February 01, 2011 (Nove Mesto, Czech Republic) – Canada’s Scott Gow led the North American charge for the second straight day at the Youth and Junior Biathlon World Championships posting back-to-back 16th-place finishes.

Maxim Tsvetkov (RUS) earned the world title in the youth men’s 7.5km pursuit over Norway’s Vetle Sjastad Christansen in second while Tsvetkov’s team mate Alexandr Loginov was third. Johannes Kuhn (GER) seized the victory in the junior men’s 10km race,  with Ludwig Ehrhart (FRA) second and Tom Barth (GER) third.

Gow, a 20-year-old Calgarian, held his position in the pursuit competition. He missed three shots in his final two of four rounds of shooting at the range to clock a time of 37 minutes 27.7 seconds in the junior men’s 12.5-kilometre race. Fellow Canuck Vincent Blais finished 52nd.

Team USA’s Raileigh Goessling finished 53rd while team mate Eathan Dreissigacher (USA) took 56th.

Tsvetkov Wins Youth Men’s Title
Tsvetkov won the youth men’s 10km pursuit, his second World title. Vetle Sjastad Christiansen (NOR) was 30.3s behind for the silver medal, while Alexandr Loginov (RUS) took the bronze, only 32.7s off the win.

Stuart Harden (CAN) made up 21 spots in the standings with a strong pursuit race and finished 23rd with a time of 32:47.0. Christian Gow (CAN) also put in a solid effort, finishing 27th (33:02.7), while Macx Davies dropped to 29th at 33:06.2. Sean Doherty (USA) finished 37th with team mate Casey Smith (USA) in 54th.

Youth Results HERE.
Junior Results HERE.

February 01, 2011 (Nove Mesto, Czech Republic) – Ekaterina Zubova (RUS) won the youth women’s 7.5km pursuit, while the junior women’s 10km pursuit saw Italy’s Dorothea Wierer strike gold ahead of Russia’s Aleksandra Alikina and Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier in second and third, respectively.

Wierer led from start to finish, but the final standing shooting stage came down to the wire with Alikina. Wierer missed one shot, but her Russian competitor missed three, giving Wierer the advantage.

Audrey Vaillancourt (CAN) scored the top North American performance with 32nd place and only two shooting penalties. Canadian team mates Emma Lunder and Yolaine Oddou finished 38th and 39th, respectively. Grace Boutot (USA) took 42nd spot with five shooting penalties, with team mate Corrine Malcolm (USA) not far behind in 46th.

Zubova Tops Youth Podium Again
Zubova was followed by Anais Chevalier (FRA) in second and Elena Badanina (RUS) in third for a carbon-copy podium from yesterday’s sprint competition.

Kelly Kjorlien (USA) only had three shooting faults and logged the best North American result in the youth women’s race, placing 26th. Canada’s Rose-Marie Cote finished 39th with Sarah Beaudry (CAN) right behind in 40th. Julia Ransom (CAN) placed 47th, Danielle Vrielink (CAN) was 51st, Carla Wynn (USA) took 52nd, and Tara Geraghty-Moats (USA) was 57th.

Youth Women’s Results HERE.
Junior Women’s Results HERE.

January 30, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – If you looked closely at today’s results for both men and women at the World Junior Championships in Estonia, Sunday was a fine day for the young junior skiers coming from Germany that is rebuilding its program – the men’s event especially so.

Joining the exclusive club of world junior winners was Germany’s Markus Weeger who took the gold medal in the 10km+10km Pursuit event and finished with a lead of 19.5 seconds over runner up Konstantin Kuleev of Russia. The talented Perttu Hyvarinen of Finland scored the bronze medal with a brilliant skating leg. Weeger’s time was 53:31.1.

The top North Americans in the field were Andy Shields of Canada in 31st in 56:29.0, with the USA’s Scott Patterson in 35th in 56:40.0.

Weeger, who skis for the strong and long-respected Nordic club in Hirschau, has had an impressive week indeed, winning silver as well at this week’s JWC in the 10km free race.

As the race got underway the field remained close together for nearly the entire 10km classic leg. About 20 athletes came into the exchange zone with nearly the same time.

In the first loop of the 3.3km skating leg Weeger tested his opponents daring them to match his tempo, and on the second loop he attacked on an uphill and no one was able to respond to his torrid pace. He continued to build precious seconds all the way to the finish line to take the win.

