In international hockey, no matter what the tournament, Canada is a perennial medal threat.
The same can be said about our national ski cross team. For as long as it has been an Olympic/World Cup sport, dating back to the Games in Vancouver-Whistler in 2010, Canadians have been frequent fliers to the medal podium.
It started with Ashleigh McIvor when she was crowned Olympic champion in 2010 and four years later Marielle Thompson and Kelsey Serwa finished 1-2 in the women’s event in Sochi. Serwa and Brittany Phelan wore the Maple Leaf to gold and silver respectively in 2018 in PyeongChang, while Brady Leman captured gold in the men’s Olympic competition that year.
Now, with the Beijing Olympics less than two months away, Canada’s World Cup ski cross team is showing signs that podium power has not diminished.
In Monday’s World Cup race in Innichen, Italy, four Canadian women finished in the top-six and Thompson won her fourth medal in the less than a month, claiming bronze just behind Sandra Naeslund of Sweden and silver medalist Fanny Smith of Switzerland.
Tiana Gairns of Prince George was in the mix as well, advancing to the quarterfinal heats after qualifying ninth. Grouped in the same as heat as Naeslund, Courtney Hoffos of Windermere and Daniela Maier of Germany, Gairns finished fourth and ended up 14th overall. Hoffos, a native of Invermere, advanced to the semifinal round and ended up fifth, sandwiched in the overall standings between fourth-place Hannah Schmidt of Ottawa and sixth-place Phelan of St. Agathe des Monts, Que.
“All the girls this year are really on top of it, so no heat is easy,” said the 23-year-old Gairns. “Unfortunately, today I didn’t quite have it in me and didn’t have my best skiing but I did made it to the first round.”
Gairns made the small final in both races two weekends ago in Val Thorens, France and ended up sixth in each race, her second and third top-10 World Cup results this season. The first came in November on the 2022 Olympic course in Secret Garden, China, where she was eighth.
“It was definitely encouraging to get those results right off the bat this season, I knew I was doing something right and racing fast, too,” she said. “The field is tough, you make one little mistake and you’re out, especially with the courses they’ve built this year. There’s a few less technical features which means if make a mistake it carries through more of the course and you’ll lose speed for a bit longer and you have less of a chance to make up more speed. So it’s a game of perfection this year, it’s tough racing.”
Thompson, a native of Whistler, had off-season knee surgery after getting hurt in a race in Russia in March and just got back on skis a few weeks before the race in Val Thorens Dec. 9 and the 29-year-old hasn’t missed a beat. She won the individual event last Tuesday in Arosa, Switzerland a few days after finishing third in Val Thorens.
“It’s crazy because she just came off her ACL injury and didn’t have much skiing beforehand and her first race back she was on the podium,” said Gairns.
Ski cross is bit like motocross on skis, with four skiers in each heat jostling for positions on steep twisty courses where there’s not a lot of room to pass. Gairns has had a few injures to deal with in her career but she’s healthy and with one full World Cup season already behind her she has the confidence of knowing she belongs racing with the best in the world.
“Even last year I had some problems with my knee and at the end of May I had surgery to remove an internal staple and that’s made a huge difference with pain for me and my knee has been holding up great,” Gairns said.
Reece Howden of Cultus Lake, the defending World Cup champion, finished third Sunday in Innichen, his second podium result of the season, after he and Zoe Chore of Cranbrook won silver in the team event last Wednesday in Arosa. He ended up 24th on Monday.
Gavin Rowell of Prince George, coming off a season-best 31st-place result in Arosa, was 50th in qualifying for Monday’s race. The 22-year-old did not make the top-32 cut for either race in Innichen. He qualified 44th on Saturday.
In other Canadian men’s results Monday, Leman of Calgary was 16th, Kristofor Mahler of Canmore was 17th, Chris Del Bosco of Montreal was 27th, Jared Schmidt of Ottawa was 41st and Carson Cook of Edmonton was 48th.
Gairns and Rowell will be coming home to Prince George for Christmas and will be home until Jan. 1, when they head to Whistler for a training camp. The World Cup tour resumes Jan. 13-15 at Nakiska, Alta., where Gairns made her World Cup debut three years ago. She placed sixth in that race, and has since posted three fifth-place finishes on the tour. She’s looking forward to a rare opportunity to race close to home.
“I’m feeling a little bit of pressure, it’s totally different racing in front of your home crowd,” she said. “You have so much pride for your country but you also feel like you have a lot resting on your shoulders. Each run you come down you can see your friends and family and a crowd of Canadian faces and it’s the coolest thing but also a tough thing to deal with if you don’t do well. It’s a bit of pressure but I’m excited about it.
“It takes a bit of the edge off to know that even if you don’t do well, there’s going to be a Canadian that does well, and that’s for every race we go into. You celebrate your teammate’s successes and you get energy off that.”
After Nakiska, there’s only one more stop before the Olympics, in Idre Fjall, Sweden. Canada could potentially get four female and four male spots for ski cross on the Olympic team but that has to be determined. There are only so many spot available for the Canadian freestyle, which also includes the moguls, aerials and free ski disciplines.
“We’re predicting that were going to get four spots each, male and female, but even with that it’s going to be a tight race for me to get to the Olympics,” said Gairns.
The Canadian ski cross team’s week in China coincided with World Cup snowboard cross racing at Secret Garden that same weekend, Nov. 26-28, and Gairns got to watch Prince George athletes Meryeta O’Dine, Evan Bichon and Colby Graham ride their boards in qualifying runs. No other city in Canada can brag that many national team members in the two disciplines.
“We have such a big crowd from Prince George in ski cross and snowboard cross,“ said Gairns. “It’s pretty cool going to China, hallway across the world, and finding four other people from your hometown.”
