Local National Ski Team member Julien Locke claimed a new personal best at the World Cup in Germany on Saturday.
Locke, who lives in Nelson and trains with the Black Jack Ski Club, placed 15th in the Dresden World Cup sprint.
It’s a new personal best for the cross country skier who previously placed 20th in the 2017 World Cup Finals skate sprint.
Locke was the top Canadian in the qualifier, placing 16th and moving onto the quarterfinals.
There he finished third in his heat.
The top two from each heat and the two next fastest times overall — or “lucky losers” — advance to the semifinals, but Locke’s time was not quite fast enough to earn him a spot.
But on Sunday Locke did advance to the semi-finals in the team sprint along with teammate Bob Thompson.
They ended up in a semifinal with another Canadian team — Antoine Briand and Dominique Moncion-Groulx.
Locke’s pole snapped on the final lap, but they still managed to finish seventh and he and Thompson missed out on the next round by a mere .17 seconds.