A few weeks ago, Ski de fond Québec caught up with Louis Bouchard, the esteemed head coach of the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre, to talk about about high-performance skiing in Quebec. Louis’s prestigious career (World Cup national team coach and head coach of the Canadian team) precedes him, but it’s in the context of a season spent with his athletes from the CNEPH and the provincial team that we discussed the 2024-2025 season.

Asked about his overall impressions, Louis specifically emphasizes the success of the collaborative structure between the clubs, the CNEPH and SFQ, which he believes offers an excellent development pathway to high performance for our province’s young athletes, with the number of Quebecers competing on the World Cup circuit, the World Championships, and selected for Canadian national teams as proof. It is also the age of these athletes that is particularly interesting, both at the national level and at the provincial level: the current cohort of elite Quebec cross-country skiers is already shining, but it is young, ready to do the work necessary to continue its development, which creates a great team dynamic and is very promising for the future.

Like any good coach, Louis is keeping an eye on what can be done to continue the development of our sport in Quebec. “The clubs are doing an excellent job with the resources they have,” says Louis, and according to him, the main challenge is to develop a greater number of athletes and support a greater number of initiatives, in order to expand our pool of cross-country skiers. The dominant province at the 2025 Canadian Championships, British Columbia, has a much larger pool of young skiers than Quebec, a significant advantage in the development of high-level athletes. Quebec finished proudly second, but in the long term, it is very important to support local initiatives to ensure the continuation of Quebec’s successes on the international stage.

As tempting as it may be to turn to cross-country skiing powerhouses like Norway or Sweden to learn from their successes, Louis explains that it is more relevant to learn from countries that are similar to us in terms of population and athlete pools, like France or Switzerland. Working with a smaller mass of athletes, our reality gives us a smaller margin of error than a country with a large volume of athletes, so it is essential to learn and collaborate at all levels with these countries that are similar to us and that perform very well internationally. The ties between Quebec athletes and our French cousins ​​are particularly strong, a very productive friendship for World Cup athletes in particular, who spend a large part of the year in Europe, both for training and for competition.

Looking ahead to next season, there is a lot to be excited about : the Olympics, the Canadian Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne and a World Cup not too far away, in Lake Placid. High-level competitions in Quebec and the surrounding region are a major motivator for our athletes, which makes Louis optimistic about Quebec’s performance at the 2026 Canadian Championships. As for the World Cup in Lake Placid, which will take place from March 20 to 22, 2026, it will be a amazing opportunity for our sport’s fans to see the world’s best athletes in person, in addition to being an exceptional learning opportunity for Quebec coaches and clubs.

As we approach the 2025-2026 season (yes, training starts again in May!), we recognize the commitment and invaluable contributions of Quebec coaches like Louis, who, through their work, have a positive impact on our youth and ensure the continued development of Quebec cross-country skiing. We wish everyone a great start to the season!