By Gavin Kentch
This is a reader-funded website. Virtually all of my income (for perspective: I took home less than $5,000 from Nordic Insights last year after paying staff) comes from reader contributions, which I sincerely appreciate. If you would like to support the site, including helping us get to the Olympics in February, you may do so here. Thank you.
Tuesday morning brought the first day of racing at 2026 World U23 Championships in Lillehammer. The U.S. put all four women, and two out of four men, into the heats today.
Once they were there, Sammy Smith had the best final result on the afternoon, going out a narrow third in her semifinal, the day’s slower of the two, to place seventh overall. Ava Thurston also reached the semis, finishing 9th overall. Going out in the quarterfinals were Haley Brewster, 13th on the day, and Nina Schamberger, 28th.
Here are some photos of the women. All pictures today, and all week long, are courtesy of Steve Fuller, @flyingpoint on Instagram and online here.
Sammy Smith:
Ava Thurston:
Haley Brewster:
Nina Schamberger:
Max Kluck and Fin Bailey led the way in the heats for the men today. They each went out in their quarterfinal, placing 27th and 29th overall, respectively. Here are Kluck and Bailey:
Behind them, Owen Young was 35th in the qual, and Anders Weiss 43rd. And here they are:
And two more general shots because it is a shame not to share more of Steve’s work when you have it:
Finally, you may view a replay of the entire day here.
Racing continues at the venue tomorrow with the World Juniors 20km mass start skate. Result highlights and photos on this site. I’m on family vacation after the Games so that is realistically the feasible extent of coverage here, sorry.
Thanks again to Steve Fuller for the amazing photos. This week is a pillar project of NNF, in case you are curious where your Drive for 25 donations go. Go team.
