Catching up with Team Canada’s Benita Peiffer
We caught up with Whistler Nordics’ Alum and Team Canada Biathlete prior to her Olympic debut. She shares here favourite moments and gratitude below.
Which high school did you go to?
Whistler Secondary School
Favourite trail at Lost Lake?
Upper Fairway on a perfect Whistler day; blue skis and freshly groomed trails!
Memory as a Whistler Nordic that makes you smile?
There are honestly too many memories with Whistler Nordics to pick just one. Part of the reason I loved racing and training as a younger athlete was the community and the friends I had in the sport. Some of my best memories are traveling to races with Joe, Mila, Marlie, and Michael, with our parents planning the whole trip. Tony and Brent were our wax techs, who probably received some harsh feedback from us young racers! Our Mom’s meal-prepped for the entire week, and we were all packed into one house. As a young athlete, I probably showed up to practice counting on the games portion, the snowball fights after practice, and finding an empty trail tucked away in the woods to lie down and take a break from skiing. As I got older, some of the toughest days became some of my favourite memories. As a small club, it was the days training in the pouring rain or the cold, late nights after school in the fall doing intervals. The days that were the hardest to get through somehow became some of my best memories and made it all worth it, training together as a group of five.
Prefer climbing or descending?
I think I’ve gotta say climbing! If I chose descending as a cross country skier I probably chose the wrong sport!
When you are not competing or training, what are you most likely doing?
When I am not training or competing I am either river surfing, fly fishing, mountain biking or taking a nap!
Most proud athlete moment to date?
Reaching the Olympics has been a goal of mine for as long as I can remember and it feels pretty surreal to be selected to compete at the 2026 Milan Olympics for Team Canada. As a developing athlete in cross country I would say my proudest moment is earning two silver medals at Canada Winter Games in 2019 in the skate distance event and the skate sprints. After transitioning to biathlon, one of my proudest moments came in 2023 with a 22nd-place finish in the Pursuit in Ruhpolding, Germany; a moment when I finally felt like I had put all the pieces of biathlon together.
Who do you want to thank?
First and foremost, I owe a huge thank you to my family. They have supported me from day one. Traveling to races across Canada as a young athlete wouldn’t have been possible without my parents. My brother’s competitive spirit has carried me throughout my journey in sport, and sharing an achievement like the Olympic Games with him feels like a shared success. We both grew up inspired by the 2010 Olympics, eager to chase those same dreams in our own sport disciplines. My family has cheered me on throughout this journey, lifted me up on the days I fell short of my goals, celebrated my proudest moments with me, and believed in me when I didn’t always believe in myself.
I also want to thank the community behind me; the volunteers who continuously showed up to run local races, the parents who volunteered their time, the coaches who believed in me, the wax technicians who worked countless hours, and lastly, my sponsors: Sea to Sky Gondola, Omicron, CAN Fund, Rossignol, and Leki. Pursuing high-performance sport would not be possible without their support. Lastly, I want to thank the friends who have made this journey so much fun. Reaching a lifetime goal of competing at the Olympic Games has allowed me to reflect on some of my best memories in sport, and most importantly, the people I met along the way. I’ve met some of my closest friends through this sport, and the memories I’ve made through high-performance sport are some of my best to date.