Cendrine Browne set a new Canadian Olympic record by finishing 16th in the women’s 30-kilometre cross-country ski race in the free technique in Beijing.

Browne, of Prévost, Que., wrapped up her second Olympics by having the race of her life on one of the most challenging Nordic courses in the world, clocking a time of 1:31:21.6.

“This feels amazing to finish the Olympics on such a high note. I’m beyond happy,” beamed Browne following her second top-20 finish of the Beijing Games.

Canada’s previous best women’s finish in the 30-kilometre Nordic distance race came at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games when Lucy Steele was 33rd.

The 28-year-old Browne maintained a steady pace throughout the four grueling laps that featured long, steep climbs and gusty conditions at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country skiing Centre.

“I’m really happy with how I was able to manage my energy and keep my energy until the last lap.When there was an attack, I was able to follow today,” added Browne, who climbed 13 spots up the standings in her final 7.5 kilometres. “Wow, what an epic race. It was so tough out here today.”

Norway’s Therese Johaug led wire-to-wire, dusting the women’s field with a time of 1:24:54.0. Jessie Diggins, of the United States, celebrated the silver medal with a time of 1:26:37.3. Kerttu Niskanen, of Finland, skied to the bronze medal in a time of 1:27:27.3.

Katherine Stewart-Jones also skied into the top-30 for the second time in Beijing. The Chelsea, Que. skier clocked-in at 1:32:33.3.

“It was a tough race with really windy conditions, and a tough course, but I’m proud of how hard I pushed,” said Stewart-Jones, who was competing in her first Olympic Games. “Obviously I am a little disappointed because I was skiing in a group from 17th to 30th place. I was hoping to have more energy in the last lap, but I wasn’t able to hold on. I did the best I could with the energy I had today.”

Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse) wrapped up her second Olympics with a 39th place finish on Sunday, and a time of 1:36:08.2.

“It was an awesome experience,” said Beatty, who was 18th earlier in the week in the 10-kilometre individual start. “I’m happy to have had some really strong results across the board. To have the entire team have strong performances, it was an awesome Games to be a part of.”

Laura Leclair (Chelsea, Que.) placed 51st with a time of 1:40:14.5.

“It was definitely hard, mentally and physically,” said Leclair. “The conditions and course were really hard, but I skied smart. I lost the pack at the start but stayed there to conserve my energy throughout the race.”

Complete Results: https://bit.ly/34S0ZxK

Canada’s Olivier Léveillé wrapped up his first Olympic Games with his second top-30 finish of the week, finishing 27th in the men’s 30-kilometre free technique race. 

The Sherbrooke, Que. resident persevered through a broken ski and heavy winds that shortened the scheduled 5- kilometre race to 30 kilometres at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre near Beijing. Léveillé completed the course with a time of 1:15:54.3.

“I’m very proud of my first Olympic Games. It was bittersweet. I felt insanely good today,” said the 20-year-old. “I was well placed in the pack and was about to make a move to climb forward into the top-30 on the first lap, but unfortunately someone stuck their pole on my ski, and it broke it.”

Léveillé was forced to battle through the next kilometre on one ski until he was met by a Team Canada ski technician to make the change.

“I lost at least a minute on the pack in that kilometre so I was proud to make it back,” said Léveillé. “It was a a mental battle today against myself and the wind, but I was able to get my second top-30 of the Games.”

Léveillé was also the top Canadian in the 15-kilometre individual classic cross-country ski race earlier in the week where he placed 29th.

Two Russians, Alexander Bolshunov and Ivan Yakimushkin, finished one-two in the race. Bolshunov was first across the line in a time of 1:11:32.7. Yakimushkin claimed the silver at 1:11:38.2. Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krueger was third at 1:11:39.7.

Rémi Drolet (Rossland, B.C.) was the only other Canadian in the 60-man field and finished 35th with a time of 1:16:27.1.

“It was a tough one out there. “It started off okay, but it didn’t go as well as I wanted today,” said Drolet. “It was just one of those days where I was really struggling and wasn’t able to find that next gear.”

The women’s 30-kilometre free technique race is set for Sunday in Beijing.

Complete Men’s Results: https://bit.ly/359dNiS

After the race, Cyr wrote to FasterSkier that the course had suited him with its long uphills and frigiddig conditions; temperatures were near zero degrees Fahrenheit ( -17 C). “Cold weather is good for us Canadians,” he said. Cyr repeated his strong showing in Ruka the next day, placing 12th in the skate pursuit. 

Flash forward through a number of subsequent racing highs and lows, and Cyr found himself in similar circumstances: on classic skis in single digit temps, with an arduous course designed to test the mettle of the best in the world.

Cyr was awaiting one final tag in the Olympic team sprint from partner Graham Ritchie, still amidst the lead group of eight teams, racing with some of the top names in the sport toward an Olympic medal. After receiving the tag, Cyr did his best to keep Canada in contact with the leaders, who began to surge, breaking apart this lead group as the list of medal contenders dwindled to three teams. 

Along with William Poromaa of Sweden, Cyr lost contact with the top-three, tagging Ritchie for the final leg of the race in fifth, a position Ritchie held through the finish to cross the line in 19:45.3, only +22.3 back from the Norwegian gold medalists Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Erik Valnes. 

It was the best men’s result in a classic team sprint in Canada’s rich Olympic history. At the event’s debut in the 2006 Torino Games, which was competed classic, Devon Kershaw and George Grey took 11th in the team sprint for Canada, while Beckie Scott raced with Sara Renner to win a silver medal. Kershaw lined up with Alex Harvey at the following Games in Vancouver in 2010 for the skate team sprint, just missing the podium in fourth.

“This is so incredible to pull this off and throw down such a good result for Canada,” Cyr told Nordiq Canada after the race. “It’s overwhelming, especially to do this with such a good friend like Graham. It is really special.”

Both 23-years-old and competing in their first Olympic Games, the Canadians had been looking for more than the results they’ve had thus far in Zhangjiakou. A pre-Olympic camp at a similar elevation in Sovereign Lake/SilverStar reportedly went well, and tight COVID safety protocols had kept the athletes healthy, allowing them to safely enter the Olympic bubble. 

While the opening races ultimately did not feature the Canadians vying for top-10 finishes, Cyr and Ritchie could look back on the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany, where they took seventh for Canada in the freestyle team sprint. 

Ritchie told FasterSkier in the mixed zone that they knew from this experience that they would need to be in the top-four in the semifinals to advance safely into the final. They had done it in the World Champs and they believed they could do it again in the Olympics. 

“We know we had it in us, we just knew we had to race smart and race hard and have a good day,” Ritchie explained. “So [I’m] super proud of Tony and me to be able to work together and use our experience to push through that semi and end up giving our shot at a good race in the final.”

So far in the Games, Cyr has raced every event, but had not cracked the top-30 individually. Ritchie sat out the skiathlon and 15 km classic, and finished as the top-Canadian in 34th in the freestyle sprint, just off the time needed to make the heats. Racing the first two classic legs of the 4 x 10 km relay, Canada finished 11th out of 12 teams that completed the race. It’s not the makings of an underdog story about a small nation in a rebuilding phase after a string of notable retirements that one might drum up.

“I think we put every other race in the back of our minds and just knew we [could have] a good day,” Ritchie told FasterSkier on the team’s confidence in spite of sub-optimal results. “Tony is an exceptional classic skier. And myself and him are both – we know we can pull off a sprint. So we really put those other races behind us and were only focused on today…

“But then I mean to be on the last lap, with the podium right there,” Ritchie continued dreamily, as if still feeling the thrill. “That was pretty eye opening.”  

Though he acknowledged the challenge of facing the likes of Klæbo, Joni Maki (FIN), and Alexander Terentev (ROC) in the last lap, who eventually took the gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively, Ritchie shared that the possibility of a Canadian medal crept into his mind in the final lap. Moreso, it planted a seed for what might be possible in the future. 

“I mean, during the race, I definitely thought about it. Like you could see it right there… And I mean, we’re both 23 years old. We’ve got a lot of racing left in us. So yeah, that was a big race for us. And we’re really looking forward to seeing what we can do in the future here for Canada.” 

In the mixed zone, World Cup competition coach Erik Bråten also spoke to the team’s ability, particularly in Cyr’s case, to put aside the early results of the Games and take on a “fake it till you make a kind of attitude today. And just push through it.”

Speaking to the difference makers that led to this outstanding result, Bråten projected that Cyr had skied among the “top-three technically”, particularly when striding up the 400 meter A-climb, which rose 30 vertical meters to the high point of the course midway. 

Though Cyr had raced the odd legs of the team sprint during the World Championships and was second in the classic sprint final during the Canadian Olympic Team Trials in January, having also won both the freestyle sprint and the 15 km classic earlier in the trials, Bråten deliberated the matchup he would enlist for the team sprint until official selections were due.

“For me, this team was pretty clear before we went here. But Tony’s been struggling a little bit. And Graham hasn’t been his maximum self here either, but I felt like he did decent enough in the [freestyle sprint]. I know Tony – the potential he has. And I felt like –  we plan for success. And I think on the best day, he was the right man for the day. We don’t plan for people to have a bad day. And he had an amazing day. He showed us what he could do out there. So I just think everything came together in a perfect way.”

This coming together means more than just a new best Olympic result in the classic team sprint for the Canadian men. Bråten stated emphatically that it is a result that could spark a return to international success for Canadian cross country skiing, elevating every level of the development pathway.

“I think it’s extremely important. It’s important for all the athletes back home in Canada, seeing what’s possible. It’s important for coaches, the coaches of these athletes, knowing what’s going on, knowing what it takes to get this result. And they’re so young, they can do even better next year, and so on. So it’s just a trickle down effect that can be quite big both financially, but also, of course, information and knowledge wise. They know what they did to get to this level. Well, that can be shown down [the development pathway] as well.”  

That said, feeding the development pipeline and supporting the athletes within it requires resources. While some aspects of elite level cross country skiing are relatively low cost, Canada is limited by its budget in what it can do for athletes aiming for the top.

“The man on the boards [is] the most important person,” Bråten said simply. “Any female or male who wants to be good, the most important thing you do is just get out there and do the work, which is free. Of course, there’s equipment involved, but the work is mostly free… However, there’s so much behind this. What do you put on the boards? Which boards do you have in the first place? Are you getting the coach, physiologists, ski support you need? And  we’re good enough to do this, apparently, but…”

Bråten trailed off before gravely stating, “One Norwegian athlete is the same budget as our entire team.”

“It’s tough,” he continued. “So, for sure, we wouldn’t hurt getting a little bit more financial support.”

Ultimately, he has confidence in the team he is supporting, and in particular in Cyr and Ritchies outlook heading into the upcoming 2023 World Championships, which will be held in Planica, Slovenia beginning in late February.

“There’s no reason they can’t fight for at least a medal, and why not just go gold if you’re going to go for bronze?”

The 20-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que. found his groove while steadily working his way around the 15-kilomtetre course to finish in the elite group of 30 with a time of 40:52.0.

“It is always hard to ski at altitude, but I felt good today,” said Léveillé. “Sometimes you feel like you are stuck in a gear, but I felt like I was stuck in a good gear today.”

Struggling with pace on a punishing skiathlon course in the Olympic opener earlier in the week, Rémi Drolet, of Rossland, B.C., bounced back and was Canada’s next best finisher in 33rd spot with a time of 41:07.7.

“It was definitely an improvement from my last race. I don’t know that I felt a whole lot better. I think I am combating a decent amount of fatigue right now and I’m battling to get over it,” said Drolet. “But I think being able to race my own race and not having to fight to stay with the pack I didn’t blow up. I’m not satisfied with how I skied but my execution was good.”

The nation’s top men’s skier heading into Beijing, Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.), struggled to find his groove. The 23-year-old was left wanting more following a 37th place on Friday, completing the course in a time of 41:17.7.

“I’m really disappointed in the race. It is sad, but this is life and that is why we love sports so much because there are ups and down,” said Cyr. “Emotion around a good performance is insane, but then it is also the same around a bad performance.”

