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Canada wins Nations' Cup for third year

Canadian racers on the podium from day one
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For the first 15 years of the Whistler Cup international juvenile ski races, Canada had never won the Nations' Cup title for best team. Now, at the close of the 19th edition of the race, Canada has won four out of the last five Nations' Cup titles.

The U.S. K2 team (age 13 and 14) finished first overall, but a strong showing in the K1 category (age 11 and 12) put Canada ahead in the standings with 306 total points. Team USA was second with 212 points, followed by Japan.

This year Canadians were a factor in almost every race, with 450 athletes and 25 nations represented. Local racers with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club also had a solid weekend.

The bib draw favoured national team skiers first, then members of provincial team, then club-level skiers. With over 100 skiers in the field for some categories, start position was extremely important.

K2 Super G

On the first day of racing, the K2's took part in a super G and the K1's raced a Kombi.

For the K2 women, Dani Brownell-Patty of the U.S. placed first, followed by Collingwood, Ontario's Roni Remme. Austria's Marie-Therese Sporer was third.

The top Whistler racer was Kelly Steeves, racing for the Canada 2 squad. She placed sixth overall, just 0.21 seconds back of the podium.

Rachel Vander Veen, racing for the Canada 3 team, was 21st. Racing for the B.C. team, Mikayla Martin was 34th, Stefanie Fleckenstein 35th, Maridson Brainard 39th and Sabrina Wong 46th. Club skier Elizabeth Kepl was 49th, Caitlin Millham 55th, Chantal Deane 60th, Siobhan Finan 64th, Esme McTavish 66th, Cassidy Deane 70th, Tess Thompson 72nd, Amelia Smith 79th, Claire Baragar 80th, Shelby Slay 81st, Annika Voss 83rd, Madeline Turner 85th and Megan Steeves 88th.

In the men's super G, Dean Travers of the Cayman Islands was first, followed by American skiers Ryan Mooney and James Lebel. Gregory Kofman of Ontario was the top Canadian skier in sixth.

From Whistler, the top racer was Marc Leroux in 16th, racing for the Canada 2 team. Max Peiffer was the top B.C. team skier in 18th. Other WMSC skiers include Riley Seger in 28th, Jeffrey Cadman in 48th, Dalton Pehota in 50th, Alex Gershon in 61st, Jonathan Hutchison in 64th, Cooper Yates in 74th, Carson Llewellyn in 75th, Lloyd Lyall in 81st, Charlie Tuer in 85th, Antoine Carignan-Turcotte in 86th, John Craig in 87th, Hugo Ng in 88th, Alexander Wilkinson in 90th, Sean Rundle in 91st and Kevin Shaw in 92nd.

 

K1 Kombi

In the K1 Kombi, Whistler's Laura Swaffield took the win, followed by Amelia Smart. Australia's Kathryn Parker was third.

"It was really fun," said Swaffield. "I was skiing pretty smooth. It's my home hill so that kind of helps. I was kind of nervous at the start but this feels great. I still can't believe it."

Whistler's Gabrielle Smith, racing for Canada, was seventh. The top WMSC club racer was Katie Fleckenstein in 15th, followed by Anna Gosney in 16th, Mollie Jepsen in 23rd, Nicole Tobias in 25th, Lucy Turner in 34th, Maggie Tuer in 36th, Bria Henderson in 37th, Erin Finan in 43rd, Rachel Kepl in 46th, Leiah Kirsh in 49th, Ashleigh Knight in 53rd, Sophia Quinn in 54th, Ashley Ng in 55th, Natasha Bulowski in 56th, Ava Melenchuk in 57th, Emma Bulowski in 59th and Christina MacLeod in 60th.

In the boys' kombi, Whistler's Alex Uryga placed second to Jackson Wells of New Zealand. Ryan Moffat of Big White was third.

"I had a great run but I'm really surprised," said Uryga, 12. "I never thought I could do it in kombi."

Other Whistler skiers in the race were Max Kirshenblatt in 10th, Finn Iles 12th,  Kasper Woolley 16th, Jordan Asher 21st, Ciaran Beveridge 24th, Griffin Smith 33rd, Edward Coleman 41st, Eric Lyall 45th, Will Heckmann 50th, Matthew MacDonald 51st, Kai Labrenz 52nd, Davis Hogg 55th, Dylan Ferguson 57th, Jordan Palcic 61st and Kristjan Rhode 63rd.

The next day, the K2 and K1 men raced the slalom, while the K2 and K1 women raced giant slalom.

 

Men's Slalom, K2 and K1

In slalom, Quebec's Lambert Queznel was the fastest by a long margin, with Lubomir Murarik of Slovakia in second and Sam Morse of the U.S. in third.

After that, there were some upsets with Team Ontario skier Chris Doan placing third and Whistler's Riley Seger - competing for the B.C. 1 Team - in fifth.

Alex Gershon was 22nd, Antoine Carignan Turcotte 38th, Hugo Ng 42nd, Lloyd Lyall 43rd, Sam Kirshenblatt 51st, Alexander Wilkinson 54th, Sean Rundle 59th and David Lepine 60th.

Whistler's Alex Uryga was the top skier in the K1 race and earned his second podium in as many days.

"They were really good runs," he said. "I made a little mistake on the second run but it was still good. I thought I would end up in a good position but I never thought I would come first."

