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Thompson doubles up at Nakiska

Sports briefs: WMSC alums up and down in Kitzbuhel; young lugers hit top 10 at Oberhof
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ALBERTA ADVAN TAGE Whistler's Marielle Thompson celebrates a win at Nakiska over the weekend. Photo by Roger Whitney/Alpine Canada

Marielle Thompson was glad to be back on home soil.

In particular, the 23-year-old enjoys racing in Nakiska, where she tends to dominate.

The 2014 Winter Olympic ski-cross champion has now won three in a row in Alberta after knocking off Sweden's Anna Holmlund on Jan. 23.

Thompson got the jump straightaway out of the gate and held off a hard-charging Holmlund to jump to third in the chase for her third FIS Crystal Globe.

In the race, Austrians Andrea Limbacher and Katrin Ofner were third and fourth, respectively.

In winning her second consecutive competition, Thompson looked right at home. It showed in the final, as she seemed to find a near-ideal line.

"The Nakiska course really suits my style with the big turns and banks. It's such a great course for me," she told the Alpine Canada website. "I love racing in Canada. The crowd is so supportive of us and really makes us proud."

Another Canadian hit the podium on the men's side as Brady Leman captured third place.

Whistlerites struggle in alpine combined in Kitzbuhel

Two Whistler Mountain Ski Club alums didn't have the alpine combined showings they'd hoped for in FIS action in Kitzbuhel, Austria on the weekend.

Neither Broderick Thompson nor Jack Crawford, in his World Cup debut, finished their first runs at the Jan. 22 event. Trevor Philp was the only Canadian in the finals, placing 21st, 4.79 seconds back of winner Alexis Pinturault of France.

Larisa Yurkiw continued a fine season by finishing second to American Lindsey Vonn in the women's downhill on Jan. 23. Vonn set a new mark for FIS downhill wins by defeating Yurkiw by 0.28 seconds. On the men's side, Erik Guay placed 11th in the men's downhill, 1.51 seconds back of Italian Peter Fill. WMSC alumnus Manuel Osborne-Paradis placed 15th and fellow Canadian Benjamin Thomsen was 19th.

On Jan. 24, Vonn took the win again, besting a 12th-place Yurkiw by 2.24 seconds. In that day's men's slalom, Philp was the only Canadian finalist, taking 14th, 2.35 seconds behind Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen.

In the super-G on Jan. 22, Osborne-Paradis took an 11th-place finish, 1.19 seconds behind winner Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway. Morgan Pridy, also of the WMSC, was the next best Canadian in 31st.

Young lugers hit top 10

Teaming up can result in some great things.

The Canadian youth luge team put up the nation's highest result at the Junior World Cup stop at Oberhof, Germany on the weekend with a fifth-place finish.

Squamish's Nicky Klimchuk-Brown and the duo of Whistler's Matt Riddle and Pemberton's Adam Shippit teamed with Calgary's Brooke Apshkrum to notch a fifth-place result. Germany took the top spot, 1.864 seconds ahead.

Apshkrum also took Canada's best individual result with a fifth in the youth A women's event, 0.165 seconds behind Germany's Anna Berreiter. Local slider Veronica Ravenna, representing Argentina, placed 10th.

The Riddle/Shippit combination notched an eighth-place finish in the junior doubles, ending up 1.623 seconds behind the German pair of Florian Loffler and Manuel Stiebing.

As for the junior women, Mount Currie's Jenna Spencer ended up in eighth, 0.843 seconds off of German Tina Muller's pace. Calgary's Kyla Graham was 12th.

As well, Klimchuk-Brown placed 11th in the youth A men's event, 1.268 seconds off of Italy's Fabian Malleier's time. Cole Zajanski placed 14th and Colton Clarke 19th. Local resident Lucas Gebauer Barret, representing Great Britain, was 20th.