Finland’s Iivo Niskanen was tops all day, posting the fastest splits throughout the course while skiing to the gold medal in a time of 37:54.8. Alexander Bolshunov, who is an athlete representing the Russian Olympic Committee, stopped the clock at 38:18.0 to win the silver. Norway’s Johannes Klaebo claimed the bronze medal with a time of 38:32.3.

Canada will send Katherine Stewart-Jones, Dahria Beatty, Cendrine Browne and Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt to the start line on Saturday for the women’s 4×5-kilometre relay.

Complete Results: https://bit.ly/3rH4sb1

For complete details on Team Canada at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, please visit  https://olympic.ca/games/beijing-2022/

Feeding off career-best Olympic performances in her first two starts, the 27-year-old put down a memorable performance, skiing twice around the demanding five-kilometre loop in a time of 30:00.2.

“I definitely feel like I am in the best shape of my season now, so I knew there was potential for a strong race today,” said Beatty, who placed 28th in the skiathlon and 25th in the sprint races earlier this week.

“I’ve been feeling good in the other two events and think that I’ve been building through each one. I had a strong result in this race at our Trials in Canmore and I feel like I’m in a lot better shape now. It was a happy surprise to be in the top-20.”

The cagey veteran of the National Ski Team skied smart and aggressively while finding her groove while powering her way through the heavy winds and steadily working her way up the epic climbs at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Ski Centre.

“I was able to get into my own rhythm. I felt I was too conservative in the skiathlon (earlier in the week) on the climbs – especially in the classic part of the race. I had a better idea of how that would go today.

“I really tried to push my limits on the climbs and trust that I’d be able to recover enough on the downhills to go into the next one.”

The Whitehorse resident was hanging tough with the sport’s elite, progressively gaining time on the field as the race went on.

Norway’s Therese Johaug clocked the golden time at 28:06.3, edging out Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen by .4 seconds. Niskanen celebrated the silver medal at 28:06.7. Her teammate, Krista Parmakoski, finished 31.5 seconds off the leading mark to claim the bronze medal at 28:37.8.

Beatty has only finished in the top-20 on the World Cup four times throughout her career. Three of those performances – two 15ths and a 16th place – have come in sprint races. Steadily making progress with her distance skiing, Beatty’s best World Cup distance race came last season when she was 15th in a 30-kilometre pursuit in Engadin, Switzerland.

“If you go back to my teenage years, I was more of a distance skier, but I’ve had a lot more success sprinting internationally,” said Beatty. “It is definitely easier to break into sprinting if you are able to get that qualifying speed, but the last few years, I’ve been able to have good training seasons and that overall fitness has been caught back up with the tactical power I’ve had for sprinting.

“I’ve never given up saying I’m an all-around skier so I’m happy that I am finally showing that again after all of these years.”

Three other talented Canadian women also hit the start line on Thursday for the individual start race. Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.) battled to 36th place with a time off 31:08.6. Cendrine Browne (Prévost, Que.) skied into 48th spot with a time of 31:47.9. Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.) completed the 10-kilometre test in a time of 33:01.1 for 61st place.

Additional Canadian Athlete Quotes

Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt

“I tried super hard, and I was able to make myself hurt. Some of those uphill’s were painful in the best way. That is how absolutely what you want in this race is to finish having hurt yourself a little bit. I’m pumped. I’m super grateful to be here and to have an Olympic bib on.”

Cendrine Browne

“Sadly, it was tougher today. I always have more difficulty with the 10 km classical event and the second part of the race today was a bit more difficult. I was on my own on the track for a while. I gave everything I had today even if it’s not the result I was looking for. It can only be better next time. I am looking forward to the relay event with the girls. I believe we are all in a good shape right now and the best is yet to come for us.”

Katherine Stewart-Jones

“Definitely pretty disappointed with my race. After the skiathlon I know that I’m in really good shape so I thought I could get a really good result today. I just fell short of that. I gave everything I had but it just wasn’t the feeling I wanted. I know I’m in shape and that’s nto the problem. I have other races to look forward to so I am excited for that.”

Three Canadian men – Olivier Léveillé (Sherbrooke, Que.), Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.) and Rémi Drolet (Rossland, B.C.) – will compete in Friday’s 15-kilometre individual start classic-ski race.

*****

Complete Results: https://bit.ly/3BdoBbG

For complete details on Team Canada at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, please visit  https://olympic.ca/games/beijing-2022/

Dahria Beatty turned in another Olympic best result with a 25th-place finish in Tuesday’s free technique cross-country skiing sprint race.

The two-time Olympian was the lone Canadian to qualify for the head-to-head heats with the quickest 30 athletes. The 27-year-old clocked the 28th fastest time around the challenging 1.5-kilometre course that spirals throughout the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Ski Centre.

Beatty, who hails from Whitehorse, had her day come to a halt after a photo finish for third to fifth in the round of 30. The camera determined Beatty crossed the line fifth spot in her quarter-final heat despite a hard-fought effort up and down the steep terrain.

“I was trying really hard to make it into those semifinals. It has been a goal of mine for my entire career,” said Beatty, who was 28th in the Olympic-opening skiathlon race. “I gave it a really good shot today and I’m proud of how I skied. I’m now looking forward to the rest of the Olympics.”

The top-two athletes in each heat advance to the next round along with the next two fastest times overall. Beatty never qualified for the heats in her Olympic debut four years ago in PyeongChang.

Sweden skied to the gold and silver medals. Jonna Sundling sprinted away from the field to claim the Olympic sprinting crown. Her teammate, Maja Dahlqvist, topped American Jessie Diggins for second spot in a tight dash to the finishing wire. Diggins celebrated the bronze.

Other Canadian women’s results included: Cendrine Browne (Prévost, Que.) posting a career-best sprint finish in 35th; Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.) in 40th; and Laura Leclair (Chelsea, Que.) 58th.

Graham Ritchie (Parry Sound, Ont.) was the top Canadian male. The 23-year-old qualified 34th in his first ever Olympic start.

“It’s a dream come true to be able to compete at the Olympics so that feels incredible,” said Ritchie. “Now that I have that under my belt, I’m going to focus on the rest of the week. I’m super proud to be Canadian and to be skiing here at the Games.”

Two other Canadian men also suited up on Tuesday but did not qualify for the heats. Olivier Léveillé (Sherbrooke, Que.) was 54th. Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.) placed 56th in the 88-man field.(

Norway’s Johannes Klaebo won the men’s title. Italy’s Federico Pellegrino skied to second place, while Alexander Terentev – a representative of the Russian Olympic Committee – rounded out the men’s podium.

Additional Canadian Athlete Quotes:

Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt

“It felt great today. It was fast and fun which is everything I love about ski racing. The only thing I’m disappointed with is the result. It’s special and I’m very proud to be here on the start line happy, healthy and in shape. I’m now just looking for seconds on the racecourse. Of course, I’m disappointed but there is a lot to celebrate as well.”

Cendrine Browne

“It felt really good. I think that was my best sprint result. I was happy about how I skied today. It was a really tough course out there. I was one second from qualifying so a bit disappointed, but there is a lot of positives to take from this race. I’m very happy Dahria qualified so I’ll be cheering her on.”

Laura Leclair

“It’s so great competing here. The conditions here are really nice. It is a very difficult course, but I gave it my all today and I’m really proud.”

The Canadian women will back on the Olympic start line Thursday for a 10-kilometre classic-ski race.

Complete Results: https://bit.ly/3oxdTI0

By Chris Dornan on behalf of Nordiq Canada

BEIJING, Chn—A trio of Canadian men officially made their Olympic debut in the men’s 30-kilometre skiathlon race on Sunday at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre near Beijing.

The youngest member of the Canadian squad at 20 years of age, Olivier Léveillé (Sherbrooke, Que.), finished just outside the top-30 in the 70-man field, clocking a 31st-place time of 1:23:42.0.

“It was a tough course and a really tough race, but I was able to stay in control and finish strong today so I’m feeling pretty good,” said Léveillé. “I’m happy now to be an Olympian. I’m going to eat, get some rest and come back strong for the sprint race.”

Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.) battled through the challenging conditions, completing his eight laps around the punishing course in a time of 1:25:26.9 for 42nd spot.

Rémi Drolet (Rossland, B.C.) was one of 18 athletes pulled from the course after getting lapped near the 20-kilometre mark.

The Canadians skied strong early in the mass start, matching the pace for the first five kilometres before the field broke apart. Léveillé bounced around the middle of pack before finding a comfortable pace in a small group of four who worked together to reel in a handful of skiers before crossing the finish line together.

Two athletes representing the Russian Olympic Committee finished on top of the podium. Alexander Bolshunov dusted the field to win with a time of 1:16:09.8. Denis Spitsov skied to the silver medal at 1:17:20.8. Finland’s Iivo Niskanen secured the bronze with a time of 1:18:10.0.

The men’s skiathlon consisted of 15 kilometres of classic cross-country skiing followed by a final 15 kilometres in the free technique. Athletes change equipment in a pit stop area between the two legs with the clock still running.

The men’s and women’s Olympic free technique sprint races are slated for Tuesday, February 8.

*****

Complete Results: https://bit.ly/3rvbG1S

For complete details on Team Canada at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, please visit  https://olympic.ca/games/beijing-2022/

By Chris Dornan on behalf of Nordiq Canada

BEIJING, Chn — Cendrine Browne and her teammates set the tone for the Canada’s cross-country skiers at the 2022 Winter Games after putting down her best-ever Olympic performance, skiing to 20th place in the women’s 15-kilometre skiathlon race on Saturday in Beijing, China.

Competing in her second Olympic Games, the 28-year-old from Prévost, Que. clocked a time of 47:58.1 after a gutsy effort that challenged the top women’s cross-country skiers who were faced with long punishing climbs and blustery winds on a frigid afternoon at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country skiing Centre.

“That is a career-best result today! I’m really, really happy and proud of how I raced,” said Browne. “I worked very hard on my classic the last year and I think that really helped me today. It was definitely a tough race with tough conditions so I’m glad I was able to ski relaxed and be conservative with my energy. It was really fun being in the same pack as Katherine! I’m so proud of our team. This shows that we are in great shape!”

Canada’s Browne, Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.) and Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse) worked together in the chase pack for much of the race. Browne and Stewart-Jones exchanged positions as the top Canuck in each of the four laps. Skiing strong, the Canadian trio conserved their energy for a strong finish in the top-30.

Skiing in and out of the top-20 on the wide-open course, Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.) finished 23rd at 48:17.3 in her Olympic debut.

“This is my first Olympic Games, so it was a really great experience. There was a lot of wind today, so it was important to stay in the tracks and conserve energy,” said Stewart-Jones. “It was a long 15 kms given how tough a course this is. I was happy with the way I felt out there despite it being so long since I had raced, and I didn’t really know what to expect. This will do a lot for my confidence for the rest of these Games.”

Beatty also had a boost of confidence with her career best Olympic result, skiing steady in the middle of the pack en route to a 28th place finish at 48:52.0.

“You had to be pretty strategic on the downhills today. With the wind, my goal was to be as small as possible on the downhills and then give everything I had on the climbs. I’m super happy with how it went for me. Being in the top-30 in a distance race is always something I’m happy with,” said Beatty.

Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.) scrapped her way to 44th in a time of 50:11.7.

“It was super challenging conditions for everyone. It was windy, cold, the snow was slow, and this is a heck of a course,” said Bouffard Nesbitt. “It is one of the hardest courses if not the hardest. It was just epic today – my first Olympic race – getting blasted by the wind right off the start. You really could just feel the size of the event right away.”

Battling for the first Nordic skiing medal of the Games, the field of 63 women set an electric pace from the start gun and held it throughout the challenging 15-kilometre test which combined 7.5 kilometres of classic cross-country skiing followed by 7.5 additional kilometres in the free technique. Athletes change equipment in a pit stop area between the two legs with the clock still running.

Norway’s Therese Johaug controlled the pack in both disciplines. A force from start-to-finish, Johaug led a group of approximately 15 athletes who strung out the field on the second hill in the first lap. Charging out onto the second half of the course after leading the pack into the exchange area, the Norwegian skied with a handful of athletes until surging with less than three kilometres to go en route to winning the gold medal with a time of 44:13.7.

