Ellie Kleinheinz, Nate Bivins, Logan Barnes and Wolfgang Lux of the Junior National Team
WINTERBERG, Germany - The Junior National Team hit the ice in their first race of the season in Winterberg, Germany. The relatively young and inexperienced U.S. team skipped the first two events in La Plagne, France in favor of more runs at multiple tracks, as the Junior World Cup race format offers a limited number of training runs.
In the team competition, the United States finished fourth. They were represented by Ellie Kleinheinz (Santa Clara, Calif.), Logan Barnes (Clarkesville, TN) and the doubles team of Nate Bivins (Castleton, N.Y.) and Wolfgang Lux (Swanton, Vt.). The race was won by Germany.
The men’s doubles race was won by Germany’s Louis Grünbeck and Maximilian Kührt, with Bivins and Lux placing seventh. Marcus Mueller (Brookfield, Wisc.) and Ansel Haugsjaa (Framingham, Mass.) are still eligible to compete as Juniors, but are racing on the World Cup circuit. They are currently ranked 9th in the world.
Germany’s Anka Jänicke took gold in women’s singles, with Kleinheinz placing 16th to lead the U.S. efforts. Talia Tonn (Cecil, Wisc.) was 23rd, Brianna Gosnell (Evansburg, Pa.) placed 27th, Maggie Richardson (Mount Vernon, Ohio) was 29th and Macey Schomaker (Park City, Utah) did not finish the race.
Noah Kallan of Austria prevented a German sweep of all gold medals by winning the men’s singles competition. Seth Coates (Potsdam, N.Y.) was 19th, Barnes was 21st, Orson Colby (Riverton, Utah) was 22ndand Gavin Davis (Berwick, Pa.) did not finish the race. Like the team of Mueller/Haugsjaa, Aidan Mueller (West Islip, N.Y.) is another Junior-aged athlete racing on the National Team. His overall ranking is 28th currently.
The Junior National Team will compete at select events after the New Year.
