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Britt back in the top 10

Weekend result secures her a place in the World Cup finals.

Whistler's Britt Janyk shook off a few mediocre results in the mid-20s and blasted her way back into the top 10 in the downhill at Tarvisio, Italy over the weekend. The result secured her a place in the World Cup finals, where you need to be in the top 25 in the rankings to qualify.

"It's a fun hill here, it's not super technical but there is good terrain and good jumps. I felt confidence going in today," said Janyk.

"I felt comfortable in the air and over the jumps and I think that was an advantage."

The race organizers left out the top section, which made for some tight finishes. Third through 16th place were separated by one second, with Britt Janyk placing ninth - just over half a second back of the podium.

"Because the race didn't start from the top, it was going to be tight and I knew I was going to have to fight for every hundredth of a second," she said. "During my run I tried to tuck as much as I could and ski nice and clean. It's definitely nice to be back in the top 10 in downhill."

Janyk's top finish before Italy was a 13th place finish at Val d'Isere in December, but while she hasn't found her way back to the podium this season she's been consistently earning points.

"Today just clicked," she said. "My skis were running really well here all week. It's also a track that I've run before and I think I just felt kind of irritated with the races in Are (Sweden) and I just wanted to come out and race hard. There was a lot of frustration these past couple of months. I know that I can finish in the top five and top 10 in downhill and to finish in the twenties is frustrating."

Anja Paerson of Sweden took the gold medal, followed by American Lindsey Vonn and Elisabeth Goergl of Austria. Janyk was the only Canadian in the 54 racer field.

In the super combined, Marie-Michele Gagnon was the top Canadian in 17th. There was also a super G, where Janyk placed 24th after a bad bib draw. It was a warm day and the course had deteriorated by the time she stepped up to the gates with Bib 30.

"I thought I skied really well but I kept losing time the whole way down to the finish," she said.

Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso were first and second in the race, while Maria Riesch of Germany placed third.

The men's technical team headed to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia for a technical series.

There was not a single Canadian competing in the giant slalom out of 68 athletes, with Carlo Janka of Switzerland taking the win over Alexis Pinturault of France and Ted Ligety of the U.S.

In the slalom, Julien Cousineau was the only Canadian to finish two runs on the course, placing 15th overall. Some 30 racers did not finish the first run with tricky conditions, including overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic and Whistler's Mike Janyk.

"We're disappointed," said head coach Paul Kristofic. "We expected more from these guys today. I don't think Cousineau had a good feeling for the hill today. Mike (Janyk) straddled (a gate), and Brad (Spence) straddled as well."

Both Janyk and Cousineau finished the regular season with enough points to advance to the World Cup Finals.