Natalia Nepryaeva, who is an athlete representing the Russian Olympic Committee, was the next best finisher 30.2 seconds off the golden pace. Nepryaeva claimed the silver with a time of 44:43.9, topping Austria’s Teresa Stadlober who grabbed the bronze medal at 44:44.2.

The Canadian men will hit the Olympic start line for a 30-kilometre skiathlon race on Sunday.

*****

Complete Results: https://bit.ly/3B0mbxc

For complete details on Team Canada at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, please visit  https://olympic.ca/games/beijing-2022/

]]> https://fasterskier.com/2022/02/press-release-cendrine-browne-battles-to-20th-in-epic-olympic-skiathlon/feed/ 0 https://fasterskier.com/2022/02/canadian-journey-to-beijing/ https://fasterskier.com/2022/02/canadian-journey-to-beijing/#respond Fri, 04 Feb 2022 12:41:10 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?p=201011

Canada was successful in delivering the team to Beijing and getting them on snow in Zhangjiakou. The decision to go above and beyond in isolating athletes before a carefully planned drive to a charter flight worked, although other countries also succeeded with a more laid-back approach.

What can fans expect from the Canadian team in Beijing? It all comes down to qualifying and performing.

Qualifying

Canada had an Olympic quota of four women and three men, with a pretty high probability of gaining another woman and man in reallocation. The size of the quota depends on World Cup/World Championship performance and domestic FIS races; the top countries earned the maximum team size of 8 per gender. As Canada cancelled all races last season and only took a small team to Europe for a six week visit, the only path to a larger team would have been more athletes getting top 30 results in Europe last season.

Three men (Tony Cyr, Olivier Léveillé, Graham Ritchie) and one woman (Katherine Stewart-Jones) met the world cup results standard for Olympic qualification during period 1. The Trials in Canmore (January 6th to 11th) would then select three women, and possibly one woman and one man who would have first dibs after reallocation.

Dahria Beatty, an Olympic veteran from Pyeongchang, was one of the skiers who now had to qualify through a rigid qualification document at Canmore trials.

“Yes, it was definitely different last time. I was qualified for the [2018] Games a season in advance, essentially,” Beatty explained at the Prep Camp at Sovereign Lake.

At the Canmore sprint, Beatty qualified third and finished the heats in 4th, which meant Laura Leclair earned her first Olympic berth and Cendrine Browne her second.

For Beatty, selection came down to Saturday’s 10km individual classic. If she won, or placed second to Stewart-Jones, she got the spot. The latter happened, with Beatty 0.5 seconds behind and 20 seconds clear of third.

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve had to qualify for a team specifically like that since U23 World Champs so it’s been a long time definitely.”

Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt was ranked 5th after trials, waiting on the reallocation process. Her journey has been longer than most, with injuries, training setbacks, car accidents, and bad luck. In 2014, she recovered from a back injury just in time to compete at Olympic trials. She won the qualifier on her first race day of the season. While lining up for the A-final heat with selection on the line, she was told that the jury had disqualified her for micro-skating during the quarter-final earlier. This year, the pieces came together.

“​​It’s hard to find words. It’s something that I believed in, like my whole life, I believed that it was possible. But then throughout the setbacks, the doubt kind of built up. And, increased and I thought it wouldn’t happen, maybe and that I just had to grow up and face that reality. But there was still like, a little voice inside me that thought it was possible. And just to have– persisted, and trusted that with patience like things would line up for me. It means so much, it means so much for me but also for the people who helped me get here because it feels like I know that they would support me no matter what but it just feels like doing them justice as well. Like putting all the time into this project that is me trying to get to the Olympics was worth it.”

Jasmine Drolet was next, with only the faint hope of moving up through a positive COVID test for an athlete above. Jasmine does have the consolation of earning a start at U20 World Championships.

Russell Kennedy finished 27th in the Ruka 15km classic in November, enough to help Canada’s World Cup quota for next season. Kennedy would have needed to ski 15 seconds faster to take the 20th place from Federico Pellegrino and earn the 4th Olympic spot. The next day he moved up to 21st in the pursuit with the 24th fastest time of day, again just outside the criteria.

The reallocation spot would be decided in the 15km individual start classic on January 8th. Whoever finished highest, after excluding the three already qualified men, would be on tenterhooks until the 17th and then be officially announced on the 19th.

Cyr won, surprising no one, with Rémi Drolet edging out Kennedy by 10.8 seconds to take second. Every skier in the top ten had either a WC top 30 or a Canada Cup podium this season. Every one of those skiers could believe that their best effort would end in selection.

Rémi is a second year senior who chose to take a gap year from Harvard to focus on getting faster on the World Cup and qualifying for Beijing. He didn’t get selected for Period 1, but did get some good results in early season Continental Cup races in Finland and Sweden.

“For me, it was important to try really hard to make it this time around, because I think it’ll be an important stepping stone in my career,” he told FasterSkier during the prep camp. “To be able to, I guess, be a leader in the team, with so many strong guys coming up.”

Rémi is getting good results for his age, but also looking over his shoulder at juniors like Tom Stephen and Xav McKeever, who are already collecting senior wins at Canada Cup races. These three teamed up with Léveillé to collect a relay silver at U20 Worlds two years ago.

Kennedy is now 30. His ‘day job’ is with Canada’s Para National team, one of two guides for Brian McKeever. After PyeongChang, his goal was not just to qualify, but deliver at Beijing, and that dream ended with an invitation to train as a spare.

“Well, I mean, for me, it’s been a rough two weeks. I spent three years working for this year. I was focused on the Olympics, and not really as much qualifying I guess.”

Asked about sharing a bubble for two weeks with the four men who are living his dream, Kennedy didn’t shy away from truth.

“And yeah, it’s been hard. But I’ve been trying to put on a good face around them. Because it’s sweet [for them]. They’ve done it, they’re going to the Olympics, it’s a huge goal and a huge achievement. But for me, it’s definitely hard. I’m really fast right now, which just makes it harder. But that’s part of sport.”

Performing

For some people, just reaching the Olympics is the pinnacle of their dreams. And it is a major achievement, even more so now with smaller quotas. In 2006, Canada had five women who earned Torino quota spots, in addition to the ten nations spots, allowing Canada to select 15 women. 

What distinguishes the athletes who deliver results from those who participate?

“Some people believe, and some people want to believe, but [it’s] the ones that really believe.” Dave Wood explained to FasterSkier in July of 2021.

Going back to 2006, three Canadian women came home with medals: Chandra Crawford, Beckie Scott, and Sara Renner. Each of these women had individual World Cup podiums in the final two months of preparation and came into Torino with confidence. 

The current team of nine Canadians has only two members with Olympic experience: Beatty and Browne. It will be much harder for this team to dream of podiums.

Stewart-Jones, Cyr, Léveillé, and Ritchie can find confidence from their period 1 results. Drolet can find confidence in beating Léveillé and Kennedy at trials as both have World Cup top 30’s this season.

The others? They will have to find confidence inside themselves.

Expecting

One of the common expectations of sports fans is that Olympians should produce their best performance of the season on the biggest stage. Athletes work their whole lives to get to an Olympics and it seems obvious that they should be peaking at precisely the right moment.

“The results came from those that started their Olympics in May or April.” – Dave Wood, talking about Vancouver 2010.

Wood was referring to athletes who qualified for the Olympics during the previous season, allowing them to build the entire training year around performing during a two week period. Athletes who have not qualified in advance have to focus their season plan on earning selection.

Kennedy was one athlete who missed that balance.

“Because sometimes I feel with sport, you have to choose if you want to go or if you want to do well. It’s the one thing that I’ve been struggling with. And also, it’s hard because like the people making the decisions don’t really have any repercussions for their choices. So the repercussions fall on athletes, and unfortunately, this year fell on me. Yeah. It sucks, but it’s part of it. I knew what I signed up for.”

Once selected, each athlete can then reset their priorities. Four Canadians hit that point in December, three more on January 8th, and the last two on January 17th. With the first race on February 5th, which feels like the 4th after crossing the international date line, the one big thing athletes can do is not catch COVID-19.

Back in 2010, Canada had four men performing on the world cup and when it came time to pick four men for the 50km on the final day, there were five names. Ivan Babikov, George Gray, and Alex Harvey had placed 5th, 8th, and 9th in the skiathlon and were obvious choices. The final place had to go to either Brian McKeever, who had qualified first at trials in Canmore, or Devon Kershaw, whose best individual result was a 16th. Unusually for Canada, there was outside pressure on this selection, as McKeever would have been the first person to compete at the Olympics and Paralympics in the same season.

“The way the other four boys had been skiing, there was no decision, there was no discussion,” Wood explained. “Brian didn’t beat Kershaw and Alex and Ivan and George [at trials], he beat the others.”

The coaches chose Kershaw, which paid off with a 5th place finish, 1.6 seconds from gold. In 2022, there will be no difficult decisions for the men, but there are five women and four starts per individual race.

FasterSkier asked Beatty what races she was looking forward to.

“Well, if I get a start in the team sprint, I love team sprints, I love team events. So I’m definitely hoping to be doing that race, I’m looking forward to that. I’m also really looking forward to the individual sprint and the 10k individual.”

This may not be the Norwegian or Swedish level of choice, with eight skiers and four starts, but expect Canada to hold some time trials during the Olympics to inform the coaches’ choice.

Beatty and Browne were in PyeongChang, and will have experience to share with the neophytes.

“​​The races themselves, even though they will be the most stressful part, are also going to be the most fun because that’s what we dream of,” Bouffard-Nesbitt speculated three days before getting on the plane.

“I’ve never been to an Olympic Games, and especially a COVID games. So I don’t know what the rest of the time will be like.”

Early evidence is athletes will be killing time in their rooms and finding virtual fun with your teammates.

Dreaming

FasterSkier asked a number of the athletes a simple question: when you first dreamed of the Olympics, what sport were you dreaming of?

“I have to say, probably hockey with that one. For sure. I didn’t know I was gonna end up as a cross country skier.” — Ritchie

“Cross country skiing. Yeah, it’s always been that.” — Stewart-Jones

“I definitely think it was probably cross country skiing. That’s always been the sport I’ve been strongest at, even as a kid. I did a bunch of different sports. I always loved watching figure skating at the Olympics, but I knew that I was never going to pursue that long term, definitely was not flexible enough.” — Beatty

“I don’t know. I guess when I first really thought about the Olympics was back when I was playing hockey. But at that time, it wasn’t really, it was kind of just like, whoa, it’d be cool to go to the Olympics. But I didn’t really think of what sport I might make it in. It’s only really four years ago, I started thinking, this is what I need to work towards, to make the Olympics in Beijing.” – Rémi Drolet

“That is such a good question. Because around the time when I became really inspired by the Olympics was the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and I think Simon Whitfield winning the triathlon was the really big moment at that Olympics. And at the time, in my youth, I was just obsessed with soccer, but also skiing, so I dreamt of either/or soccer or skiing.” — Bouffard-Nesbitt

“Oh, man, I didn’t really have a sport I was dreaming of, exactly. But I thought maybe skiing because I was on skis at two years old. More downhill racing.” – Kennedy

“I was the dreaming to go to the Olympics as a cross country skier. It didn’t happen as a cross country skier but as a technician.” — Simon Boisvert

“Ah, to be honest, I’ve always been into cross country skiing with my dad and my sister, my older sister ahead of me, but always been into cross country skiing, and I thought that maybe mountain biking, but a few years ago, I knew I was not. I wasn’t going as an athlete, but I’m pretty pumped to go for my first time as a wax technician.” — Félix-Antoine Vezina

The Canadian Prep Camp in Sovereign Lake and SilverStar, BC prior to the 2022 Beijing Olympics sounds like a nordic skier’s heaven.

A two-week ski vacation with 100 kilometres of perfectly groomed snow. A private room above a great coffee shop (pain au chocolate!) and next door to some great beer. January weather just below freezing with enough falling snow to make every day a hardwax day. Two weeks of what locals call superhero snow. A whole lot of sunshine.

