Austrian Heidi Bucher, fresh from the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics, won the women's youth sprint freestyle at the FIS Junior and U23 World Ski Championships in Lillehammer on Monday. Sweden's Eddie Pettersson took the men's title amid challenging snowy conditions. Both events highlighted strong performances from Norwegian skiers.
The FIS Junior and U23 World Ski Championships began in Lillehammer, Norway, on March 2, 2026, with the youth sprint freestyle events under falling snow. In the women's final, 19-year-old Heidi Bucher of Austria secured gold, leveraging her recent Olympic experience. Just 12 days earlier, Bucher had competed in the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, participating in the individual sprint classic, team sprint, and 4x7.5km relay. She qualified strongly and dominated her quarter-final and semi-final before overtaking leader Iselin Bjervig Drivenes in the final straight. "Today was simply a great day and I was able to show what I’m really capable of," Bucher said. "Everything came together perfectly, the equipment was very good and everything worked really well. At the moment, I’m just really, really happy."
Norway's Iselin Bjervig Drivenes, who turned 20 two days prior and led much of the race after topping qualifications by nearly four seconds over Bucher, earned silver but faded near the finish. "I really wanted to win today so I’m not so happy," Drivenes said. "I did my best and it wasn’t good enough. It’s very cool to compete on home soil, so it makes me want to do even better." Eline Skaar of Norway took bronze, expressing satisfaction with her tactical race despite aiming for gold. The Czech Republic's Katerina Duskova finished fourth, followed by Norway's Julie Sand-Hanssen and Estonia's Herta Rajas.
In the men's event, Sweden's Eddie Pettersson claimed gold, improving on his ninth-place finish from last year's championships in Schilpario, Italy. Pettersson advanced as a lucky loser from the semi-finals after placing fourth and led the final from the start, holding off Norway's Leopold Strand for silver on the final climb. Italy's Federico Pozzo secured bronze. Conditions affected several racers: Canada's Finn Redman, the fastest qualifier, finished fifth; Norway's Noah Marius Olsen crashed in the quarter-finals; France's Mario Perrillat Collomb fell near the finish in his semi-final, placing 10th overall; and Norway's Jonas Malmo Skogstad fell on the final climb, ending fifth. France's Johan Calandry placed 16th.
The championships continue through March 8, with U23 sprint freestyle races scheduled for Tuesday.
