Canadian ski jumpers, cross-country skiers, and biathletes gear up for important 2024-25 season
Team Canada Nordic sport athletes will be flying and gliding towards their 2026 Olympic dreams this season in the sports of ski jumping, cross-country skiing, and biathlon.
For cross-country skiing and biathlon, the biggest batch of quota spots for Milano Cortina 2026 will be determined based on results and rankings at the end of the 2024-25 season, with some quotas remaining to be allocated in January 2026. Ski jumping quota spots will be allocated in January 2026, based on results and rankings from both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons.
The 2025 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway in February, featuring ski jumping and cross-country skiing, and the 2025 IBU Biathlon World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland will be the big dances of the season as athletes look to rehearse their builds for the next Olympic Winter Games.
Here’s a quick overview of who and what to keep on your radar this season.
Ski Jumping
World Championships
- FIS Nordic World Ski Championships – Trondheim, Norway – February 27-March 8, 2025
Who to Watch
Team Canada fans can anticipate Canadian ski jumpers to keep flying high this season with a talented young crew headlined by Olympians Alexandria Loutitt and Abigail Strate.
Loutitt and Strate were both part of Canada’s first ever Olympic medal in ski jumping–a bronze in the mixed team event at Beijing 2022. Since then, they’ve proven to be strong individual competitors as well.
Loutitt was the large hill world champion in 2023 and heads into the season with eight individual FIS World Cup podiums to her name. After finishing third overall in the World Cup standings in 2023-24, she is particularly hopeful for the coming season, given that it’s one of the first she’s entered without rehabbing any injuries. This has meant she’s been able to try new things in training, including some reps in a wind tunnel.
“It’s a training tool to fine-tune flying, and fine-tune the last and most important part of the flight–and that’s the part that, historically, I’ve struggled with the most,” Loutitt says. “I’ve seen a crazy difference post-wind tunnel.”
Flight has also been a training focus for Strate over the last few months, along with landings.
“Our whole team [has been] working on landings, because I think we’ve lost 10 podiums over the last two years, just due to landing points…So we’ve all been in a boot camp there,” says Strate.
Strate had a breakthrough season in 2023-24, notching three straight World Cup podiums as the calendar flipped from December to January. She enters the 2024-25 season with four FIS World Cup podiums to her name.
They did not spend the entire summer in training, however, as they competed in several Grand Prix events held off-snow from August to early October. They were joined in those early season events by Nicole Maurer, who has also competed full time on the World Cup circuit over the last few seasons. Natalie Eilers has recently rounded out the Canadian quartet, but she missed the back half of last season after a crash landing led to her undergoing major knee surgery, from which she is still recovering.
Cross-Country Skiing
World Championships
- FIS Nordic World Ski Championships – Trondheim, Norway – February 26-March 8, 2025
Who to Watch
The national team may be filled with 20-somethings, but these young Canadians have been steadily developing into international podium contenders over the last couple of years.
Antoine Cyr will certainly be one to watch this season. The 26-year from Gatineau, Quebec raced to 10th place in the overall FIS Cross-Country World Cup standings in 2023-24, in part due to his versatility across distances and the two techniques of classic and free, also known as skate skiing. The highlight was a fourth-place finish in a classic sprint event in Drammen, Norway in March, as he came within half a second of what could have been his first career World Cup podium.
At Beijing 2022, Cyr finished fifth in the men’s team sprint alongside teammate Graham Ritchie. It was Canada’s best ever Olympic result in the event in classic technique. But given last season’s results, Cyr thinks there can be more in store for Milano Cortina 2026.
“In 2025 we have the world championships in Trondheim–that’s a big, big goal for me. They’re around the same date as the Olympics as well. So for the training program, we can do a practice run,” says Cyr.
Ritchie was forced to end last season early due to an ankle fracture. He will look to be back in the mix this winter, but that return won’t be until after the first few World Cup stops.
At the last world championships in 2023, Cyr and Ritchie were part of a fifth-place finish in the 4x10km relay alongside two even younger teammates, Olivier Léveillé (now 23) and Xavier McKeever (now 21). McKeever in particular is a highly touted prospect thanks to his success at the junior level and his family pedigree. Both of his parents were Olympic cross-country skiers and his uncle Brian McKeever is Canada’s most decorated Winter Paralympian.
Speaking of young success stories, last season Sonjaa Schmidt became Canada’s first ever female U23 world champion, winning sprint gold. This season will be a learning experience for sure for the 21-year-old who only made her World Cup debut in January 2024.
Biathlon
World Championships
- IBU World Championships, Lenzerheide, Switzerland, February 12-23
Who to Watch
Two-time Olympian Emma Lunder is the veteran to watch on the Canadian biathlon team. The 33-year-old had a breakthrough season in 2022-23, earning three career best results – including one fourth-place and two-fifth-place finishes in IBU World Cup events – and finishing seventh in the mass start at the 2023 IBU World Championships. Lunder finished 51st in the IBU overall standings in 2023-24.
“The national team has done great work throughout the summer months of training, and I’m excited to see what we can do as a team this year,” Lunder said. “As the oldest on the team, I pay attention to what the others are doing, and I’ve noticed some significant improvements, especially on the women’s team. I’m anticipating some big things from us!”
Joining her on the women’s national team are Nadia Moser, Benita Peiffer, and Pascale Paradis. While Moser and Peiffer have both spent a couple of seasons on the World Cup circuit – and earned career-best results in 2023-24 – the 22-year-old Paradis is still waiting to make her World Cup debut. Peiffer will start the season on the IBU Cup circuit with Shilo Rousseau joining Lunder, Moser, and Paradis in the first few World Cups.
Adam Runnalls and Logan Pletz make up the men’s national team. The 26-year-old Runnalls was a part of the Beijing 2022 men’s 4 x 7.5km relay that finished sixth–Canada’s best ever Olympic result in the event. He posted several career-best results in the last two seasons, breaking into the top-20 four times. They’ll be joined at the first few World Cup stops by Haldan Borglum and Daniel Gilfillan.
