Under 23 Questions: Alexis Dumas

In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this week’s International Ski Federation (FIS) 2018 Nordic Junior/U23 World Championships in Goms, Switzerland, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 22-year-old Alexis Dumas, of the Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey (CNEPH), or Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre, who’s representing Canada at his third U23 Worlds.

On Wednesday, he led his team in 31st in the men’s 15 k classic for his best result at U23 Worlds.

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“My full name is Alexis Dumas, but you can call me Dumas.

I was born and raised in Québec, and I learned to ski at 3 years old.

I spent the time between Mont Sainte-Anne trials and Junior/U23 Worlds sleeping mostly and trying to spend the most time possible with my girlfriend before leaving for a month.

The favorite workout I did in the last training year to prepare for this was any training in classic with CNEPH.

This is my second time in Switzerland and my fifth time racing internationally, and so far it’s been up and down but always fun.

One difference I’ve noticed between Switzerland and the Canada is food is awesome and mountains are huge.

Skiing and racing in the Alps is great. Usually racing at altitude is great for me because I’m great. There are great mountains around where I live.

One of the things I’m most excited about for Junior/U23 Worlds in Goms is the food and the hot weather.

One race I’m especially targeting there is the 15 km classic.

I really hope I can chat/make friends with someone from France and ask them why their accent is so weird.

My favorite thing at the breakfast where we are staying is the bread.

Fondue is awesome. The cheese here is the best! And the chocolate is so good!

If I had a totally free day here and didn’t have to worry about race fitness or training, I’d spend it… first, I would wake up not too early but at the same time not to late, like a good 8h37 you know. I would go to breakfast and eat a ton of cheese and salami. Then I would pack a bag full of croissants, Nutella and Fanta, not the funky ones only the orange one, and I would go backcountry skiing all day, watch the sunset over the mountains and do a crazy good boomerang video for my Instagram strory. And finally, go eat a big plate of pasta for diner and play on Miniclip all night.

The best way to follow me on social media is on Instagram @dumpums.”