Visnick Captures Bronze at Junior World Championships
Tanner Visnick captures bronze in the Classic race at Junior World ChampionshipsThe Classic is Tanner Visnick’s strongest event and he demonstrated that by capturing the bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in Geilo, Norway in March
Visnick competed in 8 races in three different venues during his trek to Sweden and Norway. He warmed up with a Sprint Classic placing 16th and Parallel Sprint in Funaesdalen, Sweden. After the first day, he decided to change from his longer skis to his shorter skis from last season and found them to work better for him.
Geilo, Norway was the next venue and host of the Junior World Championships as well as World Championships. All the racers competed at one time and the results from the junior racers were then pulled from the full results. While Visnick did not qualify for the Parallel Sprint finals, and was frustrated with his Sprint Classic results, he had great success in the Classic event taking the bronze medal in the Juniors and placing 9th overall.
The last stop was Rjukan, Norway which is near the home of Sondre Norheim, known as the father of telemark skiing. Visnick raced to a 13th place finish in the Classic and a 21st in the Sprint Classic.
Visnick is a senior at Steamboat Springs High School and he trained and competed with the school’s Nordic Team as well as with Coach Ty Upson and the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. His dedication to training and fitness paid off with some great finishes this season and landed him 10th in the world in the Classic event.
He joins just a handful US athletes to have claimed medals at the Junior World Championships which began in 2007, including Madi McKinstry, Lorin Paley, Drew Hauser, Jeffrey Gay and Brett Stein.