USA bronze in team competition
OBERHOF, Germany—Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa returned to the Junior World Cup circuit after racing with the National Team for most of the season. The 2024 Junior World Champions marked the occasion with a victory. The second medal of the weekend came when Talia Tonn, Aidan Muller, Marcus Mueller and Haugsjaa combined efforts to take the bronze in the team relay.
In women’s singles, Tonn was the top finishing U.S. sled in 13th, while Aidan Mueller led the U.S. men’s singles effort in 16th. In women’s doubles, Sadie Martin and Brianna Gosnell were 10th.
Men’s doubles
Mueller (Brookfield, Wisc.) and Haugsjaa (Framingham, Mass.), who finished as high as sixth this season in National Team World Cup competition, are spending the remainder of the season with the Junior National Team to increase their run count on critical European tracks. Their two-run combined time 1 minute, 16.435 seconds gave them the win over Germany’s Silas Sartor and Liron Raimer by .311. Max Greunbeck and Max Kührt of Germany were third. Nate Bivins (Castleton, N.Y.) and Wolfgang Lux (Swanton, Vt.) were fifth in 1:17.455.
Team competition
The United States foursome of Tonn (Cecil, Wisc.), Aidan Mueller (West Islip, N.Y.), and Mueller/Haugsjaa began their team competition with Tonn posting the third fastest time of the day. Aidan Mueller dropped back slightly to sixth, but Mueller/Haugsjaa posted the fastest doubles time of the relay and brought the team into the bronze medal position. Germany finished first and Latvia were second.
Women’s singles
Tonn, leading a young U.S. women’s team, placed 13th in her best result of the team’s abbreviated competition season, as Head Coach Pat Anderson has decided to focus on maximizing training run counts for his developing athletes. Brianna Gosnell (Evansburg, Pa.) was 20th, Macey Schomaker (Park City, Utah) and Maggie Richardson (Mount Vernon, Ohio) did not finish the race. Elizabeth Kleinheinz (Santa Clara, Calif.) was disqualified on a technicality.
Men’s singles
Aidan Mueller, who raced on the National Team for several races this season, raced to a 16th place finish. Logan Barnes (Clarkesville, Tenn.) was 18th, Orson Colby (Riverton, Utah) was 30th and Gavin Davis (Berwick, Pa.) was 32nd. Marco Leger of Germany won the race, with his teammate Niklas Zehner second. Noah Kallan of Austria was third.
Women’s doubles
The young doubles team of Sadie Martin (Vermontville, N.Y.) and Gosnell placed 10th. They were the lone U.S. entry in the race, won by Elisa Storch and Pauline Patz of Germany. Alexandra Oberstoltz and Sofie Kofler of Italy were second, with Germans Lilly Bierast and Leandra Claus third.
The Junior National team will head to Sigulda, Latvia, for the back-to-back Junior World Cup races from February 27-March 2. The group then heads to Park City, Utah, for the Norton Junior National Championships on March 13-14.
