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Rubens takes three gold medals to lead nationals

Britt Janyk golden in GS, silver in downhill
1413osborneparadis
Whistler's Manuel Osborne-Paradis airs out in the downhill training runs on Monday, photo by Justa Jeskova, www.coastphoto.com

By Andrew Mitchell

Organizers and volunteers at the Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships had their hands full this past week with every type of weather Whistler’s coastal system could throw at them — snow, rain, fog, wind, sun, and temperatures that fluctuated from 10 below zero to eight degrees Celsius.

Despite the frequent course delays and cancelled training runs, the slalom, giant slalom, super G, and team dual slalom took place by the end of Sunday afternoon, and the downhill got off under sunny skies on Tuesday.

The women’s giant slalom took place on Friday, with Whistler’s Britt Janyk placing first by more than two seconds. Shona Rubens of the national development team, first in the slalom on March 20, picked up the silver medal, and Marie-Michele Gagnon of Quebec claimed the bronze.

It was Janyk’s fourth national GS title in the past six years, but came after a season where Janyk focused almost entirely on downhill and super G disciplines.

“It wasn’t easy today,” she said, “the conditions were not ideal, but you can’t control Mother Nature so you can’t worry about it.”

Rubens credited Janyk for setting the bar high for the other racers.

“Britt really stepped it up today. She’s skiing amazingly well so I’m satisfied with my performance and with finishing second,” she said.

J1 skier Victoria Whitney was the top racer for the Whistler Mountain Ski Club in 18 th place out of over 70 racers. She also placed third for her age group. Brianne Ormerod, the top WMSC racer in the slalom, was 35 th , followed by Calindy Ramsden 36 th , Julia Murray 39 th , Jennifer Mah 41 st , and Katrina Dekur 46 th .

In the men’s giant slalom the following day, Mont Tremblant’s Erik Guay followed up on his recently announced plan to race more GS events on the World Cup circuit with his first ever national title in the discipline. Guay, best known for the speed events, won four medals in downhill and super G to wrap up his World Cup season.

Guay made up for a late starting spot by tucking his way through the flat sections of the course, putting his downhill skills to good use. That left him in second place after the first run, behind John Kucera of Calgary. Kucera had a rough second attempt at the course, which pushed him back to 21 st overall and left Guay, solid again in the afternoon, unchallenged for first place.

“I’m really happy, especially with my first run,” said Guay. “My GS is really coming around.

“I’m glad that I won, I didn’t want it to be a waste of my time out here in the rain. There’s nothing you can do about the weather, you just have to go out there and deal with it.”

Second place went to Scott Barrett of Toronto, while Tim Jitloff of the U.S. picked up the bronze.

From Whistler, Mike Janyk was 10 th , Scott Hume 14 th , Jan Hudec 17 th , James McLean 30 th , Morgan Pridy 41 st , and Benjamin MacLean 45 th .

In a testament to how difficult the conditions were, 46 skiers did not finish their first or second runs or were disqualified.

On Saturday afternoon, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and B.C. faced off in a team dual slalom event at the base of Whistler Mountain. With the rain and soft conditions, organizers were forced to cut it down from two runs in each round to just one run. Alberta won the team award, mostly by making good use of the faster red course, and stealing a few races on the blue course.

On Sunday, organizers were forced to run both men’s and women’s super G events in order to leave Monday open for downhill training — the downhill training runs from earlier in the week were thrown out after the race was delayed by several days.

Although the super G conditions were hard and fast in the morning, thick fog moved in after the first five women went down the course that caused a delay of several hours before the event could be restarted. Whistler’s Britt Janyk, seventh in the final World Cup super G standings and the defending super G champion, had a tough run in the morning that threw her off pace. She ran again in the afternoon, but finished seventh.

Shona Rubens picked up the gold, her second of the championships and her third medal overall. Emilie Desforges placed second, while Marie-Michele Gagnon earned the bronze.

“A win is a win,” said Rubens. “There was a little bit of stop-and-go for us but we got the race off and I’m really happy to come out on top.”

Whistler’s Victoria Whitney placed an impressive 16 th , while teammate Jennifer Mah was 31 st , Julia Murray 38 th , Calindy Ramsden 39 th , Sarah Marshall 43 rd , Shannon Smith 45 th , Anastasiya Skryabina 46 th , and Brianne Ormerod 47 th .

On the men’s side, Jeffrey Frisch upset a national team field of skiers to take the gold, with John Kucera — third on the World Cup super G circuit — finishing second, and Erik Fisher of the U.S. picking up the bronze.

Frisch switched gears almost immediately after the race to focus on defending his downhill title from last year.

From Whistler, Robbie Dixon just missed the podium, finishing in fourth place. Michael Janyk was 14 th , Conrad Pridy 26 th , Stanislas Rey 33 rd , Scott Hume 36 th , Brian Bennett 38 th , James McLean 43 rd , Morgan Pridy 47 th , and Benjamin MacLean 66 th .

In Tuesday’s downhill, Rubens was the girl to beat once again, picking up her third gold medal. Britt Janyk, the 2006 champion, finished a close second, while Montreal’s Emilie Desforges picked up the bronze.

“I feel as good as I’ve felt all year,” said Rubens. “This is a great way to end the season but, to be honest, I just want to keep racing. I’m looking forward to next year already, that’s for sure.”

While Rubens’s performance might have been the biggest surprise of the week, Whistler’s Victoria Whitney, skiing with the B.C. team, no doubt turned a few heads with her seventh place result to lead all juniors, and quite a few seniors.

From the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, Julia Murray and Jennifer Mah tied for 27 th , Sarah Marshall was 30 th , and Shannon Smith, Deborah Bayliss, Calindy Ramsden and Brianne Ormerod were 34 th through 37 th .

On the men’s side, Mont Tremblant’s Erik Guay followed up his training run from the previous day with another solid race to pick up the gold medal. John Kucera, Francois Bourque, and Jan Hudec of the national team were second through fourth. Travis Dawson was the top junior.

Other Whistler results include Michael Janyk in 12 th place, Stanislas Rey 19 th , Brian Bennett 21 st , and James McLean 31 st .

At the conclusion of the regular races on Tuesday, with a FIS downhill on Wednesday, the national team’s sponsors at Pontiac GMC presented athletes who met certain criteria with leased trucks for the year. A record nine athletes qualified, including Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Britt Janyk, Mike Janyk, Emily Brydon, Jan Hudec, John Kucera, Erik Guay, Francois Bourque, and Kelly VanderBeek.