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Team Canada and its Yukon duo, Graham and Emily Nishikawa, experienced plenty of highs and lows at the World Nordic Ski Championships, which wrapped up in Val di Fiemme, Italy on Sunday.

Graham, 29, and Emily, 23, were both members of the 11-athlete team representing Canada at the championships. Emily was the youngest skier to make the team.

The two Whitehorse skiers recently told the Star they were "proud to represent the Yukon鈥� in what was the most significant event in their young careers.

The last race of the championship was the men's 50-kilometre free technique race Sunday, won decisively by Johan Olsson.

The Swede attacked early and was the sole leader for an astonishing 30 km, winning in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 41.4 seconds.

The 32-year-old Swede beat Switzerland's Dario Cologna by 12.9 seconds, with Alexey Poltoranin finishing third, 16.8 seconds behind Olsson.

Alex Harvey was the top Canadian, finishing 28th.

"It was sink or swim. Doing it this way is absolutely fantastic,鈥� Olsson said of his race. "It was not planned to be so early. When I went, I thought that maybe it was stupid.

"I saw that I had 500 feet (at the top of the last hill), so I realized victory was mine.

This is the biggest race you can win, so it means a lot. But the actual performance, to go solo so far, means more than the gold medal.鈥�

Graham Nishikawa finished in the middle of the pack, in 48th place, but less than two minutes back of the leader.

Earlier in the week, he clocked a 39th place finish in the 15-km individual start skate race.

For sister Emily Nishikawa, the women's 30-km race on Saturday proved disappointing.

Skiing in tough 11 C temperatures, the women's field broke up early as a blistering pace was set by eventual winner Marit Bjorgen of Norway and Poland's Justina Kowalchuk.

Unable to hold the pace, Emily dropped back and was eventually lapped by the leaders, causing her to be pulled from the race.

Her best race of the week should have been the women's 4x5-km relay Feb. 28, where she skied the third leg for the team.

Emily held her own in the race, starting off in 12th place and fighting off the opposition to hold the placing through the leg.

What should have been a strong finish for the team was marred by illness, however, as Canada's Brittany Webster woke up sick, forcing the team to scratch after the third leg.

The highlight of the week for Canada was Alex Harvey's bronze medal in the classic sprint race and two fourth-place finishes 鈥� one from Ivan Babikov and one from the Harvey, Devon Kershaw duo in the team sprint.

Norway ends the championships top of the medal table, with 19. The tally includes eight golds, half of which were down to Marit Bjoergen, who won three individual races and one team event.

France is second with four medals 鈥� all of which involved Jason Lamy Chappuis. It has three golds, while two of Russia's five medals are gold.

鈥� With files from the Associated Press