Yukon cross country skiers Derek Deuling and Sasha Masson have wrapped up a very successful World Junior Championships. It was the first time the two Whitehorse skiers have skied in the event.

They had their first race at the 2022 World Juniors in Lygna, Norway Tuesday.

They had a strong outing, skiing into the top-20 of the 74-man field in a 30-kilometre mass start. Deuling battled to 17th spot and Masson punched the clock in 18th spot.

Wednesday, Masson helped the boys’ relay team secure 4th place at the World Junior Championships, Canada’s second-best ever finish at the event.

Deuling placed 19th for his second top-20 result, clocking a time of 27:47.3, in the men’s 10-kilometre short distance classic-ski Friday.

The Star reached the two skiers, along with their coach, Alain Masson, Friday in Norway.

“I think it’s going pretty good, actually,” stated the younger Masson.

“Overall, Canadians are kind of whooping butt, so it’s going well.”

“It’s going great,” added Deuling.

“Everything we kind of wanted. And didn’t know we wanted.”

Masson described how the week started off.

“We started off with a 30 k first day of competition. That was sort of a different kind of race for us, because normally we do a 30 k at the end of the Championships, so starting off with that is quite the interesting race, so that was pretty fun. Derek and I kind of skied together the whole time. He finished 17 and I finished 18th, so that was pretty fun, finishing 1-2 behind each other.

“Just a great experience. A lot of people out on the starting line and a lot of battling, so it ended up being really fun, and then we moved on to the next day where we had the relay.

“It’s a little hard after the 30 k – going out there and racing another five (k) at full pace, but super-fun to be pushing with the Canadian team and achieve the second-best World Junior result (ever), and then we moved on to the rest of the week. I’ll let Derek describe it.”

“I didn’t actually race the relay,” said Dueling.

“I got to rest my legs an extra day for today (Friday), which was the 10 k Classic interval start, which was really cool to race ... I think there was 101 people starting, all under the age of 20, all really high-calibre athletes from around the world. So that was really cool to be part of that field. It went surprisingly well for me.

“The first lap, I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent, but I managed to turn around the second lap and get another top-20, so that was a pretty cool race for me, to be able to kind of switch like that and finish it strong.

“Moving forward ... we will probably watch the U23s race the sprints and then the following day, we’ll have a sprint course where Sasha will be starting. I’m not too sure if I’ll be starting, but mostly, I think I’ll be ready to race and if not, I’ll be ready to cheer on Sasha and all the other Canadian guys and hopefully we can keep going on this kind of ... momentum. But it’s been a really great championships for Canada ... a lot of people have performed really well, so it’s been pretty cool to be a part of this,” he added.

Masson said competing in their first World Junior Championships is “pretty cool, to be honest. A little different with COVID and everything, but that’s the kind of the new world we’re in ... but it’s been awesome to be on the trip together. We’ve been skiing together for quite a little while now, and I think it’s just a great experience. Really fun to be doing our international debut – I guess our second international debut – together. And it’s really fun to get some good results, because it’s always satisfying to see the work pay off.”

When asked how they’re feeling now, Deuling replied, “we’re a little tired, but I think all the other competitors are tired as well, so I think as long as we can keep our spirits high, just kind of keep having fun ... I think we’re lookin’ pretty good going into the weekend.

“I’m not exactly sure if I’m going to race, so I’m just trying to keep a smile on my face and just be ready to go and if not, I’ll just get Sasha ready to go; get him pumped up. It’s just fun to be here.”

The last race for the Canadian team was the Sprint Freestyle 1.2 -kilometres on Sunday. Masson finished the qualifier for the final in 35th place. Deuling didn’t race in the 1.2 km Sprint.

The 1.2 km sounded a lot more appealing to the two then ending with a 30-kilometre race.

“Exactly,” said Masson. “It’s always more satisfying to just finish a 1.2 k and not be as shot as the 30 k.”

“It’s a pretty sweet course, so it should only take us roughly two minutes, which is pretty short for a sprint, so it’s gonna to be interesting to see how everyone does,” added Deuling.

Coach Masson was asked what he thought of their success.

“It’s been great,” he stated. “It’s been really good for the entire contingent. The Canadian team is having one of the better year in a long long time, if not one of the best in terms of number of top-10 and top-20 results. so it’s very exciting for the Yukon skiers, but exciting also for all the Canadian skiers who are here.”

Not surprisingly, morale on the team was pretty high on Friday.

“It’s really good,” stated the coach.

“It was great, the first day was a really good race, so it really set the stage for the team and put people in a really good mood with lots of confidence and expectations. So it’s very good and looking forward (to) two more days of racing ... sprints tomorrow and Sunday.”

Masson explained what he attributed the team’s success to.

“There’s lots of good athletes coming up at the same time right now in the program, so many athletes have had success the last few years, so now that they have an opportunity to compete at the international level, they’ve been able to demonstrate the training and the preparation they did.

“The results have been getting better and better in the last few years and success is contagious. Some of the skiers in the last few years have done well, so it helps others emulate their success.”

As for what this says about the future of cross-country skiing in Canada, Masson said “I think it’s very exciting right now, because we know some of the ingredients that are needed is having many skiers successful, so it’s not relying on only one or two, so right now, that looks really good.

“The athletes that represented Canada at the Olympics are also quite young, so they’ll be at the sport for years to come and with many of these current skiers – U23 and U20 here graduating as seniors and getting better the next few years, it looks good for the next quadrennial and the next Olympics (in) 2026,” he added.

Masson doesn’t hold back when discussing how he feels about his son and Deuling’s success.

“I’m so proud of them and so happy for them to experience a World Junior Championships in Norway ... where cross-country skiing is most popular in the world. Like, Norway is by far the most dominant nation in cross-country skiing, so very exciting for them to live that experience here.”