January 23, 2010 (Canmore, AB) – On Friday, Jan. 22 the 2010 Canadian Olympic XC Ski Team was announced as Canada once again plays host to the world from Feb. 12-28 at the Vancouver 2010 Games. We caught up with most of the athletes named for the Olympics and begin with Sara Renner and Ivan Babikov in a series of brief interviews with one of the most talented teams of cross-country skiers to be on the Olympic start line.

Sara Renner
In the province that last held a Canadian Olympics in 1988 (Calgary, AB), Cross Country Canada announced the 2010 team to Vancouver on Friday, Jan. 22. “It’s an exciting time for athletes in Canada,” said Sara Renner, one of the eleven skiers named to the team. Renner is a veteran of three Olympics (Nagano, Salt Lake and Torino), but the buzz – the realness of making an Olympic team–is always new.

“I feel as if I’ve come full circle” she says. “Watching the 1988 Olympics as a girl in Canmore gave me a dream, and now here I am-racing at an Olympic Games in my own country.”

Last season Renner had strong results with an 18th place in the 30km World Cup classic race in Trondheim, Norway, a 5th place in the 10km classic at another world cup in Valdidentro, Italy, a 6th in the team sprint at the Nordic Worlds in Liberec, Czech Republic, followed by a 9th place in the 10km classic also at the Worlds.

But she says she didn’t feel she was in the best shape she could have been in when the season commenced this year. “I was little bit disappointed with my fitness at the beginning of this season, but I raced myself into shape, so by the end of the Tour de Ski, I felt I was at a much better level.” Renner finished in 12th place in the final 10km classic stage in Val di Diemme, Italy and was 17th overall as the 2010 Tour wrapped up in early Jan.

Renner is not sure if she will continue to race past the 2010 Olympics, even in the month after at the Canadian national championships in Whitehorse. “I will see how I feel and things will happen the way they should.” Life on the road is anything but glamorous, and given Renner’s thirteen years on the national team, she has more than earned a break. It’s not like Renner is going to put her feet up once this Olympic and World Championships medalist does retire. She and husband Thomas Grandi, who has retired from the Canadian Alpine ski team, are committed to the environment and have worked with both David Suzuki and Al Gore.

Just before world leaders met in Copenhagen recently to discuss the reduction of green-house gases, Renner delivered a letter on behalf of winter athletes to Prime Minister Stephan Harper, saying the government must make addressing climate change a priority if they want any kind of a future for the planet. “I feel very strongly about the environment. As athletes we need to use our voice. Strong leaders on the environment are very important,” Renner says, who looks forward to having Grandi, their daughter, and extended family being with her at her home Olympics at last.

Ivan Babikov
Ivan Babikov is looking forward to his first Olympics as a Canadian, and believes the pieces to the puzzle in his life – from coming from Pechora, a port 1,500 km northeast of Moscow to living in Canmore, where he says his favorite ski trails exist – are now in place. “Ya, I guess I’m satisfied,” he says in his usual understated way, referring to a very strong Tour de Ski finish of 9th overall and fourth place on the final gruelling stage, followed by officially being named to the Olympic team.

Most likely Babikov will race in the 50km event at the Games, the 30km pursuit and hopefully the team relay. With Salomon sponsoring his skis, he says he’s ready for whatever the Whistler Olympic Park conditions throw at him. “It’s a really tricky place,” he says, referring to the 2010 Olympic venue. “You have no choice – if you have bad skis, you simply cannot win, but Salomon has been working with me to prepare the skis properly. I’m confident that I will be prepared for anything.” Last year when Babikov and his teammates raced at Whistler Olympic Park, they had sunny skies and temperatures that stayed below zero. This year has been warm and wet.

Temperatures are right around the freezing mark making for variable snow conditions as elevation, new snow, glazed snow in the track and fresh snow right beside the track throw a giant question mark into who will be able to triumph in these conditions. But if anyone can power through slow, tough snow, it is this man who sprints up mountainsides. Babikov’s last race at the TdS in Val de Fiemme, Italy included a 425-metre climb. Babikov kept getting faster while most of the field were defeated by the devastating, steep and long climb.

Babikov’s family will also be with him in Whistler – including his mother with whom he immigrated to Canada seven years ago, and his wife and child to whom he sent his earnings from working in a Toronto grocery store home before he was able to finally move to Canmore and get back to his beloved life on skis.