Ski-O Tour Update ~ Days 1 and 2

The World Cup, US Champs, and North American Champs in Ski orienteering are currently being held in Tahoe, CA. This is the first time the Ski-O World Cup has been held outside Europe! A lack of snow at Bear Valley lead to some last minute changes in the race schedule, but no championship races have been cancelled.

Canada is represented by 6 athletes: Marie-Catherine Bruno (Sage) (Silverstar, BC), Marta Green (Sage) (Vernon, BC), Carol Ross (ONB) (Truckee, CA), Mark Tarnopolsky (GHO) (Hamilton, ON), Mike Smith (ONB) (Prince George, BC), and Nick Duca (Stars) (Kitchener, ON).

The World Cup and North American Long Distance event was held on Monday. Sweden dominated the women's podium, with Tove Alexandersson taking the gold with a clear 2 minute lead over second place Josefine Engstroem. Polina Malchinkova of Russia rounded off the podium. Skiing for Canada were Marie-Cat and Marta, who placed 18th and 20th respectively. Alison Crocker of the USA had a fabulous race, placing just off the podium in 4th place.

The men's field was much tighter, with a minute separating the top 4! Andrey Grigoryev of Russia clenched the top spot with 30 seconds over second place Hans Jorgen Kvale of Norway, who pipped fellow countryman Lars Hol Moholdt to silver by only 5 seconds! Canadian Nick Duca came in 33rd place.

The middle distance North American Championships were held on Tuesday. Today the men's race was dominated by the Lithuania team. Vitalius Petrulis was just under 3 minutes ahead of team mate and second place finisher Regimantas Kavaliauskas. Jiri Bouchal of Czech Republic came in 3rd. Mike Smith and Nick Duca of Canada finished in a solid 10th and 11th place respectively.

In the women's race, Helena Randakova of the Czech Republic beat second place Ramune Arlauskiene of Lithuania by a mere 7 seconds! Alison Crocker of the USA placed 3rd! Racing for Canada were Marta, who finished in 6th place, and Marie-Cat, who mis-punched.

Today (Wednesday) is the World Cup and North American Sprint Distance. The race is still ongoing at time of writing, so we'll post further updates later in the week!

You can follow the live results at this link. Photos and race information are available at the Ski-orienteering World Facebook group, located at this link.

We want to hear your cheers! Show your support of our Canadian athletes by leaving comments here or on our Facebook page! Go Canada Go!