Emily Nishikawa leaves World Cup stage
Apr 23, 2020·Cross-Country
The 30 year-old Canadian has been a team member of the Canadian national team for 9 years. With 90 starts in the World Cup, the native to Canmore, Alberta travelled around the globe as one of the worlds top class Cross-Country skiers and leaves the World Cup stage now with a bag full of memories.
Emily Nishikawa recalled the moment that sticks in the mind of many young athletes. The milestone of standing at the start line for her first Olympic Witner Games competition. Emily finished that race in 42nd position. But the ranking did not matter in that moment. The being, the doing, the journey from here to there, through injury and self-doubt, from the anonymity of Whitehorse, Yukon Territories to the world’s largest sporting stage, is what mattered, what resonated.
“Just to be able to finally say ‘I’m an Olympian’ meant so much,’’ Nishikawa says. “Achieving a goal, I’d been working toward for so long – an incredible, incredible feeling. I had such a big smile on my face, I just couldn’t imagine.
There’d be further highlights over the next five Cross-Country ski seasons: An Olympic return trip, to PyeongChang four years after Russia, and being the lone Canadian woman to finish the nine-day, seven-stage, four-country Tour de Ski in 2019 ranking high among them.
But now, nearing 31 years old, she has decided to step away from competitive skiing.
“It’s just time to move on to new things in my life,’’ Nishikawa reckons. “I’ve had a really great career with the national team. But I’m ready for new challenges.
“I’ll be finishing my psychology degree [at Athabasca College] in a couple of weeks and then I’m heading into a teacher’s program, two years, through the Yukon College in Whitehorse.”
Emily, your FIS Cross-Country family wishes you all the best for your next chapter in life. Thank you for bringing Cross-Country skiing closer to peoples lives and hearts and for being a passionate and loyal team member of the international Cross-Country family.
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