Yukoner Brittany Greer pulled off a silver medal performance at the Canadian cross-country skiing championships in the junior girls knockout sprint competition Friday.

Greer finished a very close second to Edmonton's Amanda Ammar, who has been burning up the tracks at the national level this season.

'Brittany was super happy with her result, finishing almost on the backs of Amanda's skis,' said team Yukon head coach Alain Masson. 'All of our skiers are really enjoying this competition, despite being a bit tired still from the Arctic Winter Games.'

Masson said although strong at all distances, Greer is gaining a reputation as a superb sprinter. She picked up a gold in the sprints at the nationals two years ago.

This season, Greer has been consistently racing her way into top four placings at the national level meets she has been attending. She also had a streak of four golds in four races at the Arctic Winter Games.

Sprints were a mixed blessing for the Nishikawa family at the nationals. Emily Nishikawa, competing in the juvenile girls age group, reached the final round of the competition before narrowly missing the podium with a fourth place finish.

Meanwhile, elder brother Graham, who skies in the intensely competitive senior men's category, qualified in sixth place overall, but didn't advance after being cut off by another skier in the quarter finals. Masson described it as 'an extremely frustrating race for Graham.'

Only six seconds separated the top 16 men in the senior category, who skied the hilly 900-metre course in just over two minutes.

Also skiing in the juvenile girls age group, Bryn Knight advanced to the B final and finished the day with an eighth place finish. Natasha Kullas from Ontario was the gold medal winner in this category.

No other Yukon skiers advanced beyond the qualification rounds.

The sprint races were conducted using the now common knockout formula. Skiers compete in an individual start qualification round and the top 16 advance to knockout rounds. Four skiers compete in each round, with the top two advancing to the next round until there are only four left.

More than 350 of Canada's top skiers competed at the meet, which wrapped up Sunday, including such notables as Olympic gold medal winner Becky Scott.