Brent McMurtry, 23, notched his best World Cup result just one week before the Olympic Games with a 19th place finish in the classic sprint in Canmore. After placing a distant 66th the previous day in the 15K freestyle race, McMurtry qualified 25th in the classic sprint and skied through the heats well enough to move up to 19th place.
“It was a very encouraging day and weekend for me,” McMurtry said on his website following the Canmore World Cups. “I was able to fight back from a disappointing 15km skate race to have a solid sprint, and was able to perform pretty well in the sprint feeling as though I was missing my top gear. I am super excited for another opportunity coming up in Vancouver!”
McMurtry clinched a spot on the Canadian Olympic Team, on the strength of his second and ninth place finishes in the two classic sprint events at the Olympic Trials. The Calgary, Alberta native, who has twelve World Cup starts, followed up on his strong sprinting results with a first place finish in the 30K pursuit in Valcartier in his first race of 2010.
McMurtry got his first international World Cup experience in January of this year when he competed in the World Cups in Estonia and Rybinsk, where he placed 40th in the 15K classic in Estonia and 29th in the freestyle sprint in Russia.
