![Maya MacIsaac-Jones (l) with her younger sister Anna at their home trails in Athabasca, Alberta, in late December. (Courtesy photo)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/IMG_2945.jpg")
In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2017 USANA Nordic Junior World Championships and U23 Cross Country World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 21-year-old Maya MacIsaac-Jones, of the Alberta World Cup Academy, Rocky Mountain Racers and the Canadian U25 Team, who’s representing Canada at her first U23 World Championships after competing at Junior Worlds last year. On Tuesday, the U23 championships begin with classic sprints.
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“My full name is Maya Anna-Christina MacIsaac-Jones, but you can call me Maya. I was born in Westlock, Alberta, raised in Athabasca, Alberta, and one thing you should know about my hometown is the ski trails are great and the people are even better!
![Maya MacIsaac-Jones (AWCA/Canadian U25 Team) during a NorAm freestyle race in December in Rossland, B.C.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/FullSizeRender-3-1.jpg")
I started cross-country skiing when I was four, thanks to my parents. I currently train in Canmore with Alberta World Cup Academy / Rocky Mountain Racers.
If I’m not skiing, you might find me reading. If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’.
One of the things I’m most excited about for U23/Junior Worlds at Soldier Hollow is watching my teammates kill it out there! One race I’m especially targeting there is the classic sprint.
The best advice anyone ever gave me about skiing or racing was to listen to my body and trust my own judgment. One of the best race memories I have is winning the team sprint at Nationals 2015 with Andrea Dupont.
If I could meet one World Cup skier, it would be Kikkan Randall.
If I don’t end up being a professional skier, I would love to be a professional fiddle player, but considering I can’t play the fiddle, that probably won’t happen.
I’m missing zero days of school to be here; I take online school through Athabasca University, so I don’t have to miss any school to ski race!
You can follow me on Instagram @maya.macisaacjones or Twitter at @_MayaMJ.”
