The Telemark Junior World Championships closes in Krvavec (SLO)
Feb 20, 2019·Telemark
The Junior World Championships returned this weekend in Krvavec (SLO) running alongside the FIS World Cup. Gold medals would be decided in the classic, parallel sprint, sprint and team events.
Starting on Thursday the classic was first up to be decided. Chole Blyth of France returned looking to be crowned a double World Champion in the classic discipline after winning last year in Mürren Switzerland.
The classic did not disappoint at the ladies raced hard for the first gold medal of the event. The podium positions all finished within a second of each other with Blyth coming out on top. Blyth skied into top position beating Germany’s Anne Katharina Kessler by 0.36 seconds as she finished in silver medal position. Finishing exactly one second behind Blyth was Norway’s Andrea Frisken Haugen.
Continuing the theme of tight finishes and a French winner and also defending his title was Noe Claye. Claye took his second Junior World Championship gold medal as he beat French teammate Theo Sillon by 0.31 seconds. Germany’s Louis Uber finished in bronze medal position.
Next up for the junior athlete’s was the team parallel sprint. This would see nations compete in teams three athletes against one another on a parallel sprint course best out of three wins. Such is the strength in depth for some nations such as France, Germany and Norway they submitted two teams to try and win the gold.
The final would see France 1 go up against Norway 1. Blythe continued her dominant form as she won her first race. Sillon also won his race for France giving them the title with a race to spare. Completing the race in style giving France the clean sweep was Adrien Etievent won his race. France would miss out on two of their teams being on the podium as they lost out to Germany in the small final. It would go down to the last race, but Christoph Frank held his nerve and secured the bronze for Germany.
The crowd’s favourite was next the parallel sprint was to be competed for on Saturday, with more exciting racing to had. In the women’s race the gold went to Norway’s as she also defended her title, she won last year as she beat Kessler in the big final. In the small final it was an all-German final between Antonia Kneller and Berit Junger. Kneller thought she won the bronze after overtaking Junger on the skate only to be disqualified moments after crossing line meaning Junger would take the bronze home.
The big final in the men’s see Etievent and Frank go head to head for the gold. Approaching the jump both athletes were level carrying some serious speed but Etivent was unable to keep control and land as he spun out leaving Frank to complete the course solo and pick up the gold. To decide the bronze, it would be Kishu Anada of Japan against Kristian Lauvik Gjelstand from Norway. The race almost saw a potentially dangerous crash as Anada lost control and was swept across the course almost taking out Gjelstand. Gjelstand was able to avoid Anada and carried on completing the course to win bronze.
Last to be decided in the Junior World Championships was the sprint discipline. Last year in Mürren Norway managed to complete a clean sweep in the ladies' race. This would not be repeated but a dominant French team would again take gold along with a silver. Julie Bourbon aged 17 won her first Junior World Championship by over four seconds with teammate Blyth in silver. Norway’s Haugen picked up her second bronze medal of the championships after getting her first in the classic.
In the men’s sprint it would be a repeat to the women’s race a French gold and silver with a bronze for Norway. Picking up his second gold Junior World Championship in Slovenia was Sillon. After being part of a successful French team in the team event Sillon was able to French teammate Claye by over four seconds. Much like in the parallel sprint Gjelstand was able to finish third and pick up his second bronze medal of the championships.
The athlete’s now have a break from the racing before they head to Rjukan Norway for the FIS Telemark World Championships which will take place between the 20th-23rd March.
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