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Cross Country Canada —Locke skis just shy of earning spot in semifinals—

DRESDEN, GER.—Julien Locke cranked out a career-best 15th-place finish at a World Cup cross-country skiing city sprint race in Dresden, Germany on Saturday.

The second-year member of the National Ski Team from Nelson, B.C. broke through with a solid performance in the unique sprint course laid out through the downtown streets of Dresden.

“I’m so happy to have my best World Cup finish here. I felt great today. I had lots of energy and good power in the body,” said Locke, who had little time to get to Europe following last week’s series of races in Mont Sainte-Anne, Que.

“I had fantastic support from the small team with us here today. We had excellent skis and everything we needed to perform.”

The lone Canadian of the four to earn a spot into the round of 30 in the head-to-head heats for the skate-ski sprint race after qualifying in 16th place, the 24-year-old Locke didn’t shy away from lining up against many World Cup heavyweights in the round of 30.

Following a slow start, Locke turned on the jets on a long straight away where he climbed his way into the front of the pack and took control of the heat on the firm snow that was trucked in to cover the relatively flat course that winds along the Elbe River.

“The course was the fastest I’ve done in years. The snow was rock solid and icy in the qualifier and softened up for the heats,” said Locke. “It was a great atmosphere on the course today. It’s a neat venue with the blackened architecture across the Elbe River from the race. There was huge turnout of boisterous spectators spurring us on.”

Locke lost some steam going up the final hill that was created just before the finish and ended up lunging across the line in third place.

The top-two finishers in each heat advance to the next round, with the next two fastest times overall. Locke’s day came to an end, just missing out on one of the two lucky loser positions.

“I was disappointed not to make it through to the semis. I felt great, lots of energy and had good power in the body. I was ready to keep racing hard,” said Locke. “After cooling down, the satisfaction of having my career best finish started to grow on me. It was certainly a good day of racing.

Locke has two top-20 finishes under his belt in his young career on the World Cup, with his best individual sprint finish being 20th in Quebec last year.

“(Early in the season) I was in good form and skiing well, but finishing just out of the heats. I knew that I was fast enough, however, I needed to dial in my pacing and start more aggressively. I went home, trained well and feel that I’m at a good level now to keep the momentum up through the next part of the season,” added Locke.

Italy’s Federico Pellegrino won the men’s race. Norway’s Johannes Klaebo was second, while Lucas Chanavat, of France, skied to the bronze medal.

Other Canadian results included: Bob Thompson (Thunder Bay, Ont.) in 50th; Dominique Moncion-Groulx (Gatineau, Que.) in 59th; and Quebec’s Antoine Briand placed 60th.

A World Cup team sprint race is slated for Dresden, Germany on Sunday.

CCC is the governing body of cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal winter sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities, including those on Canada’s National Ski Teams and Para-Nordic Ski Teams. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, Mackenzie Investments, Swix and Lanctôt Sports– along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, CCC develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more information on CCC, please visit us at www.cccski.com.

Complete Men’s Sprint Results: http://bit.ly/2DtR0g6

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Chris Dornan

Media and Public Relations

Cross Country Canada

T: 403-620-8731