The reality was a little different: COVID stress, travel uncertainty, and outside pressure combined to make this very much a work trip, not a vacation.

The camp, which ran from January 12th to 25th, included nine athletes, the high-performance manager plus two coaches, two wax techs, a massage therapist, and a cook.

The athletes included the majority of the 2022 Olympic Team: Katherine Stewart-Jones, Laura Leclair, Dahria Beatty, Tony Cyr, Olivier Léveillé, and Graham Ritchie. Alternates Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt and Rémi Drolet would officially join the team after the quota reallocation during the second week. Second alternate Russell Kennedy will not add to his Olympic CV and will instead go to his third Paralympics as a guide, supporting the well-decorated visually impaired athlete, Brian McKeever. The only Olympic team member not in attendance was Cendrine Browne, who chose to train in Canmore, while second alternate Jasmine Drolet returned to school at Dartmouth and earned her first collegiate wins.

World Cup coach Erik Bråten, Next Gen coach Eric de Nys, Team Lead and high performance manager Joel Jaques, techs Simon Boisvert and Félix-Antoine Vezina, massage therapist Stephen Waterreus, and Zoe the cook made up the support crew. Everyone except de Nys and Zoe are going to Beijing.

When this writer asked for last names, the response was always, “Zoe? You know Zoe.” In the end, it was revealed that Zoe is Zoë Roy, who retired from racing in 2014 as a founding member of Team Ninja. Yup, we all know Zoë.

All interviews were done on snow, from a distance, with FasterSkier wearing an N95 mask.

On Snow Training

The on-snow part of the camp was reported to have gone very well. The coaches were able to find times and trails that allowed training races that closely matched the Olympic course for profile and elevation while keeping distance from the local skiers. 

The Zhangjiakou 5km course elevation range is 1639m to 1696m. The Sovereign Lake upper World Cup 5km is 1651m to 1708m, with the stadium at 1660m.

The Friday sprint course worked fairly well, despite a layout that would give any technical delegate apoplexy. As Bråten explains above, the coaches chose to do four qualifiers instead of heats to manage risk.

The Sunday skiathlon course ended up being 13km for the women and 17km for the men, with some flat sections removed from the 5km loop to better mimic the Olympic courses.

Bråten was often seen working with athletes one-on-one.

As the days counted down to departure, skiers were working on filling their bags with seconds gained: a tweak in one skate (V2) poling, free skating further on a fast flat section, experimenting with pacing on courses that simulate Zhangjiakou.

The mood of the camp seemed slightly tense, at least to a journalist who was careful not to pierce the bubble. The change on Tuesday morning, 12 hours after everyone passed the final COVID test, was dramatic, with smiles everywhere.

“It’s been fantastic conditions and just a really nice camp all around, it’s always nice when you get some sunshine,” Kennedy told FasterSkier. “So yeah, especially after a [World Cup] Period One in Finland in the dark.”

COVID Management

A positive test would be the end of one person’s Olympic dreams and a logistical nightmare for the support team. Any close contact of the infected person would not be able to travel. Any replacement person, athlete or not, would need to follow the same testing protocol. If that replacement wasn’t ready for the scheduled flight, the complexity of travel planning might be insurmountable.

In order to travel to the Olympics, the athletes, coaches, and techs would all have to pass two PCR tests less than 24 hours apart in the final 96 hours before boarding. Once at the Calgary airport, there would be another PCR test, with a fourth upon arrival in China.

Nordiq Canada chose a more restrictive plan than some other countries. Each person (athlete, coach, tech, cook, massage therapist) had their own room and didn’t enter other rooms. Meals were delivered. Grocery shopping was done by local resident, de Nys, scheduled for 7am to avoid crowds. No one entered coffee shops, bars, or restaurants. Each morning, everyone would do a rapid antigen test in their room. Athletes skied from their accommodation at SilverStar to the homologated trails at Sovereign Lake to avoid close contacts in vehicles. Only de Nys and Zoë the cook had contacts outside the bubble, and neither is going to Beijing.

The goal behind this aggressive protocol was twofold. First, to prevent exposures. Second, if one person tested positive, there would be no close contacts forced into isolation or removed from the Olympics. The two wax techs (Simon Boisvert and Félix-Antoine Vezina) inevitably had a shared bubble as they shared a private waxing room.

Was this the right answer? We got three answers to that.

Drolet found the camp harder than usual: “We were still able to ski together a little bit, but it was definitely a little bit lonely at times.”

Kennedy, entering with a mentally tough prospect of only making the team if disaster struck a friend, found the positive. “The guys have been playing, like hanging out online together… And we’ve been skiing together. So it’s separate, but at the same time, not too lonely.”

“Ask me on Monday afternoon when we get all the results back,” Jaques told FasterSkier on Sunday morning. “We’ve taken the right precautions so we’ll just see. But I think it’s looking good.”

A number of athletes mentioned feeling comfort in knowing they were doing everything possible to protect their Olympic dreams. 

The system has worked. Everyone tested negative and the entire team is now on snow in Zhangjiakou.

CANMORE (January 21, 2022) – Team Canada will now have five women and four men on the cross-country skiing start line as Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt and Rémi Drolet are heading to Beijing for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Bouffard Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.) and Drolet (Rossland, B.C.) were the final two athletes nominated by Nordiq Canada to the Canadian Olympic Committee after an additional two quota spots were handed down to Canada by International Ski Federation (FIS) following a reallocation process.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Remi and Olivia to test themselves on the ultimate stage while having the opportunity to realize their Olympic dream,” said Stéphane Barrette, Chief Executive Officer, Nordiq Canada. “Gaining two additional quota spots allows Nordiq Canada to deepen our high-performance program by having more athletes on the start line competing against the world’ best.”

The 29-year-old Bouffard Nesbitt, who is a former National Ski Team member, was named first alternate for Canada’s cross-country ski team after placing second in the skate-sprint qualifier before going onto finish third in the head-to-head heats at Nordiq Canada’s Olympic Trials earlier this month.

“Getting this confirmation was a huge moment for me and, quite honestly, overwhelming validation of years of hard work,” said Bouffard Nesbitt. “This journey has required patience and persistence through a lot of ups and downs, but the belief this was possible never wavered. I am so grateful to all of those who have invested in me. It was the most amazing feeling to call all of those people and tell them we made it happen. I’m so grateful. I’m so happy and I’m going to race my heart out with the team in Beijing for all of Canada.”

Drolet, one of the top young prospects in the Canadian men’s program, earned his alternate spot following a second-place finish in the 15-kilometre classic cross-country ski race at the Trials. The 21-year-old Drolet skied the anchor leg of Canada’s historic silver medal-winning relay team at the 2020 Junior World Ski Championships.

“When I found out I would be getting an Olympic spot I was overjoyed, and it was incredibly relieving,” said Drolet. “Making it to Beijing has been a dream goal of mine for the past four years so it feels amazing to have achieved it. Having this opportunity at this point in my career is encouraging for me to see what I am capable of and I want to use this a steppingstone to reach a strong international level in the next few years.”

FIS distributes quota spots to each country based on international rankings. If the top nations do not use all of their qualified spots at the deadline, those spots are then reallocated to the next highest-ranking nation.

Bouffard Nesbitt and Drolet round out the Olympic cross-country ski team which was announced on January 13.

The athletes nominated are:

Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse, Yukon)
Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.)
Cendrine Browne (Saint-Jérôme, Que.)
Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.)
Remi Drolet (Rossland, B.C.)
Laura Leclair (Chelsea, Que.)
Olivier Léveillé (Sherbrooke, Que.)
Graham Ritchie (Parry Sound, Ont.)
Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.)

Cross-country skiing events will take place February 5 to February 20 (Day 2 to 16) at the Zhangjiakou Cross Country Centre.

Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organizations.

The latest Team Canada Beijing 2022 roster can be found here and the qualification tracker can be found here.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Chris Dornan, Communications Advisor for Nordiq Canada

C: 403-620-8731

E: hpprchris@shaw.ca

Tara MacBournie, Team Canada’s Cross Country Skiing Media Attaché

C: 647-522-8328

E: tmacbournie@olympic.ca

Josh Su, Team Canada’s Press Operations Lead
C: 647-464-4060
E: jsu@olympic.ca

Rossland, BC native Rémi Drolet had a lot going on during the first year of the pandemic. In his first year on the Canadian senior national ski team, he was studying theoretical physics at Harvard. 

His junior career ended with a silver medal and an individual fourth place in the 2020 World U20 Championships, right before COVID cancelled the final World Cups and Canadian Senior Nationals. This was also his first season living in a foreign country as an Ivy league freshman.

The previous (18/19) season, as an 18 year old, he collected two silver medals at Senior Nationals behind Lenny Valjas before his first World Cup starts. Drolet was the third best Canadian in the Québec mini-tour, beaten only by retiring athletes Alex Harvey and Valjas.

These results put him onto the national team as a first year senior, and also set expectations high for the 20/21 season.

FasterSkier caught up to Drolet at home in Rossland, suitably distanced in a park near his home. After a brief publishing delay related to this author’s day job, Drolet updated his status in an email from Muonio, Finland.

University Life

Pandemic life in the USA last season was remarkably varied, depending on the state a skier lived in. 

“I wasn’t able to actually make it to Boston itself,” Drolet explained. “All classes were online, which made some things difficult. And I definitely miss being there, miss seeing all my friends.”

Collectively, IVY League schools cancelled all sports programs for the 2020-2021 academic year, leaving student-athletes in a challenging predicament.

“A lot of athletes and a lot of other athletes at Harvard just decided to take a leave of absence and take the year off because of that. Even then there were very few students who were allowed on campus, basically, just certain years and those students that needed to be there for personal reasons.”

In terms of his individual handling of the circumstances, Drolet shared a silver lining.

“[There were] some logistical issues, but overall, I think I took advantage of it pretty well, because I was able to be living at home the whole year.”

Rossland is an outdoor enthusiast’s heaven. There are endless trail options, nicely paved roads, and a small population which ensures a minimum of traffic on roller ski routes. The Rossland Range, an offshoot of the Monashee Range, provides moderate elevation including the famous Seven Summits trail. FasterSkier, in Rossland on a mountain bike vacation, saw Drolet rollerskiing while driving to the campsite before running into coach Dave Wood at the grocery store.

At the Races

There were no FIS races in Canada last season. None.

As best FasterSkier can determine, the Canadian who got the most starts in the 20/21 season was Sam Hendry, who was studying and skiing at the University of Utah. For Canadians not attending school in the US, the only options were the World Cup and World Championships. Pandemic restrictions in British Columbia included skiing only at your home trails, which meant most athletes weren’t able to train with their peers from other clubs. Clubs could organize interval start ‘races’ for one training group at a time.

“My first race of the year was the World Cup in Lahti,” recalled Drolet.

That first race was the 30km skiathlon, won by Emil Iversen in a Norwegian sweep. Most of the athletes had raced multiple WC weekends or the Tour de Ski already.  While some of the countries skipped some weekends, those athletes were able to enter Scando Cup races during the break.

Logistics at the World Cup

It’s no secret that moving country to country, each with slightly different restrictions and rules in place, to follow the World Cup poses challenges during a global pandemic.

“Even beyond the fact that we hadn’t had any races, it was a lot of logistical issues just coming there. We had to be careful with COVID and try and navigate inconsistent regulations at the venues. For example, that first weekend in Lahti, we had some false positives on the team, and so we all got put into quarantine right before the relay race. And then, probably an hour before the start of the race, we all got told that they were false positives, and the wax techs just ran to the wax truck and prepared skis as best as they could. It was definitely a challenge to get it all together.”

After time to rest and digest, Drolet reflected on his racing and training during what was hopefully the apex of challenges amidst the pandemics.

“I think this whole year wasn’t, wasn’t my best racing year. We had a couple training errors leading up into the season, kind of related to a lot of fatigue from school that was managed poorly going into the World Cups.”

With a short racing season, there wasn’t much time to change course. Returning to Canada to reset would have required quarantining at home instead of training.

