{"id":493538,"date":"2026-02-23T06:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/493538\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T06:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:21:19","slug":"cross-country-skiers-finish-2026-olympics-with-uplifting-results-hope-funding-will-follow-ottawasportspages-ca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/493538\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross-country skiers finish 2026 Olympics with uplifting results, hope funding will follow \u2013 OttawaSportsPages.ca"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This coverage was first sent as an email newsletter to our subscribers. Sign up to receive it, for free, on our Ottawa at the Olympics page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Antoine Cyr in the men\u2019s 50 km mass start. Photo: Nordiq Canada \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Newsletter by Keiran Gorsky, Martin Cleary & Dan Plouffe<\/p>\n

Antoine Cyr\u2019s voice was still shaking from the men\u2019s 50-kilometre mass start classic he had completed some hours earlier. The periodic opening and closing of zippers ripped through the receiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m currently packing my bag,\u201d Cyr explained to the Ottawa Sports Pages\u2019 Keiran Gorsky. \u201cDrying my stuff and getting ready to hit the road again tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyr didn\u2019t even have time for a nap after the behemoth two-hour undertaking after he laid down an encouraging 11th-place performance. With the Olympics wrapping up, the Skinouk skier from Gatineau will be flying directly to Sweden, where he will compete in the next stage of the FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Falun.<\/p>\n

Canadian cross-country skiers are hoping a slew of good results in Milano Cortina might spur an increase in funding to Nordiq Canada and its athletes. Their national sports organization has recorded deficits in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent competitive seasons.<\/p>\n

No Canadian men were sent to compete in any of the World Cup races in November and December in the Olympic season, and Cyr was left to do loops around the same 1.6 km loop in Canmore, AB, as Ottawa Sports Pages High Achievers columnist Martin Cleary detailed before the Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Antoine Cyr. Photo: Nordiq Canada \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Cyr, 27, had the relative misfortune of entering the competitive circuit around the time three stalwarts of Canadian cross-country skiing announced their retirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost a lot of funding when Alex (Harvey), Lenny (Valjas) and Devon (Kershaw) retired,\u201d Cyr noted. \u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s been quite a challenge when you don\u2019t necessarily have the support and the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyr has been at the centre of their best results at these Olympics \u2013 paired with R\u00e9mi Drolet and two Olympic debutants in Xavier McKeever and Thomas Stephen, the Canadian men achieved their best-ever result in a four-man relay with a fifth-place finish. Cyr was in a medal position for large stretches of that race.<\/p>\n

His 11th-place finish in the gruelling seven-lap 50 km mass start, meanwhile, was far and away his best ever in the discipline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you put [Cyr] at a classic mass start, he goes into beast mode,\u201d Nordiq Canada head coach Julia Mehre Ystgaard told The Canadian Press<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\"\"Antoine Cyr. Photo: Nordiq Canada \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Cyr was struck by the sheer pace in the early goings, as Norway\u2019s podium-topping duo of Johannes H\u00f8sflot Kl\u00e6bo and Martin L\u00f8wstr\u00f8m Nyenget turned on the thrusters from the get-go.<\/p>\n

Even on a soft, slush-plagued course, Cyr still managed to settle into a brisk, sustainable pace. As the pack fanned out, he was able to stick with the frontrunners, alternating between 10th and 11th for nearly the entire race. His national teammate Stephen, by contrast, led all 62 skiers at the 8.5 km mark before dropping 17 places in the next sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get too excited, I stayed calm,\u201d Cyr indicated. \u201cI kept my rhythm and I made sure I was doing [everything] right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we showed the world that we were able to be right up there with the best. And with a little bit more support, that might equal some medals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katherine Stewart-Jones 1 of 4 Canadians inside nordic marathon top-30<\/p>\n

Chelsea, QC\u2019s Katherine Stewart-Jones also wrapped up her time in Italy Sunday in what was the first-ever women\u2019s 50 km-long mass start at a Winter Olympics. The event was previously 30 km for women.<\/p>\n

As per Olympic tradition, the cross-country ski marathon medals were presented at the Closing Ceremonies. Sweden\u2019s Ebba Andersson won the race in 2:16:28.2, and while the Canadian women weren\u2019t in contention, having all four finish inside the top-30 was still cause for celebration.<\/p>\n

