Under 23 Questions with Philippe Boucher

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 19-year-old Philippe Boucher, of the Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey (CNEPH), a.k.a. the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre and Canadian Junior National Ski Team, who’s representing Canada at his third Junior Worlds.

Boucher was listed as one of four Canadian men to start Wednesday’s 10 k freestyle.

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“My full name is Philippe Boucher, but you can call me Phil. I was born in Quebec City, raised in Lévis. I started cross-country skiing when I was seven, thanks to my parents.

I currently train in Beaupré with CNEPH.

If I’m not skiing, you might find me on my bike or at my girlfriend’s place.

If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be nothing. I really don’t enjoy reading, exept when it talks about Formula One stuff.

One of the things I’m most excited about for Junior Worlds at Soldier Hollow is to race in front of my family. One race I’m especially targeting there is the banquet on the February 4. Just kidding, the 10 k skate.

The best advice anyone ever gave me about skiing or racing was don’t worry about the splits, just ski. One of the best race memories I have is the 2013 Canadian National Championships in Whistler.

If I could meet one World Cup skier, it would be nobody, but I’d like to go do mountain bike with a guy on the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup circuit.

If I don’t end up being a professional skier, I’ll probably be a police officer.

I’m missing 11 days of school to be here and 27 days in the whole semester, and my teachers are probably thinking, ‘He’s probably going to fail my course.’

You can follow me on Instagram or Twitter at @p_boucher97.”