Five Canadians race to top-18 results at Nordic Junior World Ski Championships through Day 5

LILIANE GAGNON, JASMINE LYONS, XAVIER MCKEEVER, ALISON MACKIE AND REMI DROLET HAVE ALL PRODUCED NOTABLE FINISHES AT WHISTLER OLYMPIC PARK SO FAR

BY DAVID SONG

DAY 5 OF THE 2023 FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships yielded the best Canadian results of the event thus far, as Liliane Gagnon and Jasmine Lyons finished 12th and 13th, respectively, in the U23 women’s 20-kilometre mass start classic. Gagnon completed her race in a time of one hour, three minutes and 20.7 seconds on Jan. 31, while Lyons crossed the line less than eight seconds behind her (1:03:28.2).

The pair of 20-year-olds are close friends and spurred each other on as the snow largely held off on race day.

“I started off pretty stressed out, but then I felt good [once the race started]. The skis were great—the kick, the glide—everything added up and was great for me today,” said Gagnon in a press release. The Quebec City native is partaking in her fourth Junior World Championships and is also in the midst of her first World Cup season.

“[Lyons and I] were working together throughout the race,” Gagnon added. “We could see the top eight and knew they were pretty good climbers, but we were trying to get time on them on the downhills and the flats. We have done a lot of racing together. Knowing someone’s strengths and trying to pull with them to the finish makes a big difference.”

Lyons was determined to connect with her old friend in the first lap. After getting tangled up as the pack exited the stadium, she began clawing her way forward from 45th place until she caught up with Gagnon.

“We’ve been working together and working hard for the past year hoping to accomplish big things here,” said Lyons. “So I’m really proud of the work that [Team Canada] has put in and I

Trusting The Process

Xavier McKeever reminds himself that “the process always comes first, and the results come second.” For that reason, he is taking it all in stride despite falling short of the top 10 at the World Juniors so far.

As the nephew of Canadian Paralympic legend Brian McKeever, Xavier possesses heaps of talent and lofty expectations to match. A lot of skiers would be thrilled with a 13th-place finish at the World Juniors, but the 19-year-old thick of it for the first 7.5 kilometres before dropping off the lead pace, with two groups of five separating themselves from the field midway through the second lap.

Xavier has previously been open about consulting with a sports psychologist, Richard Monette, about building mental toughness as a cross-country athlete. Such habits empowered him to find another gear and maintain his position at the front of the second chase group through to the finish line.

“I had red-lined for a bit in the second lap, and then the skis started coming to me in the last two laps and I started to come back alive,” Xavier said. “This obviously is not quite the result I wanted, but I’m happy I found a way to recover in the race and be able to fight for 13th.

“Competing at a World Championships at home is all a big learning experience for me. To go through that mental stage today, and recover from it, is a great takeaway.” think we’re on the way up.”

The Ottawa, Ont. native also races on the NCAA Division I circuit for the University of New Hampshire Wildcats, but appreciates the opportunity to represent Canada once more on Sea to Sky soil.

“The home crowd cheering makes a really big difference,” Lyons said. “The [Black Tusk Nordic Events Society] is putting on an insane event. It looks really great out here.” expressed ambivalence about his Jan. 30 effort in the junior men’s 20-kilometre mass start.

“A bit of a tough one today,” Xavier said after completing his race in a time of 55:25.2. “The pace was hot off the start and I did what I could to hang on. I struggled a bit. I felt like I was having a harder time keeping up with the double-poling sections and I wasn’t making up any ground on the downhills.”

The Canmore, Alta. resident was in the

Back on Jan. 28, Xavier kicked off his Whistler experience with a 16th-place result in the 1.2-kilometre sprints. It was the first time in five attempts that he had made the cut for the head-to-head sprint heats at a World Juniors. Xavier was the lone Canadian male to earn a ticket to the quarterfinal round after posting the 23rd-fastest time in qualifying.

The young Albertan showed courage and tactical awareness in his quarterfinal, charging into a hairpin turn out of the first downhill section. He briefly found himself at the front of the pack before others caught up with him during the last plunge back to the stadium.

Crossing the line in third, Xavier failed to advance to the semifinal, as only the top two in each heat, along with the next two fastest “lucky losers,” move on.

It’s no easy feat, switching from sprints to a 20-kilometre race within two days, but he welcomed the challenge. “My sprinting has been my strongest discipline, I think, pretty much all year,” Xavier said. “It was fun to make the heats and fun to jostle around, and kind of get a preview of the jostling that [happened] in the 20-kilometre.”

‘GREAT MOMENTUM’

Alison Mackie is just 17 years old. She probably worries about a lot of things that most teenage girls do. Yet most of her high-school peers certainly cannot fathom doing what she did on Jan. 30: place 13th in a 20-kilometre mass start at the World Juniors.

As the youngest member of Team Canada in Whistler this week, Mackie crossed the line in a time of 1:03:26.9. It was a career breakthrough for the Edmonton, Alta. native.

“Oh my gosh, it’s amazing. I never would have expected this,” she gushed after the contest. “It’s my best race of the season so far.”

Starting near the back of the 53-skier field in the chaotic mass start, Mackie wasted no time navigating her way into the lead group where she raced for her first lap. Then, with a group of 10 separating from the pack, she put herself in “the pain cave” at the front of the second chase group for the next 10 kilometres of the Nordic marathon.

“The mass start is always a little bit rough. I was really lucky I was able to stay out of the mess,” said Mackie. “I was in a good pack, working together and taking our turns at the front. It was really cool. I was able to ski with that group of girls, going at a good pace and even catching the leaders a bit.”

With the lead group breaking away in the final charge for the medals, the chase group also began to stretch out with young Mackie holding her own, churning her arms and legs for a more-than-respectable top-15 finish.

Two days prior to her milestone effort in the mass start, the Edmontonian had also competed in the junior women’s 1.2-kilometre sprints. She fought her way up the first hill while matching strides with the world’s best, but couldn’t keep up with the intense last rush down into the horseshoe finish. Her result: 23rd overall in the classic ski sprint.