Winning two medals was nice, but the real icing on the cake for Yukon cross-country skier Graham Nishikawa was qualifying for Callaghan Valley's upcoming World Cup race series.

Nishikawa locked down one of the last available spots on the Canadian team after finishing in first place earlier this week in the 30-km pursuit race at the nordic centre in Canmore, Alta. His gold medal came just one day after finishing second in the open men's category.

"I was pretty nervous this weekend," Nishikawa said. "These races are pretty important, but I had won a race before Christmas, so I had some confidence coming in here. It's always harder to do it when it counts, but I am definitely really happy with the two races."

Nishikawa has got off to a quick start this season and has shown a lot of consistency in his distance races. So far after three race series he has won two gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal.

The World Cup races will be hosted at the Whistler Olympic Park in B.C. later this month.

Nishikawa, who has competed in the World Cup before, said he knows what to expect.

"I just want to have a really solid race for myself and see then see where that puts me against the best in the world," he said. "Whether that's top 20 or top 30, but I just want to finish the race knowing that it was all I could do and wherever that puts me I can work from there to get better."

Other Yukoners to reach the podium in Canmore included David Greer, who won a gold and silver medal, while Janelle Greer finished third in the junior women's category.

Whitehorse skier Lee Hawkings didn't medal in Canmore, but he managed to put together the race of his life, finishing in fifth place on the final day of competition.

Hawkings, who competed in the junior men's category, said it was a surprise finishing in fifth place.

"I didn't expect anything really," he said about his classic sprint race. "Just one thing after another and it ended up being pretty good."

Claude Chabot, a spokesman for Cross Country Yukon, said he was impressed with th performances of the Yukon skiers in Canmore.

"The highlights were just all of the younger crew that are coming up, producing good, solid results consistently," he said. "I think we are assured that the next generation is coming up fast."