YOG: Halvorsen Sixth in Classic Sprint

LILLEHAMMER, Norway (Feb. 16, 2016) – The second event of the Youth Olympic Winter Games was a 1.3k classic sprint where USA’s Hannah Halvorsen (Truckee, CA) and Hunter Wonders (Anchorage, AK) finished sixth and 15th, respectively.

“We had ideal conditions for a classic sprint, cold hard tracks and sunshine,” said coach Adam St. Pierre. “Hannah and Hunter both moved up from their qualification positions and had two very good results. We are looking forward to racing again on Thursday with the longer skate races.”

Hannah Halvorsen competes in in the 1.3k sprint classic at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, Lillehammer Norway, Tuesday. (YIS/IOC-Thomas Lovelock)

In the women’s sprint, Sweden’s Johanna Hagstroem dominated the sprints all the way through to the finals. Hagstroem stole first from Russia’s Yuliya Petrova by just 2.40 seconds, followed by Norway’s Martine Engebretsen who finished third.

Halvorsen started out the day strong, qualifying 13th and advancing to the quarterfinals. After winning her quarterfinal heat, Halvorsen moved on to the semifinals and then advanced to the finals where she finished sixth overall. In the final heat, Halvorsen was up against the girls who qualified first, second, sixth, fifth and seventh which made for a very competitive heat.

“Today was a really fun race for a bunch of reasons,”  Halvorsen said. “Both Hunter and I had great races and family alongside the course to cheer us on. I appreciate all the hard work the coaches have put in for us and I am pumped to for our next race on Thursday!”

In the men’s sprint, Norway’s Thomas Larsen edged Korea’s Magnus Kim for first by 0.33 seconds followed by Norway’s Vebjoern Hegdal who finished third.

Wonders was able to advance to the quarterfinal heats after qualifying 29th. In the quarterfinal heats Wonders narrowly missed advancing to the semifinals after a photo finish against Czech Republic’s Adam Matous for second. Unfortunately, Matous lunged a little further, taking Wonders out from advancing to the semifinals. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Youth Olympic Winter Games competition continues Thursday, February 18, with a 10/5k freestyle race.
• Youth Olympic Winter Games events will be streamed live on Youtube.com/Olympics.
• This is the second installment of the Winter Youth Olympic Games and will feature over 1,100 young athletes aged 15-18 competing in winter events.

QUOTES

Adam St. Pierre- Youth Olympic Games U.S. Coach 
We had ideal conditions for a classic sprint, cold hard tracks and sunshine. Hannah and Hunter both moved up from their qualification positions and had two very good results. We are looking forward to racing again on Thursday with the longer skate races.

RESULTS
Men’s 1.3k Classic Sprint
Ladies 1.3k Classic Sprint