CANMORE - There’s a new rising star on the Nordic skiing scene.
Xavier McKeever stepped into the limelight last week after dominating the Canadian Ski Championships in Quebec.
Canmore’s McKeever, 15, took first place in the 7.5-kilometre classic, 7.5-km skate, and in the 10-km juvenile classic races at the championships held March 13-20. His performance in the juvenile category was so dominant it would have also won first place in the advanced junior age division.
“I was really trying to at least be in the top three Canadians in Quebec,” said McKeever.
“There were a lot of really fast people there, so it feels good to take home a win.”
Giving credit to the techs in the wax rooms, McKeever set a new personal best in the Rising Stars Jr division on Saturday (March 23) clocking in at 29:42.2.
“The techs did a great job, I had really fast skis with decent grip that day which really helped,” he said.
“It was a little tricky with the tracks being a little icy that day and chewed corners.”
He went on during the championships to claim second in the sprint and with his teammate Tom Stephen claimed a win in the team sprint.
He also competed in the World Junior Championships in Finland this past January, for which he was the youngest qualifying Canadian on the team.
“I really surprised myself, qualifying for worlds, and it turned into a great experience to be able to race with so many older, faster people in Europe,” he said.
In the 10-km skate at the World Juniors, McKeever finished 44th with a time of 24:35.5, and placed 52nd in the sprint with a time of 3:58.6.
“I’m pretty satisfied with the experience over there and getting to race against some super strong competition.”
As a personal note, McKeever excitedly talked about his opportunity to ski with Devon Kershaw, originally from Sudbury Ontario, and discuss with him some of his world cup experiences and favourite moments.
McKeever’s success this year followed an unfortunate previous season, which due to illness dropped him from seven races.
Moving forward into future seasons, McKeever said he aims to qualify for the World Juniors again next year and “go up in the chain,” hoping to push himself to better results, get faster, and improve his technique.
Though still a few years behind, keeping up with rival Samuel Hendry is a consistent goal for McKeever, acknowledging the older boy as the faster racer.
“Tom is also always pushing me really hard,” said McKeever of his teammate in the relay.
“It’s more of a friendly rivalry between us since we’re in the same club, but it’s always fun working at getting better when you’ve got somebody pushing you to go that extra length.”
