UAA skier JC Schoonmaker makes it to sprint quarterfinals in his World Championships debut

The weather was hot but the Americans were not Thursday on the opening day of racing at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany.

With temperatures hitting the mid-50s, four Americans -- including UAA’s JC Schoonmaker -- qualified for the heats but none made it past the quarterfinals.

Gold medals went to Johannes Klaebo of Norway in the men’s race and Jonna Sundling of Sweden in the women’s race.

Leading the way for the Americans were Ben Ogden of Vermont, who placed 17th among men, and Jessie Diggins of Minnesota, who placed 24th among women.

Schoonmaker, who owns a couple of top-20 results in World Cup sprint races this season, placed 26th after skiing the 20th-fastest men’s qualifying time. The race marked his World Championships debut.

“I didn’t feel my best today, but it was a solid result for my first World Champs,” he told US Ski & Snowboard. “I think I can walk away saying I learned a lot and I’m happy with it. I saw it going better and I hoped it was going to go better, but I think overall it was still good. That’ll be something that will fire me up.”

Two other Alaskans failed to advance from the qualifying round. Rosie Brennan placed 34th and was 2.15 seconds away from advancing and Logan Hanneman placed 39th, more than five seconds away from advancing. Both are members of Alaska Pacific University’s nordic program.