February 27, 2008 (Mals, Italy) – Perianne Jones is a 3-year member of the National Ski Team. Previously she had a successful career as a National Junior team member for three years. At the recent Alberta World Cup in Canmore Jones notched her first top-30 finish after qualifying in 25th place in the 1.2 km skate sprint and finishing in 30th place after the quarter-finals.

The Almonte, Ontario native is no rookie when it comes to donning the National team colours internationally. During her junior years Jones competed a the Nordic Junior Worlds, recording two top-15 results. The will be her final round at the 2008 Nordic U23 Worlds as she recently celebrated her 23rd birthday. What a great way to finish as she was 8th in the 1.2 km skate sprint, and followed that up with a 12th place finish in the 10km Classic race, 1:19 behind race winner Olga Tiagai of Russia. Perhaps even more impressive is that she was just 10 seconds off another top 10-finish and 42 seconds out of a podium spot.

We caught up with Jone in Italy as she prepares to join the World Cup team in Lahti, Finland for this coming weekend’s races.

There seems to be a great vibe coming off this year’s U-23s and World Junior competitions.
Perianne Jones: So far the championships have been really amazing, having Alex leading the junior men to such great results is pretty special. The team as a whole is in really good spirits. I have been to lots of U23 and World Junior championships, and this is for sure one of the best – results wise for sure – and it is a great group of young skiers to be a part of.

You’re having a strong showing after two races. Are you happy with your results after day two of racing?
PJ: I’m very happy to finish off my U23 career this way. I’m heading to Lahti tomorrow to meet up with the World Cup team, so I will miss the last race. But for me finishing off strong, especially in the classic distance race is exciting and encouraging. Racing at such high altitude has been tricky, especially for the distance race. Luckily for me I usually start conservatively and put the hammer down at the end, and that’s exactly what had to be done on this course.

Much of your success has been in sprint racing, but this year you’re doing well in distance races too. Is that something you focused on during the off-season?
PJ: It’s true that over the past few years sprinting has been more my thing – but three or four years ago I was also able to race well at distance events. To be perfectly honest this year I did more sprint-specific training than ever before!

With no Nordic Worlds this year many NST members focused on the Canmore World Cups but you’ve had U23 Worlds a well. What was your focus and has the delay staging the U23 Worlds enabled you to peak for both events?
PJ: For me the plan was to peak for the Canmore world cups. Then carry that momentum right into U23s which were to happen right after that. As it stands things seem to have worked out well for me. I was able to take what we did before Canmore, and make some small changes that Eric (NST 2010 coach Eric de Nys) and I thought would work well for me.

I saw your very proud parents trailside during the Canmore World Cups. What does that mean for you to have them there showing their support?
PJ: It was awesome to have my parents in Canmore, and all year as they have barely missed a race that I’ve been in. The initial plan was for these championships to be in Poland, but if they had had a little more notice when the change was made for us to be competing in Italy I know they would have made plans to be here. They love coming out as spectators, and getting out for a ski themselves at the end of the day. I’m very grateful for their enthusiasm.

All the best in Lahti – what events are you competing in?
PJ: Thanks – in Lahti I’ll race the World cup sprint and the 10km classic. These are two of my favourite events, so I am looking forward to it!