Notes
Katherine Stewart-Jones skied to 25th place in the junior women’s five-kilometre skate-ski race at the Nordic Junior World Skiing Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Wednesday (Feb. 4).
The 19 year old had her best distance result ever at junior worlds, holding a steady pace throughout the day to finish with a time of 14 minutes, 31.9 seconds on the highly technical track.
Stewart-Jones finished just over one minute back of the golden pace set by back-to-back junior women’s winner Victoria Carl of Germany. Carl clocked a time of 13:26.9. Russia grabbed the next two spots on the podium. Anastasia Sedova was second at 13:32.2, while Natalia Nepryaeva finished third with a time of 13:32.8.
Three other Canadians hit the start line in the women’s race. Battling back from a cold over the last week, Anne-Marie Comeau, of St.-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., was the next best Canadian in 39th spot (14:50.1). Comeau was skiing into the top-15 for most of the first half of the course, but faded while heading home to the finish line. Annah Hanthorn of Whitehorse was 44th (15:02.7), and Maya MacIsaac-Jones, of Athabasca, Alta., placed 45th (15:03.5).
Quebec’s Alexis Dumas snagged the final spot in the top-30 in the junior men’s 10-kilometre skate-ski race. Dumas, 19, posted a time of 25:45.7.
Russians swept the top-four spots in the junior men’s standings. Alexey Chervotkin was first at 23:36.4, while Denis Spitsov skied to the silver medal at 23:52.3 and Alexander Bakanov completed the podium sweep with a time of 24:10.8.
Other junior Canadian male results included: Philippe Boucher, of Levis, Que., in 40th (26:00.8); Zachary Cristofanilli, of Orford, Que., was 53rd (26:26.3) and Montreal’s Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier placed 54th (26:29.2) in the 84-man field.
“Overall, the athletes were happy with how their skis ran today,” said Lisa Patterson, high-performance development coordinator 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.”
