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Whitehorse native Dahria Beatty, 27, has been cross-country skiing since she was three.

She won gold at her first national championships at the age of 14.

Beatty has spent four years on the Junior National team and eight years on the Senior National Team.

She competed in her first Olympic games in 2018.

Beatty is currently training in Canmore, Alberta for the upcoming World Cup season.

鈥淚 race in all the disciplines for the most part,鈥� said Beatty. 鈥淚 tend to focus a bit more on the sprint disciplines, but I do both sprint and distance.鈥�

Sprints are between one and 1.8 kilometres.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a qualification where everyone goes and does that course individually and the top 30 times move on to the heats. Then they have a quarter final, semi-final, final. So if you make it all the way to the final, you race four times in a day,鈥� exclaimed Beatty.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a slightly different format than the distance disciplines, which are five kilometres to 30 kilometres for women 鈥� you just do them once. There鈥檚 individual start formats, where everyone goes out at 30-second intervals, and races the clock, and the fastest time wins.

鈥淎nd then there鈥檚 also the mass-start format, where everyone lines up in the grid format and it鈥檚 similar to 鈥� if you watch a running race where 鈥� the first that crosses the line is the winner. The distance events have both of those formats.鈥�

Beatty explained how she reached this point in her career.

鈥淚 did a ton of different sports growing up and had quite a bit of success in cross-country. I represented Canada when I was 15 at World Junior Championships, and I raced internationally while I was still living in Whitehorse in high school.

鈥淎fter high school, I decided to try to pursue skiing full-time, so I based myself out of Canmore, Alberta, where the national team is based out of for training, and I was able to qualify for the C national team my first year graduation into the senior ranks and have been on the team for the last eight years since then,鈥� related Beatty.

鈥淚 just kind of worked my way up 鈥� I had lots of race opportunities when I was young 鈥� the Yukon ski team, I traveled with them all through my high school career and then made the transition to training with a team down here in Canmore called the World Cup Academy, which is a national development program, which then feeds into the national team, hopefully. Well, that鈥檚 the goal.鈥�

Competing in her first Olympic games in 2018 had mixed results.

鈥淚 raced in five events,鈥� recalled Beatty. 鈥淚 had a couple races that went well for me and a couple that were not quite what I was hoping for, but overall it was a very amazing experience. I learned a lot, so I鈥檓 hoping to take the lessons I鈥檝e learned from that, and qualify for the Games this winter and be able to produce a bit stronger results having a bit of knowledge of what I鈥檓 getting myself into this time. So that鈥檚 the goal for this winter.鈥�

There are a couple of ways for Beatty to qualify for the Olympics in Beijing.

鈥淲e have to show that we鈥檙e showing race form within the Olympic season鈥� said Beatty. 鈥淚 need to get a top-30 result on the World Cup, here before Christmas, in 鈥� any one of the races 鈥� then I鈥檒l have met their World Cup criteria.

鈥淚f I鈥榤 not able to do that, there are going to be trials races in Canmore the first week of January where the winner of the race goes to the Olympics, so that鈥檚 kind of the backup if I鈥檓 not able to meet the objective criteria for the World Cup before Christmas.鈥�

As for how she鈥檚 feeling going into the season, 鈥淚鈥檓 really excited to get back to racing 鈥� last two years we鈥檝e had a reduced calendar because of COVID, and last year was a very weird year racing. We鈥檒l have lots of precautions this year, but knowing that everyone鈥檚 vaccinated now, it鈥檚 a level of stress that is taken off, compared to last year, which was an extremely high-stress season. So I鈥檓 really excited to get back to racing and just take all the training I鈥檝e done these past few years and put it to the test.鈥�

Beatty has a busy schedule ahead of her.

鈥淭here is a full World Cup schedule. Canada鈥檚 not going to all the events, but before Christmas, I鈥檒l be racing three World Cup weekends starting in Lillehammer, Norway Dec. (3), the following weekend in Davos, Switzerland 鈥� and the final World Cup before Christmas is in Dresden, Germany.

