gap to ninth. She brought home a 10th place Canadian finish, three spots better than at the 2013 World Juniors. Team USA’s Sloan Storey had the 13th fastest time as the team finished up in 12th spot.

With 4 golds, 2 silvers and 8 bronze medals Norway was crowned as the winning team at these FIS Nordic Jr& U23 World Ski Championships, ahead of Russia (3, 4, 4) and Austria (3, 2, 2).

At the end of today’s races the FIS flag was lowered. The next Nordic Junior and U23 World Ski Championships are going to be hosted in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Results here.