Cendrine Browne used home-course advantage to command the women's classic individual start and freestyle pursuit last weekend at the NorAm at Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec. She won the latter by nearly a minute and a half. Meanwhile, Bob Thompson led an NDC Thunder Bay podium sweep on Saturday, and Andy Shields skied away to the pursuit win on Sunday.
It's been a steady climb of success for the U.S. women's cross-country team. On Sunday in Nove Mesto, they took a collective step higher in the 4 x 5 k relay, placing second to a hard-charging Norway, while besting Finland by nearly 14 seconds.
In their first team sprint together, Americans Ida Sargent and Sophie Caldwell placed fifth on Sunday, while the U.S. men's team of Andy Newell and Simi Hamilton missed an early tag and ended up being disqualified in the final. “It was disappointing for sure, but it was a good call by the jury," U.S. head coach Chris Grover said.
Three Canadians missed the heats by slim margins on Saturday, with Len Valjas placing 31st for the third time in a World Cup skate sprint this season and Maya MacIsaac-Jones finishing 31st in the women's race, followed by Dahria Beatty in 32nd. “It’s a great start, it’s exciting and that’s why we have them over [there],” head coach Justin Wadsworth says.
Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, Dahria Beatty of the Alberta World Cup Academy recently packed her bags for the second period of World Cup races in Europe and is ready to represent Canada on the U25 B-Tour.
The NorAm opened with three races in four days in Canmore, Alberta, with two distance races on short loops -- one of which the men double poled. Kevin Sandau won the first two men's races, and another Alberta World Cup Academy skier, Dahria Beatty won the women's skate mass start and classic sprint on days 2 and 3.
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.
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.
After winning two medals at the 2015 World Championships, Alex Harvey finished 17th in Sunday's 15 k freestyle in Lahti, Finland. Meanwhile, Emily Nishikawa led the Canadian women in the 10 k and earned her best World Cup result of the season.
A junior world champion in ski orienteering, Barbro Kvåle added a U23 World Championships title to her list of accomplishments on Thursday with a victory in the women's 10 k freestyle. Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt of Rocky Mountain Racers tallied 17th, Cendrine Browne (CNEPH) was 23rd, and Joanne Reid was the top American woman in 25th.
Two Frenchmen and two Norwegian women pushed each other to the finish of Saturday's skiathlons, the last races of U23 World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. UVM's Scott Patterson led the North Americans in 18th and Rosie Frankowski (NMU) captured her first top 30 in 26th.
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.
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.
On the last day of racing at 2013 Canadian Nationals, American Torin Koos and his Swiss girlfriend Bettina Gruber were the big winners in the 50- and 30-kilometer freestyle mass starts, respectively. Brent McMurtry ended his ski career on a high note, and Zina Kocher took the Canadian women's title.
It would’ve been so easy to dwell on the numbers, results and superficial measures of success. But racing is about so much more than that. Canada’s juniors, particularly its women, understood that. They worked hard and finished 13th, and the Canadian men took 15th.
On the final individual race of the Junior World Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic, Raphaël Couturier (CNEPH) finally grabbed the spotlight away from the Canadian women. He finished the 20 k skiathlon in 49:25.0 for 17th place in a race where Russia owned the podium, lead by Dmitriy Rostovtsev in 47:40.2. Couturier was happy, writing “17th is great to me, my best result this week and I’m for sure really satisfied.” He planned to ski...
Cendrine Browne of the Pierre-Harvey Training Centre is celebrating a lot of firsts this season. First year on Canada's National Junior Ski Team, first race trip to Europe, first age category win in a NorAm race. On Wednesday, she added her first top 15 at Junior World Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic, to the list.