For the first time in her career, cross-country skier Katherine Stewart-Jones found herself on the starting line of a 50 kilometer race. The challenge was colossal and the effort provided by the Quebecer was just as great, she who took the 20e rank after 3 h 19 min 4.7 s of effort on the legendary Holmenkollen circuit, in Oslo, Norway.
The 27-year-old athlete wanted to be well prepared for this first mass start freestyle event for the women. She sought advice from her teammate Olivier Léveillé who has just come out of two 50 kilometer events in the past week.
“I really didn’t know what to expect. I asked Olivier for advice and he told me his thing was to eat lots of bread and drink Gatorade. I tried his thing and I guess it’s not that crazy,” Stewart-Jones told Sportcom, laughing. “Otherwise, I prepared as if I was going to do a 30 kilometer race. I wanted to be really ready. »
Stewart-Jones stuck to his game plan, which was simply to stay in the peloton as long as possible. She found herself between the 17e and the 20e rank throughout the race before finishing with a delay of 5 minutes 28.6 seconds on the winner of the day, the Norwegian Ragnhild Gloeersen Haga.
” It was hard ! The race did not start too quickly, fortunately! It’s such a different effort, it’s special. My legs hurt at the end, but I’m happy and proud that I did it. I really liked that! It’s fun to be part of history, I gave it my all! added Stewart-Jones.
Like Léveillé the day before, Stewart-Jones’ change of skis was not easy halfway through the race. Without really understanding why or how, she came into contact with the stick of one of her opponents, leaving a significant mark on her arm.
“Almost all the girls changed skis at the same time. The girl next to me pulled her stick out of nowhere and it stuck in my arm! I wasn’t able to get back to my lane because I had one more stick in my arm,” she exclaimed, adding that in the end there was more fear than harm.
After 50 kilometres, victory came down to 0.3 seconds as Haga narrowly edged her compatriot Astrid Oeyre Slind. American Jessie Diggins (+0.5 seconds), who was also in the fight for victory, completed the podium.
Katherine Stewart-Jones will enjoy a well-deserved rest in the coming days before returning to action next weekend in Falun, Sweden.