Jürg Capol, the marketing director for FIS's nordic side, doesn't predict there will be a second Ski Tour Canada and says there's little television interest in Europe. Cross Country Canada's Dave Dyer disagrees, and says that many European squads have stated they will send a full team of top racers.
Head coach of the Canadian World Cup and national team, Justin Wadsworth spoke to FS at length about the team this season and how its athletes have handled summer and fall training. Bottom line: most everyone starting on the World Cup is healthy, and several are in the best shape of their lives.
It wasn't easy, but the crew at the Canmore Nordic Centre got it done. "We have a slightly smaller loop than we had before because we had so many warm temperatures last February and March," Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth explained. But the Frozen Thunder classic sprint was held on snow Monday with more than 50 competitors, and Emily Nishikawa and Lenny Valjas emerged as this year's winners.
Fresh off of marrying his new wife Kristin Størmer Steira in northern Norway, Devon Kershaw drove to Oslo and then jetted off for a high-elevation dryland training camp in the Italian Alps with his Canadian teammates and buddies, Jesse Cockney and Alex Harvey.
Why use a single hill for bounding intervals when you can cover an entire 5 k World Cup loop? Ivan Babikov's continuous bounding workout will get your heart pumping and your legs strong for winter.
Liz Stephen and Alex Harvey are FasterSkier's cross country skiers of the year for their impressive feats in the 2014/2015 season.
FasterSkier's cross country performances of the year come from Alex Harvey at the 2015 World Championships where he won silver and bronze medals in the sprint and skiathlon. Jessie Diggins and Caitlin Gregg are co-recipients of the women's award for their historic 2-3 finish in the 10 k freestyle at Worlds.
After a disappointing 2015 season that was unable to bring back the high points of her first Olympics and national title in 2014, Heidi Widmer regrouped - and decided to take advantage of her dual citizenship and race for Switzerland next year, not Canada. She's moving to Davos in June.
Rosie Brennan racked up six victories in eight races in the U.S. before finishing her season in Europe, and Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess also won both national sprints and subsequently qualified for World Championships, making them our Continental Skiers of the Year.
Alex Harvey's personal coach and the head coach of the Pierre-Harvey Training Centre for more than a decade, Louis Bouchard has been recognized as one of Canada's top coaches for some time. This year, FasterSkier picked Bouchard -- the man behind two individual World Championships medals -- as its 2015 Coach of the Year.
After impressive seasons and groundbreaking results at World Championships from Rosie Brennan and Graeme Killick, the American and Canadian have earned the title of FasterSkier's Breakthrough Skiers of 2015.
Cross Country Canada announced its national-team nominations Tuesday with little change to the World Cup and Development rosters. The 2015/2016 Senior National Team will feature 12 athletes ranging from the World Cup to U23 Development Teams.
After feeling like health issues stunted her career two seasons ago, two-time Olympian Perianne Jones decided to give it one more year and go out on a high note. She did so, staying healthy and logging some career-best distance results in her final season with the Canadian national team.
Canadian star Alex Harvey went under surgery twice this spring to correct a problem with his iliac arteries. Both operations went well and the 26-year-old will return to training May 1.
A year after an energy-draining Olympics, Justin Wadsworth said the energy within Cross Country Canada is palpable. He, for one, is ready to get back to co-coaching the World Cup Team, trading weekends on the road with Louis Bouchard and working with up-and-coming domestic coaches in Europe.
A collection of some of our favorite photos and soundbites from 2015 Canadian Nationals at Lappe Nordic in Thunder Bay, Ontario, courtesy of Martin Kaiser, Gerry Furseth and François Léger Dionne.
Despite having eight different women score World Cup points this season and a record six end up in the Red Group (top 30) after period IV, the U.S. women slipped from fourth to sixth in the Nations Cup standings. Alex Harvey, Andy Newell, and Simi Hamilton were the only North American men to attain Red Group status at the end of the season.
Alex Harvey hung with the main pack until just a few kilometers from the finish of the Holmenkollen 50 k, then outsprinted Toni Livers of Switzerland for 13th place. With Ivan Babikov placing 27th, the Canadian camp seemed happy with they way their 2015 season finished.
What started out like any other cold turned into a season-ending downward spiral for Devon Kershaw, who, in the midst of what would have been his eighth World Championships, had to forgo racing and leave Sweden early to recover at his fiancée’s home in Oslo, Norway.
Alex Harvey stayed at the front of the pack for most of Sunday's 50 k classic mass start, the final race of 2015 World Championships in Falun, but he couldn't quite get into the position he needed before a four-man finishing sprint -- which he was just behind. Also for Canada, Graeme Killick notched a career-best 19th, and Ivan Babikov placed 30th after leading as well.