By Gerry Furseth
Canada put four skiers in the classic sprint heats on the final day of racing at Canmore. After three days that were more about ticking off progress goals, the team put together some better numbers on the result sheet.
Canadian women
In the women’s qualifier, Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt was the first Canadian out and put down a time that looked like it would hold up as top 30. Katie Weaver, wearing bib 40, would follow up with a 30th place, one place and 0.13 seconds behind Bouffard-Nesbitt. The moment of joy would last less than 30 seconds as Astrid Øyre Slind, wearing bib 41, would blaze into the finish in 7th and move Weaver to 31st, where she would end the day. This is Weaver’s best ever World Cup result, replacing Saturday’s 35th in the skate sprint.
“I’m tired of going home early on sprint days,” Bouffard-Nesbitt said. “I was just so determined to make it happen today. And I wasn’t feeling the kind of top-end gear that I felt actually on Friday. But I just fought through the back slips and I fought through every metre of the course, and it’s so satisfying.”
In the quarterfinal, decisions have to be made quickly as all six racers try to impose their tactical plan on the other five.
”After the first uphill where you turn around and go into the first downhill, I went into the far right lane, which was so silly because I knew that I was going to get pinched by everyone who was on the outside of me.”
“And then I just really went forward on that climb and I was proud of how I skied it. But then, over the top, I just couldn’t get right on the back of [Kristine] Skistad. And then I did the mistake that a Canadian should never make, which is lead into the downhill. So I lost my fourth position and got slingshotted by fifth and sixth. It was really painful to be sitting in a tuck and to just watch someone pass you with so much speed and there’s nothing you can do about it while you’re in that tuck. Because you can’t skate, you can’t doublepole, you’re just stuck watching them. So that was really hard for me and to come into the finish in sixth was not the most fun, but the crowd was awesome. So that made up for it.”
For Weaver, it was the disappointment that she felt first after her 12th career World Cup start.
”It’s good news to know that I’m at that level. But of course, it’s disappointing to be so close to making heats when that’s kinda my dream and my goal is to race World Cup heats.”
“I pushed super hard and I’m happy with the race that I had. I think I went out pretty hard and pretty fast. And I think I faded a little bit at the finish. So something to learn and something to take forward for the next race.”
Asked what she had learned over four days of racing, Weaver’s answer was immediate.
”I’ve learned that we have an awesome ski community. I’m really happy and proud to be a part of the Canmore ski community. It’s really nice to be out on the trails and have the kids that I coach at Canmore Nordic cheering me on and have my family here.”
The other Canadian women were Katherine Stewart-Jones (42), Anna Parent (44), Anna Stewart (50), Élie-Anne Tremblay (52) and Maeve Macleod (53).
Stewart was probably speaking for many skiers from multiple countries when she described her first World Cup weekend.
”For the first three races, I felt like I was getting better and better. Today, I’m just so exhausted that it doesn’t really match up.”
Canadian men
On the men’s side, there were three Canadians in the heats. Antoine Cyr was the first to start, placing 21st. Pierre Grall-Johnson was 25th for his third attempt at heats. Xav McKeever, after a close miss on Saturday, qualified for the heats for the first time in 26th.
Cyr skied in heat two, facing four athletes who have already earned sprint podiums: Richard Jouve, Even Northug, Edvin Anger, and JC Schoonmaker. Cyr chose to attack from the start, after declining to reveal his strategy to the media in advance. When told that the journalists had figured out his plan, he replied, “Yeah, but you probably also figured out that it did not fucking work today.”
He did make the heat fast enough that both lucky losers came from his heat, but didn’t have enough of a gap at the bridge turn to keep the pack from slingshotting him.
“I think I had a good race plan,” Cyr said. “I think I should have probably waited on the top of the hill so someone goes by. Mainly I wanted to get the guys a little tired on the finishing straight. But yeah, in the downhill I thought with the fresh snow, it was gonna be hard to pass, but it was really not.”
A viewer could say that the strategy was wrong because he didn’t advance, but a distance skier facing four men who are better over the final 200m probably wouldn’t advance by letting the others control the race, either.
McKeever and Grall-Johnson were both in heat 3. Grall-Johnson tried to position himself for the final downhill, but got blocked out.
”I think I eased up a little bit on the top of the hill which may have been a mistake and I tried to make those spots up on the corner and found myself in my own lane going down the downhill, so not in the draft and a little left out there so that was that was unfortunate.”
”I was just trying not to make the same mistake as Saturday. I’m making a different one but it’s okay, it’s a learning step, so quite happy with how today went.”
”I think the draft was really good for Xav and it was really awesome to see him duke it out with those guys.”
For McKeever, he came in with the same plan and a clear mindset.
”If you put your mind to something and you believe you can do something, anything can happen.”
He was happy with his day.
“I know the tactics for this course in a Noram race, but of course it’s different on the World Cup. So I knew exactly where I had to be. Knew I had to be third or fourth and downhill to have a chance. And yeah, I think I did a really good job of finding my space and keeping my space and defending it. Usually in the World Cup, if you’re not defending your space you’re getting it taken from you. So I think today was a really good confidence booster for me to see that, okay, I can do this, I can ski a World Cup heat well.”
The Canadian contingent also had Julian Smith (37th in qualifying), Olivier Léveillé (43), Ry Prior (47), Julien Locke (53), Léo Granbois (54), Félix-Olivier Moreau (59), Erikson Moore (60), and Xavier Léfebvre (61).
Locke, who had another disappointing day, after struggling to bounce back from flu at the start of the Tour de Ski, was feeling positive about the team.
”Racing at home is special. We don’t get this opportunity very often and of course you hope for your very best but you’ve got to do what you can with what you’ve got . Sometimes it just isn’t there, so okay, we’ll keep fighting.”
World Cup coach Robin McKeever dropped by the finish area for an update.
”We’re trying to operate a team the size of Norway with about 10% of the staff,” he said.
Robin McKeever, who interrupted himself mid-interview to solve a logistics issue on the phone, was happy with the day and the progress over the four race days. With 25 athletes racing in Canmore and another 20 in Planica, the staff were stretched a bit thin. The good news is that some of the parents were able to fill in; the better news is one of the parents in Planica was Alain Masson: three-time Canadian Olympian, former World Cup wax tech, and recently retired head coach of the Whitehorse Ski Club.
Minnesota will be a bit easier for the support staff, with “only” 30 athletes competing there.
There will be a Canadian wrap-up article coming later this week: more quotes, more photos, and some peeks behind the scenes.
