Taylor Mitchell came home from his first-ever trip to the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games with some hardware.
During the festival, held in Thunder Bay, Ont. from Feb. 25 to 29, the 29-year-old alpine skier earned bronze in the advanced giant slalom before taking fourth in the advanced slalom and the advanced super-G.
"The experience was pretty good. It's a different hill, really icy, but not bad," he said. "The adjustment was pretty good. I took it easy."
On earning a medal in his first trip, Mitchell said it felt "cool" to stand on the podium with athletes from Quebec and Ontario.
"I wasn't really expecting it, but it felt pretty good," he said.
Being nationals, there were more participants from more regions than at any other event Mitchell had experienced before, and he enjoyed meeting people from all over the country.
Away from the slopes, Mitchell said he got to explore Thunder Bay, visiting the waterfront.
Mitchell prepared for nationals through regular practice as well as racing in the Kokanee Valley Race Series.
Astle hits Crankworx podium
Whistler mountain biker Georgia Astle kicked off her 2020 season on the right foot.
Astle scored a third-place finish in the Giant Toa Enduro in Rotorua, New Zealand in the campaign-opening Crankworx contest on March 1.
Completing the five stages in 24 minutes and 4.51 seconds (24:04.51), Astle came in 1:22.35 back of winner Rae Morrison of New Zealand and 11.14 seconds behind runner-up Kate Weatherly, also of New Zealand.
"The podium feels really good. I had some stages that I felt confident that I did OK, but I had some pretty funny crashes where I was off my bike, scrambling to get it back together. So I'm happy that my good stages could hold their own," Astle said in a release.
Peiffer cracks top 30 at Nordic junior worlds
Whistler's Benita Peiffer opened the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Oberwiesenthal, Germany, with some good news.
The 19-year-old posted a 25th-place showing in the sprint final on Feb. 29, advancing to the quarterfinals before bowing out. The result was high enough to qualify Peiffer to make her FIS World Cup debut from March 13 to 15.
In the five-kilometre classic race on March 2, Peiffer posted a 49th-place finish and in the 15-km mass start on March 4, she took 49th once again.
Whistler's Michael Murdoch made his worlds debut in the 30-km mass start on March 4, placing 45th.
Peiffer 11th in Andorra
Whistler Freeride Club (WFC) alum Tom Peiffer continued the 2020 Freeride World Tour season at Ordino Arcalis, Andorra on March 3.
In the third contest of the year, Peiffer scored a 78.00 to finish in the top half of the pack with an 11th-place finish. He now sits 10th overall on the season. France's Leo Slemett topped American Isaac Freeland and Sweden's Kristofer Turdell for the win.
In the women's snowboard event, Pemberton's Claudia Avon scored a 45.67 to finish sixth as Australia's Michaela Davis-Meehan topped Spain's Nuria Castan Baron and France's Marion Haerty for the win.
Freeriders Goguen, Sherlock take wins
The current crop of WFC riders looked strong over the weekend as well, as Marcus Goguen and Kayley Sherlock won their respective divisions in IFSA Junior Regional action at Washington state's Crystal Mountain on March 1.
Led by Goguen's convincing victory, with a 36.10 score, the club dominated the men's ski 15-to-18 division with Tristan Curran (33.67) in second, Wei Tien Ho (33.60) in fourth, and Ryder Bulfone (32.37) in seventh. Iliad Mirabbasi and Will Wilson narrowly missed the top 10 in 11th and 13th, respectively.
In the ski female 15-to-18 division, Amber Mullings missed the podium by less than one point, taking fourth, while Takaya Maynard placed 10th.
In the ski female 12-to-14 contest, meanwhile, Sherlock ran away with the win by five points, scoring a 32.93.
Over at the Lake Louise Big Mountain Challenge, locals also snared medals as Nate Wilson (65.70) and Kieren Ferguson (65.63) shared the podium in the ski male 12-to-14 division in second and third, respectively.
In the ski male 15-to-18 division, Lach Powell and Fynn Powell placed 17th and 32nd, respectively.
Sea to Sky Nordics claims 33 medals
Sea to Sky Nordics had an impressive weekend at the BC Championships and fourth Biathlon BC Cup contest of the season on Vancouver Island on Feb. 29 and March 1.
In the individual race on Feb. 29, local medallists were: Makenna Griffiths and Anja Weber-Harding (first and third, respectively, in novice 3-km); Sofie Hill (first in senior girls' 7.5-km); Aiden Firth, Benjamin Emde and Gustave Deseau (first, second and third, in order, in mixed juveniles 4-km); Lucas Gitt, Jojo Ng and Graham Benson (first, second and third, in order, in junior boys' 6-km); Josie Clifford and Brydon Harris-Irvine (first and second, respectively, in junior girls' 6-km); Sean Benson (third in senior boys' 7.5-km); Meredith Harman (first in Rec 7.5-km); Max Sterelyukhin (first in sport men 10-km); Kaitlin Uribe Pawlowski (first in junior women 12.5-km); Seamus Boyd-Porter (first in men's 15-km); Jonathan Anderson (third in masters men 35-to-49 10-km); Gary Tate (third in masters men 50-plus 10-km); and Yvette Jackson (first in masters women 50-plus 7.5-km).
