Quite understandably, after missing out on Pyeonchang 2018 and the culmination of a lifelong dream by nothing more than a whisper, a heartbeat – one slender second – Maya MacIsaac-Jones’ high beams are locked in on one thing. On February, 2022. On the Kuyangshu Nordic and Biathlon Centre and the XXIV Olympic Winter Games. “At the moment,’’ she acknowledges, “my racing is for sure my first priority. “Beijing is something I’m obviously so very...
“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” — John Wooden The legendary Wizard of Westwood, the man who piloted the UCLA Bruins to 10 NCAA men’s basketball championships in a dozen years, remains an iconic figure, cutting across eras and sporting disciplines. Wooden’s message of willingness to always consider new ideas, no matter how experienced or how successful or how revered someone may be, that ability to adjust and implement,...
After more than 30 years of involvement in the cross-country ski scene, Claude Laramée has never expected any hoopla. Fittingly, that’s exactly what he got. “When you do volunteer work, you don’t do it with the goal of getting recognition,” pointed out Laramée. “You do it with passion, in my case passion towards cross-country skiing. It’s out of the blue. Not expected. Didn’t see it coming. “I got the phone call … I was wondering why is he calling me? So I was...
Julie Beaulieu has a canny way of describing Nordiq Canada’s Gold Medal Profile. “It’s not a magic bullet … it’s a destination brochure.” Beaulieu, acting high performance manager for Nordiq Canada, is one of several individuals who have drawn up what is called the Podium Pathway, a roadmap to collecting medals internationally in cross-country ski disciplines. The two main ingredients on the pathway are the Podium Track Results and the Gold Medal Profile (GMP)....
At the finish line of the World Junior Championship individual start 10-kilometre skate-ski race on a frosty mid-February Finnish afternoon in the village of Vuokatti, national team coach Erik Bråten had a piece of Jeopardy-style enough-to-warm-your-heart trivia for one of Nordiq Canada’s emerging talents. “Erik told me: ‘Only one other guy has done this before, win an individual medal at this level. I think you might know his name’,’’ recalled 19-year-old Olivier...
