Crawford hopes to score World Cup gold at home
Visitors to the day lodge at the Canmore Nordic Centre immediately realize they have just walked into an Olympic medal factory.
The evidence is right at the front door in the form of the golden bauble belonging to Chandra Crawford framed for all to see — along with her No. 8 race bib — from the 1.5-kilometre sprint at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
Six years back, Crawford dedicated that medal to the good people of Canmore. Today, she hopes to give the folks in her hometown yet another reason to cheer in the women’s sprints at the Alberta World Cup.
In her signature distance, on her favourite course, Crawford is shooting to grace the World Cup podium for the first time in 2012-13.
“It’s unbelievable being able to race at home,” said Crawford, born and raised in Canmore. “Living out of a duffel bag for months on end is something we all have to do, but not the Canadian team. Not this week.”
Crawford won World Cup gold at home in 2008 and she would like nothing more than to author a repeat before friends and family.
The 29-year-old ranks that trip to the top of the podium right up near the Olympic victory in Italy.
“That was an amazing experience,” she said. “I just remember being in the stadium and looking at the Three Sisters and thinking ‘Wow, I took my first steps on skis right here in this stadium.’ ”
In truth, she can’t count the hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of steps she has taken over a lifetime of training at the Nordic centre.
“I feel so relaxed here, so supported,” she said.“To be able to bust it out with the home crowd cheering me on — and do my skate sprint with everyone there — was such an incredible experience. The people here have just done so much for me. And they continue to work so hard to make things like this World Cup happen.”
Back in 2006, Crawford won gold in the skate sprint. Four years later, she had no choice but to use the classic technique in Whistler and failed to advance beyond the quarter-finals.
The classic technique requires different skis, boots and poles, and the motion itself is nothing like skate-sprinting. The classic technique is all about finesse. Skate sprinting relies more on brute power and strength.
The itinerary at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia calls for a switch back to the skate sprint, much to Crawford’s relief.
The same goes for Saturday’s race in the shadow of the Rockies, which Crawford calls her power source. She could use an extra boost after failing to qualify for the finals in the first two World Cup sprints of the season (although she did win silver in the final FIS tune-up race in Sweden prior to the start of the season.)
“Hopefully she can get her mojo back here on a course that’s treated her well,” said Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth.
“It’s not the same course by any means that she won on before in 2008, but it has a similar finishing stretch. This should be a good course for her. If she doesn’t do well here, there’s probably some head-scratching that needs to happen.”