January 12, 2019 (Dresden, GER) – The USA’s Sophie Caldwell finished 5th in the women’s 1.6km FR city sprint World Cup in Dresden on Saturday as Stina Nilsson led a Swedish podium sweep with Maja Dahlquist in second and Jonna Sundling in third.

Canada’s Dahria Beatty made her first World Cup heats of the season ending up 16th as she edged out American Julia Kern at the line in their quarterfinal as Kern ended up 19th.

Caldwell, who qualified second behind Sweden’s Hannah Falk, told Trax, “Today was a long, flat course with a big headwind as you headed out of the stadium each lap, so my strategy was to conserve energy for the first lap and try position myself well with fresh legs for the second lap.

“This worked quite well in my quarter and semi, but in the final I was bopping around not quite in the draft at the beginning of the second lap and definitely lost my legs a bit for the last half of the lap. That said, it’s always a good day when you make it into the final, and these long courses used to be a challenge for me, so I was really happy to ski into the final with confidence. Also really awesome to have some of our D Team girls here and have Julia get a top 20! I’m really proud of them all and it should be a fun day of team sprinting tomorrow,” she concluded.

Beatty was all smiles making the heats. “I am really happy to have made my first World Cup heats of the season. The course was fast especially compared to training yesterday. It was a lot of high speed two skate skiing and continuous work which I really like. We had awesome skis today, the techs did a great job. I really enjoyed racing here in Dresden, city sprinting is a ton of fun.

“I am happy with how the day went, 16th is one of my best ever World Cup results. I would have loved to make the semis and was pretty close today but I will keep chasing that goal. My skis were amazing and the atmosphere was great, I made a few small mistakes tactically in my heat but hopefully I can have another shot next weekend in Otepaa,” said Beatty.

“The course was salted so it was rock hard, fast, and a bit icy. The course had some small rollers and random bumps which made it a course that required some balance in those conditions. My skis felt really awesome out there,” Kern told Trax.

“I went out conservatively the first lap since it was a 2-lap sprint course with very little rest. I felt like the second lap my body was able to wake up and turn on the race gear to lay down a fast second lap. I am really stoked to have qualified, especially with my family (my parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle) here watching and cheering for me! Germany feels like home with my whole family living here and the atmosphere is really cool in Dresden.

“In the heats I went in with confidence and skied in second most of the way, sitting in the draft since there was strong head wind. I am really happy today and I am psyched to be racing with Sophie tomorrow in my first team sprint ever,” added Kern.

American Hailey Swirbul at her first World Cup told us, “The course was fast and in good shape this morning, but squirrelly compared to the slushy pre race skiing on Friday. My first World Cup was exciting and intimidating, but I did my best for the day. The coaches made amazing skis for us today and overall I was happy with the experience. I hope to have another chance at World Cup racing now that I know a bit about what it’s like. Thank you to everyone who has helped me get here and believed in me. I will not be racing the team sprint tomorrow, but will be cheering on my teammates and wishing them good luck.”

Fellow American Hannah Halvorsen also at her first WCup was equally on cloud nine…”I had a blast racing my first world cup weekend. I am happy about how things turned out because I put down two really solid races for me and didn’t make any big rookie mistakes. While I am grateful things went smoothly, it was a wake up call of how many things I have to learn. Especially racing in the team sprint, my inexperience became apparent where one or two people would somehow pass me on every turn or transition. I would have to work hard to regain my position, and I learned how important it is to hold your line. In both races I learned the importance of working every section, and how easy it is to lose time by not accelerating out of a corner or not pushing hard enough over hills, etc. I loved getting to see how well the US world cup coaches and athletes work together and was beyond excited to take a part in it. Thank you to everyone who made this possible for me,” shared Halvorsen.

Qualifications here.
Final results here.