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Osborne-Paradis wins DH nationals

Larisa Yurkiw tops women's downhill, Jeffrey Frisch and Marie-Michele Gagnon win Super G
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MANNY HAPPY RETURNS

Whistler's Manuel Osborne-Paradis didn't have any kind of home-course advantage racing the national downhill championships in Whistler on Saturday, as the race course didn't even exist until last year and the first time he got to race the new Dave Murray National Training Centre on Ptarmigan was two days ago during training.

But Osborne-Paradis figured out the short but winding course quickly, and managed to build a gap of close to three-quarters of a second by the end of the opening race. He finished in 1:01.97, followed by Jeffrey Frisch in 1:02.64 and John Kucera in 1:02.79. Whistler's Morgan Pridy was fourth, Conrad Pridy was sixth and Brodie Seger 20th, to round out the top 30.

While the event was missing two notable national team athletes — Erik Guay and Jan Hudec decided to skip the event to heal from injuries — Osborne-Paradis said the win was still significant for him.

"There's huge significance, especially this year coming back from an injury and skiing well," he said. "This is concrete proof that I'm back. I think it will bode well with sponsors to say in downhill I can win national titles, it's not a problem."

Osborne-Paradis missed most of the last two seasons as a result of injuries, but returned to racing in November. Since then he has been in the top 10 in downhill several times, and finished just off the podium in fourth, improving his bib draws and putting himself back in a position to once again finish on the podium.

Osborne-Paradis was also amazed by the quality of the national training centre.

"This is awesome," he said. "There's so much potential here. The jump they could put at the bottom, and they could put a big jump in the middle... this is top-notch. I wish this was closed all year to people and racers from all over Canada could come here and train speed. It's the perfect distance, it's a fast turnaround and you could easily train 10 to 12 runs a day here and really learn a lot of stuff. It's got a lot of good elements and a lot of ways you could set courses.

"It would be what Copper (Mountain) is to the U.S. team."

Osborne-Paradis said he's more or less completely recovered from his injuries. "There's always nagging stuff at the end of the season, but I've gotten better at keeping up with my due diligence and maintenance. My knee hurt a little this morning, but it doesn't hurt now. My back hurt this morning, but it doesn't hurt now. I have on and off days, but it's really nothing — nothing that a Dusty's Caeser can't lube up anyway."

Next season Osborne-Paradis is committed to getting back to the podium, and has plans to work hard over the summer to make that happen.

"I'll have good start numbers next year, and I'm skiing well now," he said. "It's kind of a shame that the season ended early, but at the end of the day I was ready for it to be over... I have a lot of stuff I want to work on this summer. I need to test a lot of equipment, my skis, my boots, and see how I can juice a little more speed out of them to really be on top all of next season.

"Last year it was all about returning to snow and I didn't get to test all the equipment I wanted to so I skied on older stuff and older setups, and as the season went on I could tell that it was outdated. I need to keep up with everyone else... to really move forward my progression in skiing."

There was also a FIS women's downhill race, which was won by Larisa Yurkiw in 1:04.49. Marie-Michele Gagnon was second in 1:04.69, and Julia Roth third in 1:05.25. From the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, Charley Field and Emma King were seventh and eighth, while Kelly Steeves was 12th.

On Sunday the teams switched places with the women's national title up for grabs on the women's side and men's FIS race.

Yurkiw was successful once again, shaving almost a quarter of a second of her time to finish in 1:04.25, while Gagnon finished second in 1:04.63 and Julia Roth third in 1:05.34. Emma King was seventh, Charley Field 10th and Kelly Steeves 16th.

For Yurkiw, who rejoined the World Cup circuit at the start of this season after missing over two seasons to a knee injury, it was nice to come back to nationals and win — as well as to be around other skiers. For most of the season she was the only Canadian woman racing speed events, and she was often on her own.

"I had people around I felt supported by and it made me closer to staff than I've ever been, but it was a little tough," she said. "I don't think I realized how much I missed having a big crew around and to train runs with until I came back to these races. I wake up and I'm sitting around the breakfast table at 6:30 a.m. with teammates and having a laugh. That's really refreshing and it keeps your mind clear. It's different on the World Cup for sure, but I've been enjoying it when I can and learning lots as I go."

Yurkiw said it will only be a matter of time before some of the women in the system move up to the World Cup level, and is looking forward to the company.

In the meantime she's focused on next season and the Olympics, and building on her season.

"I have to stay focused day after day," she said. "It's nice for me personally to have another chance at (the Olympics) having been injured before the last ones, and I'm just excited to keep this ball rolling.

"I think the foundation is very strong. I'm very close to doing a lot better, but I haven't put it all together in one run yet. I know I'm capable of lots more. I have a good crew around me telling me what I'm doing is the right thing and I don't have to change much to start clicking."

When asked how much of racing is mental, given her past injury, she said it was significant. "I think girls in general tend to think a lot more about things or overthink them," she said. "I don't know what the percentage is, but a ton of it is mental. You have to believe that going 130km/h on your skis isn't fast enough, that you need more speed and that everything leading up to the race has to go well — and if doesn't, you still have to push out of the start gate as hard as you can and trust that you have all the skills. Doing that day-in and day-out is a job, it's something that takes a lot of work. It's an education in that sense, too."

For her part, Yurki enjoyed the race run and agreed with Osborne-Paradis' assessment. "It's short, but it has every quality," she said. "There's jumps, there's gliding, it's a lot of fun. I think they did a wicked job with the surface here, and the conditions were amazing for Whistler at this time of year."

In the men's FIS race, Jeffrey Frisch took the top spot, followed by John Kucera and Conrad Pridy. Osborne-Paradis took it slower and placed eighth, while Morgan Pridy was ninth on the day. Whistler's Brodie Seger was 20th once again while Austin Llewellyn cracked the top 30 in 30th position. Blake Ramsden and Marc Leroux were 34th and 35th respectively.

The next event was Monday's super G race. Marie-Michele Gagnon won that event, followed closely by Larisa Yurkiw and Julia Roth third. Charley Field was eighth, Emma King 10th, Rachel Vander Veen 12th, Kelly Steeves 20th and Sofi Leroux 24th.

The men's race went to Jeffrey Frisch, followed closely by Tyler Werry and Manuel Osborne-Paradis. Also from Whistler, Conrad Pridy was 12th, Broderick Thompson 15th, Brodie Seger 20th, Blake Ramsden 25th and Ford Swette 26th to round out the top 30.

On Tuesday, the women raced slalom and the men giant slalom. Gagnon won the women's slalom by close to three seconds, followed by Eve Routhier and Ellie Terwiel. Charley Field was 11th, Rae Swette 15th, Kelly Steeves 17th and Alysia Kwong 20th.

It was Gagnon's fourth consecutive national slalom title.

In the men's GS, Trevor Philp took the win, followed by Philip Brown and Tyler Werry. Whistler's Mike Janyk was eighth, Conrad Pridy was 10th, Brodie Seger 14th, Broderick Thompson 17th, Blake Ramsden 26th and Charlie Renzoni 30th, to round out the top 30.

The competition continued with the men's slalom and women's giant slalom on Wednesday. Results at www.piquenewsmagazine.com.