Somppi soars

Michael Somppi took his inspiration from a children’s book.

Days before his third-place overall finish in Sunday’s 15-kilometre freestyle at the Haywood NorAm championships, Somppi’s mother Mayotte handed him The Little Engine That Could, a childhood favourite that teaches the moral of never giving up.

Somppi earned the third of four berths on the national under-23 squad heading to the world championships in Estonia after crossing the line39 minutes, 34.5 seconds, just 12.7 seconds behind national team member George Grey and 5.4 behind second-place finisher Graham Nishikawa of Yukon.

“I’ve been trying to make this team for awhile now,” said Somppi, a Thunder Bay native who skis out of the host Lappe Nordic Ski Centre and is a member of the National Development Centre-Thunder Bay squad.

“You’ve got to have that belief. So that story, ‘I think I can, I think I can,’ well, I did it finally so now I can say I thought I could.”

The support was there all weekend, said Somppi, who finished third in the under-23 category in Thursday’s 30-kilometre combined race and ninth in Saturday’s sprint. It helped him find the extra push on Sunday he needed in the staggered-start event to finally break through on the national stage.

“At the end, coming up those last two hills there were so many people cheering for me and yelling my name and giving me splits the whole race. It was a really good motivation,” said Somppi, who made it to the finish line and then collapsed, completely spent of energy.

A Canada Winter Games qualifier on Saturday, Somppi said he had one thought on his mind on the final day of competition, earning a ticket to Estonia.

“I’m just so happy right now,” he said.”It’s a goal I’ve wanted to accomplish for several years now, and it feels amazing to finally do it. I’ve wanted to race in Europe for so long and I’ve watched a lot of my competitors go over there and do well. I know that I can do it and I was just so happy for everything to come together perfectly and have the race that I wanted to have.”

Even under a best-case scenario, the 22-year-old couldn’t have imagined it unveiling as it did.

“I wouldn’t have been able to predict that. I just went as hard as I could. I wasn’t going to hold back today. It was unbelievable.”

Somppi was the only skier with local ties who heard the cowbells clanging as he raced by.

NDC teammate Andy Shields, who on Thursday snagged a junior national team spot, won for the second time in four days on Sunday, crossing the line in 42:21.6, making him the top junior in the race.

The Kitchener native, a rookie with the national development team, will be making his second straight trip to Europe and was pleased with his result in the 15-kilometre race.

“Yeah, not too bad at all, I’m pretty happy with it,” he said. “It was way more than I expected. It was a really great performances, I thought and hopefully this will carry over to Europe for the world junior championships.”

The 19-year-old, who said the climbs worked to his advantage in winning Sunday, is hoping the second time’s the charm at the worlds.

“I know what to expect now. Hopefully I can concentrate more on performances than I did last year, when I was in over my head. A second run was my big goal for the season and I’m really happy to make the team again.”

National team member Perianne Jones, who had prequalified for the senior worlds, took the crown in the open female 10-kilometre free-skate race, edging out Olympian Dasha Gaiazova by 16 seconds with a time of 31:02.7.

Thunder Bay’s Erin Tribe was the top local, finishing 10th. Tribe on Saturday locked up a spot on the Canada Winter Games team that will compete next month in Halifax. Tribe also made the U23 squad based on her overall results from the trials.

Sara Hewitt, of the Alberta World Cup Academy, earned the under 23 berth up for grabs in the race.

Jennifer Jackson of the Highland Trailblazers captured the juvenile girls crown, while Big Thunder’s Angus Foster took the juvenile boys title. Big Thunder’s Nicholas Ek was the midget boys winner, with Team Hardwood’s Heather Wilson taking the midget girls title.