It may be another couple of months before the W5 Foundation and Alpine Canada decide how they will approach the spring FIS meeting, when next year’s World Cup calendar will be finalized, but Whistler wants a World Cup race. "We had a good meeting with Alpine Canada," said Peter Webb, president of the W5 Foundation. "We have a strong desire to keep the World Cup program alive in Canada. We’re working together to come up with a strategy that works." The W5 Foundation met with Alpine Canada last week to work on a strategy to present to the FIS. After last December’s World Cup races were cancelled, for the third year in a row, FIS Race Director Guenther Hujara said he couldn’t support a December race at Whistler again. Whistler is currently on next year’s World Cup calendar for a men’s downhill and super G in December. Meanwhile, Alpine Canada received more bad news Wednesday when Brian Stemmle was injured in the first training run for this weekend’s races at Kitzbühel, Austria. Stemmle suffered a third-degree separation of the AC joint in his left shoulder during a high-speed crash and is expected to miss the rest of the World Cup season. The Canadian Alpine Ski Team has already lost downhillers Cary Mullen, Edi Podivinsky and Graydon Oldfield for the season. Luke Sauder and Kevin Wert may be the only non-rookie downhillers Canada enters in next month’s World Alpine Skiing Championships in Vail. Wert won a Europa Cup downhill Wednesday.
