11 cross-country skiers nominated to Team Canada for Milano Cortina 2026
Eleven cross-country skiers will join Team Canada for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
Those names were confirmed following the Nordiq Canada 2026 Olympic Winter Games Trials which took place December 14-16 at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, British Columbia.
Among the group that will compete at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in the Val di Fiemme region are three returning Olympians and eight first time Olympic team members.
Katherine Stewart-Jones, who made her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, earned priority nomination to the Olympic team by having achieved two top-10 finishes in individual events during the 2024-25 FIS World Cup season. One of those was a career-best fourth-place finish in the women’s 20km freestyle last December. She therefore did not compete at the trials, instead racing in the opening events of the 2025-26 FIS World Cup season.
“I love racing, and especially when it’s on an even bigger stage. I really do think that pressure is a privilege in a lot of ways, and to get the opportunity to race at the highest level, at the Olympic Games, it’s going to be so exciting,” said Stewart-Jones.
Joining her on the women’s team are some accomplished up-and-comers, all aged 23 or younger. Sonjaa Schmidt made history at the 2024 FIS U23 World Championships when she became the first Canadian woman to win a U23 World title in cross-country skiing, taking gold in the freestyle sprint. In January 2025, she achieved a career-best World Cup result in the same event, placing fourth in Engadin, Switzerland.
Liliane Gagnon won a pair of individual bronze medals at the 2025 FIS U23 World Championships in the women’s 10km freestyle and women’s 20km classic mass start. Alison Mackie won bronze medals in those same events at the 2025 FIS Junior World Championships, becoming the first Canadian woman to win a world junior championship medal in cross-country skiing since 1989. At just 20 years old, she will be Canada’s youngest Olympic cross-country skiing competitor since Turin 2006.
Amelia Wells is a three-time national champion in the women’s 10km freestyle. Jasmine Drolet is the 2024 NCAA Champion in the women’s 20km classic mass start. She’ll have the joy of making her Olympic debut alongside her older brother, Rémi Drolet, who will be competing at his second straight Olympic Winter Games.
The other returning Olympian on the men’s team is Antoine Cyr, who has been knocking on the door of international podiums. At Beijing 2022, he was part of a fifth-place finish in the classic team sprint with Graham Ritchie, a best ever result for Canada. He and Ritchie placed fourth in the free team sprint at the 2023 FIS World Championships. Cyr has twice finished fourth in FIS World Cup events, most recently in March 2024 in a classic sprint, which helped him finish that season ranked 10th in the World Cup standings.
Xavier McKeever will build on his family legacy in the sport as he makes his Olympic debut. Both of his parents, Milaine Thériault and Robin McKeever, are Olympians, while his uncle, Brian McKeever, is Canada’s most decorated Winter Paralympian with 20 medals. The 22-year-old finished in the top-10 twice at the 2025 FIS U23 World Championships.
“My decision to become a skier was created at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games watching my uncle and dad compete and win, so in my career I’ve had so many full circle moments, and this is another one of those full circle moments,” said McKeever. “Getting the chance to represent Canada at the Olympics is incredible, and it’s also so crazy that I’m going to be racing in Italy which is where I watched my mom compete at Turin 2006 when I was two years old. So it’s a pretty surreal moment to be able to race in Italy at the Olympics, 20 years later.”
Tom Stephen and Max Hollmann both came back from injuries to win the men’s 10km classic and men’s 10km free, respectively, at the trials to earn their Olympic spots.
In 2020, Stephen, McKeever, and Drolet made history with their silver medal in the men’s 4x5km relay at the FIS Junior World Championships. That was Canada’s first ever world championship cross-country skiing relay medal at any level. Hollmann, McKeever, and Cyr finished fifth in the men’s 4×7.5km relay at the 2025 FIS World Championships, matching Canada’s best ever world championship result in a men’s relay.
READ: Milano Cortina 2026 set to have first gender-equal Olympic racing programme for cross-country skiing
Milano Cortina 2026 will be the first Olympic Winter Games to have true gender equality in cross-country skiing. All of the men’s and women’s events will be raced over the same distances, including the 50km mass start which will close out the competition.
Team Canada Cross-Country Skiers at Milano Cortina 2026:
Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.)
Jasmine Drolet (Rossland, B.C.)
Rémi Drolet (Rossland, B.C.)
Liliane Gagnon (Shawinigan-Sud, Que.)
Max Hollmann (Thunder Bay, Ont.)
Alison Mackie (Edmonton, Alta.)
Xavier McKeever (Canmore, Alta.)
Sonjaa Schmidt (Whitehorse, Yuk.)
Tom Stephen (Calgary, Alta.)
Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.)
Amelia Wells (Victoria, B.C.)
