Ava Thurston crests a hill in the U20 sprint race. Race photo courtesy LoruCreative.

Waterbury’s Ava Thurston has returned from the FIS Nordic Junior World Championships in Vuokatti, Finland, last week just in time for school winter break to get back into her hometown time zone.

The 17-year-old Harwood Union High School junior joined other Vermont skiers in representing the U.S. including Waverly Gebhardt from UVM and Nina Seemann from Craftsbury at the elite competition.

Thurston is the reigning Division II Nordic state champ and three times has won the Division II state title in her fall sport of cross-country running.

Over the course of six days, Thurston competed in three races. Her best finish was in the 5km skate with a time of 14 minutes, 42.9 seconds, placing 14th of 86 racers.

Despite the late start to Vermont’s winter high school ski season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thurston said felt she was ready for the challenge. “I was really happy with [the 5k]. Because I’ve done so much I’ve done so much high school racing. It was a distance I felt prepared for,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Waterbury.

Thurston credits her success to improvements in her mindset and technique. “I think in the skate race, in particular, I was really able to keep telling myself that I could get up this hill,” she said. “I was having an awesome race, it's all about keeping that positivity.”

Ava Thurston at the start of a race at the FIS Nordic Junior World Championships in Vuokatti, Finland, earlier this month. Screenshot from Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation

She said that last summer, she worked a lot with her club coach Adam Turco. “I did a lot of skate stuff, working on my skate v2,” she said referring to the technique where the skier plants their poles with every skate after they’re already on one ski, making it difficult to balance, but allowing for extra speed.

Terko called Thurston “an incredibly hard-working skier” who didn’t let fall and early winter COVID-19 restrictions on in-person training slow her down. “Her individual motivation and work ethic helped put her in a position to succeed,” her coach said.

Training on her own at home was good practice for attending the competition without her coach or family along.

“She ended up having some amazing races and some memorable experiences that will help her down the road as she continues to pursue strong skiing at the highest levels,” Terko said. “Ava is a great leader and role model for both our club (Mansfield Nordic Club) and the Harwood Union high school team.”

Waterbury's Ava Thurston skis the 5K race at the FIS Nordic Junior World Championships in Vuokatti, Finland. Screenshot from Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation

Her other events were a 15k mass start race and a 1k sprint. She finished 40th in the 15k and didn’t make it past the first round of qualifiers in the sprint. Thurston ranked highest among US skiers in both the 5k and 15k races.

Gebhardt advanced to the sprint quarterfinals but didn’t progress further.

Still quarantining from her trip during the interview on Friday, Thurston said her first trip to Junior Worlds was inflected with COVID.

“We didn’t have opening ceremonies,” she said. “You didn't get the same interaction with the other teams, as you usually do.”

Despite that, Thurston said she was able to engage in some traditions of the competition. “They have this thing where people trade some gear, like trade suits and stuff. And we were still able to do that, like I traded my U.S. suit for a French suit,” she said.

With international travel and racing behind her, Thurston will rejoin the Harwood Nordic team for the rest of the middle school/high school season. Harwood hosts a classic meet at Craftsbury on Wednesday, Feb. 24; U-32 hosts a freestyle on Saturday, Feb. 27. On March 3, Lamoille Union hosts the final classic meet of the season. The state high school meets are March 8 for boys and March 10 for girls, both at Craftsbury.