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These nominations include athletes who qualified for nomination based on the published criteria and the CCC High Performance Committee selection process April 12-14, 2013. An announcement of the athletes who accept their nominations will take place later this spring.
With its nominations, Head Coach Justin Wadsworth noted that the team’s overarching strategy for the coming year was to continue supporting athletes through the end of this Olympic cycle.
“Overall we wanted to show we’re still supporting athletes at the development level through the next Olympic cycle, which is maybe a little different than the U.S. strategy right now,” Wadsworth told FasterSkier.
The World Cup team nominees remain unchanged from 2012-2013. There are three new names on the Senior Development team: Heidi and Phil Widmer, Raphaël Couturier and Cendrine Browne.
- Ivan Babikov (Foothills Nordic Ski Club) AB
- Chandra Crawford (Canmore Nordic Ski Club) AB
- Dasha Gaiazova (Club Nordique Mont Ste. Anne) QC
- Alex Harvey (Club Nordique Mont Ste. Anne) QC
- Perianne Jones (Nakkertok) ON
- Devon Kershaw (Ona Wa Su) ON
- Len Valjas (Team Hardwood) ON
- Cendrine Brown (Club de ski de fond Fondeurs-Laurentides – CNEPH) QC
- Jess Cockney (Foothills Nordic – AWCA) AB
- Raphaël Couturier (Commission de ski nordique Skibec – CNEPH) XC
- Graeme Killick (Banff Ski Runners – AWCA) AB
- Alysson Marshall (Larch Hills – AWCA) BC
- Emily Nishikawa (Whitehorse – AWCA) YK
- Graham Nishikawa (Whitehorse) YK
- Kevin Sandau (Foothills Nordic – AWCA) AB
- Michael Somppi (Lappe Nordic – AWCA) ON
- Heidi Widmer (Foothills Nordic – AWCA) AB
- Phil Widmer (Canmore Nordic – AWCA) AB
- Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse – AWCA) YT
- Anne-Marie Comeau (Club Nordique MSA – CNEPH) QC
- Jennifer Jackson (Team Hardwood – NDC T-Bay) ON
- Maya Macissac-Jones (Rocky Mountain Racers – CNEPH) AB
- Katherine Stewart-Jones (Club Nakkertok Nordique) QC
- Frédérique Vézina (Club Nordique MSA – CNEPH) QC
- Thomas Hardy (Larch Hill Nordic) BC
- Scott Hill (Team Hardwood) ON
- Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier (Club de ski de fond Fondeurs-Laurentides) QC
- Evan Palmer-Charrette (Lappe Nordic – NDC T-Bay) ON
- Matthew Saurette (Rocky Mountain Racers) AB
- Benjamin Wilkinson-Zan (Nakkertok Nordic) ON
Para-Nordic World Cup Team
Head Coach: Robin McKeever
- Mark Arendz (Foothills Nordic) AB
- Colette Bourgonje (Snobuddy Ski Club) SK
- Chris Klebl (Lifesport) AB
- Brian McKeever (Foothills Nordic Ski Club) AB
- Erik Carleton (guide) Rocky Mountain Racers AB
Audrey Mangan
Audrey Mangan (@audreymangan) is an Associate Editor at FasterSkier and lives in Colorado. She learned to love skiing at home in Western New York.
One comment
caldxski
April 25, 2013 at 6:40 pm
This looks like a good approach from our northern neighbors. I am sure the USST board and the USST staff has never had a good handle on this process called xc development. When I was on the board, many members treated development like a factory workshop–you simply programmed it and it happened.
It’s clear that the US staff–inc. Marolt–has never laid out a longrange plan for xc development which they supported with dollars. They threw out catch words like “pipeline” etc., and then sat back. Fortunately, for the US xc fans, lots of clubs and regions have taken up the task of development. But the USST seems to want to thwart it. Support for the ski team (named members) comes almost exclusively from equipment sponsors, WC organizers, and the athletes’ private fund-raising efforts. The USST kicks in unis and insurance and “coaching” at events skiers are invited to. Not a big deal.
I hazard a guess that if an athlete is named to the A or B Teams, she/he has a better chance of fundraising than being simply an independent. The Canadians have it right. But we have a very small, named team, and it raises the question, WHY?