January 30, 2016 (Cheile Gradistei, Romania) – The USA’s Sean Doherty nabbed his second medal of the week in the Junior Men’s 10km Sprint while his teammate Maddie Phaneuf scored her second top-10 finish in the Junior Women’s 7.5km Sprint at the 2016 IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Romania on Saturday.

Men's 10km Sprint podium © Nordic Focus

Day 4 saw early morning heavy fog give way to blue and sunny skies as Austria’s Felix Leitner took the men’s victory with one penalty. Doherty, with two penalties, was just 8.7 seconds behind Leitner when he left standing, but could not reduce the gap finishing 11.5 seconds back. This was his ninth individual award at the Youth/Junior World Championships, making him the all-time leader in that category.

“Today’s race was a great sprint for me,” said Doherty. “I felt really good on the skis and I was able to ski the aggressive type of race that I want to. I’m looking forward to the pursuit.” Germany’s David Zobel’s one penalty helped him to claim the bronze at 39.3 seconds back of Leitner.

Sean Doherty © Nordic Focus

The top Canadian was Matt Strum in 37th also with two penalties. Pearce Hanna (Can) was 48th, Aidan Miller (Can) was 55th, Paul Everett (USA) was 62nd, Alex Dupuis (Can) was 69th, Travis Cooper (USA) finished 86th, and Brian Halligan (USA) was 92nd.

Hanna Oeberg of Sweden won the gold with clean shooting while Switzerland’s Lena Haecki missed first place by a mere 0.6 seconds with two penalties. Oeberg’s teammate, Anna Magnusson, had a single penalty to win the bronze medal at 2.4 seconds back.

Phaneuf had just one penalty on the shooting range in the 67-woman field at 36.9s back. Leilani Tam Von Burg was the top Canadian in 28th with one penalty at 2:18.8 behind. Siena Ellingson (USA) was 48th, Kendall Chong (Can) was 51st, Charlotte Hamel was 62nd and CAMPBELL Caitlin Campbell (Can) DNS.

Junior men’s sprint results here.
Junior women’s sprint results here.