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Janyk on top of the world

Gold medal and red leader’s bib for Whistler skier
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Golden girl Whistler's Britt Janyk made personal and team history last weekend with her first World Cup gold medal. She now leads the overall downhill standings with two medals in two weeks. Photo by ACA/Pentaphoto

Whistler’s Britt Janyk followed a long road to get to the top of a World Cup downhill podium in Aspen this past weekend, from the first time she first strapped on skis at the age of two in West Vancouver to her decision last year to switch from the technical team to the speed team. Saturday she became only the fifth Canadian woman to win a World Cup downhill.

After a couple of disappointing seasons, Janyk put up $25,000 of her own money last year to guarantee her spot with the Canadian program. In her first season with the speed team she placed fourth in four super G races, and was refunded most of that money from Alpine Canada.

Now, just two weeks into her second season with the speed team, she has two World Cup podiums to her credit — a bronze medal in Lake Louise and a gold medal in Aspen — and is ranked first in downhill, ninth in super G, and eighth overall on the World Cup tour.

She will wear the red bib as the overall downhill leader this weekend in St. Moritz — something her brother Michael did last year after finishing second in a slalom at Beaver Creek.

“Last year, in Beaver Creek, he put the red bib on for the first time and here I am for the first time in it in Colorado. It’s a lucky spot for the Janyks,” she said.

Aspen provided the perfect course for Janyk. Ruthie’s Run was more technical than most downhills, which fit neatly with Janyk’s experience racing gates, while the conditions were reminiscent of her home hill in Whistler — snowy, soft, and with limited visibility through some sections. The course was also shorter as a result of the snow and organizers were forced to end the race before the last 19 skiers could challenge the course after two skiers crashed and four others pulled out.

“This is a technical course here in Aspen and that actually played right into my abilities,” she said. “At the same time I was nervous to prove that I could do it again coming off of the third place in Lake Louise. This is unbelievable. Now I’ve set the bar even higher.

“The conditions haven’t been ideal and I am just so proud that I kept focus and pulled in off.”

Like so many things for the Canadian Alpine Ski Team these days, Janyk’s performance made history for the national program. The last Canadian woman to win a World Cup downhill race was Kate Pace Lindsay back in 1993. The only other Canadian women with World Cup downhill victories are Laurie Graham, Gerry Sorensen and Nancy Greene.

Melanie Turgeon did win a world championship downhill in 2003, but retired soon afterwards with a persistent back injury. Kerrin Lee-Gartner won the Olympic downhill in 1992.

Janyk finished the run in 1:14.17, more than a third of a second ahead of Marlies Schild of Austria. Another Austrian, Renate Goetschl, rounded out the medals in third.

Ontario’s Kelly Vanderbeek managed a sixth place finish, which was the second-best downhill result of her career. Emily Brydon of Fernie and Sherry Lawrence of Calgary also cracked the top-30, placing 14 th and 26 th respectively.

The downhill was moved from Friday to Saturday due to the new snow, which meant the super G scheduled for Saturday had to be cancelled. But organizers did manage to clear a course for a slalom on Sunday. Because of injuries no Canadians were able to compete in that race, which once again saw Austria dominating the podium with Nicole Hosp in first by a long margin and Kathrin Zettel in third. Tanja Poutiainen of Finland came away with the silver medal.

While the women were in Aspen, the men headed to Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria for a giant slalom and slalom. The team wasn’t able to pick up any medals, but athletes still managed to pick up valuable points.

In the giant slalom, the top two spots went to Italian skiers, with Massimiliano Blardone and Manfred Moelgg finishing first and second, while Ted Ligety of the U.S. picked up the bronze medal.

Francois Bourque was the top Canadian in 12 th place, followed by John Kucera in 14 th , and Jean-Philipee Roy in 16 th , giving Canada three skiers in the top-20.

Whistler’s Robbie Dixon and Ontario’s Scott Barett did not finish their first runs, and Erik Guay did not qualify for a second run.

In the slalom on day two, Benjamin Raich picked up the gold medal, followed by Jens Byggmark of Sweden and Manfred Moelgg. Interestingly, Italian skiers also picked up fourth and fifth place, with Patrick Thaler and Christian Deville just a fraction of a second behind Moelgg.

Whistler’s Mike Janyk, who was sidelined with a back injury, was unable to compete. Paul Stutz was arguably the top Canadian, qualifying for a second run in 19 th place, but went off course. Julien Cousineau and Patrick Biggs did not complete their opening runs.

These next few weeks will be busy for the team with the men’s slalom and giant slalom races at La Villa and Alta Badia, and the downhill and super G races in Val Gardena this weekend. The women’s team has a downhill and super G at St. Moritz, Switzerland, before moving on to St. Anton, Austria for pre-Christmas two downhill and one super G races.