In February 2023, she posted Britain’s best-ever results at major FIS championships. This winter, she did it again. Entering her first season at the senior level, she is already prequalified for the U23 Worlds and trains with the British World Cup team. 

No female cross-country skier from Britain has ever placed higher than Tabitha Williams at the Junior World Championships, and her results are the best ever, even at the U23 level. Prior to Williams’s 21st place in 2023 and 2024, the best British result at the U23 Worlds was Annika Taylor’s 30th place in the 10-kilometer skate race in Romania back in 1994. 

So, there is no wonder that the British 19-year-old has lofty goals as she enters the senior level. 

“This season, I have pre-qualified for U23 off of FIS points. I definitely want to try and break into the top 20 there, even if it is a tougher field than Juniors. But I’m hoping to take it one step further and meet the FIS point qualifying criteria for the World Championships,” Williams says to Langrenn.com. 

Looking ahead, she sets her goals even higher.  

“My ultimate goal for the next couple of seasons is to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.”

Williams, who was born in London but lives in Canmore, Canada, has a good chance of achieving them. 

After being named to the British national team last year and now to the World Cup team as well, she is under the wings of two of the world’s most famous and coveted coaches: Jostein Vinjerui and Hans Kristian Stadheim, who coached the king of the 2023 World Championships in Planica Simen Hegstad Krüger and former World Champion Hans Christer Holund. 

“There’s still a gap to close in order to break top-20, but every year my results show progress, and hopefully this summer of training will give me that boost I need,” says Williams, adding that:

“I think my fitness is there, but working on my technique is definitely something I can do to improve.”

Related coverage: British cross-country and para Nordic squads join Team Aker Dæhlie

Langrenn.com caught up with the ambitious young Brit on her expectations and preparations for her first season at the senior level, how she juggles her skiing careers both at the international and collegiate level with a full academic load at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), and her passions outside of training and racing. 

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You are involved with many training programs, including the British national team/Team Aker Dæhlie and UAF, for starters. How does that work on a day-to-day basis? 

“I am involved with a lot of training programs, which can sometimes make it tricky with different ideas on what I should be doing floating around, but I think what works best for me is knowing what works best for my body and knowing how to write a training plan, something my (now retired) British development coach Alex Standen taught me,” says Williams, who is grateful for the coaches’ interest in accommodating her needs and schedules.  

“I have amazing coaches at UAF. Our head coach, Eliska Albrigtsen, is extremely flexible, which makes racing overseas for the British national team easy. Most of the winter, I mainly follow the plan given to me by UAF, which focuses on preparing for the NCAA races. But for example, when I go overseas for the Junior World Championships, I would follow a plan given by Hans (Stadheim) and Jostein (Vinjerui). And over the summer, I follow Jostein’s plan. He gives me an overall outline of the hours and the periodization, and then I create my own weekly plan and sessions from there.” 

How much do you train with the Norwegian coach(es)? And how much do you train with the other British national team racers?

“Due to being in the US and Canada most of the time, I don’t train with Jostein or Hans in person unless it’s before a competition they are attending, so the coaching I get from them is mainly online. And because my British teammates are living all over in the US, Canada, Norway, and Scotland, I spend the majority of my summers training by myself. I personally enjoy it, and it has definitely built a lot of mental toughness, but it can get lonely sometimes,” says Williams, and continues: 

“I also don’t have in-person contact with a coach while I am in Canmore, which is one of the reasons why I like to spend at least a month of my summer training in Scotland. A handful of teammates live there, as well as (my former coach) Alex Standen and Roy Young, who hold training sessions over the summer. I stay with my boyfriend, Cameron Cruickshank’s family, who is also a British Continental Cup teammate. His younger sister Elspeth, one of the younger athletes on the British team, went to the Youth Olympics this year. We mostly train around Huntly, which is just north of Aberdeen and home to Huntly Nordic Ski Club, Andrew Musgrave, and Andrew Young’s home ski club.”

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In your experience, are there things that the Norwegian coaches (and racers) do that differ from what you’ve seen elsewhere? 

“My first experience of racing in Norway, which was a year and a half ago, was different than any race I had experienced. The fields are huge, and the crowds of spectators are always big, even for a regional race. It feels more serious in a way, just with the prizes, all the sponsors, live TV streams, and so on,” says Williams, noting that especially the women’s fields were much bigger and deeper than what she was used to. 

“A big thing I noticed is that the drop-out rate for female athletes in North America, and Canada especially, seems to be huge in comparison to Norway. I would race a Norwegian Cup, and there were hundreds of U20s, whereas in a Canada Cup or US Super Tour, there are around 30 or fewer. Of course, it’s partly a cultural thing, but I think Norway is doing something right athlete retention-wise.”

How does it work to juggle your collegiate skiing career with racing internationally for the national team? How do you handle your racing and training while being a full-time student?  

“One of the biggest steps for me in skiing was going to race NCAA. I ski and run for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks while studying Environmental Journalism and also race with the national team, so it can get a bit hectic at times with so many things going on. This year, I had to balance classes and schoolwork with NCAA running races in the fall, then NCAA ski races and compete internationally and go to the FIS Junior World Championships in Planica, Slovenia, in the winter. It’s definitely a lot of traveling, which can be tiring. But having the opportunity to race across America and Europe is something I am so thankful that I get to do. I just finished my first year, and it was an amazing experience, I can’t wait to go back in the fall!”

Related coverage: Collegiate skiing: Racing, studying and meeting the President of the United States

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With such a busy schedule, do you have time for anything other than training, racing, and academics?

“I am really into music, and I host my own radio show called The Vinyl Frontier on the student radio station at UAF. I also collect CDs, records, and books about music. And because I spend a lot of the year training on my own, listening to music is what gets me through those long sessions.” 

What is your favorite food?

“Anything my dad cooks, having an amazing personal chef is definitely one of my keys to success. A proper fish & chips when I’m in the UK is also always a treat.” 

What is your favorite country to train in, and why?

“I would have to say Norway. I have spent time training in Norway in both the fall and winter months for the last two seasons, and I feel like I improved the most there. I also just adore Lillehammer as a place, it was the first place I lived on my own after high school, where I made the jump to being a professional skier, and where I’ve met some of the most important people in my life so it’s very close to my heart.” 

In the opinion of the 19-year-old Brit, the Lillehammer region, including the surrounding areas of Sjusjøen, Nordseter, and Hafjell, is a skier’s dream come true. 

“For training, it’s brilliant. All the ski trails are connected, making it easy to rack up kilometers and hours never having to ski the same trail twice. In the fall, there are numerous bike paths and roller ski tracks roller to train on. But even roller skiing on roads is way less stressful than in North America because of the beautifully paved roads, and the cars that understand what you are doing and give you a wide birth,” says Tabitha Williams, and adds: 

“Stopping at the Nordseter cafe mid-ski for waffles is an added bonus.”