Dahria Beatty has claimed the Yukon’s first gold medal at the Canadian cross-country ski championships.

The 20-year-old senior skier earned the title of top Canuck in the five-kilometre skate race at the 2015 Haywood Ski Nationals Sunday in Thunder Bay, Ont. She crossed the finish line in 13:23.4, less than four seconds ahead of runner-up Perianne Jones, an Olympic-level skier representing Ontario’s Nakkertok club.

“Won my first Senior National title today in the 5km skate,” Beatty tweeted yesterday from Thunder Bay. “So much excitement!”

The medal was the first senior title of Beatty’s career, and came on the heels of three bronze medals captured by Yukon skiers in sprint competition Saturday.

On the first day of competition, Annah Hanthorn teamed up with Beatty to earn bronze in the open women category, Knute Johnsgaard and Colin Abbott did the same in open men, and Caelan McLean and Marcus Deuling also nabbed third in the challenge boys category.

Hannah Deuling and Natalie Hynes finished fifth in the challenge girls team sprint final.

“It was a great start to the 2015 nationals,” Yukon ski coach Alain Masson said on the team blog.

“The Yukon skiers skied really well and took advantage of the really fast skis that we had to capture three bronze medals.”

Besides Beatty’s heroics on Sunday, five other Yukon skiers put together top-10 performances. Hannah Deuling and Hanthorn both finished just off the podium in fourth in their respective age categories, while Hynes and Marcus Deuling placed fifth in their races.

Knute Johnsgaard, who earned a gold medal earlier this month at the Canada Winter Games, was eighth in the open men 10-km race.

The 88th annual Canadian cross-country ski championships are being held at the Lappe Nordic Ski Centre from March 14 to 21.

A total of 18 skiers are representing the territory at the event.

Meanwhile, Whitehorse skier Emily Nishikawa earned a 50th-place finish in the final World Cup race of the season Sunday in Holmenkollen, in Oslo, Norway.

The 30-km mass start race went ahead in balmy temperatures of 9 C. Nishikawa was Canada’s lone entrant.

The 25-year-old enjoyed a great season on the World Cup circuit, cracking the top-30 several times and posting a personal best 23rd-place result in Lahti, Finland.

She is expected to join Team Yukon at nationals tomorrow.