“Things gradually improved throughout the season, and I got a couple of decent races in, but not totally where I want it to be… I think I definitely learned a lot of things that I should do. And a lot of things I should be careful to avoid to manage energy properly and be as ready as I can for each race.”

Coaching

Drolet had two coaches last season. Erik Bråten was the national team coach and Dave Wood was his personal coach. Drolet shared that he is happy to again work with Bråten this season, as he will be the WC coach in Europe for 21/22.

“I think he’s very good at fostering a strong team atmosphere and making sure everything’s well organized and that athletes don’t have to think about every small detail all the time. And that makes a really big difference so that you can just get up and kind of focus on training. And he was very accommodating. Especially for me to do a lot of schoolwork while I was over there.”

While working in Canada for NC, Bråten often promoted the idea that skiers need to race in Europe to learn what the standard is and then return to their home training environment to raise their skiing to that level. Drolet agreed with this approach.

“I found it really hard to judge how I stacked up to the rest of the world, and just how fast I needed to be. What benchmarks I needed to be hitting. I mean, you see some data, but it’s hard to really see what that feels like until you’ve actually done it. It also brings a lot of confidence, I think, knowing exactly what you need to achieve, kind of makes it more tangible, rather than just chasing something more abstract.”

There are few things more abstract than theoretical physics, but Drolet is clearly energized by a concrete sense of where he needs to be.

Dave Wood spent many years as head coach at Cross Country Canada, working with athletes like Beckie Scott and Devon Kershaw. He moved to Rossland to become the head coach of the Black Jack club team just as Drolet aged out of Track Attack.

“Pretty much everything I know about being an athlete, I know from Dave. And I definitely wouldn’t be where I am without him… One thing he’s really taught me that’s important is: ‘to be good, you have to be good at being good.’ And I guess to clarify… you need to set yourself up for success, rather than just doing the minimum and getting to the start line.”

The 21/22 Training Season

Drolet committed to taking a gap year from Harvard to focus on skiing, with the hope of racing period 1 of the World Cup and qualifying for Beijing. There were three national team camps, three more than in 2020. The first, scheduled for Penticton, was moved to Vancouver Island to escape extreme wildfire smoke.

The second camp was in Mammoth, California, a Canadian tradition for elevation training.

“The training camp in California, especially, was excellent, and we got in some good hours at altitude to get ready for the season,” Drolet wrote from Muonio. “I always love the time we spend down there and it was really great to have the whole team together for a few weeks.  Eric de Nys also started on as the Development coach, and he has been doing a great job so far!”

The final camp was Frozen Thunder in Canmore, which in the current travel climate is even more important for spending hours on snow before the season starts.

When Nordiq Canada published the list of athletes selected for period 1, the list of names was short, and Drolet’s name was not present. 

“I would have liked to go, but I did not race fast enough last year to qualify.”

Adversity is a large part of being a ski racer and the response to each challenge is revealing. Drolet is not arguing legal interpretations of the criteria or motivations of the selectors here, focusing instead on what he can control.

Racing Again

De Nys led a group of Canadians to early season races in Finland and Sweden. 

On November 12th in Muonio, FIN, Drolet was 25th in the classic sprint, one of three Canadians to qualify for the heats. Some names in the final are familiar to ski fans: Sergey Ustiugov, Federico Pellegrino, and Erik Valnes have all won world cups.

The next day, the 15km classic was dominated by Norway and Russia, with only Iivo Niskanen in first and Drolet in 15th adding colour to the top 16.

“The racing in Muonio is not necessarily so different from racing at a NorAm or a Canada Cup,” Drolet wrote. “You still get ready the same way and show up on race day ready to race as fast as possible.  There are some things that are different, though.  First off, you need to deal with jet lag and be really on it so that you are properly rested for the races.  The whole setup is also a bit different. “

This trip was planned as a learning experience for the NexGen athletes.

“Everyone stays at one big hotel and eats at the same restaurant, which makes it feel like more of a big event.  It just feels more concentrated.  Then, of course, some of the world’s top skiers show up, so the competition is a lot stiffer than when racing in Canada.  I think if there’s anything I’ve learned it would just be a reinforcement of the importance of managing your time outside the races as effectively as possible.”

“Whether it is just meals and proper rest or the warmup for your race, there are small things that the best do better.  It is good to be able to observe what they do and try to incorporate it myself.”

Drolet finished the Muonio 15km 1:42 behind Niskanen and 50 seconds behind Ustiugov.

“I am satisfied with the results in Muonio,” he wrote.  “I am judging them by a combination of time gaps, placing, and execution.  I think it was overall not bad for the first races of the year, and I hope I can keep improving as I get more competitions under my belt.”

The next weekend, the Canadians moved from Muonio to Gällivare in Sweden where Drolet finished 17th and 16th in the distance races.

Up Next

“My plan is to compete in these early season races in Scandinavia then head back home for the Western Canada Cups.  I think having this amount of high level racing before Christmas will allow me to be optimally prepared for the Olympic Trials races in January.”

Drolet was 6th in the free sprint at Sovereign Lake, and won the 15km individual classic.

After WCC weekend 1, Drolet reflected on his Euro trip.

“It was it was good, some [races] were better than others,” he said. “But it was I think it was really worthwhile to go over there and get some races in really early in the year against some really strong guys. I think it prepared us well for the season and I feel happy I went there.”

The opportunity to race at home in Rossland for the second Western Canada Cup weekend was derailed by an ‘atmospheric river’ storm that damaged the snowpack at ski areas through southern BC and that race weekend will now be held at the backup venue, Sovereign Lake.

Living in Rossland

“Whenever I think about it, I just feel extremely lucky to have been born here. I just love, love, love living here. So fortunate that I’ve lived here my whole life and been able to benefit from everything that comes with living in Rossland. And then, yeah, Dave moved here at just the right time for when my skiing career was getting started. And it’s all been really amazing.”

Watch this space for upcoming stories from Dave Wood recorded during this author’s recent trip to Rossland.

Last season, Canada held no races, posted no domestic results, and, in general, vanished into the pandemic fog.

Travel restrictions meant that many Canadian skiers didn’t see any skiers from other regions.

Which skiers made progress and which regressed over the last 20 months? We finally have hints after the first races last weekend. What is new? Lots. What happens next? Keep reading. 

Athlete Progress

Following the opening FIS races, part of the Western Canada Cup series, which happened December 4th and 5th at Sovereign Lake in Vernon, BC, Nordiq Canada and its followers finally had results that could be used to assess athlete progress. 

Many athletes from Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and BC spent time at Sovereign Lake in November, getting a combination of elevation and snow. Most were confident in their preparation based on summer training with teammates, including the few athletes who race the World Cups last season or were in Europe in November. However, the coaches were still likely to shrug when asked who was fast this year.

FasterSkier’s research suggests that Sam Hendry was the Canadian with the most races last year. A student athlete at University of Utah, he was able to travel and compete on both the SuperTour and NCAA circuits. The small group of athletes who raced World Cups and U23/U20 Championships in February and March had no warmup races before racing at the top level and ended the season with less race days than Hendry.

FasterSkier will be sharing more in-depth athletes profiles in the coming weeks.

Calendar Changes

Canada has dropped the NorAm name, a leftover from the depths of history when the US and Canadian series merged into one North American series. Since the SuperTour split off some years back, the reversion to the Canada Cup name (as in a Continental Cup race held in Canada) is appropriate, even overdue. A name change, however, is simply symbolic. Real change requires action, and action usually results in anger from the people who were demanding change. 

As originally planned for last season, the series is now divided into Western and Eastern, which is expected to reduce travel costs and make it easier for skiers to stay in the sport until they are ready to earn a permanent place on the World Cup team. The obvious downside is that the top skiers won’t meet until national team and Olympic trials in Canmore. FasterSkier has been talking to skiers about pros and cons and will follow this shift closely.

Building a season schedule in Canada doesn’t get much easier with the east/west division. The country spans 5.5 time zones and the geographically larger west division has a much smaller population. Every possible calendar and scenario includes lots of travel.

Olympic trials need to be held at elevation as Beijing is at 1,800m, and the west has the only three homologated courses above 1,200m (Canmore, Rossland, Sovereign Lake). Ideally, there would have been early trials on snow for the World Cup period 1 starts, but that would also have to be in the west because the east doesn’t have appropriate courses available in October/November. With 2022 Nationals scheduled for Whistler, the obvious solution would be to have all major events in the west. This would (reasonably) be seen as unfair to eastern athletes. The ‘least bad’ answer was not to have trials in October.

The divided schedule has Sovereign Lake December 4th-5th followed by Rossland, also in BC, on the 11th-12th. In the east,  Nakkertok, just north of Ottawa, will host races on the 11th-12th, followed by Mont Sainte Anne, further east in Quebec, on December 18th-19th. Everyone comes together for the first time at the trials in Canmore January 6th-11th. These competitions will be used for athlete selection for the Beijing Olympics, U23/U20 World Championships, and World Cup period 4, which means pressure to perform for everyone.

Nordiq Canada Changes

NC has made a tonne of staff changes since last season. There is now a NextGen coach to bring skiers up to the top level, and a Development Coach to deliver skiers to the NextGen coach. Chris Jeffries, longtime leader of the Alberta World Cup Academy, has been named High Performance Director. Julie Beaulieu is working on the development side. Nathaniel Mah has retired from Nordic Combined competition and is Marketing Engagement Coordinator. Ilona Gyapay has had a role shift, described by one deeply-connected race official as ‘the new Dave Dyer’. (Dyer spent many years with Nordiq Canada, before ending his career as Events Director.)

Erik Bråten was originally hired in the fall of 2018 as a NextGen coach with a secondary focus on developing the base of the pyramid before having his role changed almost immediately to the “Everything Coach”. After two and a half seasons, he left NC in April, 2021. He later rejoined as a World Cup coach for the 21/22 season.

Eric de Nys was selected as NextGen coach in June. He started work in August, joining in at the Penticton national team camp organized by Dave Wood, which had been moved to Vancouver Island to escape wildfire smoke.

De Nys organized the traditional Canadian elevation camp in Mammoth, California. For BC athletes this was out of the smoke and into less smoke, as California was also burning. This camp is important for Canada because it allows a range of elevations that aren’t practical in BC or Alberta and don’t exist in the rest of Canada. 

“BC has good elevation, but in an Olympic year, good enough won’t be good enough.” — Wood, July 2021.

Matt Smider was hired as Development Coach in time for Canmore’s Frozen Thunder team camp in October, once again led by de Nys. Smider is known for sparking the growth of small town Revelstoke Nordic into the big leagues; these skills will be useful to fill the development pipeline.

De Nys lead a mix of NextGen and World Cup athletes to Muonio and Gällivare to race continental cups, with promising results against the top skiers from Finland, Russia, Italy, and Sweden. At this point, the casual observer might think that the NextGen coach role was blurring to fill the gap created by the absence of a national team head coach.

Future

Racing season is here and most eyes will be focussed on the next race. Some Canadians began their seasons in Europe. Rémi Drolet and Russell Kennedy knocked out good results in Finland and Sweden. McKeever easily won all three junior races in Gällivare against a stacked Swedish field. In the first World Cup weekend in Ruka, Antoine (Toni) Cyr led the way with an 11th in the classic 15km and 12th in the free pursuit. First year senior Olivier Léveille moved up to 17th in the pursuit while Russell Kennedy, Katherine Stewart-Jones and Cendrine Browne all earned World Cup points.

Jeffries will join full-time in April, the delay allowing him to make sure his current Alberta World Cup Academy athletes don’t have their Beijing preparations interrupted. He was clear that adding a head coach is a priority for next season.

This writer had two full seasons without seeing any of the athletes race in person, which leaves me feeling blind. The last FIS points race I watched in person was the 2019 WC finals in Québec City. It is hard to go into a new season without a good guess of which athletes to watch, but that challenge is shared by the athletes themselves.

Canadian racers missed two years of nationals and an entire season. For an athlete having a breakthrough year, nationals is where they get to show that improvement. Nationals is also the one chance for domestic racers to test themselves directly against the WC team.

