North Americans have heard the name Nishikawa ad naseum over the last few years, as Graham Nishikawa has established himself as one Canada’s top domestic skiers. But now, his younger sister Emily Nishikawa is the rapidly rising one. After finishing as the top Canadian and winning a national title in the 5 k freestyle in Canmore in March, in the first individual event at the Canadian Championships, Nishikawa went on to place 2nd overall in...
If you’re a male looking for a spot on the Canadian National Ski Team (CNST), you may be in luck, because this season there may be a few open spots. In addition to George Grey retiring, veteran sprinter Stefan Kuhn has opted to step away from his ski racing career. “When I made my comeback, my goal was always the Olympics,” said Kuhn in a recent interview with FasterSkier. “To have succeeded in that goal,...
When Canadian National Ski Team (CNST) member Dasha Gaiazova finished her season a little less than a month ago, it ended a hectic run of racing for the emerging star. In two years, Gaiazova had notched her first Olympic experience, earned her first World Cup medal, qualified for 5 of 7 World Cup sprints, finished 20th at the World Championships sprint in Oslo, Norway, and finished 31st in the Sprint Cup standings. “It feels good...
If you’ve been paying attention to skiing in North America over the past 10 years, you should know the name George Grey. While he has never shushed the crowd in Oslo, or wailed on a ski air guitar, the low-key Grey has been one of Canada’s best male skiers over the past decade. At 32 years old Grey has been a fixture on the Canadian World Cup team, earning 78 starts in locations from Canmore,...
Greg Kilroy started his ski season as an average 20 year-old university skier in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He trained hard, focused on school, and rooted for Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey on the World Cup. But by April, the hard-working athlete from a small town in Northern Ontario found himself in a much bigger role – a seat on the Cross Country Canada (CCC) Board of Directors as the new Athlete Director. Kilroy came into...
The SuperTour Final is turning into an international affair. With a group of Norwegians already confirmed, as well as Swedish and Japanese skiers, the Canadians are bringing some artillery as well. No fewer than four Canadian groups are headed to the United States for a final shot at high-level racing this season. Cross Country Canada (CCC) has a trip heading to Idaho. The Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) is sending a variety of athletes, both...
The 2011 Haywood Canadian National Championships began Saturday, and the drive to crown the next Canadian national champion starts now! Held in the Canadian ski mecca of Canmore, Alberta, the premiere event in Canadian skiing features seven days of intense junior and senior racing action. The racing opens with a Team Sprint on Saturday, March 12, followed by a middle-distance freestyle on Sunday, March 13. The athletes then enjoy a day of rest, and the...
This past weekend a contingent of American athletes hit the road, looking for racing experience. Their first stop? Rogla, Slovenia, and two races on the OPA cup circuit. Rogla is no stranger to high-level racing – the venue has hosted World Cups in the past, and is considered a tough race, as it is at altitude, sitting 1500 m above sea level. While the snow coverage was a little sparse, and as the Americans arrived,...
There is no doubt that when Canadian Brent McMurtry trained this summer, he was motivated by the thought of standing on the start line in the stadium in Oslo, Norway, in February. But for McMurtry, a member of the Pierre Harvey National Development Center (CNEPH) and one of Canada’s most promising young skiers, had a self-described “disappointing” start to the season. During the first World Cup period, he fell flat, cracking the top 50 just...
The 87th Vasaloppet took place Sunday, with over 14,000 skiers taking part in the historic 90 k race from Salen to Mora, Sweden. Norway’s Torjus Borsheim took the early lead, winning three intermediate sprints, and holding at one point a two-minute lead over the rest of the field. However, three members of Team Xtra Personnel, Norway’s premiere marathon racing team, Arne Post, Anders Aukland and Jerry Ahrlin, along with Czech Stanislav Rezac took the lead....
We need your help. I’m coming to you as an unofficial representative of the recently torn apart College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University Nordic Ski Team. As of 3/3/2011, the team was cut by the administration for stated “budget issues” and to “strengthen the other programs”. During the meeting, we were told by the four administrators present that the program was being cut. There was no option for discussion or debate. In fact, our long-term...
At Eastern Canadian Championships on February 11, 12 and 13, held in Cantley, Quebec, if your last name wasn’t Nishikawa, the chances of you standing on the top step of the podium were slim. In the Open men’s field Graham Nishikawa of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) took the top spot twice – in the 3 k prologue event on Friday, as well as the 30 k classic handicap start on Sunday. In between,...
In the second day of racing on Sunday at the Gatineau Loppet in Gatineau, Quebec, skiers tackled a 49 k freestyle course, and with some top local talent in the field, the fast, icy day was set to be exciting. In a hectic finishing flurry, home town boy Aidan Lennie of Ottawa, Ontario emerged victorious in a time of 2:07:52.1. Lennie was part of a close five-man finishing group, and crossed the line ahead of...
Icy trails and strong winds greeted the competitors in the 2011 Gatineau Loppet in Gatineau, Quebec, Saturday. A thaw in the previous two days reduced the snow pack significantly, forcing a few changes in the course. The race was rerouted to the widest and flattest sections of the Gatineau Park, the large area of park land where the race is held. In the 49 k classic event, Juergen Uhl of Burlington, Vermont, took the win...
In skiing, the focus is on pushing your body to the limits. Generally, most assume that to mean physical limits. But for emerging Canadian sprint star Dasha Gaiazova, it’s all about another limit – her mental one. “Last year, it was so simple for me,” she told FasterSkier, “I had one goal in front of me – to make the Olympics, and everything I did was to get me closer to that.” However, this season...
While many international biathletes have successfully competed in cross-country skiing events over the past few years, North America has seen little intermixing. While there is talk of biathletes chipping in for cross country events, most recently American Tim Burke pinch-hitting for the USST at a major championship relay, it rarely seems to happen. Enter Aaron Gillmor, a 19-year-old Canadian who just wrapped up his first World Junior Championships (WJC) in cross-country in Otepaa, Estonia. Gillmor,...
When the 2010-2011 ski season began, Canadian Brooke Gosling barely had the World Championships in Oslo, Norway, on her radar. “Every time I was asked about it or thought about it, I just dismissed the notion because I was also starting to shift my focus on a career that wasn’t skiing,” she told FasterSkier. And her training reflected the change in goals. Before the end of September, she hadn’t done any rollerskiing or strength, instead...
If Drew Goldsack and Graham Nishikawa were not already familiar with each other, they should be by now. That’s because the two Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) athletes are locked in a tight battle over the top spot in the NorAm rankings – and the battle became even closer after this weekend, as Goldsack won the NorAm mini-tour in Kelowna, B.C. Goldsack, also a member of the Canadian National Ski Team (CNST) emerged victorious Sunday,...
Perianne Jones is now two for two. The Canadian National Ski Team (CNST) member and Vancouver Olympian put on a powerhouse display of classic skiing Saturday morning, winning the 2.7 k classic event on the second day of racing at Western Canadian Championships in Kelowna, B.C. Jones won the second race in the mini-tour by a little over 20 seconds, an amount almost unheard of in such a short event. Andrea Dupont of the Rocky...
Drew Goldsack must be getting good at mini-tour racing; he’s on his third one this season. Last weekend, the Canadian National Ski Team (CNST) member who trains with the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) tackled a Haywood NorAm mini-tour event in Orford, Quebec, finishing second. This weekend, Goldsack began another mini-tour, with a freestyle sprint in Kelowna, B.C. on Friday. After posting the fastest qualifying time on the day, Goldsack stormed through the rounds on...