Masters World Cup 2021 Postponed Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
Originally scheduled for March 4-12 in Canmore, Alberta, the Masters World Cup 2021 has been postponed to 2022.
PRESS RELEASE
The Masters World Cup 2021 for cross-country skiing has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Masters World Cup was originally scheduled for March 4-12, 2021 in Canmore and has now been rescheduled for March 3-11, 2022 in Canmore.
Due to the on-going travel restrictions and the current limitations around hosting major Sporting Events, the Alberta World Cup Society (AWCS) and the World Masters Association (WMA), along with our tourism partners and the Alberta Health authority, have agreed to postpone the MWC 2021 in Canmore.
“We’ve been watching the pandemic trends and it appears that the restrictions affecting our event will continue to be in place for the foreseeable future. The health and welfare of all the expected 1,200 participants coming from around the world, our volunteers and our community are our highest priority.
All of our community stakeholders want the Masters World Cup to be a tremendous success when we hold it and it looks like March 2021 is too soon for that to be the case. We’ve been strongly supported by the Alberta Chief Medical Office, Tourism Canmore Kananaskis and our hotel partners in Canmore in reaching this conclusion. The World Masters Association has been an incredible partner as well. We both want this event to be a great success when we hold it and it looks like that won’t be possible until 2022,” said Norbert Meier, AWCS, Event Chair.
“The decision to postpone the MWC 2021 in Canmore has been the result of a careful evaluation process over several months. The Alberta World Cup Society (AWCS) and the World Masters Association (WMA) have been committed towards looking at what was best plan from both local and international perspectives. Ultimately it became clear to all parties that postponing to 2022 was our best path forward. In the midst of what is an incredibly challenging era for sport organizers around the globe, the WMA could not ask for a better partner than the AWCS. Everyone in Canmore has been exceptionally professional while also remaining positive about what we all believe will ultimately be a fantastic MWC 2022 in Canmore!” said John Downing, WMA, President.
The Masters World Cup has been held annually since 1980 and brings together cross country skiers aged 30 to 90+ from all over the world for a week of racing, camaraderie and celebration of cross country skiing as a lifelong sport.
The start of the NorAm men’s 15 k freestyle mass start last December in Rossland, B.C.. It could be chaos this weekend at the NorAm opener in Canmore, Alberta, with hundreds of Canadians vying for World Cup starts.
Last weekend in West Yellowstone, Mont., the U.S. SuperTour opener drew a grand total of about two Canadians, which isn’t to say the races weren’t competitive. With nearly 300 entered in the distance race, including a couple Norwegians, Australians and even a Brazilian, they were.
So why no representation from the neighbors to the north? Well, up in Canada there’s a little thing called the World Cup that’s about to take place in 10 days, and its qualifiers start Saturday when the NorAm circuit kicks off in Canmore, Alberta.
While SuperTour skiers continue to seek World Cup starts at their qualifiers Thursday through Sunday in Bozeman, Mont. (U.S. quota spots are awarded based on SuperTour standings after West Yellowstone and Bozeman), the Canadians will be shooting to make their national quota in just two races this weekend.
The difference is Canada as the host nation of the Québec and Alberta World Cups (Dec. 7-8 and Dec. 13-16, respectively) can enter 14 athletes per gender per individual race. The U.S. gets nine. Of those, four will be World Cup team members from each country, leaving up to 10 openings for domestic skiers in Canada and five in the U.S. for each competition.
In Canada, nine skiers have already prequalified for certain races (after meeting national criteria last season), and most already accepted the starts. According to Cross Country Canada (CCC) High Performance Director Tom Holland, the rest can decide whether they’ll race the Canadian World Cups after this weekend’s qualifiers in Canmore.
Of the nine, national biathlete Rosanna Crawford turned down cross-country World Cup sprints in both Québec and Alberta to chase a chance to race at Biathlon World Championships this winter. National Senior Development Team/Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) member Kevin Sandau, who’s already in Europe taking advantage of World Cup starts he earned on the NorAm last year, qualified for every Canadian World Cup race (with the exception of Québec’s team sprint). Even so, he planned to skip the Québec sprints and fly directly home to Canmore to prepare for the World Cup distance races there.
In an email, Sandau wrote that he might do the Sovereign Lake NorAm, the second on the circuit Dec. 8-9 near Silver Star, British Columbia, instead. It all depends on his energy, he explained.