\"\"Katherine Stewart-Jones. Photo: Nordiq Canada \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Stewart-Jones spent most of her race in the middle of the pack en route to a 27th-place finish in a time of 2:36:35.1. A number of skiers fell during the event as the freshly applied wax took its sticky toll amidst rising temperatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really beautiful day to be out here doing the first-ever 50k,\u201d the 30-year-old Nakkertok Nordic product said via Nordiq Canada<\/a>. \u201cEven though my body was definitely suffering from the beginning, I pushed through, and I got to do it with three of my teammates, so you can\u2019t really complain on a day like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jasmine Drolet led the Canadian contingent in 17th place, Sonjaa Schmidt was next in 25th, Stewart-Jones followed in 27th and Amelia Wells cruised in quickly after so the Canadian women could gather in a group hug.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some really great results this Olympics,\u201d Stewart-Jones added. \u201cThis is definitely the best Olympics we\u2019ve had in many, many, many years, and a lot of my teammates are quite young, so I think the future is really bright, and I\u2019ve been so honoured to be a part of their journey and to watch them keep thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart-Jones had a lengthy 10-day wait between her individual 10 km interval start free and Sunday\u2019s mass start. In the meantime, she has been among the most active Ottawa Olympians on social media. In a Feb. 10 post, she showed off the many pins she has accumulated over two Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Canadian men\u2019s bobsledders place 14th & 20th<\/p>\n

The end result came as no surprise, but Canada missed out on the podium in bobsleigh for the first time in 24 years at Milano Cortina 2026, finishing with a significant gap behind the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

\"\"Canadian four-man bobsleds placed 14th and 20th at Milano Cortina 2026. Photo: IBSF<\/p>\n

Three Ottawa bobsledders wrapped up what has been a troubled Olympic outing on Sunday. The Canadian team is packed with heady engineers and did their best to keep it light off the track, but even they couldn\u2019t will an eight-year-old hand-me-down sled anywhere near a podium finish.<\/p>\n

The Jay Dearborn-piloted sled containing Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson, Luka Stoikos and Mark Zanette needed a top-20 finish in their run this morning in order to advance to the fourth and final heat.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jay Daerborn (left) was the pilot for Canada-2 at the 2026 Olympics. Photo: IBSF<\/p>\n

Dearborn was on pace for his best run before skidding against the wall towards the end of the track. The former Carleton Ravens football player\u2019s time of 55.42 was his sled\u2019s slowest at these Olympics. The quartet still made the cut by .15 seconds after the Jamaican, South Korean and Liechtensteiner sleds also recorded their worst times.<\/p>\n

Dearborn showed a better grasp of the grooves of the track on his final run, finishing in 19th for a final ranking of 20th. He and his crew produced their third consecutive top-10 ranked start time, and the former CFLer\u2019s second Olympics, and first as a pilot, are now officially in the books.<\/p>\n

The Taylor Austin-piloted team containing Shaquille Murray-Lawrence and Ottawa\u2019s Keaton Bruggeling and Mike Evelyn O\u2019Higgins got in their sled somewhat more gingerly after their flubbed loading in the second heat Saturday. Their 15th-place third heat was more than three tenths of a second quicker.<\/p>\n

Their slowest start preceded what was a mostly gentle slide down the track on their final run, beyond an early skid. They ranked 11th in the final heat en route to 14th overall.<\/p>\n

\"\"(From left) Taylor Austin, Mike Evelyn O\u2019Higgins, Keaton Bruggeling and Shaq Murray-Lawrence. Photo: IBSF<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can have a great driver in a Honda Civic, and the person in the Porsche is going to have to make some pretty serious mistakes,\u201d Evelyn O\u2019Higgins told the CBC\u2019s Morgan Campbell at the Canadian Olympic bobsleigh team announcement for a detailed feature on the state of the program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paralympics Preview: Short break until the excitement resumes at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games<\/p>\n

And that is a wrap on our 2026 Ottawa at the Olympics coverage!<\/p>\n

Thank you very much for following along throughout these Games, we hope you\u2019ve enjoyed hearing about the journeys of our local Olympians, including several historic moments.<\/p>\n

Six medals will be returning with Ottawa Olympians \u2013 bronze medals for curlers Rachel Homan and Emma Miskew<\/a>, a silver for women\u2019s hockey player Kayle Osborne<\/a>, a gold for Isabelle Weidemann<\/a>, and gold and silver for Ivanie Blondin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"(From left) Rachelle Brown, Sarah Wilkes, Emma Miskew, Tracy Fleury and Rachel Homan were the 2026 Olympic women\u2019s curling bronze medallists. Photo: Anil Mungal \/ COC<\/p>\n

After Sweden outlasted Switzerland 6-5 in the women\u2019s curling gold medal final, the Team Homan Ottawa Curling Club rink was presented the first Olympic medals of their careers on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Weidemann and Blondin have now joined fellow speed skater Kristina Groves as Ottawa\u2019s most decorated Olympians of all-time with four career medals apiece.<\/p>\n

Our Ottawa Sports Pages team will be very quickly recharging our batteries and then we\u2019ll be back for our Ottawa at the Paralympics coverage from March 6-15 when we\u2019re expecting we\u2019ll have eight more members of Team Canada to follow for the finish of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This coverage was first sent as an email newsletter to our subscribers. Sign up to receive it, for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-493538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}