By Gavin Kentch
Sammy Smith (Hailey, Idaho; USST/Sun Valley) led the way for the Americans on day one of 2025 World Junior Championships, placing fifth in the final of the classic sprint earlier Monday in Bergamo–Schilpario. Other Americans in the heats included Cole Flowers (Anchorage; UAF and Alaska Winter Stars) and Murphy Kimball (Anchorage; USST/UAF/Alaska Winter Stars), 15th and 26th in the men’s race, respectively, and Maeve Ingelfinger (Glacier, Montana; Dartmouth), 28th in the women’s race.
A total of four Americans per gender started today, reflecting the unofficial official policy of coach Greta Anderson and the U.S. Ski Team to fill all starts at these races. For the women, Sydney Drevlow (USSS just says “Twin Cities”; she’s at Hopkins HS so I’m guessing Minnetonka specifically, but don’t quote me on that; Loppet Nordic Racing) and Neve Gerard (Bend; University of Utah and Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation) were 37th and 38th in qualifying. For the men, Justin Lucas (Anchorage; APU) was 42nd and Grey Barbier (Steamboat Springs; Montana State and SSWSC) was 45th.
You can watch the women’s final here (all videos in this article are cued to the correct spot):
In a race with four Norwegians and two North Americans (Smith was joined in the final by Alison Mackie of Canada), Smith may not have taken a single stride until the 65-second mark, doublepoling up the course’s first climb and readily staying in contact with the pack. But a slight tangle around a bend cost both athletes, as three Norwegians began to pull away into a downhill.
Mackie had scant kickwax and rode fast skis to ultimately come almost all the way back, missing a medal by 0.05 seconds in a finish-line lunge. Smith was in contact but just slightly out of reach, finishing 0.99 seconds back of Smith and 1.04 seconds off the podium.
Malin Hoelsveen of Norway took the win, one of five Norwegian podiums on the first day of racing.
I don’t have full narrations of the three other American heats for you today, a fact that has very much to do with my life and kid commitments on a busy Monday and nothing to do with a lack of regard for the other athletes discussed here. But I have cued the videos up for you to save you from poring through them to find the relevant start times, which is not nothing slash honestly probably the most helpful thing I can do here.
Here’s Maeve Ingelfinger, sixth in women’s quarterfinal three (ft. a bonus appearance from Smith, who also raced in this heat):
Here’s Cole Flowers, third in men’s quarterfinal five:
And here’s Murphy Kimball, sixth in men’s quarterfinal four after a heartbreaking stumble out of the starting gates left him burning a lot of matches in the first thirty seconds to catch back up with the field:
Racing continues tomorrow with the U23 classic sprint. This week is stressful for the athletes, to be sure, but spare a thought for the coaches and service staff who have a championship race every single day here this week. Two on relay day.
Full replay (free; well done FIS)
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in years one and two of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year three of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter to American cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, last season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