Uryga was followed by Big White's Ryan Moffat. Taiga Okano of Japan was third. Also from Whistler, Max Kirshenblatt was 10th, Finn Iles 12th, Kasper Woolley 17th, Kyle Alexander 19th, Claran Beveridge 31st, Edward Coleman 35th, Asher Jordan 37th, Griffin Smith 41st, Zachary Yamaoka 44th, Eric Lyall 50th, Dyan Ferguson 54th, Geoffrey Konantz 55th, Davis Hogg 56th, Kristjan Rhode 57th and Jordan Palcic 58th.

 

Women's Giant Slalom, K2 and K1

In the K2 giant slalom, Whistler's Kelly Steeves jumped up to third place, behind Marie-Therese Sporer of Austria and Breezy Jonson of the U.S.

Steeves was sitting fifth after the first run, then moved up two spots.

"I didn't do that well at nationals in GS so I wasn't expecting anything," she said. "After the first run I was really happy. I just decided to do the same thing on the second run."

Her second run ended up being much faster, the fastest second run of the day.

Mikayla Martin was 13th, Stefanie Fleckenstein 17th, Madison Brainard 25th, Sabrina Wong 27th, Esme McTabish 33rd, Emma Swaffield 34th, Siobhan Finan 37th, Tess Thompson 48th, Cassidy Deane 51st, Amelia Smith 54th, Claire Barager 57th, Annika Voss 59th, Madeline Turner 60th and Megan Steeves 65th.

For the K1s, Japan's Asami Katagiri was first, followed by Elizabeth Reid of New Zealand and Petra Hromcova. Amelia Smart was the top Canadian in fifth, while the top Whistler skier was Gabrielle Smith in eighth.

Katie Fleckenstein was 11th, Anna Gosney 15th, Bria Henderson 19th, Maggie Tuer 27th, Erin Finan 35th, Lucy Turner 38th, Martina Gershon 40th, Natasha Bulowski 41st, Rachel Kepl 43rd, Leiah Kirsh 44th, Sophia Quinn 48th, Ashleigh Knight 49th, Ashley Ng 50th, Ava Melenchuk 51st, Emma Bulowksi 53rd and Christina MacLeod 54th.

The men and women swapped events on the final day, which is when the weather also turned a little nasty with cold, wind and snow on the course.

 

Men's Giant Slalom, K2 and K1

In the men's giant slalom, Ryan Mooney of the U.S. took the gold medal, followed by Austria's Marco Ladner and America Colby Lane. The top Canadian was Lambert Queznel in fifth, while Whistler's Marc Lerous was a solid eighth. Riley Seger led the B.C. team once again in 15th.

Also from Whistler, Max Peiffer was 27th, Jeffrey Cadman 42nd, Sam Kirshenblatt 47th, Alex Gershon 50th, Cooper Yates 54th, Carson Llewellyn 60th, Lloyd Lyall 61st, Antoine Carignan-Tucotte 63rd, Hugo Ng 66th, Kevin Shaw 72nd, David Lepine 77th, Sean Rundle 78th, Alexander Wilkinson 80th and John Craig 81st.

Chilean skier Kai Horwitz was the top K1 on the course, followed by Tomas Varjassi of Slovakia and Peter Moe-Lange of Denmark. Ryan Moffat was the top Canadian, finishing just shy of his third podium in fifth.

The top Whistler skier was Alex Uryga in seventh. Finn Isles was 17th, Kasper Woolley 19th, Asher Jordan 24th, Ciaran Beveridge in 32nd, Griffin Smith in 37th, Geoffrey Konantz in 42nd, Max Kirshenblatt in 44th, Matthew Davie in 48th, Edward Coleman in 51st, Eric Lyall in 53rd, Will Heckmann in 56th, Davis Hogg in 58th, Kristjan Rohde in 59th, Dylan Ferguson in 60th, Kai Lebrenz in 61st and Jordan Palcic in 63rd.

 

Women's Slalom, K2 and K1

In the slalom, the K2 women's category went to Roni Remme, followed by Marie-Therese Sporer and Theres Steinlechner of Austria.

Rachel Vander Veen was the top Whistler skier in ninth, with Kelly Steeves in 15th, Stefanie Fleckenstein 18th, Chantal Deane 31st, Sabrina Won 33rd, Madison Brainard 38th, Siobhan Finan 40th, Cassidy Deane 42nd,  Cheyenne Ling 46th, Tess Thompson 50th, Mikaylay Martin 51st, Madeline Turner 52nd, Shelby Slay 53rd, Amelia Smith 54th, Annika Voss 55th and Esme McTavish 57th.

Asami Katagiri was the top K1, followed by Sona Moarvcikova of Slovakia and Soleil Patterson of Canada.

Laura Swaffield was in striking distance of a medal in fifth, while Gabrielle Smith was consistent once again to place eighth.

Other Whistler skiers in the running were Anna Gosney in 17th, Katie Fleckenstein 24th, Maggie Tuer 30th, Nicole Tobias 32nd, Leiah Kirsh 41st, Rachel Kepl 42nd, Lucy Turner 45th, Erin Finan 47th, Sophia Quinn 48th, Mollie Jepsen 50th, Ashleigh Knight 51st, Ava Melenchuk 52nd, Natasha Bulowski 56th, Christina MacLeod 59th and Martina Gershon 60th.

Complete results are posted online at www.canski.org.