GERMANY – Four Canadian teens are in the history books after winning the nation’s first ever team relay medal at a major junior cross-country skiing event.
Canmore’s Xavier McKeever, 16, and Tom Stephen, 17, Remi Drolet, 19, of Rossland, B.C., and Sherbrooke, Quebec’s Olivier Léveillé, 18, raced to silver in the four by five-kilometre men's relay at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberwiesenthal, Germany on Friday (March 6).
“This gives our entire program a lot of confidence,” said Stephen, in a press release. “It shows Canada is a force to reckon with, and that we have not just one, but a group of skiers at this age, who are equally strong and support each other.”
When team anchor Drolet crossed the finish line at a time of 55:30.4, he and his teammates began celebrating the historic medal.
“People don’t really understand what went down today, but it is insane,” said former Canadian Olympian, Devon Kershaw, who’s been helping with coaching at the Junior World Championships, in a press release.
“This sport has such a rich history. We have had some incredible skiers in our program, but we have never been on the podium in the relay – ever. The World Cup, World Championships and Olympics is the next step for these kids, but this is the best of their age group. To see the belief these guys had today was incredibly inspiring for me.”
McKeever started things off skiing the five-km classic ski leg and tagged Léveillé in fifth spot for the team’s final classic portion of the relay.
Stephen was the first to skate ski in the relay and handed it off to Drolet in fourth place, who rocketed it home for silver.
The United States won gold and the Italians finished with bronze.
Way to go boys 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/6PuMxvjuFY
— Nordiq Canada (@NordiqCanada) March 6, 2020
