Team Canada Breaks Fourth-Place Curse, Begins Podium Streak
Back-to-back medal days for Women at Nordic Junior and U23 World Championships
Schilpario, Italy – February 6, 2025 – Quebec City’s Liliane Gagnon finished 5 seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher in the 20km mass start classic race at the 2025 FIS Nordic U23 World Ski Championships, taking home the bronze for Team Canada. Sweden’s Maerta Rosenberg finished first in 55:56 and Norway’s Eva Ingebridgtsen finished second in 56 minutes.
Fourth place can be a tough result, but for Canada’s women, it’s been fuel. After three fourth place finishes for the women this season, including Edmonton’s Alison Mackie, Whitehorse’s Sonjaa Schmidt and Chelsea’s Katherine Stewart-Jones, the team knew they were primed for the podium.
“I think the Canadian women are on fire right now,” said Sonjaa Schmidt after her fourth place at the Engadine World Cup two weeks ago. “The fire is contagious within the team. We are hunting for a podium, and the cool thing is we don’t know who it’s going to be. It can be any one of us, which is inspiring, and it’s just a really great team to be around right now.”
Indeed, Alison Mackie broke the curse yesterday in the 20km mass start classic race in the Junior category, earning Canada’s first Women’s Nordic Junior Worlds medal since 1989.
“We truly are just getting things started as female cross-country skiers in Canada,” said Mackie “I’m really happy to podium on National Girls and Women in Sports Day. It’s a perfect day to have this result to show that anything is possible.”
For Gagnon, this moment was a long time coming. After multiple close calls last year, she had her sights set on an individual Championships podium—but not necessarily in this race.
“I’ve been dreaming of this medal for like a year now, especially after last year when I was so close to the podium a couple of times,” said Gagnon. “But to do it in the classic race, that was not in the plans, but really glad it happened, that’s for sure. So yeah, super stoked.”
It was a big day for Canadian skiers across the board. Jasmine Drolet finished 6th. In the men’s race, Tom Stephen finished 5th, followed closely by Xavier McKeever in 7th. Canada, alongside powerhouse Norway, was one of only two nations to finish with two skiers in the top ten in both the men’s and women’s races.
“All Canadians had such strong performances, finishing higher than or very close to their bib numbers, which says something about the system in Canada,” said coach Tormod Vatten.
The FIS Nordic Junior and U23 World Ski Championships continue throughout the week. On Sunday, the Canadians will defend their history-making gold in the relay.
Full results here.
Cover Photo: Graeme Williams