Scott Hill on Friday punched his ticket to Romania with a second-place finish in the senior men’s 15-kilometre sprint at the Haywood NorAm World Junior/Under 23 trials at Lappe Nordic Ski Centre.
Hill, a native of Toronto, crossed the line 31.6 seconds behind Alberta’s Kevin Sandau, the circuit leader heading into the four-day event.
However Sandau, born in 1988, was not eligible in the U23 category.
“This is just the first step in having a good race at the U23 championships,” Hill said. “Now that I’ve qualified, I can put all my attention to focusing on that.”
That means a lot more work, he added.
“I have two more Canadian NorAm races that I’ll do and then go over to Romania at the end of February,” Hill said.
The 39th of 42 skiers to start the race, Hill said beginning the competition at the back of the pack was actually beneficial.
“I know this course really well and I knew that I would have to pace it off the start really well,” he said. “I started after a lot of the fast skiers, so I knew where I was in the field and kind of how it was going to play out.
“It’s good because it provides that extra motivation. If I need to find that extra couple of seconds to make up a place, I know that’s what I need to do.”
Alberta’s Brian McKeever finished in the bronze-medal position, with Quebec’s Alexis Dumas placing fourth and National Development Centre-Thunder Bay skier Bob Thompson rounding out the top five.
Thunder Bay’s Michael Somppi, skiing in second or third place most of the race, lost ground on the final lap and wound up ninth, while Thunder Bay’s Evan Palmer-Charrette was 11th.
Quebec’s Antoine Blais captured the junior men’s 10-kilometre race to sew up a spot on the Canadian junior squad in Romania, finishing in 29:18:91.
Ontario’s Ryan Jackson was more than eight seconds back in second, with Blais’ Skibec teammate Philippe Boucher finishing in third. Georgian Bay’s Julian Smith, who skis for NDC-Thunder Bay, was the top skier with local ties, winding up ninth in a time of 30:14:35.
“I’m very happy because I didn’t expect to win the race. I was expecting maybe a wild-card in the overall three races,” said Blais through a translator.
The winner of each race in the under 23 and junior categories get automatic bids to the worlds, with wild-cards available to the next top skiers based on overall performance at the Haywood NorAm trials.
In the senior women's 10-kilometre race, Andrea Dupont and NDC-Thunder Bay's Jenn Jackson finished one-two for the second straight day, Dupont finishing in 33:06.45, about 15 seconds faster than her closest competitor. Jackson's NDC-Thunder Bay teammate Alannah MacLean was seventh.
In the junior women's five-kilometre race, B.C.'s Annika Richardson topped all skiers, completing the track in 16:28.43. Thunder Bay's Sadie White, runner-up on Thursday, was fifth.
