Skiing

Swirbul finishes 26th, Wonders 43rd at U23 ski championships

A pair of Anchorage skiers finished well off the winning pace Wednesday at the U23 World Championships in Lahti, Finland.

Hailey Swirbul finished 26th in the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle race, and Hunter Wonders placed 43rd in the men’s 15K free. Both are members of Alaska Pacific University’s Nordic ski program.

Victories went to Russia’s Mariya Istomina in the women’s race (25 minutes, 57.3 seconds) and France’s Jules LaPierre (34:02.8). Swirbul was 2:09.5 behind Istomina, and Wonders was 3:20.8 behind LaPierre.

The race series is for skiers under 23. They are being held in conjunction with the World Junior Championships for skiers under 20. On Tuesday, Anchorage’s Gus Schumacher skied to sixth place in the World Junior 10K race, the best distance finish by an American man in World Junior history.

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