Sara Renner

Sport: Cross country skiing
Residence: Canmore, Alberta
Born: April 1976

“The thing that I’ve learned most about leadership through sport is that you have to be good, be your best and be yourself.”

Like a lot of elite athletes, my days are pretty scheduled: I work out twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. In between workouts, I make sure to eat well and get lots of rest.

The Alberta Rockies are an amazing place to train, especially given the world-class facilities available in our backyard. The surroundings are very inspirational and Canmore is a great, supportive community.

The proudest moment in my skiing career so far has to be when I won the silver medal in the 10-kilometre event in Davos, Switzerland! It was my first distance medal.

The thing that I’ve learned most about leadership through sport is that you have to be good, be your best and be yourself . . . everything else will fall into place.

When I speak to young people who want to become elite athletes, I tell them to work hard, support their teammates and, most importantly, have fun.

My hero is my sister. She can guide people in the mountains, she saves lives because she’s a paramedic and she can flip an omelet in the air. She’s also a wonderful person.

More about me . . .

Family: Married to alpine skier, Thomas Grandi; daughter Aria (born 2007)

Career: Currently with the David Suzuki Foundation; developing a program called “Play it Cool” to encourage athletes to reduce carbon emissions. Future plans include pursuing journalism, running a back-country resort or continuing her environmental work.

Club: Canmore Nordic Ski Club

Other cross country milestones:
• Silver medal in team sprint event at 2006 Olympic Games, Torino, Italy.
• Three-time Olympian (Nagano, 1998; Salt Lake City, 2002; Torino, 2006)
• Five World Cup medals
• Canada’s first medal at the World Championships: 2005; sprint bronze

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