By USSA

LILLEHAMMER, Norway – The Winter Youth Olympic Games closed the cross country competitions with a Nordic mixed team relay. The U.S. team included one female cross country skier, Hannah Halvorsen (Truckee), one male cross country skier, Hunter Wonders (Anchorage) and one nordic combined male, Ben Loomis (Eau Claire, Wis). The U.S. team finished eighth overall in a 3×3.3k race on Friday.

Russia won the Nordic mixed team relays, 21.1 seconds over Norway who stole second from Germany by just 0.4 seconds.

Loomis, Wonders and Halvorsen worked together in this unique event in its inaugural year. They each had strong individual legs, which scored them in eighth overall. Wonders had the second fastest leg of the men’s cross country ski leg, just 15.2 seconds behind Norway’s Vebjoern Hegdal.