Last year’s overall NorAm winner, Brent McMurtry (AWCA/NST) also won starts in every Canadian World Cup (as did women’s leader Alysson Marshall and her AWCA/NST teammate, NorAm runner-up Emily Nishikawa). Despite McMurtry’s strengths in distance over sprints, he plans to race all the Canadian World Cups in an effort to notch a top 12 in one of them. Why the lofty goal? McMurtry, like so many other Canadian development skiers, wants to qualify for World Championships in late February/early March.
“That means that I’ll need to be racing really fast at the World Cups in Canmore,” McMurtry said. “Top twelve is a pretty big result, but a lot of it depends of the field of guys who are here. There’s lots of factors, but I think that’s within my reach.”
There’s a lot of pressure riding on these first races of the season, and even prequalified skiers like McMurtry are feeling it. He will race for the first time this season in Canmore this weekend, and less than a week later, will have to get the World Cup jitters out in Québec.
What someone would give to race at the Canadian World Cups in the first place. At most, they only come every two years with the last one taking place right before the 2010 Olympics in Canmore.
That’s where these first NorAms come in. While the favorites mostly come from national training centres, like the World Cup Academy (see also: Thunder Bay, Pierre-Harvey and Callaghan Valley), there are a few independent/other racers (think Amanda Ammar of the Canmore Nordic Centre and the Yukon elite skiers) who are also gunning to finish atop the NorAm sprint and distance races this weekend.
Here’s a brief breakdown of last year’s NorAm leaders and who to watch this year:
Top 6 Men
1. Brent McMurtry (AWCA/NST) Formerly of the Pierre-Harvey NTC (CNEPH) in Québec, he’s been training in Canmore since he was a kid and is now part of the Academy with perennial rival Kevin Sandau. This year, he and Sandau once again have the same goals: race internationally as much as possible.
2. Kevin Sandau (AWCA/NST) He didn’t exactly win last year’s NorAm title, but he essentially took the cake by leading pivotal periods and thus earning World Cup starts. He started and ended last season in Europe and finished with personal best results at World Cup Finals, so there’s no reason to think he’ll aim for anything else this winter.
3. Jesse Cockney (AWCA/NST) Another senior development skier, Cockney is known for his sprinting prowess, but he hung in for seventh at the Canadian Nationals 50 k classic mass start in March in Mont Sainte-Anne, Québec. And that was 10 laps.
4. Graeme Killick (AWCA/NST) Are we seeing a trend? Expect the Academy men to once again hog the NorAm podium throughout the season. Killick won two races last year: the West Yellowstone SuperTour 10 k classic and the Mont Orford NorAm 15 k freestyle. While he didn’t notch a victory at nationals last year (World Cup members Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw took care of that), Killick has two national titles from 2010 and two silvers from 2011 in distance races.
5. Pate Neumann (Canmore Nordic Ski Club) Not on the Academy this year, Neumann’s a bit of an unknown. He’s been busy as the Haig Glacier coordinator in Canmore, but he’s also known to bust out NorAm podiums once the racing season starts. Last year was one of his best with two second-place results and a third in NorAm distance races.
6. Graham Nishikawa (AWCA/NST) You might recognize this guy from as a World Cup racer last year and several seasons before that. While he didn’t win last year’s NorAm to secure overseas starts in the first period of this season, he’s good to go in Canmore after prequalifying for the Alberta World Cup skiathlon. This is someone you shouldn’t rule out of any race: he’s won both NorAm sprints and 30+ k distance events.
Also:
Erik Carleton (Para-Nordic World Cup Team) Prequalified for Alberta World Cup 15 k classic mass start and 30 k skiathlon. Technically fifth on the 2011/2012 NorAm standings (behind Sandau, McMurtry, Cockney and Nishikawa) he was second to World Cup skier Ivan Babikov in the 10 k classic interval start at Canadian Nationals last year and seventh in the 15 k skate the next day. Won’t be racing many NorAms because of his international race schedule as a guide for Brian McKeever on the IPC World Cup (the two swept IPC World Cup Finals last year), but is someone to watch when he does find time to race in Canada.
Michael Somppi (AWCA/NST) Formerly of Thunder Bay, the ninth-place NorAm finisher last year is trying something new with the Academy and has ramped up the intensity in doing so. First, he’s shooting to qualify for the Canadian World Cups and if he does that, aiming for a top 30 there. This is another one that could pull out a stellar result in either a distance or sprint race; he’s been known to do both. Third in 10 k classic at nationals last year.
David Greer (YES) Previously raced for CNEPH, now with the newly formed Yukon Elite Squad (with Colin Abbot, Knute Johnsgaard, John Parry and Fabian Brook). Fourth in the 15 k skate at nationals last year.
Phil Widmer (AWCA) Prequalified for all the World Cup sprints after winning being a top qualifier at nationals last year. Also strong at the 10 to 15 k distances, with a fourth-place finish in the 15 k skate at nationals.