“For an 18 year old to miss a year and really two years when 2020 Nationals were cancelled, is a huge amount of time,” de Nys said. “For a first year U20 aged athlete, they will have missed racing a Nationals and an entire calendar year as a U20 with another Nationals completely.  In essence, they will go from a Junior to a Senior with no race experience to help them navigate that landscape.”

With some Canadian skiers doing well in Europe and others waiting to test their progress, it is fair to ask how Nordiq Canada will help them succeed. It is common to hear people in the sport use phrases like ‘those people in Canmore’ or refer to Nordiq Canada as an opaque office that is not connected to the clubs and provinces.

“A lot of our resources and core operations still get based out of Canmore. So an athlete that lives in Quebec on the National Ski Team still probably feels as though they’re not as engaged in the National Ski Team as an athlete skiing in Canmore, [and] we need to change that,” Jeffries told FasterSkier. “But it’s already changing.”

Jeffries went on to point out that CEO Stéphane Barrette, HP Manager Joel Jaques, de Nys, Smider, and Jeffries himself do not live in Canmore.

“One of our number one objectives for the first two years of this next quad is to make inroads on breaking down that perception of those barriers.”

Watch this space for more detail on NC direction as FasterSkier was able to catch up with Barrette, Jeffries, de Nys, and Smider on the snow at Western Canada Cup #1.

Nordiq Canada will send a dynamic group of four women and four men who are determined to climb up the international rankings in the first three weeks of World Cup action before returning to Canada for the holiday break followed by the 2022 Olympic and Junior/U23 World Championship Ski Trials set for the Canmore Nordic Centre, January 6-11.

Olympians Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse) and Cendrine Browne (Saint-Jérôme, Que.) will be joined by National Teammates Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.) and Maya MacIsaac-Jones (Athabasca, Alta.) on the women’s start line. The four Canadian women have been making steady progression and regularly posting results in the top-25 over the last year.

Russell Kennedy (Canmore, Alta.) who competed at the 2018 Olympics before guiding Brian McKeever at the Paralympic Games in PyeongChang will lead a young men’s team loaded with potential. Kennedy will be joined by Graham Ritchie (Parry Sound, Ont.) and Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.) who were both seventh in the team sprint at the 2020 World Ski Championships. Olivier Léveillé (Sherbrooke, Que.), who was just the third Canadian ever to win an individual cross-country ski medal at the Junior World Championships last year when he finished third in the 10-kilometre skate-ski race, will take his first strides into the senior ranks.

Selection announcement and synopsis can be found here.

“This is a determined group of athletes who have earned the opportunity to represent Canada and compete on the elite stage of our sport through their impressive results over the last year,” said Joel Jaques, high-performance manager, Nordiq Canada.

“This group has represented Canada at all levels of the sport internationally, and are now anxious to demonstrate their potential during this important season which will serve as the ultimate benchmark in their continued development. I have full confidence they will be fully prepared to achieve our team and their personal goals.”

The majority of the Canadian Team will depart, November 18, to compete in the following races prior to the holiday break:

November 26-28 – World Cup, Ruka, Finland

November 26-28 – Norway Cup, Gålå, Norway (Graham Ritchie, Dahria Beatty, Maya MacIsaac-Jones)

December 3-5 – World Cup, Lillehammer, Norway

December 11-12 – World Cup, Davos, Switzerland

December 18-19 – World Cup, Dresden, Germany

Nordiq Canada will hold a media availability with Canadian Team athletes participating in the Frozen Thunder Training Camp at the Canmore Nordic Centre, November 2, in advance of their departure to Europe.

Nordiq Canada is the governing body of para-nordic and cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, Swix and Lanctôt Sports– along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, Nordiq Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more information on Nordiq Canada, please visit us at https://nordiqcanada.ca.

September 29, 2021

Olympic and Junior/U23 World Championship Trials set for Canmore; Canadian Ski Championships head to Whistler

CANMORE, Alta.— After working extensively with its Divisional partners, Nordiq Canada has created a regional, high-level cross-country ski race series for the 2021-22 season that has been designed to strengthen the performance pathway across the country while minimizing travel for the nation’s young cross-country skiers and emphasizing developmentally appropriate racing.

Canada’s cross-country ski athletes will have equal opportunity to compete in two regional races in either Eastern or Western Canada in December prior to heading west following the holiday break for the Olympic and FIS Nordic Junior/U23 World Ski Championships trials.

The FIS Canada Cup Series will provide the country’s high-performance nordic athletes the opportunity to earn FIS points without leaving their region by competing in two regional race series opportunities in Eastern and Western Canada. The FIS sanctioning of an event only affects the elite Open category. All other race categories will be run as Provincial Cups. U20 athletes racing in their respective East-West FIS Canada Cup Series will have the opportunity to qualify for a Nordiq Canada development trip to US SuperTour Period III. Selection criteria will be outlined in the forthcoming NST Trip Selection Criteria.

“Our number one focus is to support all of Canada’s cross-country ski athletes in their continued development by providing safe training and competitive race opportunities close to home in an effort to improve our athlete pool in all corners of the country,” said Julie Beaulieu, sport development director, Nordiq Canada.

“The FIS Canada cup series not only provides high quality competition for the athletes who are preparing for nationals and trials, but also for our up-and-coming athletes who are still focused on regional racing and have their eyes set on future international podiums. The FIS Canada Cup series will help these athletes continue to grow and develop in the sport while minimizing costs in an effort to keep them developing further through the high-performance pipeline.”

The following are races scheduled in Eastern and Western for the FIS Canada Cup Series.

December 4-5 – Sovereign Lake, Vernon, B.C. West

December 11-12 – Black Jack Ski Club, Rossland, B.C. West

December 11-12 – Nakkertok Nordic Centre, Gatineau, Que. East

December 18-19 – Mont Sainte-Anne, Que. East

The action will heat up at the Canmore Nordic Centre when the nation’s best square off for the first time since 2020 at the 2022 Olympic and Junior/U23 World Championship Ski Trials, January 6-11. Coveted spots will be up for grabs to determine Canada’s final spots on the 2022 Olympic Team and the premiere event on the international race calendar for the next generation of Nordic stars.

The best cross-country skiers at all levels across Canada will reunite once again at Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan Valley for the Canadian Ski Championships, March 20-27, to wrap up the 2022 competitive season.

More than 700 senior, junior and Para-Nordic skiers will compete for national crowns in sprints, distance races and team sprints on the trails at Whistler Olympic Park, which were homologated to meet international standards to host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

“We are super excited to be the host Organizing Committee for the 2022 national championships which will see the best skiers in Canada back at Whistler Olympic Park,” said Norm Laube, Chair, Black Tusk Nordic Events Society. “Our officials and volunteers are working hard with Whistler Sport Legacies to be prepared to showcase the Olympic legacy venue.”

For the first time ever, Nordiq Canada will conduct a joint 42-kilometre ‘Marathon’ event at the Canadian Ski Championships that will replace the long held traditional 30- and 50-kilometre distance races for women and men respectively. Canada’s junior athletes will compete in a joint half marathon event. The Canadian Ski Championships, will also play host to the US Super Tour Finals. The Trials along with Nationals will not be part of the FIS Canada Cup Regional Race Series.

The Canadian Cross-Country Ski Championships have been contested twice at Whistler Olympic Park (2013 and 2008).  A World Cup test event was also held in 2009 as part of final preparations to host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The 94th running of the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Championships will serve as a dry run for Laube and his team at the Black Tusk Nordic Events Society as they ready themselves to host the 2023 Nordic Junior/U23 World Ski Championships. Last fall, the International Ski Federation (FIS) declared the next generation of Nordic stars – in cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined – will be striding and soaring into Canada’s west coast for the first time since the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Nordiq Canada is the governing body of para-nordic and cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, Swix and Lanctôt Sports– along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, Nordiq Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and World champions. For more information on Nordiq Canada, please visit us at www.nordiqcanada.ca.

CANMORE, Alta.—Experienced cross-country ski coach, Eric de Nys, will return to Nordiq Canada to help develop Canada’s aspiring Olympic athletes into podium performers as the organization’s new NextGen coach, the governing body for cross-country skiing in Canada announced on Friday.

De Nys, who was the Senior Development Team and Women’s World Cup coach on the National Ski Team from 2004-2014, will leave his head coach and program director position at Sovereign Lake Nordic Club that he has held over the last four years to take over Nordiq Canada’s Next Gen coaching reigns beginning August 13.

“Eric’s extensive coaching experience and positive track record working with developing cross-country skiers in Canada speaks for itself so we are thrilled to have him back working with our National Ski Team program,” said Stéphane Barrette, chief executive officer, Nordiq Canada. “World-leading coaching is core to the rebuild of our national program on the trail to 2022 and beyond. Eric is an extraordinary talent whose athletic background, coaching acumen, from the club to Olympic level, and leadership skills will play a critical role in developing our athletes into medal contenders internationally.”

De Nys’ experience is deeply rooted in Canada’s Nordic sports – from coaching and athlete development to creating a positive team environment at major international competitions including the Olympic Winter Games and program logistics – the resident of Vernon, B.C. rejoins a high-performance environment with Nordiq Canada that he is very familiar with.

After developing a group of Canadian women into medal winners on the World Cup and to the Olympic Winter Games in 2014, de Nys took on head coaching responsibilities with Winsport’s Junior Cross-Country Academy for one year before leading the redevelopment of Biathlon Canada’s National Team as the organization’s high-performance director (2015-2017).

Regardless of the role – club coach, national program coach or high-performance director, de Nys has been responsible for all aspects of program delivery including: goal setting; monitoring daily training; developing long-term performance planning; budgeting; managing the Integrated support teams; relationship building and team leadership.

“I am very excited to return to Nordiq Canada to help build a strong high-performance pathway for our young athletes across the country,” said de Nys, who got his start in the coaching ranks at Foothills Nordic Ski Club. “I believe my knowledge of the system, along with my experience and tremendous passion for coaching athletes at all levels across the country will be valuable in working with the staff in place, and all of our high-performance partners, to shape a promising future for the sport in Canada. These athletes deserve a strong pathway to support their pursuit of excellence. My first priority will be to meet, and develop relationships with the athletes and coaches in the system, to immediately start working together as a team to establish a program that will provide us with a road map guiding us back to the Olympic and World Championship podiums.”

An athlete for most of his life, the British Columbia native has represented Canada as a coach and technician at three Olympic Winter Games, seven World Championships, and seven U23 and Junior World Championships. He also represented Canada as an athlete at the 1994 Junior World Championships. De Nys has experienced the sport environment at both ends of the spectrum: from struggling to deliver results to celebrating medal-winning performances.

De Nys, who is the final piece of Nordiq Canada’s recently restructured high-performance department that has been designed to better support the organization’s long-term performance goals, will travel to daily training environments across Canada while continuing to reside in Vernon, B.C. with his family.

“Our plan is to create a Canadian-made system with our partners that will deliver a pool of resources for our athletes and coaches to develop to their full potential at all levels,” added Stéphane Barrette. “We are 100 per cent committed to getting Canadian cross-country skiers back onto the international podium and levels. This starts from the ground up. We believe this new high-performance structure ensures the technical delivery of our National Ski Team programs at all levels. It ensures alignment with the National Training Centres in an effort to deliver a collaborative approach focused on delivering results in 2022, while also not losing sight of the critical work that needs to be done to develop a culture from the ground up that prides itself on sharing knowledge, information and skillsets in a tight-knit program across the country that pushes each other to be better every day and is driven to succeed. I am confident with this team in place, and the passion for winning across Canada, we will achieve our goals together.”

 Nordiq Canada is the governing body of para-nordic and cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, Swix and Lanctôt Sports– along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, Nordiq Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and World champions. For more information on Nordiq Canada, please visit us at www.nordiqcanada.ca.

*****

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Chris Dornan

Media and Public Relations

Nordiq Canada

T: 403-620-8731

“Looking at the critical year ahead, and the expectations placed on our Paralympic athletes to not only repeat our success from 2018, but to also ensure the tradition of excellence with this program continues well into the future, I believe it is important for me to shift and fully commit my time to ensuring this group has the leadership and resources required to deliver podium performances,” said Boyd to Nordiq Canada.

