THUNDER BAY — An athlete from Thunder Bay has won a gold medal at the World Under-23 cross-country ski championships in Slovenia.
Max Hollmann, 22, is a member of the Canadian mixed relay team that crossed the line first on Sunday.
In an event plagued by heavy rain, they defeated teams from France and Sweden which finished second and third respectively.
After the first two legs of the 4 x 5 km event, Canada was in sixth place.
Skiing the third leg, Hollmann was able to close a 15-second interval to get within 2.2 seconds of the leading skier from France, and the Canadian anchor – Liliane Gagnon of Quebec City – managed to pull Canada into first place during a final sprint to the finish line.
The winning margin was only seven-tenths of a second.
Hollmann, a graduate of Hammarskjold High School, races with the Big Thunder Nordic Ski Club.
