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.
Goodman joins growing injury list
The Canadian Alpine Ski Team's injury list is longer than its active list this season, and it got even longer last week with the announcement that Anna Goodman would miss the end of the season with a hip injury. The cartilage injury, which required surgery, took place before the FIS World Alpine Championships at the end of February, but wasn't assessed until last week.
"For the time being her ski racing season is over and at this point we are able to determine if she will be able to participate in the summer training schedule," said ACA medical co-director Dr. Stephen French.
Goodman is hoping to be back by next season. "I fell in Courcheval at a World Cup race and hurt my hip," she said. "I was hoping it wasn't too bad so I kept going. As the season went on the pain got worse and I had trouble skiing. After the World Championships I decided to come to Calgary and have the medical team check it out."
"I just wanted to know what was wrong and it was so painful that I couldn't believe it wasn't serious."
Goodman underwent knee surgery last season before her hip started to give her trouble. However, despite consecutive injuries she is committed to putting in the work to return.
"I really want to give it another try and get as healthy as possible for next season," she said. "I want to come back next year knowing that I still have it in me and win."
