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Beatty gives breakout performance in Switzerland

Before this past weekend Dahria Beatty’s best finish on the FIS World Cup circuit this season was 50th. She just cut that in half.
FIS world cup cross-country, 4x7.5km men, Ulricehamn (SWE)

Before this past weekend Dahria Beatty’s best finish on the FIS World Cup circuit this season was 50th.

She just cut that in half.

The Whitehorse native placed 25th in the women’s sprint at a World Cup in Davos, Switzerland on Sunday.

The 22-year-old qualified in 27th and moved up two spots in the heats.

“I am really happy with my race on Sunday. The qualifier felt really good and I was able to push all the way through without any major mistakes, said Beatty in an email to the News. “We also had really good skis.

“After having made some costly errors in the first two sprints of the season it was amazing to be able to make the heats in Davos with a solid race. I was also happy with how I skied in my quarterfinal, it was the second fastest heat of the day and I gave it everything I had.”

By placing 25th — beating the likes of Norwegian Olympic medalist Heidi Weng and American world championship medalist Kikkan Randall — Beatty notched the first FIS World Cup points of the season for the Canadian women’s team.

Before Sunday Beatty’s best-ever finish in a World Cup race was 15th in the Ski Tour Canada last March in Canmore, Alta. She placed 50th in sprints in Ruka, Finland to start the World Cup season in November.

“This is my first time scoring World Cup points this season and the first time ever in Europe which is a pretty big step for me,” said Beatty. “It was amazing to be able to ski to 15th last year in Canmore on one of my home courses but to be able to qualify in Europe on a course I have never raced before gives me the confidence that I am starting to reach a level in sprinting where I can be competitive with the best in the world.”

Beatty, who is currently ranked 66th in the FIS world standings, also placed 42nd in the 15-kilometre free on Saturday. Teammate and fellow Whitehorse native Emily Nishikawa took 34th Saturday and did not start in the sprints Sunday.

Whitehorse’s Knute Johnsgaard placed 60th in the men’s sprint on Sunday for his second best finish of the season.

The three Whitehorse skiers and the rest of the Canadian team will be back in action this weekend at the La Clusaz World Cup in France.

“The distance race on Saturday was also a good day for me. It was my best distance result so far this season … as well as the strongest I have felt in distance so far this year,” said Beatty.

“Coming off this weekend I am really looking forward to another skate distance race in La Clusaz next weekend and I am even more excited about the relay which Emily and I will both be racing along with our teammates, Cendrine Browne and Sophie Carrier-Laforte.”

Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com