The battle for second and third was another matter entirely. Thomas Wick (GER) tried to make a break and was chased down, while Slovenian Rok Trsan pushed the pace as well. Then the Finn Hyvarinen moved up and gained ground, settling into a battle with Russian Kullev. At the finish Kuleev had just enough left to take second.

Weeger told the FIS Press Service that he felt very good today. “The wind was very strong, but the race was amazing. The win was a surprise for me, I didn’t (really) understand how I won. I didn’t have any tactics for this race. I just wanted to see, how does it go and now I am a champion.”

Rounding out the North American finishers included Russ Kennedy (CAN) in 42nd, George Cartwright (USA) in 43rd, Andrew Dougherty (USA) in 51st, Tyler Kornfield (USA) in 56th and Canada’s Jordan Cascagnette in 70th. Patrick Stewart-Jones did not finish for Canada.

Full results HERE.

January 29, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – The powerful Olympic silver medalist from Vancouver, Alexander Panzhinskiy (RUS), was dominant today in Otepää and took the gold medal in the men’s 1.4km U23 sprint classic picking up where he left off last season on the tracks at Whistler Olympic Park.

Panzhinskiy was strongest in the qualifications but the Canadian men loomed large, especially so with Hardwood’s Len Valjas, perhaps the tallest international skier of the day, with an impressive second behind the Russian. What’s more Jess Cockney qualified on the bubble in 30th, only a scant .21 seconds of being out of the big show. The lanky Valjas brings to mind images of the 1960s Norwegian star Harald Gronningen, a giant of the sport for Norway who had five OWG medals.

Timo Andre Bakken of Norway finished second and secured the silver medal. Magnus Moholt of Norway was fighting hard in the finishing straight with Dietmar Noeckler of Italy but Moholt edged out the Italian and captured bronze.

Overall it was a great day for the Canucks with Cockney of Canmore and Valjas, who hails from both Estonian and Swedish heritage, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. Looking back a year ago, Valjas was sixth in the U23 Championships in France. The top American today was Fairbanks, Alaska’s Reese Hanneman in 24th, who went out after the quarterfinals after qualifying in 29th. Canada’s Michael Somppi (CAN) did not start.

Following the race SkiTrax spoke with Valjas who commented about his race. “I felt Super good today out there. It was hard to get by the leaders in the heat because there was only one good glazed track to ski in, around the course. The rest of the tracks got completely filled in with windblown snow from the 40km/h wind. In my semi I came into the last 200 meters with the leaders, but I was forced into the very left lane which no one had skied in all day and it was filled with snow. I really didn’t have any other option out there. I had to break trail in the final sprint while the other guy beside me skied in a fast glazed track. I am very disappointed with my result today. I had the fitness to finish top 3 today, but ran into some bad luck.”

Cockney, who was second in his quarter final round losing out to Russian speed king Panzhinskiy, advanced to the final via a fast semi taking one of the lucky losers spots. SkiTrax caught up with the elated Canuck post race.

“Today was a mix of very different feelings for me and thankfully it ended with pure joy,” said Cockney. “I skied very poorly in the qualifications and I consider myself very lucky to have even made the heats. From then on I felt like I was playing with house money and figured the best thing to do was relax and ski my ass off in the heats.

“I am generally a smart heat skier and my goal is always to move higher in position than my qualifying result. This worked out and I was able to move from 30th qualifier to 6th overall on the day. This is a very new feeling for me as the last time I qualified for heats in Europe was two seasons ago in a German OPA race. Needless to say I’m ecstatic with how the day ended and I am already looking forward to next season and doing what I can to put up a better fight in the A final,” added Cockney, who skis out of the Foothills Nordic Ski Club.

Canadian coach Eric de Nys was happy with his young racers. “A great day for us today. Jesse had strength, speed and LUCK on his side today. He had a very strong quarter final just being nipped at the line by the Olympic silver medalist Panzhinskiy. Then in his semi, a Swedish athlete was DQ’d for a technique violation which moved Jess up to 4th. His semi ended up being quicker than semi number 2 in which Len placed third but lost the lucky loser spot to Jesse. Len had an amazing qualifier and first heat that he won easily.

“In his semi the cards didn’t fall Lenny’s way with two places on the track where he was forced to ski, not by choice. The clutch was the finishing stretch where Len was forced into the third track which no one had skied all day. He was strong enough to hold his own but not strong enough to get by and with the wind and falling snow, this track was a clear disadvantage but overall still a good day,” de Nys told SkiTrax.

Qualifications HERE.
Final Results HERE.