It's a big day for national-team nominations as Canada released its list of top-tier cross-country skiers -- with six men and one woman on the World Cup A and B teams -- for the 2016/2017 season.
It's a big day for national-team nominations as Canada released its list of top-tier cross-country skiers -- with six men and one woman on the World Cup A and B teams -- for the 2016/2017 season.
After eight races in 12 days, 14 Americans and 12 Canadians completed the Ski Tour Canada, a season-long goal for most of them. Here are some final thoughts from several North Americans after the seventh and eighth stages.
Throughout the first two days of racing in Canmore at the Ski Tour Canada, FasterSkier caught up most everyone competing for the U.S. and Canada. Here is what you haven't read -- quotes from the Stage 5 classic sprint and Stage 6 skiathlon earlier this week -- listed in alphabetical order.
Notes, quotes, photos and even a video of several of the North Americans you've been waiting to hear from at the Ski Tour Canada.
At Western Canadian Championships last weekend in Prince George, B.C., Dahria Beatty and Kevin Sandau locked up the overall NorAm lead before the Ski Tour Canada while others duked it out during three days of races Feb. 19-21.
With fewer than two weeks remaining until the Ski Tour Canada visits Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, and Canmore from March 1-12, we spent some time breaking down the provisional North American picks and estimated costs for Canadian nation's group skiers at the season-ending World Cups.
Eastern Canadian Championships drew nearly 800 racers in a FIS points race leading up to the Ski Tour Canada, and on the second and third days of racing last weekend, several top racers traded spots atop the podium. Michael Somppi handed Kevin Sandau his first distance loss, and Andy Shields won the classic mass start.
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.
The NorAm youth movement continued into the second weekend of the Canadian domestic series on Saturday at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, with three new athletes reaching the podium in the freestyle sprints.
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 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.
With the pressure off, the Canadian women posted some career-best performances on Tuesday in the 10-kilometer freestyle individual start at 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Emily Nishikawa took 30th, and Perianne Jones placed 32nd in what she said would probably be her final international race.
Alex Harvey wasn't the only Canadian to race in Thursday's World Champs classic sprint. Lenny Valjas finished 14th overall for the men after placing third in his quarterfinal, while Perianne Jones placed 24th.
Canada's Alex Harvey rocketed to his best non-stage World Cup result this season with a second-place finish in Saturday's 1.2 k classic sprint in Östersund, Sweden. He closely followed race victor Finn Hågen Krogh, who overtook Italy's Federico Pellegrino in the World Cup sprint standings.
This weekend, Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, of Rocky Mountain Racers, will make her World Cup debut in Östersund, Sweden. Less than a week later, she'll appear at her first World Championships in Falun, Sweden, where she hopes to start the classic sprint and 10 k freestyle.
Three of nine athletes met Cross Country Canada's primary standards for selection to the 2015 World Championships Team, and CCC named another six skiers to the team on Monday.
Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers) didn't have a great start, but she held off a charging Russian to finish 12th in the 15 k skiathlon at U23 World Championships. She believes she accomplished something else, too: potentially earning a place on Canada's team to senior World Championships in Falun.
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.
Ben Saxton (SMS T2/U.S. Ski Team) skied to an impressive sixth-place to earn the top North American result of the classic sprint at the U23 World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Canada's Dahria Beatty was the top North American woman in 20th.
With their eyes on the prize of a holiday break (for biathletes and non-Tour de Ski participants, two weekends off of the World Cup), a number of North American skiers notched competitive results, and for some -- even career bests -- in the last week.