Topping off a perfect week at the 2017 Cross Country Ski Nationals in Canmore, Emily Nishikawa was crowned the open women champion after winning the 30 kilometre skate race.

She crossed the finish line in one hour, 21 minutes and 50.02 seconds to win the Mary Anderson Award, which is presented to the winner of the women’s distance race at nationals.

Over four loops of the 7.5K World Cup trail at the Canmore Nordic Centre, Nishikawa skied with retired Olympic biathlete Zina Kocher.

“She’s still quite fit,” said Nishikawa in phone interview yesterday. “It was fun to race most of that race with her. We were kind of testing each other.

“I was just able to go a bit faster up the big climb.”

The 7.5K world cup loop features big climbs and fast downhills. One climb, known as “The Wall,” was timed. The Wall’s court was crowned following the race.

“It’s really, really steep,” said junior boys skier Michael Kishchuk. He clocked the 17th fastest time in his category. Derek Deuling was crowned prince in the juvenile boys B division.

“It’s great, it’s challenging. It has a lot of climbing, but a lost of rest and some fast downhills,” said Nishikawa of the course.

Her win in the distance race, capped off a perfect week, which saw her win all three of her races.

“It’s really special to me to finish off the year on a high note,” she said.

With the race season wrapped up, Nishikawa has already started planning next season, which will feature the Pyeongchang Olympics and could be her second trip to the Games. She is a 2014 Olympian.

Teammate Dahria Beatty finished second in the long classic sprint on Day Five.

On the men’s side, Nishikawa’s brother, Graham, who guided Paralympian Brian McKeever to gold at the world para-nordic championships this season, finished fifth in the 50K senior men’s race, seventh in the medium distance classic interval race and second in the short distance freestyle interval race.

Knute Johnsgaard, who was battling a cold the week of nationals, surprised himself by skiing onto the podium in the men’s 1.3K classic sprints.

Johnsgaard was fifth overall, but first-place skier Moritz Madlener is German and second-place skier Dag Frode Trolleboe is Norwegian.

Johnsgaard said he normally wouldn’t race while he was sick, but with no upcoming events to save his energy for, he opted to race.

“I raced the day before when I was sick. It was pretty disappointing,” he said. “It’s hard to expect anything when you’re not feeling 100 per cent.”

He surprised himself by making it through the qualification and semifinals to qualify for the A Final.

He skied through “shin-deep slush” to finish in 3:25.21, 75 milliseconds ahead of the next racer.

Johnsgaard spoke as he travelled to Whitehorse last night where he is preparing for the Father Mouchet Memorial Race in Old Crow over the Easter weekend.

In addition to the national team members racing in Canmore, a contingent of youth skiers also made the trip to nationals.

Among them was Kishchuk, who said with university coming up this fall, this could be his final season racing.

His third year competing as a junior boy, the 18-year-old finished ninth overall during the week.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” he said. “A really nice way to finish the season.”

In aggregate club results, the Whitehorse Ski Club finished fourth in the country, behind Quebec’s Nakkertok Nordic Ski Club, Canmore Nordic Ski Club and the Foothills Nordic Ski Club, out of Calgary.

The team also had eight skiers finish in the top 10 of the aggregate results over the week. Among them were Nishikawa (first overall, open women), Graham Nishikawa (second, open men), Marcus Deuling (third, junior men), Derek Deuling (third, juvenile boys), Hannah Deuling (fifth, junior girls), Johnsgaard (ninth, open men), Kishchuk (ninth, junior boys) and Beatty (ninth, open women).

Yukon Ski Team coach Alain Masson was unavailable for comment.

Kishchuk said that a lot of younger skiers from Whitehorse made the trip to nationals.