For the past month, local skier Jason Oliemans has kept busy, and it does not look like he will have any respite for the next few weeks either.
He recently participated in two Nor-Am Cup races in Sugarloaf Mountain Resort in Maine and Colorado’s Ski Cooper ski resort, finishing ninth in both events. Oliemans then raced in Mont Ste. Marie, Que. March 5-7 in the National Junior Championships, finishing second and third.
To cap off this month, Oliemans will head off to Val Thorens, France to race in the International Ski Federation (FIS) Ski Cross Junior World Championships March 23-24.
“I’m very excited to be going to World Juniors,” said Oliemans. “It was the kind of thing where I was right on the line, not sure if I was going to make it or not, and when I got the email that said I qualified and I’m going to be there, that was of course very exciting.”
The top four of each country gets to participate in the FIS World Juniors.
Oliemans is currently placing fifth, but because someone in the top four could not go, Oliemans got this break.
However, he knows the competition there will challenge him.
“I think it’s going to be very tough competition,” said Oliemans. “But I’m also excited that it will be a well-built course with lots of possibilities for passing, and depending on how the start is, how the course is, I can potentially do very well in it.”
Oliemans is also competing in this week’s Nor-Am Cup events and the SportChek Ski Cross Canadian National Championships in Smithers.
“I’m thinking there’s going to be quite a lot of competition there, and there’s going to be some of the Canadian National Team as well as the most of the Canadian Development Team,” he said. “But I’m excited and looking forward to it because I know Smithers is going to have a really good track.”
Read the full story in the March 16 edition of The Interior News.