Top-5 finish for American Sargent at U-23 Worlds

Don't look now, but the fortunes of the U.S. Ski Team just keep getting better and better -- and we are not talking about simply Vancouver; we're talking Sochi and beyond.

As the FIS U-23 and World Junior Nordic championships got underway in the historic Black Forest town of Hinterzarten, Germany, there were some truly encouraging signs for Team USA against the best young talent on the planet. Today, the under-23 class got their licks on the course.

In the opening event -- the women's 1.3 km sprint at the Notschrei venue, just outside of the city center -- Dartmouth ski team member, a junior for the Big Green, Ida Sargent was a solid fourth place. The race was won by Mari Laukkanen from Finland, followed by German Denise Herrman and Norway's Kathrine Rolsted Harsem.

Other American finishers included Sadie Bjornsen in 13th, Rosie Bennan in 15th and Becca Rorabaugh placing 18th.

For her part, Dartmouth's women's skiing coach and director of skiing, Cami Thompson said she was thrilled for Ida.

"I'd have to say it was a great race for Ida, and Rosie, too. What a start for them at U-23's; they have both been skiing very well," Thompson said via telephone from their ski practice.

In the mens 1.3km freestyle sprint, American Simi Hamilton, a former Middlebury ski team member, took first in the qualifying only to lose a basket on his ski pole in the semis when an athlete skied over his poles, causing him to lose valuable time. The incident took him out of the running, despite getting a new pole from a spectator.

"This wasn't a huge surprise to me," Middlebury's head ski coach Andrew Gardner said from his Vermont office. "We know he is a great sprinter; he has so much talent and now he can handle the pressure, too. I am so proud of him and proud of what Ida did today, too."

The sprint winner was Ole-Marius Bach of Norway, while second place went to Martin Jaeger of Switzerland. World Cup skier Andrey Parfenov of Russia was third.

Mark it as an encouraging day for Canada as well, as Len Valjas was a respectable ninth, while Fredric Touchette was 15th. Other Americans in the field were Peter Kling who was 20th and Reese Hanneman who was 34th.

The U.S. Nordic combined troops on hand include Brett Denney, Cliff Field, Olympian Taylor Fletcher, Nick Henderson and Michael Ward.

There will be more world junior racing tommorow.