November 09, 2011 (Cambridge, ON) – Andy Shields, named Best Overall Junior Male in North America in 2010/11 by SkiTrax readers, won the the Tim Turow Award which is the Cambridge Athlete of the Year Award, this past Friday at the Cambridge Sports Awards banquet at the Cambridge Holiday Inn.

At the Junior Worlds trials, the 20-year-old won the the 15km skate, placed third in classic sprint, and won the 20km pursuit to qualify for the World Championships where he finished 31st in the classic sprint and in the 20km pursuit.

Read the full story in the Cambridge Times HERE.

January 30, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – If you looked closely at today’s results for both men and women at the World Junior Championships in Estonia, Sunday was a fine day for the young junior skiers coming from Germany that is rebuilding its program – the men’s event especially so.

Joining the exclusive club of world junior winners was Germany’s Markus Weeger who took the gold medal in the 10km+10km Pursuit event and finished with a lead of 19.5 seconds over runner up Konstantin Kuleev of Russia. The talented Perttu Hyvarinen of Finland scored the bronze medal with a brilliant skating leg. Weeger’s time was 53:31.1.

The top North Americans in the field were Andy Shields of Canada in 31st in 56:29.0, with the USA’s Scott Patterson in 35th in 56:40.0.

Weeger, who skis for the strong and long-respected Nordic club in Hirschau, has had an impressive week indeed, winning silver as well at this week’s JWC in the 10km free race.

As the race got underway the field remained close together for nearly the entire 10km classic leg. About 20 athletes came into the exchange zone with nearly the same time.

In the first loop of the 3.3km skating leg Weeger tested his opponents daring them to match his tempo, and on the second loop he attacked on an uphill and no one was able to respond to his torrid pace. He continued to build precious seconds all the way to the finish line to take the win.

The battle for second and third was another matter entirely. Thomas Wick (GER) tried to make a break and was chased down, while Slovenian Rok Trsan pushed the pace as well. Then the Finn Hyvarinen moved up and gained ground, settling into a battle with Russian Kullev. At the finish Kuleev had just enough left to take second.

Weeger told the FIS Press Service that he felt very good today. “The wind was very strong, but the race was amazing. The win was a surprise for me, I didn’t (really) understand how I won. I didn’t have any tactics for this race. I just wanted to see, how does it go and now I am a champion.”

Rounding out the North American finishers included Russ Kennedy (CAN) in 42nd, George Cartwright (USA) in 43rd, Andrew Dougherty (USA) in 51st, Tyler Kornfield (USA) in 56th and Canada’s Jordan Cascagnette in 70th. Patrick Stewart-Jones did not finish for Canada.

Full results HERE.

January 28, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov won the gold medal in the Junior men’s 1.4km classic sprint over Norwegian Sondre Turvoll Fossli, while Russia took third place with Gleb Retivykh winning the bronze.

American Erik Bjornsen of the Methow Valley, WA, lead the way for the North Americans as the lone qualifier with a strong 10th place. Canada’s Andy Shields in 31st narrowly missed advancing to the quarter finals by .19s as the two skiers ahead of him tied in 29th. Bjornsen was 4th in his quarterfinal heat and did not advance as a lucky loser finishing 14th overall.

The men’s final told the story featuring only Russians and Norwegians. In the qualifying round Fossli was the class of the field but in the end Ustiugov had more power.  It was a great battle between the pair as Fossli was leading from the start but Ustiugov was close behind with epic doubling poling and made his move to pass the Norwegian. Fossli was unable to counter and down the final stretch the Russian won by about a ski length.

Ustiugov was thrilled with his race, telling the FIS News Service, “This was a special day for me, because this is the first time I have beaten Gleb. This track was very difficult for me. I saw the race where the Russian girl crashed and I was really disappointed about it. It added strength to me because now, I had to bring the medals to the team.”

Fossli, was gracious and looked at things with perspective saying, “I felt pretty good out there today, but Sergey was just faster than me. I am not disappointed at all, because this is my first year at the junior championships. I am very satisfied.”

Other North American men who did not advance included Skyler Davis (USA) in 35th, Patrick Stewart-Jones (CAN) in 36th, Tyler Kornfield (USA in 38th, George Cartwright (USA) in 49th and Canada’s Jordan Cascagnette who was 73rd.

Qualifications HERE.
Final Results HERE.

January 26, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – While it was a mixed nation podium today in the men’s junior 10km free race, the top step again belonged to Norway. On a cool day with powdery snow conditions the winner delivered a world cup worthy performance. The victor was Sindre Bjoernestad Skar of Norway with a time of 24:05.2. Second place went to Markus Weeger of Germany, who was back 16 seconds while third went to Perttu Hyvarinen (FIN) at 17.5 seconds.

While the course is getting positive reviews, it is a tough one. Following the event Skar said, “I knew this race was my best chance at Otepaa to be the champion. I knew I had to fight from the very first 100 meters to the end. It am very happy to be the champion. That’s amazing,”.

Weeger was not disappointed by winning the silver medal. “I began this race slowly (and built into it)….My skis were very fast. I didn’t expect to be on the podium,” he commented.

