Shields, Tribe just miss advancing at worlds

Andy Shields just missed qualifying Saturday for the one-on-one sprint heats the world junior Nordic skiing championships in Estonia.

Shields, a Kitchener native who skis for the National Development Centre-Thunder Bay, missed qualifying by 0.19 seconds, ending the day in 31st position.

Only the top 30 advanced.

He had mixed emotions about the results, as he awaits his final two races of the championship.

“After my poor performance in the skate race on Wednesday, I was out for redemption in the sprint. My goal was to qualify for the heats, so missing them by 0.19 seconds did leave bad taste in my mouth,” he said in a release issued by the NDC on Saturday.

“Nonetheless I skied well and I felt great out there which gives me confidence for the pursuit and the relay.  Hopefully we can really pull together as a team for the next two races”.

His coach, Eric Bailey, was OK with the result.

"Sprinting is not necessarily his strongest format, so to have his placing 8 spots higher than the skate race shows that he is on the up-and-up and gives me reason to believe that the pursuit might be his best race of the championships.  Time will tell,” Bailey said.

Thunder Bay’s Erin Tribe found herself in a similar position in the women’s race, finishing 31st. Michael Somppi chose to sit out the sprints to focus on Monday’s pursuit race.