Before the recent announcement, Boyd had been the high-performance director for both the national cross-country team and the para squad. Boyd was part of a successful group that helped lead Canada’s para-nordic program in the recent past. Robin McKeever remains Canada’s national team coach for para-nordic.

“The scope of responsibility for the high-performance director leading both the Olympic and Paralympic streams is significant,” said Boyd. “With the new season just around the corner, I believe I can have the most impact by focusing my efforts on leading the Para-Nordic group to Beijing and laying the foundation for success in 2026 and beyond.”

The high-performance void on the cross-country side will be filled by Chris Jeffries. Jeffries is currently the head coach of the Alberta World Cup Academy. He will continue in that role while adding part-time duties for the 2021-2022 Olympic season as the national cross-country team’s high-performance director.

Jeffries will be part of a management team that includes Joel Jaques as the high-performance manager. According to Nordiq Canada, Jaques will handle the team’s logistics among other duties. Also on the cross-country side of the equation, Cindy Chetley will continue as the team’s high-performance coordinator.

Nordiq Canada also noted that Jeffries and Julie Beaulieu will work to build a sustainable pipeline of athletes, coaches, and stakeholders to fulfill Nordiq Canada’s mission of winning championship medals.

Back in April, Nordiq Canada announced two job vacancies, one for a National Team NextGen Coach, the other for a National Team World Cup Coach. The NextGen Coach, responsible for the national junior/U23 team, remains unfilled.

Norway’s Erik Bråten had been the team’s World Cup coach for the past three seasons. He resigned from the job after the conclusion of the race season. However, Nordiq Canada noted Bråten will return as the team’s World Cup competition coach. “Erik will lead the majority of the National Ski Team racing trips and assist with supporting the program remotely for the remainder of the year while working from Europe,” stated Nordiq Canada. “With respect to the delivery of the National Ski Team training program, athletes’ daily training environment coaches across the country will work together to support all national team athletes by taking turns leading camps and supporting at competitions.”

Bråten has returned to Norway after residing in Canmore during his previous stint with the team. It did not take long for Norway’s ski talent to gravitate towards Bråten. Reigning Olympic 10 skate champion, Haga Ragnhild, has decided to work with Bråten as she attempts to earn World Cup starts and an Olympic birth. Ragnhild was not renominated to Norway’s national team for the 2021-2022 season. Along with her individual 2018 Olympic gold, she was part of Norway’s winning 4 x 5 k relay team at the 2018 Olympics.

Press Release

Determined Group of Canucks Headline 2021-22 National Ski Team Program

Paralympic and Olympic veterans lead new generation of Canadian Nordic athletes on world stage

CANMORE, Alta.—Canada’s cross-country ski athletes are charging into the highly-anticipated Paralympic and Olympic year replete with a mix of veteran leadership and podium potential along with youthful energy and drive.

Nordiq Canada officially kicked off the critical 2022 season by naming a determined line up of 26 athletes who will lead the Canadian charge to qualify for Beijing while donning the maple leaf at international competitions next winter.

“We have assembled a unique group of athletes led by a talented group of medal performers on the Para-Nordic stage, along with an inspired group of senior and next generation athletes in our Olympic pathway who are all continuing to climb up the international standings and are determined to see the Canadian flag raised about the international podium,” said Kate Boyd, high-performance director, Nordiq Canada.

A high-powered group of nine Paralympians, including two guides, will once again be counted on to lead Canada’s medal-winning charge over the next year.

Canada’s flag bearers at the 2018 Paralympic Games, Brian McKeever (Canmore, Alta.) and Mark Arendz (Hartsville, P.E.I.) will be joined by a deep group of Paralympic, World Championship and World Cup medallists that includes: Collin Cameron (Sudbury, Ont.); Brittany Hudak (Prince Albert, Sask.); Natalie Wilkie (Salmon Arm, B.C.); Emily Young (Vancouver, B.C.); and Derek Zaplotinsky (Smoky Lake, Alta.) who will look for a breakthrough season as he edges closer to his first Para-Nordic World Cup podium.

Graham Nishikawa (Whitehorse, YK) and Russell Kennedy (Canmore, Alta.) will both continue to share guiding duties for Brian McKeever. Kennedy, who competed at the 2018 Olympics before also helping to guide Brian McKeever to a golden hat trick at the Paralympic Games in PyeongChang will also look to build on a breakthrough season of his own on the World Cup circuit where he posted a handful of top-30 finishes during a COVID-condensed season this year.

In addition to helping to guide McKeever, Graham Nishikawa has also taken on NextGen Para coaching responsibilities where he will be tapped to lead the continued development of five NextGen athletes. Christina Picton (Fonthill, Ont.) will be the lone member of Canada’s Para Development Team, while Jesse Bachinsky (Kenora, Ont.); Kyle Barber (Lively, Ont.); Lyne Marie Bilodeau (Magog, Que.); and Jesse Ehman (Saskatoon, Sask.) form the NextGen Team.

“Eight athletes within our Para program have stood on the Paralympic podium. This team is fiercely determined to continue its tradition of excellence, and have their eyes focused squarely on podium performances every time they put on a race bib,” added Boyd. “More importantly, with a group of proven-performers continuing to lead the way, we have increased our attention on developing the next generation of athletes within this program to ensure our trail to the Paralympic podium continues well beyond 2022.”

Nordiq Canada also named 12 young cross-country ski athletes from across the country to its National Ski Team program. The senior squad will be composed of four women and five men, while one woman and two men will make up the junior program. One female under-23 and one female junior National Ski Team positions currently remain open and will be filled from targeted domestic race results from events in November 2021 and in January 2022.

Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse, YK) an Olympian veteran in the program, who will be counted on to guide the young squad on the trail towards the 2022 Games. The 27-year-old Beatty, who capped off her 2021 season with a career-best 15th place distance result in Switzerland, represented Canada at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang.

Eight other athletes who took turns celebrating personal best finishes last season on the Senior Team include:

Cendrine Browne (Saint-Jérôme, Que.) – a 2018 Olympian, Cendrine enjoyed a breakthrough season with three, top-30 finishes at the 2021 World Ski Championships, highlighted by a 23rd place result in the skiathlon.

Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.) – after teaming up with Graham Ritchie to finish seventh in the team sprint at the senior World Ski Championships, the 22-year-old Cyr rattled off a couple of top-30 finishes on the World Cup.

Rémi Drolet (Rossland, B.C) – the anchor of Canada’s historic silver-medal winning relay team at the 2020 Junior World Ski Championships, Drolet competed at both the under-23 and senior World Championships. He finished 18th in the 15-kilometre race at the under-23 World Champs.

Pierre Grall-Johnson (Ottawa, Ont.) – skied to an 18th-place finish at the under-23 World Ski Championships this year.

Olivier Léveillé (Sherbrooke, Que.) – will take his first strides into the senior ranks after coming off a historic bronze-medal finish at the Junior World Ski Championships. The 20-year-old was just the third Canadian ever to win an individual cross-country ski medal at the Junior World Champs where he finished third in the 10-kilometre skate race.

Maya MacIsaac-Jones (Athabasca, Alta.) – one of Canada’s top sprint racers, MacIsaac-Jones rejoins the National Ski Team thanks to an impressive 18th-place sprint finish at the World Cup in Ulricehamn, Sweden.

Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.) – consistently placed in the top-30 on the World Cup stage, highlighted by a 17th place finish in a 10-kilometre mass start race in Sweden.

Graham Ritchie (Parry Sound, Ont.) – celebrated a stellar seventh-place finish in the World Championship Team Sprint with Antoine Cyr in addition to a solid 17th-place finish in a World Cup sprint race in Sweden.

A trio of young Canucks will make up the junior program including: Jasmine Drolet (Rossland, B.C.), who enjoyed an 18th-place finish at the 2021 Junior World Ski Championships; Tom Stephen (Calgary, Alta.), who made his mark on the international stage with three top-12 finishes at Junior Worlds including a fifth-place result in the 30-kilometre mass start; and Xavier McKeever (Canmore, Alta.), who has been steadily developing through Canada’s national ranks.

“This is a young group of athletes, with eight of them under the age of 25, who we are focused on developing through to the 2026 Olympics and beyond,” said Boyd. “They are making steady progress in their continued development throughout our national program, regularly producing personal best results. It is our goal to work with our sport and funding partners to ensure this group of athletes have the tools they require to succeed and, ultimately, contribute to Canada’s Olympic medal count.”

Nordiq Canada is the governing body of para-nordic and cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 80,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, Auclair, Swix and Lanctôt Sports– along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, Nordiq Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more information on Nordiq Canada, please visit us at https://nordiqcanada.ca.

*****

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Chris Dornan

Media and Public Relations

Nordiq Canada

T: 403-620-8731

Nordiq Canada’s first major change announcement on November 16th was the decision to cancel the Period I trip to Lillehammer, Dresden, and Davos. (The Lillehammer races have been postponed, and have not been officially rescheduled.)

“For us, it was chatting with our medical experts, assessing the situations here at home and what we were seeing happening overseas,” said Nordiq Canada’s High Performance Director Kate Boyd. “We had never planned to go to Ruka. And then when Lillehammer was postponed to a later time that left two race weekends, and we felt it better that we would stay home, train, get strong. And get a sense of how the protocols were rolling out overseas.” 

Those World Cup Covid-19 prevention protocols got their first test in Ruka with varying reports as to the success level. While all the countries were originally satisfied with the plans, it seems that on-site rule interpretation was different than some countries expected. Pierre Mignerey (FIS race director, who is from France) and Norway’s cross-country manager, Espen Bjervig, expressed their differing viewpoints to Norwegian broadcaster NRK shortly after Norway decided to stay home for December.

Mignerey also explained to NRK that one reason some countries might feel more free to criticize FIS safety initiatives relates to business opportunities away from the World Cup for some. 

“It is important to understand that for many nations, competing in the World Cup is the only way to do their job and promote their sponsors,” said Mignerey according to a translation. “Norway does not come to the World Cup, but can arrange national competitions that go on TV. They have no chance of that in countries other than Norway, Sweden and Finland.” 

After Ruka, Norway, Sweden, and Finland withdrew from the December World Cups. The Norwegians held a national level competition this past weekend in Lillehammer, site of the aforementioned postponed World Cups. Consider that opportune exposure for Norwegian athletes and sponsors – the opportunity cost of missing a World Cup for some is cushioned when the domestic event is broadcast nationally. 

Here in Canada, Jeff Ellis, the Partnership and Events Coordinator at Nordiq Canada, commented that the withdrawal of teams like Norway, comes close to a time when that team’s leadership had advocated for maintaining the Lillehammer World Cups as scheduled for December 4-6.  

“What Norway has decided to do will be an interesting study on how it affects other teams’ decisions,” said Ellis. “It’s interesting that less than three weeks ago Norway was fighting hard to keep the Lillehammer World Cups with the Head Coach saying we must race as much as possible.” 

Canadian reactions to the Period I modifications range from anger to relief. Norway’s, Sweden’s, and Finland’s race departures come on the heels of Nordiq Canada gutting their own race calendar on November 30. Below are the major announcements from the November 30 announcement.  

• All FIS-sanctioned domestic cross-country ski events scheduled across Canada for the 2020-21 season are cancelled (Divisions will continue to determine the relevance and possibility of hosting scaled-down local events that meet regional health and safety guidelines);
• Canadian World Championship Trials scheduled for Whistler, B.C. (January 7-10) are cancelled;
• 2021 Canadian Ski Championships (March 14-20) planned at the Nakkertok Nordic Ski Centre in the Ottawa-Gatineau region are cancelled;
• 2021 World Para Snow Sport Championships scheduled for February 7-20 in Lillehammer, Norway have been postponed to January 2022;

When asked about feedback on the recent Canadian World Cup trip cancellation and the subsequent cancellation of FIS races in Canada, Boyd tactfully replied “We have a very passionate community.” 

She sees the strong opinions as an opportunity.

