One is the loneliest number, but Canada’s world cup cross-country ski team hopes it’s also the luckiest.
Banff’s Dasha Gaiazova will be the lone Canadian woman on the world cup start line this weekend in Kuusamo, Finland as the rest of the team rests and recovers before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Gaiazova, 29, is in great shape following summer training with B2Ten in Montreal and Quebec City. The private training group attracts some of the country’s best winter athletes and Gaiazova said the experience was excellent.
Day in and day out, she worked out alongside world champions from other sports such as Erik Guay, observing first-hand the commitment required to be the best in the world.
“Last year, I made a big change with my coaches and relocating part-time out east to train with B2Ten and the training centre in Quebec and I had my best season” Gaiazova said, including a bronze medal performance with Perianne Jones at the world cup stop in Sochi.
“Repeating that would be a dream come true. It’s at the back of my mind when I’m pushing hard, but anything can happen in a ski race. We’re treating it as another race. All of a sudden we’ve become medal contenders, it’s cool,” Gaiazova said.
With an eye on that Olympic medal, she trained harder than ever before under the watchful eye of Louis Bouchard. Classic sprints will be her main focus this year, although she’ll be a threat in team sprints – once she gets more teammates.
“I never thought I could train so much. It was amazing, finishing back-to-back-to-back camps. There was no time to relax. This whole summer has been all for the Olympics,” Gaiazova said.
This will be her last Olympic games and her best chance to realize her dreams of winning a medal. She’s a much stronger skier than in 2010, where she qualified for the games at the last possible minute.
“Racing in Sochi, it’s gonna be really special, but it’s never going to be as awesome as Vancouver. I still speak Russian and grew up in that country. I have a lot of Russian fans, however, Vancouver was insanely awesome. All of my friends, all of my old coaches, drove out,” Gaiazova said.
Jones in turn simplified her training regime this summer, attending camps in New Zealand and Oregon. She’s targeting a handful of classic sprint races this year and wants to build on last year’s medal performance.
“That was huge. Just knowing we’ve done it before on that Olympic course is a huge boost. We have some tricks up our sleeves. Everything came together for us and the whole wax team deserves credit,” Jones said.
