While the Canadian Alpine Ski Team raced in Italy and France, the women’s National Development Team gave us a glimpse into the future at two FIS giant slaloms in Maria Alm, Austria on Dec. 15 and 16.
On Dec. 15, Gail Kelly of Le Relais, Quebec, came back after a qualifier run that put her in 47 th to finish in 12 th overall. Kelly VanderBeek of Kitchener, Ontario, was two-tenths of a second back to finish 13 th .
The top three spots went to Monica Bergmann of Germany, and Nicole Hosp and Sabine Egger of Austria.
Day two was even better for the Canadians, with Kelly moving up to fourth place overall with the fastest run of the day. VanderBeek was fifth with the third-best time of the competition.
Both Whistler’s Christina Risler and Maggie Pattillo of Toronto cracked the top 50 for the second day in a row to finish 46 th and 49 th respectively.
Bergmann won her second straight, Hosp won a second silver and Christine Bauer of Germany was third.
