Stéphane Jobin - U SPORTS - Team Canada

U SPORTS and Nordiq Canada have announced the student-athletes and coaches who will represent Canada in cross-country skiing at the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games in Lake Placid.

Twelve Canadian cross-country skiers – six women and six men – will take part in the various events, which will take place from January 13 to 22 on the Olympic trails of Mount Van Hoevenberg.

Join the team will be Vikings student-athlete, Reese Bendiksen for her first FISU Games. Bendiksen has already had a successful year as a Viking competing for the Vikings Cross-Country Team in the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference (ACAC) and the Canadian Colligate Athletics Association, claiming a silver medal at the ACAC Championship in October before adding a bronze medal at a cold and snowy CCAA National Championship.

Canada will be counting on two student-athletes who will be in their second experience at the FISU Games. Aidan Kirkham (Ottawa) and Alexander Maycock (Nipissing) were both on the Canadian team in Krasnoyarsk, Russia (2019). Conor McGovern (Lakehead), fourth in the individual standings at the last National University Championships in Whistler, is also part of the team.

On the women's side, Bronwyn Williams (Carleton) just had a strong performance, as she captured gold in the distance event at the Eastern Canada Cup last weekend.

Canada will be led in Lake Placid by coaches Steven Wintoniw and Diane Poncelet.

Cross-country skiing made its debut at the 1960 FISU Games in Chamonix. Canada has reached the podium only once in the discipline, winning bronze in the men's relay event in Belluno (Italy) in 1985.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER

WOMEN

Name                                 University/College                                     Hometown

Reese Bendiksen                 University of Alberta Augustana                    Camrose, AB

Katherine Mason                 Carleton University                                      Ottawa, ON

Emmanuelle Simard            Laval University                                           Neuville, QC

Nathalie Thain                    University of Calgary                                    Camrose, AB

Sophie Tremblay                 Laurentian University                                   Sudbury, ON

Bronwyn Williams               Carleton University                                       Cantley, QC

MEN

Name                                 University/College                                     Hometown

Joseph Hutton                    Nipissing University                                      Lakeside, ON

Aidan Kirkham                    University of Ottawa                                    Kanata, ON

Robin Mason                      University of Calgary                                    Ottawa, ON

Alexander Maycock             Nipissing University                                      Orangeville, ON

Conor McGovern                 Lakehead University                                    Winnipeg, MB

Antoine Nicol                     Cegep Saint-Jérôme                                     Prévost, QC

STAFF

Coach: Steven Wintoniw (Winnipeg, MB)

Coach: Diane Poncelet (Saint-Jérôme, QC)

CANADA'S MEDAL AT THE FISU GAMES

Alain Masson, Wayne Dustin, Owen Spence, Benoit Létourneau (4 x 10 km relay), bronze, 1985 (Belluno, Italy)