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Janyk has slalom breakthrough in Switzerland

Canadian bobsleigh team nets silver medal in Austria
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SLALOM SUCCESS Mike Janyk scored points for the men’s slalom team this weekend at a World Cup event in Switzerland. File photo

On the day that FIS has declared World Snow Day Whistler’s Mike Janyk put points on the board for the first time this season in Wengen, Switzerland at a World Cup slalom race. Janyk’s 26th place finish had him hoping it proved to be a turning point in a frustrating season for the men’s slalom team.

Felix Neureuther of Germany beat Austrian Marcel Hirscher while Ivica Kostelic of Croatia placed third.

Canadian downhill racer Eric Guay snagged a fourth place finish on Saturday at Wengen.

Meanwhile, the world’s best bobsleigh and skeleton athletes were competing at a World Cup event in Igls, Austria.

Kaillie Humphries and Chelsea Valois slid to a silver medal finish and kept their podium streak alive on Friday. Humphries has finished with a spot on the podium in her last 11 starts and nine of the finishes resulted in gold medals being put around her neck.

Germany’s Sandra Kiriasis and Franziska Bertels won the women’s race. Jazmine Fenlator and Aja Evans, of the United States, were third.

Skeleton athlete Sarah Reid moved into the top-three in the overall rankings with a fourth place finish. She ended the competition day in a three-way tie for fourth place at the race in Austria.

Kelowna’s Eric Neilson picked up one of his best finishes of the season placing sixth in the men’s skeleton race.

Neilson only needs one more top-six finish on the World Cup next year to qualify for his first ever Olympic Games.

“Today was pretty decent. I didn’t push as well as I had hoped, but considering I have had a fever, and have been sick all week, I’m pretty pleased,” said Neilson.

Lyndon Rush piloted the Canadian four-man bobsleigh to a 10th-place finish at a World Cup race on Sunday.

The day before his two-man effort with Lascelles Brown produced a sixth place finish.

The top Canadian luge athletes were in Winterberg, Germany for a World Cup race and sixth was the best Canadian result.

Alex Gough placed sixth at the German race. She and Kim McRae are preparing for the luge world championship races in Whistler next month.

McRae had one of her best World Cup results finishing ninth in a race that featured a German sweep of the podium for the fifth straight week. Natalie Geisenberger was first Anke Wischnewski finished second while Tatjana Hufner slid to a bronze finish.

Canadian doubles competitors Tristan Walker and Justin Snith finished ninth at the event in Winterberg.

Sam Edney finished 20th at the event in Germany on Saturday.

“We are in good shape heading into the Worlds, but it is going to be any other race for us,” said Staudinger. “If we do our job, don’t get ahead ourselves and be consistent, we can do well. Anything is possible.”

Check Thursday’s Pique for more weekend sports news.