Whitehorse cross country skiers and Olympians Emily Nishikawa and Dahria Beatty competed in Davos, Switzerland this past weekend in what was their first World Cup races of their new season.

Nishikawa said she is fond of the race Davos hosts.

Davos had great conditions for the race, with lots of snow and sunshine,” said Nishikawa. “I always enjoy racing here.”

The World Cup event featured a sprint and a 10-kilometre distance race.

“I just competed in the distance race in Davos, and I was happy with my race, but it was very close to being a great result which was a little frustrating,” said Nishikawa. “It was a very tight race, and had I skied 10 seconds faster, I would have moved up 10 positions.

“But, I was happy with the way I skied and considering it was my first World Cup of the season, I’m looking forward to building off this momentum.”

Nishikawa finished the race in 27:17.9 which put her in 35th.

Her race season had already begun with smaller races held locally but said it was nice to be competing in World Cups again.

“It was great to be back racing on the World Cup and I was very happy to start off with a good race,” said Nishikawa.

Following right behind Nishikawa in the distance race was teammate and fellow Yukoner Dahria Beatty. She finished in 36th, two seconds behind Nishikawa.

On Twitter, Beatty this was “my best distance result in Davos to date, 36th and 8 seconds from the points…”

She said she is hoping to carry forward the momentum gained in the Davos distance race to Planica, Slovenia, where both her and Nishikawa will be competing this weekend.

“I also had a good race on Sunday in the 10-k skate which is really encouraging looking ahead toward the rest of the season,” said Beatty. “My fitness is in a really good place so I hope to be able to improve a bit each weekend going forward.”

On the Saturday, Beatty competed in the sprint race coming in 25th.

“I was happy with how I skied in the sprint and hope to continue to build on this race next weekend and after the Christmas break,” said Beatty.

Both said they are looking forward to the Planica races this weekend. On Sunday, the two will team up and do the team sprint together.

Nishikawa and Beatty both said that it is always exciting when they get to race together.