May 02, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – After more than 15 years of skiing competitively (seven of those years on the national team), Stefan Kuhn has retired from competitive cross country skiing. Heading into the 2011 Haywood National Championships this March in Canmore, AB, Kuhn knew it was going to be his last major competition.

Kuhn started racing with Canmore Nordic as a 10-year-old. From 1996-1998 he was a member of the junior national team, competing at the Junior World  Championships twice.

During his first season racing as a senior from 1999-2000, Kuhn tried to get a taste of what life would be like without ski racing full time. After a year of working part time as a chef, and training full time, Kuhn hung up his skis for a few years and turned to working full time.

But it didn’t take long for him to realize just how much he missed the sport, and soon after he decided that he wasn’t ready to leave skiing behind him just yet.

In 2005, Kuhn returned to racing with immediate success. After moving to Edmonton under the guidance of his friend Jack Cook, Kuhn quickly made a return to the upper echelons of XC racing in Canada, earning a spot on the national team in 2007.

The years from 2008 to 2011 proved to be the best of his career, as he represented Canada at multiple World Championships and – perhaps best of all – at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Looking back over his career, Kuhn says one of his fondest racing memories was “…being handed a silver medal by one of my heroes, Gunde Svan, at the pre-World Cup championships at Silver Star Mountain, in Vernon, B.C. in 1992.”

Following his return to skiing in 2005, he remarked that having good results at the 2006 Tour de Ski at Soldier Hollow gave him confidence that he could ski with the best. That confidence was further reinforced at his first European World Cup sprint in 2007 where he placed 12th, and where Canada had four skiers in the top 15.

Now with many years under his belt having grown up within the competitive ski community, Kuhn has seen a fair bit change for cross-country skiing in Canada. While he admits that awareness of the sport hasn’t increased dramatically, the “…funding has improved significantly for national team members.”

Perhaps the biggest difference is in the calibre and depth of racing in Canada. He admits that in his first year as a senior, breaking into the top 10 wasn’t much of a concern – it was the top three positions that mattered. Now he says it’s a lot harder to break into the top 10 at any national-level race in Canada.

No doubt the increased depth is the result of more investment in sending skiers to Europe, introducing them to the highest level of competition early, and on a regular basis.

As he steps back from the spotlight, Kuhn does have some advice to pass on to aspiring skiers. “The transition from racing in Canada to Europe is the hardest process to make as a skier,” Kuhn told SkiTrax.

“You’ve got to believe,” he continues, “You have to know that the hard work you’re doing is the same that everyone else is doing. You have to believe in yourself, your coach, and your program.”

Kuhn points to skiers like Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey as proof. “Before, we never thought we could beat them [the Europeans].”

Although Kuhn is stepping down from racing, he is not stepping away from racing. He has signed on to be one of the coaches with the Alberta World Cup Academy, which will keep him busy in addition to his work as a master chef.

Check out Kuhn’s site HERE.