Alison Mackie clinched the gold medal in the women’s 20-kilometre mass start, while fellow Canadian Xavier McKeever secured the bronze in the men’s category at the under-23 cross-country skiing championships held in Lillehammer, Norway. Mackie, hailing from Edmonton, completed the race in 49 minutes and 41 seconds, with Eva Ingebrigtsen of Norway taking the second spot and Leonie Perry of France claiming third place. The 20-year-old skier had a notable performance at the recent Milano-Cortina Games, finishing eighth in the women’s 10km interval start event.
In the men’s competition, McKeever crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 43 minutes and 33.1 seconds, just 6-10ths of a second behind the gold medalist Elias Keck from Germany. Savelii Korostelev from Russia secured the silver medal in the same event.
McKeever, a 22-year-old athlete from Canmore, Alberta, also made a mark in the Olympic arena last month, contributing to Canada’s fifth-place finish in the 4×7.5 km relay and the sixth-place finish in the men’s team sprint event. The competition in Lillehammer is set to continue until Sunday.