January 24, 2019 (Lahti, Finland) – Gus Schumacher capped a stellar day for Team USA only 0.2 seconds from winning bronze in the junior men’s 30km Classic mass start in a thrilling finish sprint to the line that saw him take 4th as he continued his success after placing 6th at the men’s 10km FR on Tuesday at the FIS Junior Worlds in Finland.

Canada’s Remi Drolet, 18, was also near the front of the race until the end finishing strong in 7th. American Ben Ogden solidified another top spot for the U.S with his 10th-place finish, as teammate Luke Jager took 13th, and Jonny Hagenbuch was 17th. Canada’s Sam Hendry finished 20th, Tom Stephen skied to 23rd and Pierrick Sarthou was 46th.

“I was pretty tired going into today but this morning I felt better and got a lot of energy when I saw how well the girls did. Definitely was kind of a crazy race in that it didn’t break up much at all, but it was super cool to have all the boys at the front for a lot of the race. It started to break up in the last 2km when people started to go, and I didn’t have a lot in the tank but I was able to hang in the top 4 but just didn’t have quite enough double pole speed in the finish, yet still so proud of the whole team today,” said Schumacher.

Italy’s Luca Del Fabbro took the overall win in the action-packed race, while Norway’s Haavard Moseby edged out Switzerland’s Cyril Faehndrich at the line for the silver medal.

“This is incredible. I’m super stoked,” beamed Drolet, who lives in Rossland, B.C. “It just feels great to come here and start with a solid result and build throughout the week and have my best finish in the final individual race of the event.”

In the Junior Women’s 15km classic event, American Kendall Kramer also had a stellar performance racing to 4th overall. Teammate Novie Mccabe also finished strong in 10th, as Mara McCollor was the next U.S women crossing the line in 24th. Jasmine Drolet was the top Canadian in 36th.

Sweden’s Frida Karlsson won handily to take the final women’s individual gold medal. Norway’s Helene Marie Fossesholm finished at 52.1 seconds back in second for the silver while Finland’s Anita Korva took the bronze.

Men’s results here.
Women’s results here.