Alberta World Cup Academy women, including Alana Thomas (back left), Alysson Marshall (second from back left) and Emily Nishikawa (second from front right) during a summer hike up Centennial Ridge near Canmore, Alberta. (Alana Thomas courtesy photo)
Top 6 Women
1. Alysson Marshall (AWCA/NST) A World Cup racer who appeared on the circuit at the beginning and end of last season, Marshall made it into the points last year when she placed 28th at a World Cup classic sprint in Stockholm. The sprinter missed the first non-World Cup races this season due to a cold, but has otherwise been healthy this training season and has her sights set on qualifying for World Championships. In an email, she confirmed she planned to race all the Canadian World Cups she prequalified for.
2. Emily Nishikawa (AWCA/NST) Marshall’s teammate and main contender on the NorAm last year, Nishikawa joined her for training camps with the Canadian women’s World Cup team throughout the summer. This season, she’s looking to build on the momentum from last year, which included a national title in the 10 k skate and multiple NorAm distance wins.
3. Amanda Ammar (Canmore Nordic Ski Center) An independent skier last year, Ammar trained with World Cup members Chandra Crawford and Perianne Jones throughout the offseason. An Olympian who’s trying to make a go of it in World Championships year, expect big things out of Ammar, especially in classic distance races.
4. Kate Brennan (AWCA) Brennan notched her first NorAm victory last season in a 5 k classic race at Mont Orford and was seventh in the 5 k classic at nationals. If she’s healthy again this year, there’s no reason to expect her to reach the NorAm podium.
5. Andrea Dupont (Rocky Mountain Racers) Dupont’s got a new teammate in Zoe Roy (formerly of XC Oregon and Stella Racing), which could translate into continued success after some NorAm podiums and a pair of sprint-qualifier wins last season.
6. Andrea Lee (NDC Thunder Bay) Tenth in the 30 k at nationals last year, this U23 won the Mont Orford NorAm 15 k skate last year and placed fourth in a skate sprint in Whistler. The term “up-and-coming” doesn’t exactly do this racer justice.
Also:
Alana Thomas (AWCA) New to the Academy, this former Nakkertok skier has been gearing up for the World Cup skiathlon in Canmore, which she prequalified for by placing third at a NorAm 15 k skiathlon (a trials event) at Whistler last year. While it’s one of her favorite races, Thomas also wants to secure other World Cup starts, so look for her to come out firing this weekend.
Marlis Kromm (AWCA) The fourth Canadian in the skate sprint at nationals (seventh overall) with a couple of NorAm sprint podiums, she’s also finished in the top 10 of distance races.
Heidi Widmer (AWCA) At just 21, she’s one of the Canada’s best domestic skate sprinters with a podium or close to it in every NorAm freestyle sprint. Enough said.
Zoe Roy (RMR) A Canadian citizen who’s back from Oregon (and the University of Utah), Roy should be a staple on the NorAm circuit this year – if she doesn’t get over to World Championships first.
Canmore, Alberta: Dec. 1-2 (skate sprint & 15/20 k classic races = World Cup qualifiers for Québec and Alberta races the following two weekends)
Sovereign Lake in Vernon, British Columba: Dec. 8-9 (same weekend as the World Cup skate sprints in Québec City, but race organizers at Sovereign Lake are expecting higher numbers – between 300 and 500 – for the event, which also includes the B.C. Cup.) Includes 10/15 k classic mass start & 10/15 k freestyle
Thunder Bay, Ontario: Jan. 3-6 (first mini tour of the season with 15/20 k skiathlon, classic sprint & 10/15 k freestyle)
Highlands Nordic in Duntroon, Ontario: Jan. 26-27 (classic sprint & 10/15 k freestyle)
Eastern Championships hosted by Nakkertok at Mont Orford, Québec: Feb. 1-3 (mini tour: classic sprint, 10/15 k freestyle, 15/30 k pursuit)
Western Championships hosted by Wapiti Nordic at Grande Prairie, Alberta: Feb. 22-24 (mini tour: freestyle sprint, 10/15 k classic, 15/30 k skate pursuit)
Haywood Ski Nationals at Whistler, B.C.: March 23-30 (team sprint, 5/10 k freestyle, 10/15 k classic, classic sprint, 30/50 k freestyle mass start)
View of Quebec City and Parliament Building (at right), where World Cup sprints will take place for the first time Dec. 7-8, 2012. (Cross Country Canada photo)
This past spring, nine Canadians learned they prequalified for their nation’s World Cups in December. Most had an inkling they were in the mix; last season’s NorAm winners Kevin Sandau and Alysson Marshall automatically guaranteed themselves starts in every Québec and Alberta World Cup race, as did the second-place finishers Brent McMurtry and Emily Nishikawa.
