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It was a beautiful sunny day > + 6 deg. C., as the World Championships, skate, sprints got underway in Seefeld, Austria.
Canada had 3 women entered in the morning qualifier and Dahria Beatty was agonizingly close to qualifying, missing the 1/4 finals by .03 seconds, in 31st place. The top qualifier was Maya Dalqvist of Sweden, with Katherine Stewart-Jones 40th and Maya Macisaac-Jones 52nd.
Dahria Beatty. Nordic Focus photo
Alex Harvey qualified for the 1/4 finals with an 18th place finish. Lenny Valjas was 51st, Evan Palmer-Charrette 64th and Russell Kennedy didn't start due to illness.
Qualifying Results
Women Men
In the 1/4 finals Gleb Retivykh of Russia led out front with Sweden's Oskar Svensson in what was the slowest heat. Alex stuck near the back of the pack, keeping tabs on the leaders and conserving his energy.
As they reached the final hill Alex made a move into the top 3. He looked poised for a trademark sprint finish on the straightaway, but was unable to crack the top 2, finishing slightly back in 4th and missed out on the semis. Alex ended up 17th overall.
In the women's final, Maiken Falla of Norway dominated the women's race, with a win by 1.5 seconds, ahead of Sweden's Stina Nilsson. Nilsson had just come back from an injury in her last World Cup sprint in mid-January. Mari Eide of Norway was 3rd, with 3 Swede's making the final.
The men's final had an interesting prelude, after Johannes Klaebo of Norway was pushed at the finish by Sergey Ustiugov of Russia, all relating to some obstruction on the course where Ustiugov was assessed a yellow card.
In the final, the skiers almost slowed to a stop on the 2nd last hill, with nobody wanting to take the lead. On the final sprint Klaebo managed to stay ahead of Italy's Federico Pellegrino for the win.
Results:
Women Men
Next up on Saturday are the pursuit races, which are also expected to be streamed on CBC and Radio Canada.
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