“When you’ve got a community as passionate as ours, it can be an incredible force to move us forward, when we’re all moving in the same direction. So I’m hoping that with a good plan and strong communication with that group that we can turn that bus around.

“We’re going to try our best to get to Europe to compete, but we’ll be assessing regularly what we can and can’t do. Always with the athlete safety first and foremost.”

The loss of World Cup opportunities matters. Start spots for Canadian skiers at the Beijing Olympics depend on results from two seasons, including this current season.

“We recognize that we stand a better chance of securing more spots for Canada if we do get to Europe, and have good races and score well in the nation’s points,” added Boyd. “So that is certainly a deciding factor for us to get over to Europe when we can, when it’s safe to do so. We want to give our athletes about as many opportunities and the best opportunities to compete, especially at Games.”

Canada is planning to send athletes to some international events in 2021:

• January  (P3) – Ulricehamm, SWE; Lahti, FIN; Falun, SWE; Reserve weekend (TBC)
• February – Nove Mesto, CZE
• March – Oslo, NOR; Test event CHN (tentative)

As far as the cancellation of FIS sanctioned racing in Canada, Boyd suggested the move simplified an already complex pandemic-rattled season. “We figured we’d take the FIS heat off and allow the provinces to host events, when and how they can,” said Boyd. “And it also removes the need for athletes to have to travel outside of provinces to try to get the points.” 

During the summer, Nordiq Canada decided to split the traditional NorAm (Continental Cup) series into East and West series, respectively, to reduce travel while increasing the probability that events could be held. This change was also part of a multi-year project to reduce the cost of race travel for Canadian skiers.

The season plans started shifting with the downgrading of the first four East/West NorAm races in December from FIS to regionally sanctioned events. This happened one by one in the first half of November as it became clear that inter-provincial travel for sports events would not restart before the new year. Each province has its own rules which change as the active COVID-19 case load changes. 

In early November when Nakkertok was cancelled, it was illegal to drive across the bridge from Ottawa to ski, affecting roughly half of the host clubs’ members. The Canmore event, for example, scheduled for December 12th and 13th, could have proceeded with Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba skiers in attendance, but without BC and the Yukon athletes. Each of the named provinces has since tightened rules further.

By mid-November, it seemed unlikely that Whistler Olympic Park’s Organizing Committee would be allowed to host U23 and Junior World Trials in January. Cancelling now allows the High Performance Committee to start work on new selection criteria that doesn’t include any head to head races. This Trials event was also the test event for 2023 U23/JW World Championships; cancelling early should make it easier to move the test to 2022.

While this mass cancellation greatly helps with provincial rules compliance and simplifies application of the fluoro ban in Canada, it also comes with consequences. There will be no Continental Cup leaders to receive partially funded World Cup starts in Period I next season. It may have longer term effects on Canada’s status with FIS.

Team selection for international trips and next year’s national team will be different too.

“I know one of the questions that will likely come in is just how we’re going to be selecting the team,” Boyd said. “And we’re working on that right now with our high performance committee. Without Junior trials happening in Whistler, we’ll have to, to look at the information that we have available to us. And pick the fairest and most competitive team that we can send over to Europe to compete.”

For now, it appears regional races may skew in favour of interval starts to manage group size limits. According to Ellis, this format may have an upside. 

“This is my personal opinion, but I think we [Canada] have traditionally been weak at Interval Start,” said Ellis. “We seem to need that push from others around us to see what we can do.  Whether that be in sprint heats, mass start or pursuit start. Our successes usually begins there.  A season of interval starts and learning how to really push oneself could be really valuable.”

National Team coach Erik Bråten told FasterSkier last May he felt many Canadians were relying on the group to pace training sessions.

“There are a lot more organized trainings here then I am used to, with programs having 4-6 sessions a week together in addition to camps,” said Bråten. “I think a lot of athletes will learn a lot about intensity control and focus in training these next few months. And when we are allowed to be in bigger groups again, let’s use that focus and self awareness to have even better group sessions then we did before.”

The NorAm series still carries the name from when it was truly a Continental Cup, with races in Canada and the USA. Once the SuperTour series started in the U.S., the NorAm series was left as a Canadian series with an outdated name.

“In terms of reducing travel there will always be the need to get our best skiers together a certain amount of times a year. Geography is our reality and we can’t avoid having to travel for top level events,” Ellis wrote. “The FIS Regional Cup series was an attempt this season to get away from the NorAm calendar but with the cancellation of FIS events we didn’t get a chance to see how that goes”

Ellis is bound at every turn by FIS rules but he doesn’t want to be limited by the past. 

“In terms of what directions we are looking at, we will be looking at whether our NorAm (Continental Cup) series was achieving what it is designed to do.  I’d like to see us stick with regional FIS events where teams could choose to race south of the border if financially and competition-wise that makes more sense.  We would still need to get together a few times a year for Trials, Nationals etc.  But maybe a NorAm series doesn’t need to dominate the calendar.  In the end it’s just the Open category that is FIS sanctioned and it has the Continental Cup tag just like OPA or Scandinavian Cups.”

Boyd is open to new ideas in her role with the team.

“This is how Canada has done it in the past, but it’s a new era, right? And new opportunities to see where we can just…. How do we make the Canadian system exceptional, but also make it really clear and transparent. And so people know what it is going to take to be on the national team and to compete for Canada.”

Fluoro Wax Ban in tier 2 racing

Canada is moving forward with their fluoro ban this season

. It is a small change from last year’s LF-only racing below the Continental Cup and World Cup level (tier 1 aka FIS-sanctioned).

“This pause in FIS competitions gives everyone another season to prepare for the fluoro-free future of the sport,” added Ellis. “All signs point to us having a hand held fluoro tracker device for next season.  We will be able to check at the start line for fluorinated wax products on skis and athletes will be not allowed to start that race. It should be noted that fluoros are a banned substance this season at all Nordiq Canada sanctioned events and will be at the FIS sanctioned ones next season.  Putting them on skis is a banned performance enhancing substance. In general I am not worried about our competitive ski community trying to cheat the system but some will and I look forward to catching them.”

NC is also looking at virtual racing.

“We are looking at a number of options,” said Ellis. “Strava obviously plays well into very specific site competitions.  We certainly have many skiers who are very familiar with that data tracking service and I think it plays well into running virtual events this season.  Specifically, Loppets where we can’t have large groups starting together.  Having the multiple segments over the course of a long distance event could engage more people that wouldn’t necessarily make a traditional podium.  Best first lap, fastest final 100m or uphill and downhill challenges.  Primes during a mid race segment.  Lots of great options.  The iSki tracking app is also something we are taking a look at.  Could we have a Nordic Challenge that is over a 10 day period or the entire season where we see who can ski the most kms.  Although it won’t be a normal year there are a lot of opportunities for us to try new things.” 

COVID-19 Outbreaks

The first widely publicized North America outbreak in cross-country skiing occurred in Canmore this November. A group that had travelled to Canmore for on-snow training at Frozen Thunder had a number of people test positive. Canada has fairly strict privacy laws on medical issues, which limits how much anyone can share about individual cases. As a result, Boyd was limited in what she could say and FasterSkier is limited in how much we can share.

“It was contained to one cohort,” said Boyd. “Which, I think, considering everybody that was out skiing at Frozen Thunder, I think it demonstrated that it’s not something that we saw evidence as transmitting [outdoors] in our sport.” 

Many teams took the opportunity to train at Frozen Thunder. Canmore Nordic Centre’s policy during FT was only 100 skiers permitted on-trail at any single time. 

“I think that the protocol that we have for our outdoor training for our team seems to be working well,” said Boyd about skiing at the centre. “Yeah, it was a group that did travel here to train and so not necessarily under the team’s purview.” 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

November 30, 2020

National Body Cancels Canadian World Championship Trials in Whistler and Canadian Ski Championships in Gatineau; Still plans on Sending Canadian Teams to Targeted International Races

CANMORE, Alta.—The long-term health and safety of athletes, coaches, staff and volunteers is Nordiq Canada’s top priority.

Using this statement as the beacon to guide the organization through the ongoing global pandemic, Nordiq Canada, in consultation with its members (Divisions) and national sport partners, has made the following decisions that will impact the 2020-21 competition plan for Canada’s high-performance cross-country skiers:

• All FIS-sanctioned domestic cross-country ski events scheduled across Canada for the 2020-21 season are cancelled (Divisions will continue to determine the relevance and possibility of hosting scaled-down local events that meet regional health and safety guidelines);
• Canadian World Championship Trials scheduled for Whistler, B.C. (January 7-10) are cancelled;
• 2021 Canadian Ski Championships (March 14-20) planned at the Nakkertok Nordic Ski Centre in the Ottawa-Gatineau region are cancelled;
• 2021 World Para Snow Sport Championships scheduled for February 7-20 in Lillehammer, Norway have been postponed to January 2022;

“We realize high-performance athletes live and breathe to race and do not want to be left behind their competition. These decisions are not easy, and we do not take them lightly. The domestic calendar decision was made after consultations with key stakeholders and assessment of the current sport-related restrictions that are in place across the country, along with the requirements for hosting such large participation events safely,” said Kate Boyd, high-performance director, Nordiq Canada.

“COVID-19 is the most challenging competitor we have faced as a sport organization which is obviously forcing alterations to our plans on a daily basis. After weighing all of the risks and opportunities for athletes throughout our high-performance community with our partners at Sport Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee and Own the Podium, while also following the direction provided by Canada’s Sport Medicine Advisory Council, we want our community at large to “Do Local” this year – train at home, and compete in local races if it is deemed safe to do so by government and health officials – in an effort to do our part to help stop the spread of the virus while keeping our sport, and Canada going.”

Nordiq Canada Remains Hopeful of Sending Teams to Targeted International Races this winter

In an effort to continue to provide international race opportunities for top Canadian athletes, and for the country to continue to improve on the FIS Nations Ranking List that is critical for future World Cup and Olympic quota spots, Nordiq Canada remains hopeful of sending competitive teams to World Cup and World Junior/U23/Senior Championship events this winter.

The organization has evaluated events that Canada has the best, and safest, opportunities to achieve the points and rankings needed to secure Canada the most opportunities/starts to compete at the 2022 Olympic Games, while also ensuring the program’s long-term success.

In an effort to maximize Canada’s point potential, and maintaining or improve on, the country’s Nation rankings, Canada plans to attend the following races, providing if it is safe to do so:

January

16-17 – WC Ulricehamn, SWE

23-24 – WC Lahti, FIN

30-31 – WC Falun, SWE

February

6-13 – FIS Nordic Junior/U23 Cross-Country World Ski Championships, Vuokatti, FIN

20-21 – WC Nove Mesto, CZE

23–7 – FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, Oberstdorf, GER

March

12-14 – WC Oslo, NOR

“While we believe it is important to provide competitive race opportunities for our athletes who are ready to perform, this will not come at all costs,” said Boyd, who added strict and robust protocols will be in place, including a bubble concept while traveling. “Working with our medical advisors, the high-performance team will continue to assess the pandemic and potential risks to our team, and program. If we determine it is not safe to travel and race internationally, we will be prepared to cancel this portion of the season.”

In the absence of trials races, Nordiq Canada will evaluate the fairest method to select the most competitive Canadian teams.  Amended criteria are likely to focus on the 2019-20 FIS points list from period 8  and proven international performances, to allow for a fair and transparent selection of the best Canadian athletes for all international racing. The details of how this ranking list will be used will be communicated via a revised selection criteria which will be announced by Nordiq Canada by December 7.

Nordiq Canada will continue to work with its Divisions, clubs, and coaches across the country to outline creative and innovative ways to help athletes to continue training safely while at home this season to continue their development.

Nordiq Canada also has resources to support the entire cross-country skiing community in staying healthy at https://covid.nordiqcanada.ca

Nordiq Canada is the governing body of para-nordic and cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, Swix and Lanctôt Sports– along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, Nordiq Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and World champions. For more information on Nordiq Canada, please visit us at www.nordiqcanada.ca.

*****

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Chris Dornan

Nordiq Canada

T: 403-620-8731