The top American was Alaska skier, Scott Patterson, now racing for UVM, in 28th. Head coach of the US Junior Ski Team squad in Estonia, Matt Whitcomb, described Patterson’s race to SkiTrax in a phone interview. “I just talked with him,” said Whitcomb, “Scott said he felt off the mark in today’s race. He said he went out poorly, it was cold and that he felt flat. But, I’ll tell you, to be flat and off the mark and still finish in the top thirty is pretty good. He can be in the top ten in this event.”

Denver’s Andrew Dougherty placed 49th, Erik Bjornsen from Mazama, WA was 57th and George Cartwright (NMU) was tied in 76th.

Andy Shields from Waterloo lead the Canadian men in 49th with a time of 26:20.3, followed by Canmore Nordic’s Russ Kennedy in 50th, Jordan Cascagnette (Team Hardwood) in 64th, and Adam Gillmor from Rocky Mountain Racers in 68th.

“Overall, I think our men had an average day,” Canadian coach Eric de Nys told SkiTrax by email. “There are tough shoes to fill with our last crop of juniors and the likes of Alex Harvey and Fred Touchette. Our target is still the podium but we’re not at that point yet.

“Andy started very fast but just couldn’t maintain the pace. After skiing the 17th fastest on the first lap, he started to fade and ended up 49th and wasn’t happy with his effort. His favourite race is the pursuit and he’s looking forward to it. Russell skied consistently  and overall was happy with his effort while Jordan said he felt okay about his race. Aaron wasn’t overly pleased with his day and feels he can do better. The focus now is the upcoming races.”

Thirty-five nations are taking part in the FIS World Junior and U-23 World Nordic Championships. This year’s championships mark the first time they have live television coverage on EuroSport 2.

Full results HERE.

January 11, 2011 (Thunder Bay, ON) – Here’s another great video by Team Hardwood’s Graham Longford with highlights of the Junior Men’s 20km Pursuit race at the 2011 Haywood NorAm and World Junior/U23 Trials held at Lappe Nordic in Thunder Bay, ON Jan. 6-9. Local boy Andy Shields won convincingly, skating away from the field in the final 10km to win by a 51s margin. Shields is now guaranteed a spot on the Canadian Junior Worlds team heading to Estonia.

January 06, 2011 (Thunder Bay, ON) – Cold conditions and a moderate wind made for a frigid race, dropping to 20 below at Lappe Nordic Centre, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm and drive of 174 racers on site for the competitions. The continuous pursuit races held today were trials to determine who would qualify for positions on Canada’s team at the 2011 World Senior Nordic Championships in Oslo, Norway and the World Junior/U23 Championships in Oteppa, Estonia. A perfect set of classic tracks and a challenging, lung-bursting skate leg, greeted the skiers.

In the senior Men’s category National Ski Team (NST) member, George Grey, of Rossland, B.C. earned a spot to go to Oslo edging out Graham Nishikawa, of Whitehorse in the final meter of the men’s 30km race. The race was described by Grey as a tactical one with several unsuccessful breakaway attempts by NST members Drew Goldsack and Stefan Kuhn in both the classic and skate portions.

“Many of the skiers in this race are at a very similar fitness level so it was difficult to establish any gaps,” said Grey a two-time Olympian. In the end his World Championship spot was decided by toe over Nishikawa as NorAm leader Goldsack claimed the bronze.

“It was awfully tight and very technical out there today,” added Grey. “I don’t really have my shape but I think my experience put me in the front in the end. The last few weeks of training have been challenging because my fitness isn’t there. But it will come around. I’d love to be in Europe even just to watch Devon (Kershaw) and Alex (Harvey) because those guys are flying. It will be fun to get them home and train beside them again, and get ready to race with them again at the World Championships.”

In the Senior women’s category, National Ski Team member Dasha Gaiazova held off a skate leg charge by Brooke Gosling (Foothills Nordic/CXC) to take the win. Ottawa’s Perianne Jones took the bronze after skiing closely with Gaiazova in the classic portion but was overtaken by Gosling in the final 7.5km skate section.

“It was really hard today. I’m not going to lie,” said Gaiazova.“I had really good skis and it was fun to be racing in Thunder Bay. I have really good memories of racing here at the Nationals in 2006, and I was just excited to be racing in Canada and on these trails again.”

In the Under 23 competitions Kevin Sandau and Emily Nishikawa took top honors.  Sandau, of Canmore, Alta., was the top under-23 male, while Emily Nishikawa was the fastest under-23 woman.

Heidi Widmer of Banff, Alta., was the top Junior woman in their 10-kilometre pursuit race with a time of 32:38.8 while Thunder Bay-based National Development Centre skier Andy Shields dominated the junior men’s 20-kilometre pursuit. Shields skated away in the final 10km to a 51-second victory.  Both Widmer and Shields are now guaranteed to go to the Junior Worlds in Estonia.

Races continue Saturday and Sunday and predicted warmers temperatures will likely heat up the action.

With files from CCC.

Full results HERE.

