Whitehorse's Dahria Beatty, shown competing at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Oberstdorf in Germany on Feb. 25, 2021, placed 15th in the World Cup cross-country skiing season finale on Saturday.Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
Canada’s Dahria Beatty raced to 15th place in a 30-kilometre cross-country ski marathon Saturday, in the World Cup season finale.
The Whitehorse resident finished the unique point-to-point race from St. Moritz to S-chanf in one hour 30 minutes 15.2 seconds.
Beatty started 16 seconds behind the leaders based on her 10-kilometre results from a day earlier. The 27-year-old battled a strong headwind en route to the top individual result by a Canadian cross-country skier in a season condensed by COVID-19.
“Today was awesome. It was so much fun skiing in a big group like that,” Beatty said. “I caught the first chase pack, and it was fun to have so many women to ski with. I finished strong but had nothing left at the end. I can’t think of a better way to finish the season.”
It was Beatty’s second top-15 World Cup result. She was 15th at the World Cup Finals in Canmore in 2016.
Katherine Stewart-Jones of Chelsea, Que., was 24th. Cendrine Browne of Saint-Jerome, Que., was 35th.
Norway’s Heidi Weng raced to victory, while Sweden’s Ebba Andersson was second, and Russia Yulia Stupak captured the bronze.
On the men’s side, Antoine Cyr of Gatineau, Que., capped his rookie World Cup season with a 29th-place finish in the 50-kilometre race from Majola to S-chanf.
Norwegian teammates Simen Krueger and Hans Holund claimed the top two spots on the podium, while Jens Burman of Sweden won the bronze.