SWEDEN – There's a party happening over in Europe and the Canadian women are hosting.
Making the most of a shortened season, top cross-country skiers Katherine Stewart-Jones, Cendrine Browne and Maya MacIsaac-Jones have had a surge of personal bests and wave of world cup points over the past three weeks – and like a snowball rolling down a steep hill, things don't seem to be slowing down.
“The momentum on our women’s team just keeps building,” said MacIsaac-Jones in a press release.
“We’ve worked hard to support each other these past few years, and I think the increased level [in our performances] we are consistently showing on the world stage reflects that. We’re setting ambitious goals for ourselves, and to be in this environment where we all have this same drive is very motivating.”
Due to the evolving pandemic, the Canadians entered the world cup season roughly two months after it began at the end of November. When the team finally arrived in Europe for the world cup in Lahti, Finland on Jan. 23, the motivated women made their presence known.
To kick things off, Stewart-Jones and Browne hit the top-30 marker in the 15-km skiathlon, placing 24th and 27th, respectively. The career best results in the skiathlon for both Quebec-natives was just a taste, as a week later, impressive racing and results continued to shine through in Falun, Sweden.
Browne, 27, followed up with another a career day, finishing 23rd in the 10-km skate-ski race.
After the race, the 2018 Olympian was elated.
“I knew my legs weren’t 100 per cent, but my coach always says sometimes you can have bad legs and still have a good race. I had great skis again today,” said Browne in a press release.
The following day, having felt inspired by Browne’s big day, Stewart-Jones rocketed to 17th-place in the 10-km classic-ski mass start race.
Coming in at a time of 26:33.3, the sizzling Canuck was 36 seconds behind first place Linn Svahn of Sweden.
“This feels really good,” said Stewart-Jones, 25, in a press release. "I knew that my fitness is good, and that this was a course where gaps are both hard to make and hard to close.
“[Browne's] performance definitely gave me extra confidence today that I could do it too. I know that this is just the beginning. I have so much belief in our team, and I know my teammates have the same belief in me.”
Most recently, MacIsaac-Jones joined the personal best party, finishing 18th in world cup sprints on Feb. 6 in Ulricehamn, Sweden.
“It felt great to be in the mix and fighting to win,” said the 25-year-old Athabasca-native.
“This was a very tactical course with few opportunities to make big moves, but there were some small spots here and there to gain space. I stayed relaxed and worked to establish good position without wasting too much energy off the start, so I was able to keep some good power in the tank for the descent.”
A noticeable omission from the recent push of personal bests among the Canadian women is from 2018 Olympian Dahria Beatty, who's still finding her way in Europe.
This season, Beatty's best individual race has been 32nd in the world cup sprints, her specialty race.
"Not the return to racing I was anticipating or hoping for. But I know the good feelings I’ve had all training season are in there somewhere," said Beatty in a social media post on Feb. 1.
"I’m confident I’ll be able to find them again ... feeling inspired by my speedy teammates achieving personal bests."
Next, the world cup travels to Nove Mesto, Czech Republic between Feb. 20-21, which is immediately followed by the 2021 world ski championships in Oberstdorf, Germany from Feb. 22 to March 7.
