Men’s Sprint Team Leads U.S. With Fourth-Place Finish At Junior World Championships

Max Weber, a 2024 Youth Olympian and the 2026 U.S. Men’s Junior Allround champion, posted a pair of top-10 finishes and nearly helped the U.S. Men’s Sprint Team win a medal at the ISU Speed Skating Junior World Championships in Inzell, Germany.

Sam Chamberlain, Liam Kitchel and Weber combined for a fourth-place finish in the Men’s Team Sprint with a time of 1:21.75, missing a podium spot by just 0.59 seconds, behind South Korea.

Weber also placed seventh in the Men’s 1000m with a time of 1:10.58, missing a podium finish by .60 seconds, and he was ninth in the 500m with a time of 36.24 seconds. The only other American with a top 10 finish was Leah Choi, who placed eighth in the Women’s Mass Start with a time of 6:05.76.

Weber, Choi, Chamberlain and Kitchel were among 10 American skaters competing in the Junior World Championships, held Feb. 27-March 1.

Weber, of Little Canada, Minnesota, skated in four individual events, plus the Team Sprint. He also placed 12th in the Men’s Mass Start.

Kitchel, a 2024 Youth Olympian, posted three top 30 finishes: 22nd in the Men’s 1500m, 24th in the 1000m and 26th in the 500m.

Chamberlain placed 25th in the 500m, just ahead of Kitchel, and was 30th in the 1000m and 38th in the 1500m.

Sisters Elise and Elena Stave, who train with Weber at the Roseville Skating Center, competed together at the Junior World Championships for the first time. Elena, a 2024-25 US Speedskating Long Track Development Skater of the Year, had a 29th-place finish in the Women’s 1500 among her four individual races in her Junior Worlds debut. Older sister Elise had her best individual finish, 39th place, in the Women’s 3000m.

Both Stave sisters joined Emma De Bock for an eighth-place finish in the Women’s Team Sprint and a ninth-place finish in the Women’s Team Pursuit.

Weber, Choi and Finn Siebert combined for an eighth-place finish in the Mixed Relay.

David Provod, Siebert and Chamberlain teamed up for a ninth-place finish in the Men’s Team Pursuit. Provod and Siebert placed 31st and 32nd, respectively, in the 5000m.

U.S. Women’s Junior Allround champion Marley Soldan, a 2024 Youth Olympian from Tacoma, Washington, finished 45th in the Women’s 1500m. De Bock’s best individual finish was 37th in the Women’s 500m.

Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USSpeedskating.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.