Otepaa, Estonia – Central Cross Country Skiing’s Jessie Diggins, of Afton, Minn., led the U.S. charge in 12th Sunday in the FIS Junior World Nordic Ski Championship’s cross country 10k mixed pursuit in Otepaa, Estonia. Germany’s Markus Weeger and Norway’s Heidi Weng were crowned Junior World champions.nDiggins was not far off the pace with less than a minute separating the top 12. Weng took command of the day, edging out teammate Martine Ek Hagen and Germany’s Helene Jakob for the win. The top three were separated by a mere two seconds with Hagen winning silver by a tip of a ski leaving Jakob with bronze.

Sunday’s finish marked Diggins’ second top 15 of the 2011 Championships. She was seventh in the 5k freestyle technique event. University of Colorado’s Joanne Reid, of Palo Alto, Calif., was the next American to finish in 24th.

In the men’s 20k mixed pursuit, Weeger crossed the line first, leaving the battle for silver 20 seconds behind him. The silver and bronze came down to the final stretch as Russia’s Konstantin Kuleev edged out Finland’s Perttu Hyvarinen by just four-tenths to take silver. Alaska Winter Stars’ Scott Patterson of Anchorage was the top U.S. man in 35th.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Junior World Nordic Ski Championships
Otepaa, Estonia – Jan. 30, 2011
Cross Country – 20k/10k Mixed Pursuit

Men 20k
Gold: Markus Weeger, Germany, 53:31.1
Silver: Konstantin Kuleev, Russia, 53:50.6
Bronze: Perttu Hyvarinen, Finland, 53:51.0

Women 10k
Gold: Heidi Weng, Norway, 31:08.4
Silver: Martine Ek Hagen, Norway, 31:10.0
Bronze: Helene Jakob, Germany, 31:10.5