鈥淐urrently the plan is to race at a Norwegian FIS (Federation Internationale de Ski) race that last weekend in November to prepare for the World Cups in Norway the following weekend.鈥�

鈥淚 leave for Europe Nov. 18, so I鈥檒l be back here 鈥� I鈥檒l be training in Whitehorse next week and I鈥檒l be training in Canmore until I leave in November and then I鈥檒l do a few test races here in Canmore, but they鈥檙e not official races. They don鈥檛 count for anything. They鈥檒l just be getting our bodies ready for the race season, putting a race bib back on and remembering what it feels like to race.鈥�

As with many athletes, it takes a village to get to Beatty鈥檚 level.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a multitude of people who鈥檝e had an influence on my career. It鈥檚 been long. There鈥檚 so many people in Whitehorse who鈥檝e been a huge influence on my career. I grew up going through the Yukon Ski Team program and with Alain Masson as my coach and his wife Lucy (Steele-Masson) 鈥� who鈥檚 also an Olympian in cross-country skiing 鈥� was definitely a huge role model growing up and someone who always had a huge depth of knowledge to draw on for the young athletes.

鈥淎nd my parents have always been huge supporters of me, pushing skiing at all points of my career, which has been amazing 鈥�

鈥淚 was also lucky to have many role models as 鈥� teammates and athletes that are just a bit older than me growing up in the Yukon. Emily Nishikawa, who retired two years ago, was my teammate for eight years here in Canmore, and she鈥檚 from Whitehorse, so I always had her to look up to and try to keep up to.

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 say there鈥檚 one person who鈥檚 had a more specific effect on my career, but it鈥檚 been a whole bunch of people and the whole community.鈥�

As for her future goals, 鈥済oal number one, since it is an Olympic season, is qualifying for that 鈥� skate-sprinting is probably my strongest event and how cross-country skiing works is at the Olympics there鈥檚 only one sprint event each Olympics, so they alternate techniques, 鈥榗ause there鈥檚 the skate technique and classic technique in cross-country skiing.

鈥淪o at the last Olympics there was no skate sprint, there was a classic sprint, so I鈥檓 very much looking forward to the skate sprint. That has been circled on my goals list for 2022 for many many years, so that鈥檚 definitely an event I鈥檓 targeting and hoping to make the heat in and see how far I can get. I definitely 鈥� I鈥檓 hoping to make it into the semifinals 鈥� would be my goal for the Olympics, but also just to be skiing into the semifinals and final in the World Cup heats in the skate sprint events as well before Christmas here. Trying to have more consistent races into the semifinals and getting past the quarterfinals.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 three skate sprints before Christmas on the World Cup so I鈥檓 definitely going to be focusing on getting a strong result in one of those events if possible.鈥�

Beatty isn鈥檛 ruling out the distance events, either.

鈥淚鈥檓 definitely looking forward to racing distance events,鈥� said Beatty. 鈥淚 had my best ever distance results the very last race of last season where I finished 15th in the World Cup in Engadin (Valley), Switzerland, so I鈥檓 hoping to carry some of that momentum and confidence that I got in my distance racing last year into this season.

鈥淭he distance races that we鈥檒l do before Christmas are individual starts, so just focusing more on the process for me for those events, and trying to ski and execute as well as possible and see what type of result that gives me, but hopefully it鈥檒l be an improvement from previous years. But because those distance races early in the season won鈥檛 be head to head, my goal for those are more process-oriented, even though I have process goals for the sprint as well, but it鈥檚 a little more direct. You know exactly what鈥檚 happening because there鈥檚 a bunch of people around you.鈥�

Beatty has an overall goal in mind for her World Cup races as well.

鈥淚 would really love to be in the Top 30 overall in the World Cup standings at the end of the year. That might be a little bit of a difficult task, because Canada has chosen not to go to a lot of World Cups this coming year in order to prepare for the Olympics, or due to budget, but definitely having that consistency that I was talking about. If I can claim that, then being able to be in the Top 30 overall in the World Cup standings would definitely be something I鈥檓 hoping to achieve this season.鈥�

Beatty feels like she鈥檚 representing the Yukon, as well as Canada.

鈥淥h, for sure 鈥� the Yukon has a huge ski community and has had huge success internationally producing skiers, so I definitely feel like I鈥檓 always representing the Yukon, as well as Canada.

鈥淚t鈥檚 such an amazing community for support. I know there鈥檚 always so many people following my racing achievements here, and whether it鈥檚 going well or poorly, they鈥檙e always supportive. So definitely always representing the Yukon as well as Canada, and the Whitehorse Ski Club even more specifically as well.鈥