It’s time Canadian cross-country ski fans start paying attention to Patrick Stewart-Jones.
Facing a competitive field, the 23-year-old pulled off an impressive upset on Saturday (Nov. 30) to strike gold in the first Alberta Cup skate sprint race of the season at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
He edged Olympic contender Phil Widmer in the last 100 metres of the A final, taking the win by half a ski length. Rocky Mountain Racers’ Matthew Saurette finished third.
“I got right behind Phil at the start. He was pushing hard the entire time. I was doing everything I could on the hills to stay with him. I knew if I could get a bit of a draft, I might have the advantage at the end,” Stewart-Jones said.
Neck and neck screaming towards the finish line, Stewart-Jones proved his energy conservation plan worked. He credits the win to training hard with his Alberta World Cup Academy teammates.
“I just had a really good summer of training. My confidence is really good. To train with fast guys all the time like Jesse (Cockney) and Phil and Kevin (Sandau) and realize I could stick with them was great. I got so much confidence from them,” Stewart-Jones said.
His next goal is to win a NorAm, which is something he’s never accomplished. He was top Canadian in the Frozen Thunder heats at the Nordic Centre, but needs to perform this weekend in Sovereign Lake, B.C., to reach the next level.
“I just want to keep going. I want to focus on every single weekend, doing everything right and try to maintain this,” Stewart-Jones said. “I’ve never won a NorAm before, so it would be great to do that.”
Alysson Marshall appears poised for another strong year, winning gold in the women’s sprints. Although she is traditionally a strong distance racer, she edged Andrea Dupont for first place. Heidi Widmer came back from a concussion suffered in September to finish third.
The short and relatively flat sprint course suited Marshall, who proved her speed is returning after battling illness.
“It felt really good. Nice day to get some fight on the really short course. Too bad Perianne Jones didn’t race the heats, because it would have been great to have a world cup racer out there,” Marshall said. “My speed is there and this course was good for me because it’s so short.”
She has her eyes set on Olympic qualifiers in early January, where she’ll be one of the favourites to earn a trip to Sochi.
“The Olympic qualifier is my goal. I want to keep racing well, get that top fitness back and have some luck on the day,” Marshall said.
Emily Nishikawa proved she is in top shape to start the season, finishing the 11.25-km classic race in a time of 34:11.5, an impressive 38 seconds faster than Brittany Webster. Amanda Ammar finished third.
Brian McKeever won the men’s 11.25 km classic race handily with a time of 29.08.8. Thunder Bay native Michael Somppi was 20 seconds behind to grab the silver, edging Graeme Killick.
In the junior divisions, Stefan Martin won the sprint A final on Saturday, edging Luke Gerwing and Pearce Hanna for the gold medal. Ingrid Tveten was the fastest in the junior girls sprints, finishing ahead of Kirsten Gillett and Lauren Turcot.
