The Nordiq Canada Ski Nationals kicked off on a high note for Thunder Bay skiers on Monday. Skiers from Lappe Nordic, Big Thunder, Lakehead University and NTDC Thunder Bay have all converged alongside 800 athletes from across the country on the trails of the Canmore Nordic Centre for the 2025 National Championships.
The first day of racing was an individual start freestyle technique race for the U18 and U16 categories. Reid Thompson of Big Thunder is the first local skier to step on the podium finishing 2nd in the U16 Boys 5km race of over 135 athletes. In the same event his teammates Oskar Berglund, Cedar Clark and Palmer Hunt finished 32nd, 34th and 49th, respectively. Nigel Kingston (Lappe Nordic) finished 88th and Felix Doucet (Lappe Nordic) finished 99th. Jill Thompson (Big Thunder) was the top U16 Girl finishing 61st, with Hanna Abbink (Lappe Nordic) not far behind in 65th. Laine Hupka (Lappe Nordic) was 72nd, Nemma Clark (Big Thunder) was 78th, Klara van Duyn (Big Thunder) was 97th. The U18 Categories raced a grueling 10km event. Min Dobson of Lappe Nordic was the top local skier with a Top 10 finish, in 8th, followed by teammates Tzipi Levkoe-Stephens in 12th, Charlotte Ailey in 34th, and Kiera Hall in 39th. Big Thunder’s Delaney Summers finished 47th, Kaia Hakanen (Lappe Nordic) finished 49th, and Sydney Ball (Lappe Nordic) in 83rd. In the Boys’ 10 km race Mikkai Jamsa (Lappe Nordic) was the top local skier in 14th place. Huntington McNab (Big Thunder) finished 65th, Willem Abbink (Lappe Nordic) finished 68th, Rudy Balabuck (Big Thunder) was 83rd, Sam Vanlenthe (Big Thunder) was 103rd. In the ParaNordic PNV1 Race, Jesse Bachinsky of Kenora finished 2nd, just 7 seconds off the leader with Lappe Nordic’s Matthew Cuddy as his guide.
Day 2 of racing was a classic technique sprint race for the U18/U16 athletes. All athletes competed in a qualification time trial in the morning and the top 30 skiers in each category moved on to elimination heats. Once again Reid Thompson stepped onto the podium to claim his second silver medal in two days. Also in the U16 race Nigel Kinston also qualified for the heats and raced through to the semi finals, finishing 11th for the day. Palmer Hunt finished 40th, Cedar Clark 48th, Oskar Berglund 84th and Felix Doucet 107th. In the U16 Girls race Hanna Abbink was the only Thunder Bay skier to qualify and race the heats finishing 29th for the day. Jill Thompson finished 40th, Nemma Clark finished 67th, Klara van Duyn finished 92nd, and Laine Hupka finished 97th. In the U18 girls race, Tzipi Levkoe-Stephens qualified 15th and raced her way up to 12th racing in the semi-finals, while teammate Min Dobson qualified 29th and raced up to 25th in the quarter finals. Kiera Hall finished 38th, Charlotte Ailey 43rd, Delaney Summers 57th, Kaia Hakanen 69th and Sydney Ball 93rd. In the Boys race Willem Abbink and Rudy Balabuck both qualified for the heats racing in the quarterfinals to 13th and 30th place finishes, respectively. Mikkai Jamsa finished 42nd, Sam Vanlenthe finished 53rd and Huntington McNab finished 65th. On Day 3 at Nationals the Junior categories will rest and prepare for their next events while the Senior categories will compete in an interval start free technique race. In the ParaNordic sprint, Jesse Bachinsky and Guide Matthew Cuddy claimed their second silver medal of the week.
