July 02, 2013 (Toronto, ON) – We’re pleased to announce the winners of the annual SkiTrax Annual North American (NA) Nordic Ski Awards that recognize elite, U23 and junior skiers, along with Conti Cup, collegiate, biathlon, Nordic combined, jumping competitors and Paranordic skiers.

Kikkan Randall takes home the Sprint Cup gold and FIS Worlds Team Sprint gold © Nordic Focus

The big winner once again was American Kikkan Randall winning two categories – Best Overall Skier Female and Best Sprint Skier Female. Randall had another historic season defending her Sprint Cup globe, landing on the overall World Cup podium in 3rd (a US first), and claiming the USA’s first FIS Nordic Worlds gold in the Team Sprint w/Jessie Diggins.

Canadian star, Alex Harvey took home the Best Overall Skier Male award, also having a historic season winning bronze in the men’s 1.5km CL sprint for Canada’s first individual men’s FIS Nordic Worlds medal.

Alex Harvey claiming Bronze at the Nordic Worlds in Val di Fiemme © Nordic Focus

We caught with Randall, Harvey and a number of other award winners for their comments and congratulate all winners and nominees as it’s clear that it takes a great team, on and off snow, to produce winners. We’d also like to thank everyone who took the time to vote plus our great sponsors including Salomon, Swix,  F1, Exer-Genie and Auclair… prize winners to be announced shortly.

Kikkan Randall: It’s a great honor to win these two North American Awards by the readers of SkiTrax.  There were so many strong performances this season by the women from North America and I really consider myself fortunate to keep finding new levels of performance year after year.

Alex Harvey: I thank all of the voters and readers of SkiTrax.com. It’s been a season full of ups and downs. The downs were real low but the ups were real high so I feel like I’ve learned a lot so that when February 2014 comes around, I’ll be ready to make Canada proud along with my teammates!

Liz Stephen: Very cool! Thanks so much. This means a lot coming from such a great cross-country ski news source. It is always a special thing to be recognized by the ski community in any way, and coming off a great season last year, both individually and as a team, I am really honored to have received this award. A huge thank you is due to the whole ski community for all of your support of skiing across North America. Thanks for all of the cheers from afar!

Andy Newell: It’s an honor to be voted for by the readers and I hope that people enjoy watching the world cup sprint races as much as I enjoy racing them. I think the excitement of world cup sprinting is incredible and being able to battle it out each weekend and to have such a consistent year last season kept me pretty stoked all year long. I love the feel of the huge crowds at the sprint races and all the noise in the stadium so to know that everybody back home in the US and Canada is following along too is sweet.

Ivan Babikov: Thanks for the good news, I’m thankful to all who voted for me. I had one of my best seasons last year and I’m training hard to try and have as good as season, or better, this coming year.

Jessie Diggins: Wow, what an honor! Thank you very much. It was such an incredible experience, racing at World Championships this past winter and getting to be leg one of the relay that won the first ever gold for US cross-country skiing at the World Champs! The race itself is hard to remember since it was a blur of emotion, tactics, and excitement, but I do remember the hit of adrenaline when my pole was pulled out of my hand and I had to skate without one for a hundred meters up the hill. And of course tagging off to Kikkan, who has been my role model for a long time, and watching her cross the finish line way ahead of the other teams was incredible. The coaches and our wax techs did such an incredible job of making that day run smoothly and our teammates there cheering made the day perfect. Hopefully our experiences at the Olympics will feel the same!

Erik Bjornsen: It’s an honor to win overall u23 male skier of the year, especially with such a strong group of young guys right now. I was super happy with my results last year. It seemed like every few races I was setting a new personal record. Last year I raced at my first World Cups and was a member of the World Championships team. I hope I can take another step in my career. There are lots of exciting races next year and I’m shooting for a medal in the Under 23 World Championships. I’m training hard to be prepared to give the 2013-2104 season the best I’ve got!

Sophie Caldwell: I was really happy with how the year went and I’m looking forward to getting some more international experience this coming year. We had a great group of Juniors and U23s in Liberec (Cze) and while I’m sad to no longer be a U23 skier, I’m excited to compete in some more World Cups next year!

Graham Nishikawa: Thanks!  I had a great season with many highlights. The biggest was definitely my 15th place at the Canmore World Cups.  I’m looking forward to building on this momentum going into next season.

Sadie Bjornsen: It is an honor to be considered the woman’s continental cup skier of the year. Last season was filled with a slew up highs and a few lows; but I was excited to come away from the season with many break-through races and experiences in Europe. Aside from the many exciting team events that I got to participate in with my teammates, my favorite moment was joining my teammates with my first top 10 on the World Cup. It is pretty exciting to be able to say that all six woman on the National Team at that time had raced individually in the top ten. Now with one more teammate, and a new year coming, we are going to keep that tradition flowing.

Tim Burke: Last season was definitely my most successful season on the World Cup.  This gives me a lot of confidence heading into the Olympic year.  I am looking forward to working hard and doing everything within my ability to be at my best next year in Sochi.

Stay tuned for our announcement of the prize winners coming this week.

 SkiTrax 2012-2013 North American (NA) Nordic Ski Award Winners
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Best Overall Elite Male Skier
Alex Harvey

Best Overall Elite Female Skier
Kikkan Randall

Best Sprinter Male
Andy Newell

Best Sprinter Female
Kikkan Randall

Best Distance Skier Male
Ivan Babikov

Best Distance Skier Female
Liz Stephen

Best Overall Conti Cup Male Skier
Graham Nishikawa

Best Overall Conti Cup Female Skier
Sadie Bjornsen

Best Overall U23 Male Skier
Erik Bjornsen

Best Overall U23 Female Skier
Sophie Caldwell

Best Overall Junior Male Skier
Raphaël Couturier

Best Overall Junior Female Skier
Cendrine Brown

Best Overall Collegiate Male
Harry Seaton

Best Overall Collegiate Female
Joanne Reid

Paul Robbins Best Breakthrough or Exceptional Nordic Performance(s) (Male or Female)
Jessica Diggins/Kikkan Randall

Best Overall Biathlete Male
Tim Burke

Best Overall Biathlete Female
Zina Kocher

Best Overall Nordic Combined Male
Bill Demong

Best Overall Ski Jumping Male
Yukon De Leeuw

Best Overall Ski Jumping Female
Sarah Hendrickson

Best Overall Para-Nordic Male
Brian McKeever and guide Erik Carleton (visually impaired)

Best Overall Para-Nordic Female
Colette Bourgonje (sit ski)