December 16, 2010 – Canadian National Ski Team (NST) member Drew Goldsack is a veteran of the cross-country ski-racing world. Goldsack, who trains with the Alberta World Cup Academy, has been racing World Cups since 2003. He has one Olympics and two World Championships under his belt, with a top showing of 6th in the team sprint at the 2007 Championships in Sapporo, Japan.

Compared to Goldsack, National Development Center (NDC) athlete Andy Shields is a relative newcomer, though he’s quickly racking up his own impressive resume, having represented Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Hinterzarten, Germany last season.

Despite their difference in years, both athletes shared moments atop the podium at Sovereign Lakes last weekend, Goldsack winning the open men’s classic sprint and Shields taking the junior men’s 15km free event. SkiTrax had a chance to sit down with both racers after the 15km to talk about their races and goals for the future.

Goldsack, who’s won all his NorAm and SuperTour starts until now, was a little disappointed with his 5th place finish in the distance race on Sunday. “The winning streak is over, but it was bound to happen. The 15km skate is definitely not one of my strengths… so I didn’t really expect to win today,” said Goldsack.

Over 30 centimeters of snow fell Saturday night (Dec. 11), leaving the Sovereign Lake crew scrambling to eke out a raceable course, which they accomplished admirably under pressure.

“It was a hard race today, the conditions were pretty difficult; lots of soft, kind of punchy snow. It got pretty chopped up on the climbs… definitely not the best conditions for me,” continued Goldsack. He said he typically does better on hard, fast courses and the soft conditions on Sunday definitely gave the advantage to smaller, lighter racers.

Racers like the light and agile Shields who had a much easier time in the deep snow.

“I was pretty excited to ski in that kind of snow. It really plays into my hands,” he said. “The grooming was amazing too, considering how much snow fell.” Shields’ win was his first ever on the NorAm circuit.

“I’ve been second a few times, so it was nice to finally stand on the top spot.”

Waking up to over a foot of fresh powder was a shock to the racers, but both said their training center teams handled the situation extremely well.

“The team handled it really well,” said Shields. “It went smoothly for us. Eric [Bailey, NDC coach] had a good handle on it… got some really good wax on our skis, and we were all really happy with how well they were working.”

“I had three pairs [of race skis] ready to go and a couple of them were specific to soft conditions,” said Goldsack. He, too, had plenty of kind words for his wax support team even though they’ve only been working together a short while.

“It’s been a pretty painless transition [from the NST] and things are working well,” he said. “Because it’s a bigger team I end up waxing some of my own skis, which I’m definitely not used to, but it’s good for me for sure.”

Both athletes are training with national training centers. Shields is with the National Development Center in Thunder Bay, while Goldsack trains jointly with the National Ski Team and the Alberta World Cup Academy. While it might be a partnership born of NST budget constraints and a necessity, it’s one that the veteran thinks has a lot of potential.

“So far, it’s been really good,” he says. He credits both NST coach Justin Wadsworth for collaborating well with Mike Cavaliere and the AWCA coaching staff. Each coach and team has his own style and ideas, making for powerful synergy. It also allows for some unique role modeling, given the wide age spread of skiers on the AWCA team.

“It’s nice to have the young energy and excitement. The pressure to perform is less than the NST’s intense environment,” said Goldsack. He said he enjoys being able to share his wealth of racing experience with the younger athletes.

“Some of them think you have to be in bed at 8 p.m. every night and train 900 hours a year,” said Goldsack. “I thing its been good for them to see that my training’s not much different than theirs.”

Despite, or perhaps thanks to the wisdom of his years, Goldsack is smart enough to keep an eye on the up-and-comers, many of whom have their targets set on the same World Cup and World Championship races that he does. The U23 field is exceptionally strong right now, he says, with many of the world’s top U23 skiers capable of holding their own on the World Cup stage.

“Domestically and internationally the U23 field has some very solid skiers. I mean, there were two [U23’s] in the sprint final in Davos.” That says a lot about the strength of younger skiers, he said. Ontario’s 22-year-old Lenny Valjas finished 17th in the Davos sprint last weekend, enough to land him a spot at the Nordic World Championships in Oslo, Norway later this winter.

Seeing younger athletes racing that fast is a huge motivator for Shields. After his win on Sunday, he’s looking ahead to the three-race NorAm mini-tour this coming weekend in Rossland BC. The first race in Rossland is a skate sprint, which is a qualifier for World Championships as well and shields said he’s excited.

“It’ll be nice to start the tour off with my best event,” he said. “I’m looking for a good solid performance there, and to ski well overall.” After that, said Shields, it’s home to Cambridge, Ontario, for Christmas to rest up for World Junior Championship trials which will be held on his new home course at Lappe Nordic, in Thunder Bay.

Goldsack is also setting his sights on the Rossland sprint on Dec. 17 and the World Champ’s spot that’s on the line.

“Best case scenario I’d like to be on the podium in Oslo. I’ve been on the verge in the pastŠso if I can get back to that form I don’t think it’s an unreasonable goal,” said Goldsack. “At this point in my career, if I’m not shooting for the podium then I don’t know what I’m doing.”