Canada’s national cross-country ski team will not hire a new head coach before the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and will instead run the program with a committee of coaches.
The team has been without a top coach since Justin Wadsworth stepped down from the program in March, but according to Cross Country Canada High Performance director Thom Holland, they have not been able to find the proper fit for the job.
“We are still in negotiations, but we are building a coaching team. We haven’t found a fit for head coach,” Holland said. “For 2018, we want a new head coach heading into the next quadrennial, but for the remainder we can put a team together. Alberta World Cup Academy coach Chris Jeffries has been tapped to help the women’s team, while veteran skier Ivan Babikov has filled in during the interim. Louis Bouchard will continue to work with Alex Harvey in Quebec.
Eventually Cross Country Canada wants to have specialist coaches for men’s, women’s, sprint and distance teams, but since the program saw further cuts to its Own the Podium funding, and a drop in sponsorship dollars, that isn’t feasible.
“We have less money to deal with and plan to get through the season with a team,” Holland said. “Head coach is a big job. It’s not easy to find one in Canada, and in Europe we didn’t meet anyone who fit our criteria.”
The full list of coaches will be unveiled in the coming weeks, and is expected to draw from Canada’s training centres in Canmore, Thunder Bay and Quebec, while negotiations are still on for a coach who will travel with the club in Europe. The organization will also look at hiring consultants for specific training.
Using a coach by committee formula isn’t unheard of, but Holland insists it’s only for two years. CCC went five months without an executive director last year, until they hired Pierre Lafontaine.
“Sometimes you take your time, sometimes there is a sense of urgency,” Holland said. “After 2018, we want to have a different plan.”
Holland is optimistic more funding could arrive. Own the Podium has outlined specific criteria for Alex Harvey, Devon Kershaw, Len Valjas and the men’s relay team in order to increase its funding, while FIS has also changed its funding rules. FIS has dropped the size of the red group from 30 to 15, but has added more flexibility for inserting racers into world cup starts. FIS pays expenses for red group skiers. Currently Alex Harvey is the lone Canadian in that group. Holland said the new rules could allow Canada to start more athletes, as the men’s team is currently ranked fifth in the world, while the women are ranked 14th. That allows the nation six men’s world cup starts per race and four world cup women’s starts. Previously Canada had four and one respectively.
