HIGH ACHIEVERS: Skinouk cross-country skier Antoine Cyr achieves goal of top-10 World Cup overall finish

By Martin Cleary

Antoine Cyr is one of the ten best cross-country skiers in the world.

Next stop, the World Cup medal podium.

The Club Skinouk racer from Gatineau missed his first World Cup medal earlier this month by less than half a second, but that remarkable fourth-place result played a key role in him achieving his primary goal for the 2023-24 season.

Way back in November, he was aiming for a top-10 finish in the overall World Cup standings. He accomplished that demanding goal last Sunday because of six spectacular days of racing in Sweden and Norway.

When Cyr completed his 45th race of the season on Sunday, a 26th-place showing during the 20-kilometre freestyle mass start in Falun, Sweden, he earned enough points to maintain his remarkable 10th place in the overall World Cup standings. He moved into 10th one day earlier with an 11th-place showing in the 10 km classic race.

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“The objective has been achieved and I am super happy with 10th position overall,” Cyr told Sportcom reporter Mathieu Laberge in an interview. “I held on as hard as possible, but it was a pretty difficult race. It wasn’t my best, but 26th isn’t bad, either.”

Cyr, 25, registered regular finishes in the 20s this season, which was the foundation of his consistency in individual races on the circuit. But in the end, it was his outstanding racing in the four, season-closing Scandinavian stops that allowed him to become a top-10 overall skier for the 2023-24 season.

“The last (Canadians) who finished in the top 10 in the standings were Alex (Harvey) and Devon (Kershaw),” he added. “So, it almost tastes like a victory for Canadian cross-country skiing.

“It has been a tough season with lots of ups and downs. I’m super happy for the team and they deserve it a lot.”

Alex Harvey recorded World Cup top-10 overall placings seven times in eight seasons between 2011 and 2018, including third-place results in 2014 and 2017. His father Pierre posted three top-10 seasons in his final three years – sixth in 1988, seventh in 1987 and ninth in 1986. Kershaw was second overall in 2012, after being eighth in 2011.

Cyr continually praised the work and support of his teammates, coaches and technicians for his best-season ever.

“It takes a village to raise a champion and it’s a great gift I can give them,” he offered.

Not only did Cyr place 10th in the overall World Cup standings, but also he ranked 18th in distance racing and 26th in sprints. During the 2022-23 season, his previous best-ever results were 24th overall, 20th in distance and 35th in sprint.

The 20-kilometre distance race is one of Cyr’s strengths and he was 21st using the classic style in Lahti in early March. In the lone 50-kilometre World Cup race in Oslo, which was a mass start with the classic technique, he was an impressive 20th.

But two days after that marathon, he was faced with a sprint race in Drammen, Norway, a city which has a lot of personal meaning to Cyr. He more than met the challenge in a big way.

After zipping through the sprint qualifying session with the 11th-best time over the 1.2-kilometre course, he was greatly relieved to reach the final, following close calls in his quarter-final and semi-final races.

By stretching a leg at the finish line and with confirmation from a video replay, Cyr was second in his quarterfinal. He finished third in his semifinal, but his quick time of two minutes, 39.35 seconds allowed him to race in the final. His two elimination races produced the fastest times in each round.

With thoughts of winning his first World Cup medal dancing through his mind, Cyr couldn’t stay with the three Norwegians ahead of him and finished fourth overall.

“I played my cards well and I think I skied well,” Cyr continued in his conversation with Laberge. “The result is the icing on the sundae. I am particularly happy with my day. To be here in the sun, in Norway, the kingdom of cross-country skiing, and to achieve such a good result is really special.”

His fourth-place result matched his best-ever World Cup showing. He also was fourth last season during the Tour de Ski 15-kilometre classic in Val di Fiemme, Italy, as well as the free team sprint at the world championships.

Cyr was introduced to the Drammen racing venue by his father when he was 10 years old. He loved the city, the racing atmosphere with the cheering crowds and dreamed of competing some day in a World Cup race on that course.

“It’s always an important sprint for me. It is also here that I reached the qualifying waves for the first time in the World Cup in 2022,” Cyr said.

“When I was younger, I thought it was a really cool sprint and that’s kind of when I decided what I wanted to do when I grew up. It’s special to be there 15 years later, alongside the best in the world and living my childhood dream.”

Sitting in 11th-place overall with the four final races in Falun, Sweden, Cyr was determined to earn enough race points to climb into the top-10 for the first-time in his five-year World Cup career.

After placing 22nd in the sprint qualifier and 23rd in the final, Cyr charged to an 11th-place showing in the 10-kilometre classic race under difficult conditions of rain and slushy snow. That effort moved him into 10th in the overall point standings with one race remaining.

“I’m really happy with my race. The conditions were really difficult (for the classic style) and usually it’s not in these kinds of conditions that I’m able to perform well,” he explained. “But to have a good race in these conditions is a big positive. I’m really, really happy.”

That race and the recent ones before that gave his confidence a significant boost.

“I know the form is very good at the moment. It’s still close on the scoreboard and there are a few guys that could come back, so it’ll be a super important race (Sunday),” he said.

“Being in the top 10 would really end the World Cup season well. So far, it has been a big success, so if we are able to close the loop tomorrow with a good performance, that would be great.”

Under sunny blue skies for the season-ending race, Cyr stayed as close as he could to the top skiers and finished 26th in the 20-kilometre free mass start race to earn enough points to solidify his entry into the top-10 overall.

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won the 20-kilometre race, crossing the finish line 44.4 seconds ahead of Cyr for his seventh consecutive individual race win, his 13th victory of the season and the 81st in his World Cup career.

Despite his late success, Klaebo stopped second in the overall points standing, while Norwegian teammate Harald Oestberg Amundsen was the overall and distance race champion. Klaebo was the sprint champion.