Sisters Rosanna (l) and Chandra Crawford at the Canadian Ski Nationals freestyle sprint on March 22 in Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec.
But then there were some wild cards, like Canadian national-team biathlete Rosanna Crawford. In March, Crawford jumped into a couple races at Canadian Ski Nationals. After sweeping biathlon nationals a few days before, she figured, what the heck? Might as well have fun with some straight-up cross-country.
In the skate sprint at Mont Sainte-Anne, Québec, Crawford posted the seventh-fastest qualifying time – the fourth best among Canadians. She went on to race her sister, 2006 Olympic gold medalist and national ski team member Chandra Crawford, in semifinal and later finished 10th overall (sixth Canadian) in the B-final.
In the end, her qualifier made the difference, prequalifying her for every Canadian World Cup sprint in December. Not long after nationals, her sister told her the good news.
“Chandra had just sort of mentioned that I prequalified and I didn’t really believe her,” Crawford said in a phone interview from Canmore, Alberta. “Then finally we had decided that we needed to make a decision and Roddy Ward, my coach, got in contact with [Cross Country Canada High Performance Director] Tom Holland and got all the details with him.”
Ultimately, she chose not to race the cross-country World Cups in Québec City and Canmore from Dec. 7-8 and 13-16, respectively.
“I really thought about it and talked about it with my coach whether or not we thought it would be a good idea to come home,” the Biathlon Canada B-team member said. “It doesn’t really work out. They’re going to pick our world champs team before Christmas so I kind of have to do all the biathlon races before Christmas.”
If she left Europe for the races, Crawford said she’d miss the second and third biathlon World Cups and third IBU Cup, which were critical in her quest to make Biathlon World Championships in February.
While she wished she could do both, she said the decision wasn’t hard.
“Biathlon’s my sport and it’s the one that I love and the one that I chose,” she said. “It’s something I’ve put so many hours and so much dedication [into] that switching isn’t anything that I’ve ever really wanted to do.”
If the opportunity came up again, say after the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Crawford wouldn’t think twice. “I would definitely skip a biathlon World Cup to be able to qualify for [another Canmore World Cup],” she said. “But with Sochi being so close I’ve got to put my focus into biathlon right now.”
***
2012 Canada World Cups:
Who’s racing: 4 World Cup skiers per team/race plus up to 10 additional Canadians for each race (for a total of 14). For the U.S., 5 additional skiers per race (for a total of 9).
Schedule: Quebec World Cup: team skate sprint (Dec. 7), individual skate sprint (Dec. 8)
Alberta World Cup (in Canmore): 10/15 k classic (Dec. 13), skate sprint (Dec. 15), 15/30 k skiathlon (Dec. 16)
On the flip side, Crawford’s gracious decline of World Cup starts opens up an opportunity for another Canadian woman to qualify for the sprints. Canada as the host nation of the Québec and Alberta World Cups can enter 14 competitors per race. Four of those starts come from the usual World Cup quota (i.e. national team members) and up to 10 more are allowed as national quota (the U.S. gets five additional entries for its nation’s group).
That’s a lot of racers, and Cross Country Canada (CCC) has every intention to fill those spots, according to Holland. “Giving developing athletes an opportunity to compete in World Cup events is one of the objectives having WCs in Canada,” he wrote in an email.
Athletes have to meet FIS standards to do so. For a breakdown of international-points requirements, refer to “World Cup Entry requirements” of 2012/13 Canadian NST Selection Criteria (page 4, figure 5.5).
To determine whom to award the remaining national-quota starts, CCC will use the Canmore NorAm (Dec. 1-2) as trials for the Québec and Alberta World Cups. Those races include a skate sprint and 15/20 k classic, and coaches will select racers based on top results and qualifying times.
Starting with the Sprints
At this point, close to eight openings for Canadian men and nine for the women remain for the individual sprints in Québec and Canmore. The top male and female qualifiers and finalists from the Canmore NorAm sprint will be selected to the final ranking list, which will be reviewed by Canadian National Ski Team Head coach Justin Wadsworth and the high-performance selection committee.
Essentially, the top eight males and nine females, with the exception of those who prequalified, should make the cut for the individual World Cup races, but Wadsworth can use discretion under unusual circumstances (i.e. a top-projected finisher gets sick).
Phil Widmer of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) prequalified for all the sprints as a leading qualifier and top-six finisher at nationals, and Sandau and McMurtry get dibs on every Canadian World Cup race.
