Next winter, from March 3-17, Prince George will host the Para Biathlon World Championships and the Para Nordic World Cup finals at Otway Nordic Centre.
On Thursday the host Caledonia Nordic Ski Club announced John Aalberg has been hired as chief of competition for those events.
Aalberg, a 62-year-old native of Norway, comes with an impressive resume, with more than two decades of experience designing and staging international nordic events, including world championships and Olympic competitions.
“John is one of the best in the world for organizing and officiating top level Nordic events and it's an honour to welcome him to our team in Prince George to work alongside and inspire our local officials and next generation,” said Kevin Pettersen, chair of the local organizing committee.
As chief of competition, Aalberg will be the overall planning leader in charge of all race site activity, overseeing course layout, officiating, security, timing/scoring and stadium operations.
Aalberg led the design, development and operations of the Olympic and Paralympic competitions in Salt Lake City (2002) and Vancouver-Whistler (2010).
He was in charge of venue design and operations at the 2011 Nordic World Championships in Oslo and at the 2023 Junior World Championships at Whistler and headed several World Cup race committees in Canada, United States and Norway.
He was the chief designer of the nordic combined course at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and for the cross-country venues and courses for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
He has designed cross-country and biathlon stadiums and ski/roller ski courses in several countries, and coordinated and directed more than 100 World Cup, Olympic and World Championship events.
The back-to-back events next March will attract athletes from all over the world to race on the Otway trails, just as they did in 2019 when the city hosted the World Para Nordic Ski Championships. Aalberg lives in Sooke and was part of the race committee at Otway that year.
“I have been so fortunate to work throughout the world, designing, managing, organizing and operating large international nordic sport-venues and events,” said Aalberg. “During my time as a jury member for the 2019 WPNSC I was extremely impressed by the level of competition that was delivered in Prince George, the incredible venue and the team that was behind it and I am looking forward to playing more of an integral role.”
