Team Yukon got off to a strong start at the 2019 Canadian Ski Championships last week in Gatineau, Quebec, and the skiers have not looked back.
After Derek Deuling, Emily Nishikawa and Dahria Beatty all found their way to the top of the podium on the first two days, all of the skiers turned their attention to the free sprints on March 16 and 17.
In the junior women 1.3-kilometre sprint on March 16, both Amanda Thomson and Hannah Jirousek advanced through qualifications. Thomson cracked the top 10, finishing ninth overall after reaching the ‘B’ final, and Jirousek reached the quarter-finals, placing 16th.
Beatty narrowly missed out on another win when she finished second in the senior women 1.3-km sprint. Whitehorse’s Natalie Hynes finished 22nd after advancing to the quarter-finals. Nishikawa did not compete.
Yukon’s younger skiers had their turn on March 17, as seven skiers competed in one-km sprints.
In the juvenile girls category, Bella Mouchet finished 58th and Maude Molgat finished 65th.
Dahlia Lapointe made it through qualifications in the junior girls category, finishing 18th after the quarter-finals. Teammate Sonjaa Schmidt finished 34th.
The juvenile boys category saw Curtis Cash reach the quarter-finals and finish 19th overall.
Deuling and Sasha Masson both made it through qualifications in the junior boys category. Deuling finished 12th overall after racing in the ‘B’ final and Masson was 23rd after the quarter-finals.
The day also included invitational free races for midget-aged skiers. Constance Lapointe finished fourth in the midget girls three-km race with a time of seven minutes and 12.4 seconds.
The classic team sprints were on March 18 and Team Yukon secured yet another podium finish.
In the challenge boys four-km race, Deuling and Masson combined to finish third with a time of 10 minutes and 10.42 seconds.
Thomson and Jirousek cracked the top 10, finishing eighth in the open women 5.2-km race with a time of 14 minutes and 19.48 seconds.
Two teams competed in the challenge girls four-km race. Schmidt and Dahlia finished 16th in 12 minutes and 36.18 seconds and Molgat and Mouchet were 39th with a time of 13 minutes and 18.22 seconds.
Racing concluded with classic mass-start distances races for senior and junior skiers on March 19 and 20.
In the junior women 20-km race, Thomson narrowly missed the podium in fourth spot. Her time of one hour, two minutes and four seconds was just 10.9 seconds behind third place. Jirousek’s time of one hour, nine minutes and 1.2 seconds put her in 19th.
Hynes finished sixth in the senior women 30-km race with a time of one hour, 34 minutes and 37.1 seconds.
In the junior boys 15-km race on March 20, Deuling finished fifth with a time of 39 minute and 22.1 seconds, and Masson was 10th with a time of 40 minutes and 7.4 seconds.
Cash finished 44th in the juvenile boys 7.5-km race with a time of 22 minutes and 37 seconds.
Schmidt was fifth in the junior girls 10-km race with a time of 31 minutes and 44.3 seconds and Dahlia was 33rd with a time of 34 minutes and 14 seconds.
Rounding out the Yukon results were Mouchet and Constance in the juvenile girls 10-km race. Mouchet was 18th with a time of 34 minutes and 10.6 seconds while Constance finished 48th with a time of 36 minutes and 28.7 seconds.
Contact John Hopkins-Hill at john.hopkinshill@yukon-news.com