![Canada’s Étienne Hébert (13) leads American Logan Diekmann in their classic-sprint quarterfinal on Jan. 30 at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. Neither advanced to the semifinals, with Hébert finishing fourth (+1.43) and Diekmann sixth (+3.98) in that heat. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/SMF4900.jpg")
In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this past 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 18-year-old Étienne Hébert, of the Montériski Ski Club, representing Canada at his first Junior Worlds.
He competed in the men’s classic sprint, where he led Canada in 17th.
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“My full name is Étienne Hébert, but you can call me Étienne. I was born in Longueuil, Quebec, raised in Varennes [also just outside Montreal], and one thing you should know about my hometown is that there’s not a lot of snow. Winter is pretty much from the end of December to the beginning of March.
I started cross-country skiing when I was four, thanks to my parents.
I currently train in Saint-Bruno, Quebec, with Montériski Ski Club.
![Étienne Hébert relaxing with his ukulele at Lake Louise near Canmore, Alberta, where he spent two months training with the Alberta World Cup Academy last summer. (Courtesy photo)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/Étienne-Hébert-e1486097114687.jpg")
If I’m not skiing, you might find me at school, watching Netflix, or playing a little bit of ukulele.
If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ by Ken Follet.
One of the things I’m most excited about for Junior Worlds at Soldier Hollow is getting some more international racing experience and trying to keep up with the best juniors in the world.
One race I’m especially targeting there is the classic sprint.
The best advice anyone ever gave me about skiing or racing was to keep my focus during races and think before doing a stupid move.
One of the best race memories I have is winning the 15 k classic at the Canadian Championships in 2016. What a great moment!
If I could meet one World Cup skier, it would be Andrew Musgrave.
If I don’t end up being a professional skier, I’ll hopefully do something I like, probably in the field of communication.
I’m missing 14 days of school to be here, and my teachers are probably not even thinking about it. I’ll have to work hard to catch up when I come back!
You can follow me on Instagram @etienne.heb.”
