A middle-of-the-pack skier who competed until 17, Simon Boisvert secured a national-team job this summer at age 21 as a Canadian World Cup wax tech. “When I got the call, I was really happy,” the M.S.A. native says. “It was one of my dreams that came true." Interview and article by Stéphanie Drolet, in both English and French.
On Thursday, a classic-sprint showdown among some of the top Canadian and U.S. nordic skiers took place on Frozen Thunder. "Let’s be honest," men's winner Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess says. "Winning a race against [Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton], even in a tune up event, even with a relatively small field, even in October, it still makes a good time even better."
Katerina Smutna of Austria topped U.S. Ski Team members Ida Sargent and Sophie Caldwell in Thursday's on-snow sprint at Frozen Thunder, and Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess led an American sweep of the hypothetical podium in what was essentially the first race of the season.
For the last several days, skiers from all over Canada and the U.S. have converged on Canmore, Alberta, to ski the seasonal anomaly that is Frozen Thunder: a 2.2-kilometer loop of real snow skiing, harvested from last winter and saved over the brief Canadian summer under a thick coat of sawdust.
With the opening of Frozen Thunder in Canmore, Alberta, Perianne Jones of the Canadian World Cup Team shares an "easy-does-it" workout for getting back into on-snow training.
The Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre has expanded this season with more women than men on its senior roster. Alex Harvey and Dasha Gaiazova are back from the World Cup team, and CNEPH has big goals for its younger athletes.
At first glance, one might not see much of a difference on the Canadian World Cup Team: mostly the same faces looking fit as usual. But head coach Justin Wadsworth said there's a lot that's gone on behind the scenes this training season, especially in monitoring recovery and priming his athletes for what he hopes to be their best seasons yet. A new camp in Truckee was part of the plan.
The U.S. men and Canadian World Cup skiers are right at home way down under at the Snow Farm near Wanaka, Zealand, and they haven't wasted any time with getting down to business while rehabbing some injuries.
Two days after arriving in New Zealand, Andy Newell romped the men's field in the opening sprint of Winter Games NZ, winning his qualifier and each heat thereafter for the overall win. That's a good indicator for one of the world's best sprinters after a summer of mostly rollerskiing, running and biking.
A week after relentless amounts of rainfall and resulting floods devastated southern Alberta, residents of Canmore are drying out, keeping their heads up and training on par.
Perianne Jones has no problem jumping into workouts with the guys. And keeping up with teammates like Lenny Valjas, Ivan Babikov and Devon Kershaw? Piece of cake. Those are the training partners the 28-year-old Canadian World Cup member has been dealt for the time being, and according to Jones, she's off to a great start.
The Sochi Organizing Committee showed off, for the first time, the beautiful meals that will be up for grabs at the Olympics in February. Across the nordic sports, North Americans could medal in, we estimate, four events - and if you start talking a little crazy, maybe almost a dozen sets of the handcrafted hardware could come back across the Atlantic.
You waited long enough and probably didn't even know it was coming, but here it is: a montage of your favorite top Canadian skiers (at least the ones at Canadian Nationals) talking about their seasons in a nutshell.
Meet Cendrine Browne, the youngest member of Canada's Senior Development Team. At 19, she's quickly progressed to the elite ranks, and despite her competitive background in triathlons, she's likely to stick with skiing.
Chandra Crawford recently confirmed that she will not train with Canadian Ski Team this summer, but rather with a personal coach in an effort to peak at the 2014 Winter Olympics. If all goes according to plan, she'll be back with the squad this winter. World Cup coach Eric de Nys weighs in and explains the state of his team.
Following the death of Shirley Firth, who rocked the Canadian cross-country scene with her sister, Sharon, a provincial coach remembers the significance of the Firth twins and how the two aboriginal women paved the way for generations of skiers.
Kikkan Randall was an easy choice for her fifth Skier of the Year Award, while Andy Newell took his second title.
Brian McKeever continued to impress this season, and Colette Bourgonje and Mark Arendz further showed the strength of Canada's Para-Nordic squad. New to skiing, Tatyana McFadden stood out as the top American female.
These nominations include athletes who qualified for nomination based on the published criteria and the CCC High Performance Committee selection process April 12-14, 2013. An announcement of the athletes who accept their nominations will take place later this spring.
Canadian World Cup Team members Dasha Gaiazova and Lenny Valjas demonstrated how classic sprinting is done at Canadian Nationals on Thursday, winning their respective qualifiers and later commanding the finals to achieve national titles.