I think the Counting Crows said it best: “A long December and there’s reason to believe / Maybe this year will be better than the last/ I can’t remember the last thing that you said as you were leaving / Oh the days go by so fast…”
December was quite possibly one of the most important months ever for ski racers in Canada. For the first time since 1997, Olympic Trials would be held in Canada to select the final members of the Canadian Olympic Team, meaning that any ski racer in Canada had the extraordinary opportunity to fight for a spot at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. The criteria was relatively straight forward; win one of the four selection races (10/15km Skate, 2 Classic Sprints and a 30/50km) and you’d put your name at the top of a very competitive list of Olympic hopefuls…virtually guaranteeing a spot at the games. Skiers selected at the trials would be added to those already having met the primary selection criteria from the previous World Cup season; Devon Kershaw, George Grey, Alex Harvey, Ivan Babikov, Sara Renner, Perianne Jones and Chandra Crawford.
Official naming of the Olympic team is still a week or two away and will be largely influenced by the head scratching new system put forward by FIS which limits each country to a ‘quota’ of athletes that can be named to the Olympic Team. This quota is based on a Nation’s World Cup results, FIS points as well as other factors of performance/international ranking. The final number of skiers that Canada will be allowed to send to the Olympics is currently unknown and will be decided shortly after The Tour de Ski is over but should be somewhere in the range of 12-16 skiers.
With the Olympic Trials now behind me, I am proud to say that I did what I had to do! My road to the trials was a tough one and certainly not ideal or as planned, but thanks to the outstanding support of those around me I was able to persevere and perform when it really counted. Though I had a realistic chance to qualify in any of the selection races, the sprint events were definitely the focus for me and my best shot at qualifying for the games. I finished off the Olympic sprint trials with a 2nd place finish on day one and a 1st place finish on day two to essentially clinch a spot on the Olympic Team.
The men’s sprint field was stacked with some of the best skiers in North America, including Canadian and US Champions, past Olympians and a number of skiers with multiple top 30 World Cup results. It’s a great testament to the level of skiing in North America when you have more skiers with potential for top 30’s and podium finishes at the Olympics than you have spots on the Olympic Team. Unfortunately some of those skiers, who are not only teammates but some of my closest friends, will be left behind when the team departs for the Olympics this February. It’s hard to look ahead and think of competing in Whistler without teammates like Sean Crooks or Phil Widmer who were by my side at the 2006 Games. We have pushed each other hard for the past number of years and have always been neck and neck for countless workouts and races. Any one of us could have taken a spot on the Olympic Team and I just happened to be the one who came out on top that weekend. I owe these guys and all of my teammates for constantly pushing my limits and driving me to be stronger, better and faster. This kind of cut-throat competition is after all the nature of high performance sport and though it is certainly disappointing for the skiers who didn’t make the team, it’s very encouraging for the future of cross country skiing in Canada to see the level getting so high and the competition so fierce.
There’s lots of exciting racing to come in 2010 so check back soon for updates on all the action!
-Drew Goldsack
In the Tape Deck:
– Song: If I Ever Feel Better, Artist: Phoenix
– Song: Heads Will Roll (Digiraatii Dance Til You’re Dead Remix), Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Overheard: “Is that weird that Devon Kershaw was doing core in my room, pant-less? Oh well, at least George was filming.” -Alex Harvey
This article and other updates can also be found on drewgoldsack.ca