January 07, 2013 (Thunder Bay, ON) – A busy day of racing at Lappe Nordic as the classic sprint races got underway at the Haywood NorAm. A lot at stake as race winners will pretty much be assured a place at either the World Junior or U23 Championships which take place in February. The races also count for selection to the World Championships in Val di Fiemme, where the final stages of the Tour de Ski are taking place.

Phil Widmer © Pam Doyle

In the morning qualifiers Phil Widmer of Canmore Nordic and Alysson Marshall of Larch Hills, B.C. set the pace in the senior categories. Widmer is a veteran sprinter (2006 Olympic Team member) and is looking for a spot at the Worlds after a strong 15th place finish at the Canmore World Cup sprint.

Qualifications

For the Senior Women, Andrea Dupont of Rocky Mountain Racers, staked a claim towards a World Championship team berth with a narrow victory over the top qualifier, Alysson Marshall. They had previously battled it out in the semis, where Dupont won a photofinish, and in the final the pair were once again neck and neck with Dupont grabbig the win by .06 seconds.

Andrea Dupont © Pam Doyle file photo

Emily Nishikawa, the skiathlon winner on Thursday, finished 3rd representing Whitehorse ski club, 3 seconds from the lead. The top U23 athlete was Marlis Kromm of Foothills, and that result will probably count for her to join the team for the U23 Worlds in Liberec, TCH.

We caught up with the Women’s winner Andrea Dupont after the race: “It was a good day for me. It was a fast course with a double-pole finish which is my strength. I love racing in Ontario. I am originally from here so it feels like home. It was a good day.”.

There was tight competition in the Junior Women`s ranks as Maya MacIssac-Jones gave Rocky Mountain Racers it`s 2nd gold of the day, just edging out Katherine Stewart-Jones of Nakkertok in the final. They were closely followed by Alannah MacLean of Walden and Cendrine Browne of Fondeurs-Laurentides.

Both Stewart-Jones and MacLean were in a tough semi heat and made it through to the final as “lucky losers”. The result should give MacIssac-Jones a place on the World Junior Championship team and with 2, 2nd place finishes to her credit Stewart-Jones looks to be in a great position to also qualify. Katherine’s twin sister Emilie was on the 2012 World Junior team but had been ill for much of the off season, and has only recently returned to training.

The men’s competitions also saw some very tightly contested heats, with many skiers failing to move on by fractions of a second.

Phil Widmer was the winner on the men’s side by a 2 second margin over Nakkertok’s Patrick Stewart-Jones. The two had been neck and neck at the finish of their semifinal and it was the second silver of the day for the Stewart-Jones family. Patrick should move on to the U23 Worlds as the top U23 finisher in the sprints.

Third place went to Jesse Cockney of Foothills, (9th place sprint finisher at the Canmore World Cup) just ahead of Graham Nishikawa (Whitehorse) and Brent McMurtry (Foothills), as the top 5 came across the line almost together.

The final race of the day was the Junior men’s event and with Raphael Couturier electing to race in the senior category, there was a bit more potential room on the podium for other skiers. It was a day for the Outaouais, as Alexis Turgeon of Skinouk captured the win by a bit over a 1 second margin ahead of Nakkertok’s Zeke Williams and Dominique Moncion-Groulx.

Heat results

Final results

After 2 days of racing the selection picture for the various World Championship trials is becoming a bit more clear.

For the Junior Women, Frederique Vezina and Maya MacIssac-Jones seem to have locked up 2 of the 4 possible positions, with their race victories and Katherine Stewart-Jones seems to be in line for a place after 2 second place results.

On the Senior Women’s side Andrea Lee and Marlis Kromm look to have a spot on the World U23 team after their victories, with the results on Sunday and consideration of FIS points standards all coming into play for any remaining selections for Liberec.

The 2 races to date and 2 races later in the month at Highlands Nordic near Collingwood determine selection for the World Senior Championship team in Val di Fiemme.  With the present women’s World Cup skiers tending to be stronger in the sprint, it will be interesting to see how the selection of additional team members will be made.

At this point as the distance winner in the skiathlon Emily Nishikawa will be in the drivers seat for one of the available positions, (minimum of 4 skiers per gender plus possible 3 additional skiers for a maximum total of 11 skiers). Andrea Dupont could have a chance for selection with her sprint win and she would be closely challenged by Alysson Marshall who was the top sprint qualifier and has had a fair bit of World Cup experience over the last year. A wild card consideration is the fact that the team is already heavy on the sprint side, so it will be necessary to assess the FIS points results of additional athletes and weigh their potential against the potential on the men’s side of the equation.

For the Junior Men Raphael Couturier and Alexis Turgeon seem to have locked up positions, with Zeke Williams presently being a favourite for the team as he has been consistently the next fastest skier.

For the U23 Championship Andy Shields and Patrick Stewart-Jones look to have made the team, with Russell Kennedy, Colin Abbot and Knute Johnsgaard all being in the mix for the final positions.

Looking to Val di Fiemme, Phil Widmer seems to have staked a claim for a position, with the 4 man World Cup squad already assured to go. Also in consideration should be Jesse Cockney by virtue of his 9th place finish at the Canmore World Cup, and Graham Nishikawa the winner of Thursday’s skiathlon event. With 3 other men placing well in the distance race at Lappe, it looks like there will be some intense racing action at Highland’s Nordic to determine the final team composition.

Press release and updates to follow.

The Haywood NorAm’s conclude Sunday, with individual start, skate events of 10 and 15 kilometers.