Sandau explained in an email that he would not be racing the Québec World Cup sprints to cut down on travel and better prepare for distance races (men’s 15 k classic and 30 k skiathlon) in Canmore.
Canadian Senior Development Team member Kevin Sandau in the 15 k classic mass start on March 17 at the World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden, where he finished 34th.
“The goal in Canmore is a top-12 in either of the distance races,” Sandau wrote before leaving for Europe for early season World Cups at the end of November. “Depending on how the energy is I may travel to Sovereign Lakes for that weekend of NorAm racing as a last primer before Canmore World Cups. I decided to skip Québec simply just because they’re sprint races.”
That could open up another spot for a sprinter at the Canmore NorAm trials at the end of the month. Holland wrote that any athlete has the right to turn down an entry after the NorAm events in Canmore. “At that time, they will be asked to accept or decline,” he said.
That makes a putting a concrete number on the amount of World Cup starts left for hopeful Canadian skiers slightly tricky. Among the prequalified athletes who probably aren’t concerned: Para-Nordic World Cup Team member Erik Carleton (made the 15 k classic and skiathlon), Graham Nishikawa (skiathlon) and Alana Thomas (skiathlon). And of course, the Canadian World Cup team (with four men and three women).
Then there’s the team sprint in Québec, in which Canada can have four teams (two per World Cup quota and two for national quota). Without a team-sprint trial beforehand, Wadsworth said picking the second, third and fourth teams could potentially be difficult.
“As soon as the races are over here in Canmore we’ll have a sprint list and we’ll start to talk about that with out high performance committee,” he said. “Myself and Tom Holland and [women’s World Cup coach] Eric [de Nys] will get together, we’ll put together a list, based on the criteria, of who should race. It goes to the high-performance committee for clearance. It’s worked well in the past; I think it’s pretty straightforward.”
According to Holland, here are the remaining spots in the national quota:
10/15 k classic (Canmore): 8 males and 9 females
Skiathlon (Canmore): 7 males and 8 females
Distance specialist Emily Nishikawa (Senior Development Team/AWCA) couldn’t confirm that she’d be doing all the races, but thought she would. Marshall planned to do all the events in Québec and Canmore.
“I love the atmosphere, people are always so excited to have World Cups in North America,” Marshall wrote in an email. “I think it will be a great opportunity for me to post some good results.”
McMurtry said in a phone interview that had his sights set on all the Canadian World Cups, even though he had to pay the bulk of his way to do so. The government’s carding system covers living expense for senior development skiers like him, but not travel and racing, he said.
“I work part-time and I should have some sponsors, but I’m not very good at chasing them down,” he said. “So it’s 100 percent me and my earnings that pays for what I do.”
Regardless, he’s excited to kick off his race season at the Canmore NorAm and follow up with the big efforts in Québec. By the time he gets to Canmore for the distance World Cup races, he’s hoping for a top-12 performance to make World Championships in March.
“If that doesn’t work out then there’s trials in Thunder Bay and Duntroon [Ontario] in January,” he added. “Goal is to be skiing really fast in Canmore and I really enjoy racing in Canmore. I think the 15 k classic mass start is a race I’m going to be looking forward to. I don’t know, top 12 is a pretty big result, but a lot of it depends of the field of guys who are here. There’s lots of factors, but I think that’s within my reach.”
Meanwhile, top skiers like Michael Somppi, a Senior Development Team member who recently joined the AWCA, will be shooting for qualifying results at the Canmore NorAm. To do so, Somppi wrote in an email that he needs to find good racing form early, which is why he bumped up his intensity work this summer.
“I don’t want to get stuck worrying about numbers though, I just want to focus on skiing to the best of my abilities and things should work out if I can do that,” he wrote. “My goal for the Canadian World Cups is to get in the points, a top 30 result. There’s lots of racing left after Christmas and of course I am aiming to be strong all the way through to Canadian National Championships, but for now, one step at a time.”
For skiers champing at the bit before the start of the season, Wadsworth gave a few words of advice.
“Fourteen deep is deep, if you can’t make that 14 then I don’t know what to say,” he said on the phone. “There’s lots of options so I don’t think there’s too much pressure for those athletes. If they can win the spot at Canadian Nationals last year, if they were even that good, 14 deep would not have been an issue for them.”
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/380236_407756439255522_937945556_n.jpg" "Quebec City sprints, World Cup")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/11/IMGP5058.jpg" "Rosanna Crawford, Chandra Crawford")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/03/IMG_0047.jpg" "Kevin Sandau (CAN)")