LILLEHAMMER – The qualification phase of the men’s Youth Olympic Skills Challenge concluded today, with the eight remaining contestants named for the Grand Final.
Here are the top eight challengers competing in the Grand Final:
Sebastian Cederle-SLOVAKIA
Eduard Casaneanu-ROMANIA
Erik Betzold-GERMANY
Natan Vertes-HUNGARY
Aleks Haatanen-FINLAND
Sander Dilling Hurrod-NORWAY
Benjamin Baumgartner-AUSTRIA
Dino Mukovoz-LITHUANIA
Hungary’s Natan Vertes came into the second phase holding the overall lead, followed closely by Romania’s Eduard Casaneanu and Jake Riley of Australia.
The first challenge of the day was Skating Agility, won by Germany’s Erik Betzold in the final against Austria’s Benjamin Baumgartner. Betzold saved his best performance for the final heat, burning through the course with a time of 12.88 seconds to Baumgartner’s 13.20.
But the points earned from making it to the final heat would be enough to send both athtletes to the Grand Final.
“I told myself ‘don’t be nervous, you can do this’,” said Baumgartner. “I’m so glad and so happy. I’ll try to practice on everything a little bit and aim to win in Shooting Accuracy, with a little luck I hope to win this.”
Slovakia’s Sebastian Cederle and Vertes both had a solid outing in the same skill, making it to the semi-final heat to add to their point total.
Cederle had the overall lead going into the Fastest shot competition, and confirmed his place in the Grand Final with another strong performance that took him into the final heat. There he just lost out to Casaneanu, who beat Cederle’s marker of 138.5 km/h with a blast that registered 143.1 km/h on the radar.
Much to the delight of the hometown Norwegian fans in Kristins Hall, Fredrikstad native Sander Dilling Hurrod beat out Betzold in the Passing Precision competition, which gave Hurrod enough points to make the Grand Final cut.
“It feels amazing to win on home ice,” said Hurrod, who is also playing with the Norwegian team in the men’s ice hockey tournament. “I’m with the team and was feeling a little tired but was able to do well.”
Going into the final skill of the qualification phase, Puck Control, the competition was still wide open. Baumgartner sat in the eighth and final spot with eight points, but with six athletes holding between 5-8 points the Austrian’s qualification was far from sure.
But he managed to defeat Japan’s Roy Kanda and Hurrod in back-to-back heats before just losing out to Vertes in the semi-final. Still he was able to collect enough points stay in the top-eight and qualify for the Grand Final.
The final contestant to reach the Grand Final was Dino Mukovoz of Lithuania, who squeaked in by a single point earned in the passing precision event that allowed him to get by Australia’s Jake Riley.
The Men’s Skills Challenge Grand Final takes place on the night of 18th February. The event will be streamed live on IIHF.com.
ADAM STEISS
