It might be early in the 2007-08 cross country ski season, but Yukoner Emily Nishikawa isn't wasting anytime in proving she can compete with the country's top junior athletes in the sport.

In preparation for the upcoming World Junior Championships trials in January, Nishikawa has competed in five prominent races, which were all a part of the Haywood Noram race series and featured some of the best skiers in all of Canada.

On Sunday, she saved her best performance, so far this season, for last on the final day of competition in a Noram circuit race event, held in Canmore, Alberta. The Yukon Ski Team member won a gold medal competing in the Junior Women's 5 km Classic Ski Race.

Nishikawa, who arrived back in Whitehorse earlier in the week, also won a bronze medal at the three-day event in the 10 km Continuous Pursuit Race. She is currently focussing on qualifying for the World Junior Championships and prior to competing in Canmore, took part in a two-day competition in Silver Star, B.C.

'The trials are my biggest focus right now and that is what I am working towards,' she said. 'It is hard to be racing super fast all the time, so what is really important for me is that I am racing fast in January. I always get kind of nervous for the first races of the year, so it was good to get those out of the way; and then in Canmore I was feeling a lot better and skiing a lot better as well.'

Nishikawa started skiing when she was four, but it wasn't until she became a member of the Yukon Ski Team at the age of 13 that she really began to enjoy the sport.

She is currently training with the ski team four days a week for about two hours each session. Nishikawa will be training with the team right up until the end of December when she leaves for Ontario to compete in the trials. This past summer, Nishikawa also trained, for the first time, with a new team in Squamish B.C. at a national athlete development centre.

Nishikawa has raced in the Haywood Norman race series before, but this was the first time she has ever won a gold medal at one the events.

She said winning it was special.

'It is a pretty competitive field because you are racing against the best women in Canada,' Nishikawa said. 'I did well for myself and I knew I was having a good race, so that is what counts.'

Skiers in the classical race started at 15-second intervals between each other, which Nishikawa may not prefer over a mass start race competition, but it didn't faze her a bit.

'Usually I don't try and think about results while I am racing. I just want to focus on what I have to do to do my best, so you try not to think about the outcome,' she said. 'That is something that takes time to learn, how to really just focus on yourself and not think about how the other people are doing or what you are going to do later. You have to really focus on yourself.'

The top four skiers at trials will qualify for the World Junior Championships. Last year Nishikawa finished in seventh place in the sprint race, but she said she is more confident heading into January's competition thanks in part to her training in B.C. as well as her strong performance at Canmore.

'It is a confidence booster for sure and I know I am in there with the top juniors in Canada,' she said. 'I just have to focus on myself and not think about results and not get to far ahead, but I think with the last races in Canmore I am definitely feeling more confident now.'

Nishikawa said she is glad to be back in Whitehorse and looks forward to competing in this Sunday's local cross country ski race, which is being held at Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre.