Whistler athletes earn medals
In the final three days of racing, Canadians captured nine of a possible 15 podium positions at the Lake Louise Nor-Am races. Four of those medals went to two Whistler skiers, members of the Whistler Mountains Ski Club alumni.
In the mens downhill on Dec. 9, Whistlers Jeff Hume, a member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, finished first, edging American Geoffrey Stephenson by 1/100 th of a second. Eric Guay, another CAST member, took the bronze medal.
Six other Canadians cracked the top 15, led by Jan Hudec of Calgary in fourth place. Rosslands David Anderson was seventh, Manuel Osborne-Paradis (B.C.) was 10 th , while Cameron Barnes, Luke Patterson and Derek Mortson (all of Alberta) were 12 th , 13 th and 14 th .
In the womens downhill, Whistlers Christina Risler, 18, finished just 0.17 seconds out of first to claim the bronze medal. Risler is currently a member of the national development team.
The top two spots went to Bryna McCarty and Tatum Skoglund of the U.S.
Seven other Canadians made it into the top 15, led by Emily Hamill in fourth. Kelly Vanderbeek (ON) was fifth, Sherry Lawrence (AB) sixth, Sophie Splawinski (QC) eighth, Gail Kelly (QC) ninth, Yota Lambropoulos (AB) 11 th , and Lauren Lattimer (ON)12 th .
In the second downhill on the following day, Risler won the downhill gold medal by 0.01 seconds over teammate Vanderbeek. McCarty of the U.S. was third.
Other Canadians in the top 15 were Splawinski in fourth, Kelly in sixth, Lawrence in eighth, Katie Fukushima (B.C.) in 10 th , Lambropoulos in 14 th and Lattimer in 15 th .
The men were also strong with Guay and Hudec winning gold and silver. Austrian Juergen Kandlbauer was third. Hume was fifth, Barnes eighth, Osborne-Paradis 10 th , and Cameron Culbert (ON) 14 th .
On the final day of competition, David Anderson, 22, won his third super-G since the Hershey Alberta Cup and Lake Louise Nor-Ams kicked off on Dec. 3.
This week, members of CAST, the national development team, and Whistler Mountain Ski Club technical teams will be competing in a technical series at Panorama.