Bits from Canmore: Athlete Notes and Quotes (+Video Montage)

CANMORE, Alberta – With the holidays heralding a rest period for many, Canmore might be in the back of many racers minds, but we haven’t forgotten about several of the athletes we interviewed there. Here are some of the highlights, and be sure to check out our video montage with several Canadian nation’s group skiers.

Déjà vu?

It was good until the top of the hill and just complete lactate at the top, just really heavy. We knew it was going to happen so we tried to forget about it and keep skiing well. – Alysson Marshall, Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA), on sprint qualifier

The top piece always feels like you should’ve went harder, but I’m pretty happy. – Andrea Dupont, Rocky Mountain Racers (RMR)

I wanted to ski my own race and make sure that I pushed over the hills well. – Paul Kovacs, Australian NST

It’s tough but it’s really just one climb, it’s pretty short. – Mikey Sinnott, Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) on sprint course

It’s not that long but there’s no forgiveness on it. It’s like, ugh. – Patrick Stewart-Jones, AWCA

Those hills are so tough … They really burn you. – Michael Somppi, AWCA

It’s a big opportunity to get to race in a world cup at home so I just went all in and it was good. I did the best I could so I’m happy. – Marlis Kromm, AWCA 

There’s still some big opportunities for us for the rest of the winter, just race, move onto the next race. – Matt Wylie, AWCA 

Newbies

Before doing the World Cups, people would tell me that’s what it’s going to be like, but you could never actually like feel like what it is, I couldn’t have guessed what it was going to feel like. It’s such a cool feeling. – Corey Stock (Cambridge Sports Union)

It was pretty fun to see all those people cheering for us at home, well it’s not really home, but it’s still in Canada and to see all those fast skiers too. We see that nothing is impossible. – Frédérique Vézina (CNEPH)

I’m still really nervous every morning, but hopefully it gets normal by the end of the year. I’m just getting used to that level. Hopefully in a couple years, everything is gonna be fast. – Alexis Turgeon, Pierre-Harvey NTC (CNEPH)

Improvement’s always good. I think I can do better but I couldn’t have done any better today. – Russell Kennedy, AWCA (42^nd in skate sprint qualifier)

It’s really an honor to be able to race in these world cups. It’s amazing to be able to race these and get some experience racing against international athletes. – Maya McIsaac-Jones, Rocky Mountain Racers

It’s pretty awesome to represent Canada. – Zoe Roy, RMR

It was fun for me, a good experience to ski with the fastest so I appreciate. – Anne-Marie Comeau (CNEPH)

It’s a great experience just to race against these guys. It’s so different than any NorAm you could ever do. – Knute Johnsgaard, Yukon Elite Squad

Ready or Not, Go!

I think I found some parts of my lung that I haven’t felt before. It felt pretty horrible … You feel like you’re at the end of the sprint, but you’re only a third of the way through. – Reese Hanneman, Alaska Pacific University (APU) on sprint qualifier

I didn’t know I was racing until 8 this morning. [US Ski Team member] Simi [Hamilton] was sick or something so they knocked on my door, they were like, ‘Hey, you want to do a hot lap?’ I was like, ‘What do you mean, like, drive you to the venue right now?’ And they’re like, ‘No you want to race? Simi’s out and Freeman didn’t want to race.’ So it kind of fell to me. I’m glad I skied the course like once [the day before] and kind of learned it. I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to ski the course. … I was kind of excited just to get to go out there. – Mikey Sinnott, SVSEF

I was awake at 4:30 this morning. It’s hard to expect a similar performance to yesterday, just because it’s a completely different race, but I’m happy. A 30 k is usually quite a pain train for me so I think I got better at it today and I’m still learning. – Jesse Cockney, AWCA

I felt pretty flat. I think six days of not doing anything, it makes sense. I wasn’t really expecting to do much today [Saturday], just use [the sprint] as a good warmup for [Sunday], but yeah, it’s a tough course. A minute and a half of climbing and then shoot down to the finish. – Sylvan Ellefson, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV)/Team HomeGrown

I don’t think the shape is right there for this weekend. It was tough. – Graeme Killick, AWCA

I wish I wasn’t tired but I think I am a little bit tired. I guess maybe traveling or something, but altitude I think takes it out of you, too. – Caitlin Patterson (Craftsbury Green Racing Project)

Happy Thoughts

This is such a beautiful day. The course was just perfect, great snow and it was so awesome to hear so many fans. I know my parents are out there and tons of my friends from the Yukon are here, too, which is super cool. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. – Emily Nishikawa, AWCA (34^th in skiathlon)

There’s so many awesome fans here and I have so many family and friends. I’m out here to just hopefully have a good result, but mostly have a good time and just race well. – Sylvan Ellefson, SSCV/Team HomeGrown

Canmore fans are the best fans especially when you’re from here. I think we’ve got such a great community supporting cross-country skiing and the national ski teams, it’s just a fantastic place to train and race and we’re very, very proud to be a part of this community. – Brian McKeever, Canadian Para-Nordic Ski Team

I think it’s so cool to have the best in the world come to our home course. I see them walking around downtown and it’s pretty neat. – Marlis Kromm, AWCA

Outside Skiing

[Note: Sylvan Ellefson dedicated his races on Saturday and Sunday to those affected by the Connecticut school shooting]

When I’m not ski racing I’m in the fourth grade classroom at my old elementary school and my mother-in-law is a kindergarten teacher. I just can’t even imagine having her be in those teachers’ positions or even the families’ positions in Connecticut. – Ellefson