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No podiums, no problem for Canadian team

Britt Janyk, Erik Guay, John Kucera lead strong showing by national team
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On Edge Emilie Desforges carves her way down the super G course on Sunday. Photo by Justa Jeskov, www.coastphoto.com.

Whistler’s Britt Janyk came within 0.16 seconds of winning a World Cup medal in the first race held on her home turf in 13 years, leading off a respectable weekend of racing for the national team. There were no podiums, but strong skiing put a few Canadians in the hot seat each day for a little while, and gave the thousand-plus race fans that hiked from the base in Creekside or backroads of Nordic something to cheer about.

The World Cup races were a test event for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, and things went as well as could be expected. On the positive side the weather was close to perfect all week, aside from one day where the third women’s downhill training run was cancelled, and if anything the snow was a little softer than normal because of warmer temperatures and sun. The local Weasel Workers spent close to a month putting up fences and conditioning the course leading up the World Cup, and their efforts paid off.

The racers also praised the courses as being appropriately challenging.

On the negative side, several people complained about the long walk up to the timing flats, and the fact that spectators were not allowed to view the races from the slopes. The walk won’t be an issue in 2010, as a temporary people mover or lift will be installed to bring people to the Timing Flats, and the issue of allowing spectators to watch from the side of the course during the Games is being discussed.

Back to the races.

The women got the week going with back-to-back training runs on the downhill course, with Friday’s run cancelled. The men’s super G took place that day, the women’s downhill and men’s giant slalom on Saturday, and the women’s super combined on Sunday.

In Friday’s race, Erik Guay just missed the super G podium by 0.18 seconds, bumped by a pair of Austrian skiers, Christoph Gruber and Hannes Reichelt, and the out-of-nowhere performance of bronze medalist Ales Gorza of Slovenia.

“On this particular race I know exactly where I lost it,” said Guay. “I was a little too round in the middle, I could feel it. I was able to make the correction and get back on line and ski aggressively towards the bottom but it was already too late by then. To win a World Cup you’ve got to be perfect from start to finish.”

Guay told reporters that the course was steep and difficult, but also what the athletes are looking for.

“I think that this is the toughest super G in the world,” he said. “The course is tough, the snow is tough, the setting is tough. There is not much flat on the way down so it’s challenging and a lot of fun.”

The other Canadians also did well, as the team finished with four athletes in the top-15. Francois Bourque, Whistler’s Robbie Dixon, and John Kucera were 13 th , 14 th and 15 th respectively, while Manuel Osborne-Paradis placed a respectable 21 st .

In the downhill the following day, all eyes were on Whistler’s Britt Janyk. She had a solid run on the course, but like Guay she was bumped by a surprise performance — this time by Switzerland’s Nadia Styger.

American Lindsay Vonn captured second place and the overall World Cup title, while Julia Mancuso of the U.S. picked up the bronze.

Janyk quickly shrugged off her fourth place finish, just 0.16 seconds back of Mancuso, joking to reporters that at least she got the fourth place finish in Whistler out of the way for 2010. Last season, in her first year with the national speed team, Janyk placed fourth in four different races.

“I really followed my plan of attack the whole way down and was really focused in on the course,” she said. “It’s a technical hill and you need to remember that because every section has something different.”

Kelly Vanderbeek placed ninth, giving Canada two racers in the top-10, while Emily Brydon was 17th.

In the giant slalom, where the Canadian men aren’t usually expected to produce any medals, Calgary’s John Kucera came pretty close with a fifth place finish, 0.4 seconds back of the bronze medal. Kucera actually had the fastest run of the day at one point, but was bumped back by Hannes Reichelt of Austria, Didier Cuche of Switzerland, Benjamin Raich of Austria and Ted Ligety of the U.S.

It was Kucera’s fourth career top-10 in GS.

“My (second) run was good,” he said. “The first run was strong from where I started although I made a mistake on the top part, a little tactical error. But I had a strong bottom and it was basically the same story in the second run.”

Erik Guay, who is looking to add GS to his World Cup repertoire, also had a solid couple of runs to place 23 rd overall.

“This result will give me some valuable GS points in the overall standings,” he said. “I would love to compete in the World Cup finals in Bormio (Italy) in three disciplines.”

The final event was the women’s super combined on Sunday, which started off with a super G and finished with a run of the slalom course.

Fernie’s Emily Brydon led off her day with a third place finish in the super G, but dropped back to 10 th overall after making a few mistakes in the giant slalom.

“Today, for me it was really important to ski the super G like it was its own race,” she said. “We don’t get another super G race here before the Olympics and every girl who is going to be in the Olympics was out there today so I think that was really important.”

The win went to Maria Riesch of Germany, followed by Austria’s Marlies Schild and Sweden’s Anja Paerson.

Emilie Desforges was 29 th for Canada.

The World Cup athletes have another two weeks of racing before the World Cup finals in Italy.

No Canadians are in the running for any overall titles, but athletes are looking to improve their current standings and add a few more medals to the team tally. Alpine Canada’s goal was to win 14 medals this year, the same as last year, and the team is four medals short.

John Kucera is the top Canadian in the overall men’s standings in 13 th place, and currently sits 10 th in giant slalom and 11 th in super G.

Erik Guay is 21 st overall and sits 12 th in downhill and seventh in super G.

Jan Hudec is 29 th overall and sits eighth in downhill and 15 th in super G.

Manuel Osborne-Paradis is 38th overall and 10 th in downhill.

Francois Bourque is 19 th in GS and 23 rd in super G.

On the women’s side, Britt Janyk is 11 th overall, and currently sits third in downhill and 12 th in super G.

Emily Brydon is 12 th overall, ninth in downhill and fourth in super G.

Kelly VanderBeek is 18 th overall, fourth in downhill and 19 th in super G.