Cross-Country Skiing

CANMORE, Alberta - Ironically, on the very morning Sara Renner is discussing her sport and the evils within, a certified drug tester appears and politely asks for a moment of her time, along with a sample, of course.

The Olympic silver medallist obliges without annoyance because she believes in the purity of cross-country skiing and because she no longer frets the changeups and intrusions on an already busy life.

"I think I'm able to prioritize well. Everything has become so much clearer," she explained after running the 10-kilometre course at the Canmore Nordic Centre. "Before, I focused on things that weren't as important, you tend to waste energy. Now I do the best job I can when I'm training, then I come home and I'm a mom.

"I just do my best."

As the 33-year-old mother of a two-year-old daughter, Renner has found the comfortable rhythm between her athletic and personal sides. She trains ruthlessly, pushes herself constantly. When she stops training, she parks her thoughts of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics at the front door of her Canmore home.

It's her ability to separate and prioritize that is allowing Renner to shrug off the building pre-Games distractions, the likes of which recently surfaced when international headlines shouted, Russian skiers caught doping.

The skiers included world under-23 champion Nina Rysina, Turin gold medalist Yevgeny Dementiev and, most disturbing of all, Julia Chepalova, a former rival of Renner's and, like Renner, a mother who continued to ski competitively while raising her children. Chepalova and Dementiev opted to retire; Rysina is facing a two-year ban.

"Chepalova is a three-time [Olympic] gold medallist," Renner said before undergoing her unexpected drug test. "All I can say is doping is still an issue. I don't expect [the Vancouver Olympics] to be a completely clean field. But I think clean athletes who train well and are well prepared will have a better chance than the poorly trained doped athlete.

"That's my belief."

Renner believes that while she may not have the power she once did, she has regained the conditioning she lost by taking a year off following the birth of her daughter Aria. At first, Renner and her husband, Olympic alpine skier Thomas Grandi, believed they could travel the World Cup circuit together, one big happy family weighed down with baby food and ski wax.

It was harder than they thought. This year, as the final preparations begin for Vancouver, Grandi will be staying home with Aria while Renner races in Europe, honing her skills for her final Olympic appearance.

"My first year back, I was a mom and I was nursing," she said. "Last year was the first year I felt I was back in the game again. I learned I couldn't take her on the World Cup and do enough training. It's so much easier that Thomas is retired. I feel better he can stay home so I can focus on being fast."

Her coach, Dave Wood, likes what he's seen from Renner over the years. He harked back to the four-year period from 1998 to 2002 when Renner made the leap from Olympic athlete to medal contender. By 2006, Renner would be denied. She and Beckie Scott poured their hearts into the team sprint to win a silver medal in Italy and now Renner is keen to experience that all-out pursuit one last time.

"Her mission is very clear," Wood said. "She has a specific goal to ski the best she can. She's had lots of curveballs thrown at her along the way with injuries and becoming a mom. But she's handled them well and she'll go through [Vancouver] well. I'm not worried about her."

Renner isn't worried, either. Just walking about Canmore has readied her for the expectations and disruptions of a home Olympics.

"Everyone is asking, ‘You feel ready? Are you excited?' I am," Renner said, "because our team has evolved from a hopeful team to one where there's a challenger in all events in both sexes. We're a contender now."

There just might be a little extra karma for Renner when she races at the Whistler Olympic Park. In 2006, in the team pursuit event, Renner broke a ski pole and was trying to compete while using only one arm.

That was when Bjonar Hakensmoen, a coach for the Norwegian team, handed Renner one of his poles, a move that carried Canada to the silver medal and resulted in Norway finishing fourth.

While Hakensmoen is no longer coaching his country's Olympic team, Renner laughed when asked to describe the cross-country course in Whistler.

"A Norwegian designed it," she explained. "It's a glider's course. There are very long, uphill sections and that's the way I like it."

Clear-cut. Demanding. A course for the prioritized and the believer.