Whitehorse cross-country skier Dahria Beatty had several strong results at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. She started out with a 28th place finish in the Women’s 7.5 km + 7.5 km Skiathlon on Feb.5, and followed that up with a 25th place finish in the Women’s Sprint Free Qualification Feb. 8.

She had a best-ever individual Olympic result in the Women’s 10 km Classic Feb. 10, finishing in 18th. She combined with three teammates to finish 9th in the Women’s 4x5 km Relay Feb. 12. Beatty finished 12th overall in the team sprints on Feb. 16. She wrapped up her Olympics with a 39th place finish in the grueling 30 kilometre race on Feb. 20.

The Star reached Beatty, 27, in Oslo, Norway on Tuesday. She will be competing in Draman, Norway on Thursday in a 1.3 kilometre classic city sprint.

Beatty raced in World Cup races in Lahti, Finland on Saturday and Sunday, finishing 33rd and 34th.

“Not terrible races, but definitely not what I was hoping for, especially after having some strong races at the Olympics. But I did race six races there, so I think there’s a little bit of fatigue with the travel.

“There were fans in Finland, so that’s something we haven’t experienced in a long time, which was pretty nice, to have people screaming and cheering on the side of the trail,” recalled Beatty.

“It’s been a long time since there have been that many people cheering my name on the side of a race course.”

She is then heading to Falun, Sweden for a weekend of World Cup racing before coming back to Canada.

She’ll be competing in the Canadian Nationals March 20-27 in Whistler, B.C. in five races.

“Once the Canadian Nationals are over on March 27, then I can actually take a rest.”

Beatty said the Olympics was “a really positive experience for me. I had a lot of fun at the Games, both the racing and the whole aspect. We were in a bubble, so we didn’t necessarily get to see as much of the country as I did in Pyeongchang (2018 Olympics in Korea) ... but it was really smoothly run between our village and our venue ... we had a great team and a good accommodation and setup with the Canadian House.

“Because everyone was so in the bubble, it was a lot less stressful than the rest of race season, because we were pretty safe in there and didn’t have to think about the worries of the pandemic that we have been over the last two years traveling around Europe.”

The cross-country ski venue was located at Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Ski Centre.

“The race venue was super tough trails,” related Beatty.

“It was cold, and the snow was dry, so a lot of Yukoners will know exactly what the snow felt like ... like skiing in Whitehorse at Christmas time. It made for some really slow times in a lot of the races ... I thought it was kind of an advantage for me because I’ve practiced so many times skiing on snow that doesn’t really glide, so I was right at home.”

The talented skier didn’t hold back at the Olympics.

“I did all six events, which was a lot of racing, but overall, it went quite well,” she said.

“I had a personal best in the individual start race 10 kilometre classic, where I finished 18th. That was a really big highlight for me. I was really happy with that performance, as well as making the sprint heat at a championship. I’ve made sprint heats many times, but never at an Olympics or World Championships, so to do it at a championship event really meant a lot to me. I love skiing sprint heats, so any opportunity I get to race head to head in a sprint is just so much fun.

“We had the best team relay results since 2002 for Canadian women, where we finished ninth. There was lots of really positive racing and good results and so I was overall really happy, really satisfied with my Games,” Beatty added.

Her personal-best race at the Games stood out for her.

“It was definitely an exciting one,” recalled Beatty.

“I started bib 10 in that race. I finished and had to wait to see where I’d end up, but even when I finished, I just knew that I was really happy with how I skied, regardless of what place I ended up in.

“In the end I was happy with the race, so that’s a nice feeling to have, when you’re really proud of the effort you put down before knowing what it gives you on the result sheet.”

Beatty has many lasting memories of the Games.

“There was the racing – racing the relay. There was crazy wind at the venue, so definitely lasting memories of the wind gusts and the races and just conditions I’ve never really had to race in before.

“Sharing the Games with my teammates, time spent in our athlete village. Building lanterns. We all got little ‘make your own lantern kits’ when we arrived ... we also got to take the ‘Bullet Train’ to the closing ceremonies from Zhangjiakou to Beijing, which will definitely be a memory I will remember forever. We hit 350 kilometres an hour, so that was pretty cool.”

According to Beatty, the train ride to Beijing took 45 to 50 minutes to travel less than 200 kilometres (approximately 174 kilometres).

“We also got the chance to go watch a couple other sports ... I went to see half-pipe skiing and ski-cross. It was really cool seeing other sports and seeing how big and impressive those jumps that they do are and the half-pipe, how massive it actually is ... it was really cool to see it in person.”

It was also recently announced that Beatty is one of the winners of the Yukon’s Premier’s Award of Sport Excellence.

“They sent me a message during the Games,” said Beatty.

“It’s always an honour to be recognized. My parents will be keeping that safe for me until I get home.”