Cross Country Canada Names 11 to Olympic Team

FasterSkier · January 29, 2018

On Monday, Cross Country Canada announced its 2018 Olympic cross-country ski team for the upcoming Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. The team includes 11 athletes: seven men and four women.

According to the press release, “each of the 11 athletes met the standard for nomination to the Canadian Olympic Committee under Cross Country Canada’s Internal Nomination Procedures for the 2018 Olympic Games, and in the process form a talented squad replete with veteran leadership and podium potential.”

“This is a team that has evolved from a group of talented athletes excited to be on the start line into a group of determined high-performers focused, and confident, in their ability to achieve international podium results,” Cross Country Canada (CCC) High Performance Director Tom Holland said in the press release. “Led by our men’s team of Devon, Alex and Lenny over the last two quadrennials, we are in the podium hunt, and will continue to push towards getting Canada back on the Olympic podium at the Nordic venue.”

As the press release points out, Canada has three Olympic medals in cross-country skiing, starting when Beckie Scott earned the gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. She added a silver Olympic medal to her collection in 2006, placing second in the team sprint with Sara Renner. Also in 2006, Chandra Crawford won gold in the Olympic skate sprint in Turin, Italy.

The athletes nominated are:

Name (Hometown)

Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse, YK)
Cendrine Browne (Saint-Jérôme, QC)
Jesse Cockney (Yellowknife, NWT)
Anne-Marie Comeau (Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, QC)
Alex Harvey (Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, QC)
Knute Johnsgaard (Whitehorse, YK)
Russell Kennedy (Canmore, AB)
Devon Kershaw (Sudbury, ON)
Graeme Killick (Fort McMurray, AB)
Emily Nishikawa (Whitehorse, YK)
Lenny Valjas (Toronto, ON)

The coaches nominated are:

Name (Hometown)

Ivan Babikov (Canmore, AB)
Louis Bouchard (Quebec City, QC)