Whistler’s Britt Janyk stunned the field with an eight place GS finish in the Sestriere, Italy, World Cup on Monday. More improbable than breaking the top 10 was the fact that she won the second run, making up 21 positions from 29 th place to earn her first ever World Cup points.
"I was excited just to qualify for the second run," said Janyk. "I went after it in the second run like I had nothing to lose. I was pretty calm before my run, I was joking around at the top. The course held up well. I attacked much more than last week here."
The week before, the 20-year Janyk surprised everyone by winning the Europa Cup GS in Chamonix, France, against some top World Cup competitors.
"After the races in Chamonix, I began to feel comfortable at this level. In my first World Cup races I held on a little bit, mainly because you really want to qualify. But I realized you don’t have to ski pretty, you have to ski fast. I’m technically strong enough, I know that now, so I just have to do the same thing with the same attitude.
"When I came down I believed my time would hold up for a while, but it wasn’t until (Austrian veteran Alexandra) Meissnitzner came down that I knew my time was that fast."
Canadian coach Jim Pollock, who split his coaching time between Fernie’s Emily Brydon and Janyk over the past few years, was impressed with Janyk’s finish.
"She had to ski an awesome run to qualify," he said. "Her confidence is up after the races in Chamonix. She was thinking today ‘I have to go as hard as I can’ and off she went. She took advantage of the clean course. When I saw her run, I knew it would hold up for a bit, but it held up for a long time."
Sonja Nef of Switzerland won the race, followed by Anja Paerson of Sweden and Renate Goetschl of Austria.
Allison Forsyth of Nanaimo was the next highest ranked Canadian, finishing 23 rd . Brydon did not qualify for the second run.
