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Janyk leads Canadian charge in slalom

European surge leaves Canadians fighting for top 30

Whistler's Mike Janyk led the men's technical team into the Canadian history books this past weekend in Kitzbuehel, Austria with an unprecedented four Canadians finishing in the top 15 in a men's World Cup slalom.

In 2005 the team did manage four in the top 20, but coming in an Olympic year when the fields are generally bigger and at the last qualifying event before teams must be named for the 2010 Winter Olympics was no small feat.

Janyk led the way for the team, finishing 11 th after the first run then jumping up six spots with one of the faster second runs of the day to place fifth overall, just 0.26 seconds back of the bronze medal. It was the second week in a row where Janyk compensated for a slower first run with a fast second lap.

"I'm thrilled with my results today," said Janyk. "Once again my first run wasn't great. Unfortunately I wasn't ready with the snow, I thought it would be icier so I prepared for those kind of course conditions. In the second run I rethought my game plan and it worked for the best.

"This is a very difficult course. It doesn't look like it when you look at it but the terrain is really tricky. There are not a lot of flats and there are a lot of rolls so you constantly have to battle against the terrain. If you want to have a good result here you need to put everything on the line and risk it."

Teammates Julien Cousineau, Brad Spence and Trevor White placed 11 th , 12 th and 14 th respectively.

The event may also have made history books because of the lack of Austrians on the podium on their home course. Felix Neureuther of Germany took the win, followed by Julien Lizeroux of France and Giuliano Razzoli of Italy. Three Austrians did finish in the top 10 with Benjamin Raich leading the way in fourth.

Neureuther's father, Christian, won the Kitzbuehel slalom in 1979.

The slalom was combined with a downhill run for a classic combined race - the last slalom/downhill combined race on the circuit with the recent move to the super combined format that combines super G and slalom or giant slalom.

Ivica Kostelic of Croatia won the combined, followed by Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland and Austria's Benjamin Raich. The only Canadian to do both events was Ryan Semple, who placed a solid 11 th .

Canadians also posted solid results in other events at Kitzbuehel. Erik Guay, who has yet to reach the podium this year, had one bronze medal last season and nothing in 2008 - that's after five medals in the 2007 season - continues to improve. He fell just short of the mark once again. In Friday's super G he placed fifth, just one tenth of a second back of the bronze medal. No other Canadians cracked the top 30.

Guay was again the top Canadian in Saturday's Hahnenkamm downhill. Whistler's Manuel Osborne-Paradis was 20 th in the downhill but maintained his third place in the overall downhill standings.

Didier Cuche of Switzerland appears fully recovered after breaking ribs earlier in the season with convincing wins in both the super G and downhill. Austrians Michael Walchhofer and Georg Streitberger claimed second and third in the super G.

In the downhill, Cuche was followed by Andrej Sporn of Slovenia and Werner Heel of Italy.

The events continued this week with a night slalom on Tuesday at Schladming, Austria. With an estimated 50,000 alpine fans lining the course, Julien Cousineau raced his way to a fifth place finish on the icy course. Mike Janyk wasn't far back in time but placed 12 th - the only other Canadian to place in the top-30.

 

The women's team had a busy but frustrating weekend at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

In the super G Emily Brydon was 17 th and Whistler's Britt Janyk 27 th . American Lindsey Vonn continued to dominate with a win, finishing 0.67 seconds ahead of Fabienne Suter of Switzerland and Anja Paerson of Sweden.

Vonn came back the next day to win the downhill race, this time by close to half a second. Maria Riesch of Germany was second and Paerson of Sweden third. Only Brydon cracked the top 30, finishing in 22 nd place.

Vonn is now one of the most dominating female racers of all time. She is currently ranked first overall on the World Cup circuit, as well as first overall in downhill, super G and combined events. She is en route to her third consecutive overall title, third downhill title and second super G title, and is heading into the Olympics with eight gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze. Last season she earned 16 World Cup medals, more than three times the entire Canadian team, both men and women. Since 2004 she has earned 58 medals.

In the final event at Cortina, the giant slalom, Tanja Poutiainen of Finland took the gold with German skiers Viktoria Rebensburg and Kathrin Hoelzl rounding out the podium. The only Canadian to finish two runs was Shona Rubens, in 23 rd position.

 

Simard announces retirement due to injuries

After years of battling injuries, Quebec racer Genevieve Simard announced her retirement from ski racing last week, unable to compete at a high level any more as a result of knee injuries.

She missed most World Cup events the past two seasons to rehabilitate her knee, even undergoing an osteotomy. An osteotomy of the knee involves cutting the tibia to reshape and realign the knee and avoid irritating damaged cartilage.

While an improvement, the treatment did not work to Simard's satisfaction and she decided to withdraw rather than risk her future health.

"I think I can retire now with the conviction that I have tried everything I possibly could," she said. "It would be an understatement to say that the last two years have been extremely challenging. Health is one of the most important things to me and my body has been telling me for quite some time that I have been pushing it.

"I was the first elite skier to undergo an osteotomy and come back to competitive skiing at the World Cup level. I won one run of a World Cup GS last season, which is something that I am very proud of. But I think it is time I listened to my body. I know there is a great life after skiing and I need a healthy body to enjoy it."

Simard retires with five World Cup podiums, including a gold medal in 2004. She also placed fifth in GS in the 2006 Winter Games and fourth in the 2003 World Championships.