BC Athletes & the 2021 World Junior/U23 Championships (Feb 11) »

2021 FIS World Junior/U23 Championships

Vuokatti, Finland
February 9 – 14, 2021

For those that are interested in watching the Championships live, here is the live stream link: https://www.oz.com/jwsc2021.  It is pay per view. 6.99€ per race or 17.99 € for the whole event.  There is a good chance https://tv.nrk.no/programmer/sport  will post it later, for free.

Feb 11th, 2021 – U23 Classic Sprint

Today was the U23 classic sprint race which is the first and last official sprint race for most of the Canadian athletes!  Initially the event was scheduled for yesterday, but it was postponed until today because of cold weather!  Thankfully, it warmed up a few degrees today so the race could go on, although it was still a frigid -19!

Three U23 women from BC competed in the 1.1km event, Hannah Mehain, Annika Richardson and myself, Elizabeth Elliott.  Annika had a speedy qualifier and skied into 26th place, gaining her a spot in the heats, where she placed 5th in her the heat and 24th overall. Hannah and Elizabeth placed 37th and 50th respectively with the third Canadian female athlete, Shaylynn Lowen, placing 44.

Remi Drolet was the only U23 athlete from BC competing in the 1.4km Men’s classic race. He had a great qualifier placing 21st and securing himself a place in the heats. Remi finished 6th in his heat and finished 28th overall!

Tomorrow both U20s and U23s will race a 5km/10km/ 15km skate interval start race!  The temperature is supposed to warm up to a balmy -16, which is the warmest it’s been all week.  Jasmine Drolet and Alexandra Luxmoore will race first in a 5km event, with Joe Davis racing his 10km next!  Then Beth Granstrom, Annika Richardson, Hannah Mehain and Elizabeth Elliott will race their 10km.  Remi Drolet will end the day with his 15km event. This will be the final individual event for the U23s but the U20s will still have their 15km mass start after the relay day.

It is super exciting to be racing here in Finland, and there is so much to learn by competing against the top U23/U20 skiers! There haven’t been any opportunities to really compete in Canada this year so all us BC athletes have been trying to take advantage of the situation and make BC proud!  Head to https://www.oz.com/jwsc2021  to follow the results of the BC athletes!

By Elizabeth Elliott

 

Feb 9th, 2021 – Junior Classic Sprint

A cold but fun day racing!  

Today was the junior classic sprint and the first day of racing here in Vuokatti.  Unfortunately there weren’t any U20 women from Canada that qualified for the heats, but Tom and Olivier qualified in the men’s category.  I finished in 31st and was 0.03 seconds from 30th.  I was disappointed to just miss top 30, but still happy with myself as I have never been so close to the heats before.  After my qualifier, I got to go watch Tom and Olivier race the heats.  In the end, Olivier finished in 25th and Tom finished in 12th.  Joe Davies finished in 48th and Alexandra Luxmoore finished in 55th.

There are some more great days of racing to come!

By Molly Miller

Additional Reports & Photos:

  1. http://www.crosscountrybc.ca/bc-athletes-2021-world-junioru23-championships-feb-4
  2. http://www.crosscountrybc.ca/bc-athletes-2021-world-junioru23-championships-feb-8

 

BC Athletes on the Canadian Team:

Juniors:

Joe Davies (Whistler Nordic Ski Club, Whistler)
Jasmine Drolet (Black Jack Cross Country Ski Club, Rossland)
Molly Miller (Black Jack Cross Country Ski Club, Kimberley)
Alexandra Luxmoore (Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club, Revelstoke)

U23s:

Elizabeth Elliott (Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club, Revelstoke)
Hannah Mehain (Sovereign Lake Nordic Club, Vernon)
Rémi Drolet (Black Jack Cross Country Ski Club, Rossland)
Annika Richardson (Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club, North Vancouver)
Beth Granstrom (Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club, Revelstoke)