February 04, 2015 (Almaty, Kazakhstan) – Day 2 of the FIS Junior World Championships got underway with the 5/10km FR interval start races. The skies stayed clear and sunny and temperatures warmed up to zero degrees on the hard-packed course featuring sharp technical corners. Team USA’s Katharine Ogden (USA) with Stratton Mountain led the North American women with a strong Worlds-debut 11th place finish, as Katherine Stewart-Jones from Nakkertok was next up for Canada in 25th.

Katharine Ogden (USA) ©USSA

Germany’s Victoria Carl (GER), the previous day’s junior women’s sprint winner, added another gold to her medal tally, while Russia swept the top four in the men’s event, with Alexey Chervotkin (RUS) taking top spot.

Other North American results include Anne-Marie Comeau (CAN) 39th, Annah Hanthorn (CAN) 44th, Maya McIssac-Jones 45th, Vivian Hett (USA) 46th, Kristen Bourne (USA) 51st, and Alayna Sonnesyn (USA) 56th.

Vivian Hett (USA) ©USSA

“Katharine was in the hunt the right from the get-go. The conditions for the women were quite firm and fast, while it started to break down just a little bit for the men,” said Team USA Junior Coach Matt Boobar.

“She did an excellent job of pacing the 5km. Katharine was tied for 11th at 2.5km and closed ground in the last couple 1.5km. It is really exciting to see her finish just 10 seconds out of the top six. An incredible result for her first ever Junior World race. We’re really looking forward to what the skiathlon brings,” Boobar continued.

Ian Torchia (USA) ©USSA

Stewart-Jones, 19, from Chelsea, Que., had her best distance result ever at the junior worlds. “Overall the athletes were happy with how their skis ran today,” said Lisa Patterson, high-performance development coordinator that is leading the team for Cross Country Canada. “The course was hard packed with lots of tight steep corners making for another technical course. We are looking for some strong results from our under-23 athletes tomorrow.”

The top North American man was Alexis Dumas in 30th. He was followed by American Ian Torchia (USA) in 35th, Phillipe Boucher (CAN) in 40th, Thomas O’Harra (USA) 49th, Zachary Cristofanilli (CAN) in 53rd, Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (CAN) 54th, and Team USA’ Thomas Bye (USA) and Gavin Hess (USA) in 69th and 76th, respectively.

Thomas O'Harra (USA) ©USSA

“It was certainly a great result for Katharine [Ogden] today and solid results for Ian Torchia and Thomas O’Harra,” added Boobar.

Gavin Hess (USA) ©USSA

Results
Men here
Women here