Moving on from last season, the Canadians are a calculated bunch and ready to get the World Cup season started -- with a goal of not overemphasizing early results in order to peak for the Olympics. For the entire team, the Tour de Ski is part of the plan.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
With the conclusion of Period IV of the 2012-2013 season we tally who's in and who's out of the coveted Red Group in the most recent World Ranking Lists, from the American and Canadian perspectives.
Fresh off a flight from Sweden, Dasha Gaiazova entered her first race of Canadian Nationals firing all cylinders, beating Japan's Chisa Obayasi by nearly 1 1/2 minutes in Tuesday's 10 k classic interval start in Whistler, B.C. Brent McMurtry captured his first national title in the men's 15 k, 23 seconds ahead of Norway's Rune Ødegärd.
The Canadians missed the wax in the men's race on Saturday and ended up with Alex Harvey posting the team's top finish of 30th. "That combination of not-perfect bodies and bad skis is not so much fun," head coach Justin Wadsworth said.
For every Canadian qualifier except Dasha Gaiazova, the quarterfinals of Wednesday’s World Cup Finals 1.1-kilometer classic sprint were a second chance, an opportunity to get it right. Gaiazova had qualified in a career-best fourth, but Devon Kershaw on skate skis and Lenny Valjas on classic had narrowly made it through in 28th and 30th, respectively. All three went on to make the top 20.
Starting hard in her quarterfinal but missing out on advancing, Dasha Gaiazova led the Canadians in 15th in the Drammen classic sprints. Qualifying in 29th and 30th, Lenny Valjas and Alex Harvey were glad to make it through, but wanted a little more after finishing 16th and 20th, respectively.
Typically known as a sprinter, Dasha Gaiazova is knocking on distance racing’s door. The 29-year-old notched her second-best result of the season in a distance event, placing 33rd in Sunday’s 10-kilometer classic individual start at the World Cup in Lahti, Finland.
Dasha Gaiazova, Emily Nishikawa and Brittany Webster represented Canada in Tuesday's two-lap 10 k freestyle individual start at World Championships, and while none were ecstatic about their results, most saw the value in racing at the highest international level.
In the mix for most of Sunday's freestyle team sprint at World Championships, Canada's Perianne Jones and Dasha Gaiazova couldn't stick close enough to the leaders and missed advancing to the finals by two places to end up 13th overall.
After narrowly qualifying in 26th, Alex Harvey went on to have the race of his life in Thursday's World Championships classic sprint, placing third to make history for Canada, which he hopes will lift the rest of the team after sub-par finishes.
Canadians Perianne Jones and Dasha Gaiazova hung tough and charged late to pick up their first podium of the season, notching third in Sunday's classic team sprint at the Sochi World Cup. Finland's Mona-Liisa Malvalehto and Anne Kyllönen skied away from Russia for the victory, winning by more than five seconds.
Devon Kershaw skied to his best result of the 2013 season, placing 8th in the freestyle sprint. On the Canadian women's side, Dasha Gaiazova placed 12th, a season-best in a skate sprint.
Note: This article has been updated. There’s something about La Clusaz. Liz Stephen can’t put her finger on it, but it works for her. A week after her 26th birthday, she notched another career best in the French alpine village -- this time in a classic race.