LAHTI, FINLAND – The Canadian junior cross-country ski team competed against the best in the world last week during world ski championships in Finland Jan. 20-27.
Canada’s Remi Drolet led the squad with a seventh place finish – a career-best finish for the young Nordic skier from Rossland, B.C. – in the 30-kilometre classic mass start race.
Drolet crashed after two laps of the race, but recovered to finish with a time of 1:15:23.1 – just six seconds shy of first place – which went to Italy’s Luca Del Fabbro.
Canmore’s brother-sister duo Sam and Isobel Hendry also competed in the Nordic Junior World Ski Championships. Sam skied to a 20th place finish in the same race as Drolet with a time of 1:16:01.3.
Canmore Nordic Ski Club program director Alain Parent said he is proud of the Hendrys, who did well competing against 40 other countries and the best junior skiers in the world.
“Sam was there to really go for it, [this] being his last junior year,” Parent said in an email. “And he did, with 20th and 21st places.
“In the skate 10-km race, he was just 21 seconds away from 10th place and skied for 27 kilometres with the lead pack in the 30-km race.”
Isobel placed 59th in the women’s 15-kilometre classic mass start cross-country race with a time of 48:44.5. Parent said at 16 years of age, Isobel was there to gain experience and has three more years of eligibility to race at the junior level.
Sweden’s Frida Karlsson won the women’s race with a time of 40:45.3, while Norway’s Helene Marie Fossesholm and Finland’s Anita Korva were second and third.
