Canada's national cross-country ski team is picking up where it left off in the glow of 2010 Winter Olympics spotlight.
And a coach who grew up in Prince George is helping the country's best skiers maintain their perch among the world powers.
Devon Kershaw wrapped up his fourth medal in eight races at the World Cup-level Tour de Ski, which ended Sunday in Italy. The 28-year-old from Sudbury, Ont., won gold in the sprint in Toblach, Italy; claimed silver in sprint and distance races in Oberstdorf, Germany; and was a bronze-medalist Sunday in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
Kershaw is the only the third Canadian to win a World Cup cross-country gold medal.
"Devon was on fire last week -- four medals in a week is fantastic," said Eric de Nys, Canada's senior national development coach and the World Cup team assistant coach. "Right now we have a very strong men's team all around."
Two other Canadian men -- Alex Harvey and Ivan Babikov -- also posted top-10 finishes on the Tour de Ski. Harvey was 10th overall and Babikov, a sixth-place finisher Sunday, was 21st overall. The women's sprint relay team of Chandra Crawford, Dasha Gaizova and Perrianne Jones won a bronze medal in Dusseldorf, Germany, part of the grueling 10-day Tour.
Now in his seventh season with the national team, the 36-year-old de Nys is second in command to head coach Justin Wadsworth. Wadsworth, the husband of former national team skier Beckie Scott, took over from former Prince George resident Dave Wood, who stepped down after 15 seasons with the national team.
"Justin and I work extremely well together," said de Nys. "We both have similar ideas for getting what we'd like to see from our athletes and those ideas are coming to fruition with the World Cup season we're having.
"A lot has changed, but for the better. We have a happier, more cohesive unit. We have three distinct teams -- a coaching team, a technical team, and an athletic team -- and all three have to co-exist together."
At the Vancouver Olympics, Kershaw was fourth in the 50km mass start and in the team sprint, combining with Harvey. Babikov was fifth in the Olympic 30km pursuit, a race in which George Grey was eighth, Harvey was ninth and Kershaw was 16th. No other country had three skiers in the top-10. Canada's seventh-place result in the men's 4X10km relay also raised the bar for the men. The best finish for Canadian women in the 2010 Olympics was in the team sprint relay, when Sara Renner and Gaizova placed seventh.
Despite Canada's Olympic success, the cross-country team budget was cut, forcing a few changes in the day-to-day operations which de Nys hopes will not be permanent.
"We did have some cutbacks, but based on our results this year maybe they'll loosen the purse strings for next year," de Nys said. "There are some things we won't go backwards on and one of them is our support team at World Cups. We can't go there with eight athletes and only two technicians and expect to fight among the best. You can't compete against Sweden, Norway or Italy, where they have six or eight guys preparing skis, so we have a minimum of five technicians on World Cups at one time."
The national squad also has maintained its staff of physiotherapists and massage therapists, who will be on hand later this month in Estonia and at upcoming World Cup races in Norway and Finland. Canada is allowed to start five male and four female racers in the World Cup sprints and for distance races the team is limited to four male and three female World Cup start positions.
De Nys was on hand in Thunder Bay, Ont., at selection races last weekend to pick the junior and under-23 national teams. Later this month he'll take nine juniors and 10 under-23 skiers, including Harvey, to the world championships, which start Jan. 26 in Estonia. That comes right after World Cup races at the same site, Jan. 22-23. The national teams begin a three-week training period next week in Canmore, where de Nys lives with his wife and two young children.
"We're looking forward to more good results and being on the podium," said de Nys.
