Yukoners showcase skills at Haywood Ski Nationals

Yukoners were on the podium once again at the Haywood Ski Nationals at the Olympic site in Callahan Valley on Wednesday.

Yukoners were on the podium once again at the Haywood Ski Nationals at the Olympic site in Callahan Valley on Wednesday.

Janelle Greer topped her Juvenile Girls category easily today, adding another gold medal to her growing collection.  The Juvenile Girls skied a 5-km race using skate technique.

Graham Nishikawa bested them all but Ivan Babikov as he battled to second place in a massive 155-man field , coming up with a silver medal for the 15-km course. 

The Open Men’s field is one of the strongest seen in years at the Canadian Nationals, with skiers coming from around the world to test the 2010 Olympic facilities.

Conditions were tough for the skiers, and especially for Yukon skiers who are used to dry, fine snow.  Heavy, wet snow fell throughout the day, with almost 10 cm accumulating during the course of the race. 

The fresh snow made for slow conditions,  poor visibility, and a rutted and treacherous course. 

There were spills and broken equipment galore throughout the day, especially on the long technical downhills featured in high level courses like these.

While Greer and Nishikawa were the only Yukoners on the podium, quite a few of their teammates weren’t too far back.

Jeff Wood narrowly missed a podium spot in the Junior Boys 7.5-km race, finishing in fourth spot and only seven seconds out of the bronze medal position.

Brittany Smith, skiing in the Junior Girls 5-km race was only 36 seconds from first, but the gap was enough to drop her to 5th place.

David Greer, a bit tired after a silver medal performance in the previous day’s classic race, dropped to eighth position in the Junior Men’s category. Colin Abbott hit the top 10 in the Junior Boys 7.5-km.

The next race on the calendar is on Friday when the skiers get to test their mettle in a free technique sprint race.

Yukon Ski coach Alain Masson said he was proud of how the team raced on Wednesday.

“It definitely was a really good day,“ he said. “Usually as a team we are a lot stronger in classic than skating.“