In the March 1 mass start, medallists were: Griffiths and Claire Benson (second and third in novice 3-km); Hill (second in senior girls' 7.5-km); Harman (first in Rec 7.5-km); Uribe Pawlowski (first in junior women 10-km); Boyd-Porter (first in men's 15-km); Firth, Emde and Taje Hansen (first, second and third, in order, in mixed juveniles); Lucas Clements, Gitt and Graham Benson (first, second and third, in order, in junior boys' 5-km); Jasper Fleming (second in senior boys' 7.5-km); Sterelyukhin (first in sport men 7.5-km); Anderson (first in masters men 35-to-49 7.5-km); and Jackson (first in masters women 50-plus 7.5-km).
Complete results are online at vibiathlon.ca/wp.
Linton cracks NorAm Cup top 10
Freestyle Whistler grad Jessica Linton made her first-ever NorAm Cup top 10 in duals moguls competition at Val St. Come, Que. on March 1.
Linton scored a 10th-place finish to end up as the top Canadian, while Mackenzie Schwinghammer took 13th, Chase Capicik placed 23rd, Maya Mikkelsen was 26th and Malica Malherbe, representing South Africa, ended up 28th.
In moguls action on Feb. 29, Mikkelsen equalled her best-ever NorAm Cup showing with a 12th-place result, leading a local charge that saw Capicik (13th), Linton (14th) and Schwinghammer (15th) finish right behind her, while Malherbe was 29th.
As for the men, Josh Maga posted a 30th-place result in single moguls before finishing 40th in dual moguls.
WMSC skiers claim Tyee Cups
Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) U12 reps claimed both the male and female Tyee Cup titles in alpine action at Grouse Mountain on Feb. 29 and March 1.
Hannah Neeves claimed the female title by just four points over teammate Alexa Ferguson while Kingsley Parkhill claimed the male title.
In the giant slalom, Neeves and Maika Lennox-King hit the female podium, taking second and third, respectively, while Parkhill led a WMSC sweep of the podium with Dreas Gibbons and Liam Gottfried finishing second and third, in order.
In the Kombi, Ferguson led a female podium sweep while Celeste Ciebien placed second and Neeves was third. On the men's side, Graydyn Swanson hit the podium in third.
Action continued the next day with the stubby slalom. In female action, Ferguson and Ciebien claimed the top two spots while Sophie Neeves took third, while Gibbons and Parkhill claimed the top two spots in the male race.
Lastly, in the tall gate slalom, Hannah Neeves claimed the female win while in the male race, Parkhill scored the win with Marek Novak in second and Swanson in third.
The U14s were also in action this weekend, taking part in the Teck Coast Zone Race at Cypress Mountain.
The club claimed five podium finishes, with Thomas Legg winning the slalom and Joseph Gibbons taking third in the Saturday slalom.
In the Sunday giant slalom, Gibbons placed second while Legg was third, and on the ladies' side, Vanessa Young took third.
Full results are online at bcalpine.com.
Morrow hits NorAm Cup top 10
Whistler ski-cross racer Jack Morrow hit the NorAm Cup top-10 for the first time in Colorado on Feb. 22.
After knocking on the door of single digits in recent contests, Morrow posted an eighth-place finish at Ski Cooper.
Whistler teammate Jack MacDonald, meanwhile, competed on both days, equalling his NorAm Cup career best with a 12th-place showing on Feb. 22 before placing 14th the next day.
In other ski-cross news, Nick Katrusiak is competing on the Western Canadian Ski-Cross Series circuit, posting two podium appearances—both second place results—in four races across stops in Red Deer, Alta. and Fernie so far this season. The campaign wraps up in Big White later this month.
Crawford sets new World Cup best
Across the pond, WMSC grad Jack Crawford set a new career FIS World Cup best in super-G racing at Hinterstoder, Austria on Feb. 29.
Dropping 22nd, Crawford took a 12th-place finish, coming in 2.09 seconds behind winner Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria to place as the top Canadian. Switzerland's Mauro Caviezel took second and Austria's Matthias Mayer was third.
"Today, I got a little bit lucky with the bib draw and managed to put in a good run. I sent it as hard as I could and the outcome was exactly what I needed to put myself in a good spot to make World Cup finals," Crawford said in a release.
Other Canucks were: Trevor Philp in 37th, fellow WMSC grad Brodie Seger in 41st and Jeff Read in 47th.
In the March 1 Alpine combined, Sam Mulligan was the lone Canadian to finish, placing 28th as France's Alexis Pinturault bested Caviezel and Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde for the win.
Lastly, in the giant slalom on March 2, Philp and Read were the lone Canadians to place, finishing 22nd and 24th, respectively. Pinturault again won, topping Croatia's Filip Zubcic and Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen.
The Canadian women, meanwhile, struggled in the only event of the weekend that survived the weather in La Thuile, Italy, as Marie-Michele Gagnon and Candace Crawford took 36th and 39th, respectively, in the super-G on Feb. 29. Austria's Nina Ortlieb edged out Italy's Federica Brignone and Switzerland's Corinne Suter for the win.
Fundraiser coming for Downhill Derelicts
The Downhill Derelicts, a group of visiting freeride skiers who annually make the pilgrimage to Whistler, will be back with a bang in 2020.
The group, formed in 2002, started fundraising for Whistler Adaptive in 2017, raising roughly $92,000 in that time, including approximately $37,000 last year.
This year, the Derelicts are hosting a fundraiser at Summit Sport in the Hilton Whistler on March 12 at 8 p.m. The evening, complete with a James Bond theme, will feature a raffle and silent auction, surprise guests, and music from the Combat Dolphins.
For more information, check out Facebook.com/DownhillDerelicts.
