Anika Wallin of Williams Lake was 32nd in the world for her first big international cross-country ski race in Italy on Feb. 7, 2025.
The young athlete is in her first year with the Alberta World Cup Academy, training with them out of Calgary and Canmore, Alta.
Wallin moved to Calgary to take the next step in cross-country ski competition after having come up under her mother Bev Rooke's coaching at the Williams Lake Cross Country Ski Club. She trained at Bull Mountain before moving to Calgary to pursue skiing while also working on an undergraduate degree in engineering part time at the University of Calgary.
Wallin started in 39th position for the interval starts of the women's 10 km individual free event on Friday in Shilpario, Italy in a field of 75 racers. Racers took off individually at 30 second intervals.
"It was a really cool experience to race internationally and I'm super grateful I was given the opportunity," she said.
She managed to move up a number of spots over the course of the race, finishing at 32nd. Wallin is back home in Calgary now, resuming her training and university studies.
It was an incredible world championships for the Canadian team, with the team already having won four medals at the time of writing.
