November 14, 2014 – The Canadian National Ski Team’s final pre-season training is taking place in Gallivare, Sweden, as they ready themselves for next weekend’s “Winter Premiere” FIS races. Temperatures are cold in Gallivare and it is expected that the present 3km, man-made snow track at the race site will be expanded to 5km by this weekend. With cool temperatures in the forecast and a small amount of natural snow expected over the next week, conditions are expected to be good for the upcoming competitions.

2014-15 National Ski Team (missing: Alex Harvey, Raphael Couturier, Cendrine Browne) © Bow Valley Photography

There are two trails of 5 and 7 km of natural snow tracks also available, however snow cover is sparse because of minimal natural snow. The Gallivare races are classic sprints and 10 and 15k classic distance races.  Expected to suit up for Canada next weekend are:

– Perianne Jones
– Emily Nishikawa
– Devon Kershaw
– Ivan Babikov
– Lenny Valjas
– Alex Harvey
– Jess Cockney
– Graeme Killick

Following the Gallivare races the team will leave for Kuusamo, Finland for the first World Cup races of the year. The Kuusamo event will also include Nordic Combined and Jumping World Cups as part of the Nordic Opening.