Junior Olympics: Relays Coverage

March 12, 2011

Warm conditions Friday afternoon, followed by a cold front with strong winds and a little snow made for another difficult round of classic skiing as the Junior Olympic Championships wrapped up Saturday with the exciting three by three kilometer relays. The Midwest team saved their best for last, turning out some awesome performances: J2 boys pulled off a surprising victory, J1 boys with a strong leg from Minnesota high school champ Ben Saxton captured silver, and an overall solid performance from the OJ girls helped Jessie Diggins to cross the finish line first for the fourth time this week. Full results linked in, over 800 photos posted, and video recaps of all four relays.

Junior Olympics: Freestyle Coverage

March 11, 2011

After two days of temperatures just above freezing, the weather cooled off overnight and provided extremely fast conditions for the freestyle races at Wirth Friday for the Junior Olympic Championships. Another day of great performances: A number of the J2 boys posted sub 12 minute 5K times, Jessie Diggins was the only female to post a sub 12 in dominating the field, and even the J1/OJ boys managed to post 10K times under 24 minutes. Full results linked in and over 950 photos posted from the four races.

Junior Olympics: Classical Coverage

March 9, 2011

Light snow overnight and into the morning classical races, combined with temperatures edging above freezing, made for a frenzied day for the wax techs at the Junior Olympic Championships Wednesday. While there were some hard fought battles, most of the races were decided well before the finishing hill. In two of the most impressive victories, OJ winners David Sinclair and Jessie Diggins crushed their respective fields by the final lap to finish more than 30 seconds out front. Full results linked in, over 1200 photos posted, and video recaps from all the races but the J2 boys (sorry).

Junior Olympics: Sprints Coverage

March 7, 2011

The Junior Olympics racing got underway Monday with the sprint races at Theodore Wirth. A fresh 2.5" of snow overnight and mild temperatures slowed the course down some, but provided some great racing action. The Midwest squad had some impressive results including putting four J1 boys into the final and Jessie Diggins capture of the OJ girls title. Full results linked in, over 700 photos from the qualifiers posted, and video recaps of all the finals added.

Junior Olympics: Opening Ceremonies

March 6, 2011

The 2011 Junior Olympic Championships in Minneapolis got underway Sunday afternoon with opening ceremonies, held in the IDS Crystal Court in downtown Minneapolis. After the athletes paraded in from the skyways, a number of local dignitaries spoke, including Major R.T. Rybak (a skier himself), and MN Supreme Court Justice Alan Page, and there were musical numbers from the Hopkins drumline and the Rhythm Tap Dance Company. Racing action gets underway Monday with the freestyle sprints.

Junior Olympics Course Preview

March 1, 2011

We've put together a visual preview of the Junior Olympic race venue with over 40 photos from locations along the course, along with a map that highlights the hilly terrain.