KATHERINE STEWART-JONES
Sport: Cross-Country Skiing
Events: Women’s 10km + 10km Skiathlon, 10km Interval Start Free, Women’s 4 x 7.5km Relay, 50km Mass Start Classic
Age: 30
Hometown: Chelsea
Residence: Canmore, AB
Local Club: Nakkertok Nordic
Second Olympics
Instagram: @kstewartjones
VIEW KATHERINE’S COMPETITION SCHEDULE HERE.
By Martin Cleary
Katherine Stewart-Jones is heading to her second Winter Olympic Games next month and she’s doing it her way.
Despite the absence of the traditional Nordiq Canada off-season training camp in 2025, the Nakkertok Nordic Ski Club cross-country racer from Chelsea, PQ, took it upon herself to organize one camp in Europe and hook onto the Quebec team for an altitude camp in Utah.
Being the only Canadian to pre-qualify for the national cross-country ski team to the 2026 Milano Cortina Games in Italy, she had flexibility in her schedule to approach the apex of her season with a designer plan.
After competing with some success in six 2025-26 World Cup races in Ruka, Finland; Trondheim, Norway; and Davos, Switzerland, Stewart-Jones flew back to Canada in mid-December and made her way to Silver Star Mountain in Vernon, B.C. to join her vacationing family for a Christmas visit plus training.
By doing so, she missed the annual, end-of-the-year FIS Tour de Ski, which she has competed in three times and was 16th and 18th overall respectively in 2025 and 2023. But she determined a break with family would be far more beneficial than remaining in her ski community.
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“I was able to decide before the season started what I wanted to do,” Stewart-Jones, 30, said in a recent phone interview from a training camp near St. Moritz, Switzerland. “I had qualified for the Olympic team (by meeting the Nordiq Canada criteria before being nominated to the Canadian Olympic Committee). I wanted what was best for me to be fast in February.”
The Winter Olympics are scheduled for Feb. 6-22 in Milano Cortina, Italy. The cross-country ski races are slated for 10 days between Feb. 7-22 at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in the heart of Val di Fiemme.
“I took a break last month and put in a training block. I was focused on trying to be at my best for the Olympics,” she added.
During her time in Western Canada, Stewart-Jones had a relaxing visit with her family for one week, which included light training sessions. She also spent two weeks training in Canmore, AB.
“It’s difficult being on the road for four months,” said Stewart-Jones, referring to the physical and mental challenges. “It’s a big ski world and it’s like being in a bubble. It was nice to train (at Silver Star) and be around people who aren’t thinking skiing.”
The rare December break energized Stewart-Jones. She also felt uplifted after she organized a pair of off-season camps to set her wheels in motion for her Olympic season.
“This season, we didn’t have any national-team training camps. There was no funds. It was up to our own decisions,” explained Stewart-Jones, who organized two camps for herself with the help of $8,000 she received in athlete funding from CAN Fund, which has raised millions of dollars in the past quarter century to help Canadian athletes succeed at their Winter and Summer sports.
“It was the first year we didn’t have a fall training camp,” she noted. “It was probably not ideal. At the national-team camp, it was good and all organized for you, including transportation. This year (2025), I went to Europe and did everything on my own.”
In August, she travelled to Norway for training on roller skis with the teams from Switzerland and France as well as other skiers from other countries.
“In Europe, the goal was to train with new people,” Stewart-Jones said. “We had competitive races, which I don’t usually do. It gave me an opportunity to be in race mode and assess my work (training).”
In September-October, she joined the Quebec ski team for an altitude camp at Park City, Utah, which brought her closer to the start of the World Cup racing season.
“Going into the World Cup season, I felt a bit unsure about how I would do,” Stewart-Jones revealed. “I had good training, but I had sickness in the summer and I couldn’t train then.
“I had more time off training than I liked. The thing is you want to improve in the fall.”
When Stewart-Jones started her 2025-26 World Cup racing season, she posted an 18th-place finish in the 20-kilometre women’s free technique mass-start race at Ruka. Her other top-30 result was a 28th in the women’s 10-kilometre free-technique race in Davos. In her three other 10-kilometre races and a sprint qualifier, she placed in the 30s and 40s.
“I like the head-to-head (mass start) racing, the strategy, holding onto the group and pacing yourself,” she added. “It’s quite good.”
Stewart-Jones will conclude her pre-Olympic World Cup racing schedule with races Saturday and Sunday in Oberhof, Germany (which offers the women’s sprint and the 10-kilometre interval classic race) and Goms, Switzerland, on Jan. 23-25 (which has a women’s team sprint, sprint and a 20-kilometre classic mass start).
For the almost two weeks before the Winter Games, the Canadian team will head to Seefeld, Germany, for a training camp.
Stewart-Jones is uncertain which races she will contest at the Olympics, but hopes to be in all three distance races, including the final women’s 50-kilometre mass-start classic on Feb. 22.
“My goal is to race as hard as I can and see what happens,” she offered. “I don’t (talk) about results. No matter what … I want to do everything in my power to be at my best. I think then I will be satisfied.
“I’m in really good shape. You can’t fake being fit. But I’m still pushing to be more consistent. I want to be able to put consistent training together and stay healthy.”
During her Olympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Stewart-Jones was 12th in the team sprint with Dahria Beatty, ninth in the 4×5-kilometre relay, 23rd in the 15-kilometre skiathlon, 30th in the 30-kilometre free-technique and 36th in the 10-kilometre classic.
KATHERINE STEWART-JONES COMPETITION SCHEDULE
Add Katherine’s schedule to your calendar on this page.
Ottawa at the Olympics Newsletter
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Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.
