Sargent Podiums at St. Ulrich OPA Cup

Ida Sargent on the podium in the freestyle sprint in St. Ulrich (Photo Sophie Caldwell Instagram)

Last Updated: 18.Dec.2017

GRP skier Ida Sargent found success at the St. Ulrich OPA Cup this weekend, landing on the podium in two out of the three races she started. The World Cup traveled to Toblach, Italy and featured two distance races, so many of the US sprinters took the opportunity for a break from the World Cup and raced on the OPA Cup instead.

On Friday, Sargent raced a freestyle sprint. She qualified in 6th, and advanced to the A Final, where she made the podium in 3rd. Fellow American Sophie Caldwell won the A Final, and Russian skier Natalia Matveeva was 2nd. The following day, the women raced a 5k classic individual start,and Sargent again placed 3rd, 18 seconds out. Finally, on Sunday she raced a 10k freestyle mass start and took 5th place, just over 15 seconds from the win.

Sargent will now take a short break from racing over the holidays, and resume World Cup racing again on December 30, when the Tour de Ski kicks off in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. She ends Period One ranked 13th on the World Cup sprint leaderboard, and 29th overall. Results from this weekend's races in St. Ulrich are available on FIS-ski.com