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Janyk to start season in Austria

Alpine World Cup kicks off this weekend

Whistler’s Britt Janyk will make her 2005-06 World Cup debut this weekend in a pair of giant slalom races at Soelden, Austria.

For some members of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team only a handful of races remain to meet qualification standards for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy.

The Canadian women’s team will be led by Genevieve Simard of Val Morin Quebec, who finished last season ranked fifth in the GS standings. Other racers include Allison Forsyth of Nanaimo, Sophie Splawinski of Montreal, Brigitte Acton from Mont-Tremblant, Emily Brydon of Fernie, Shona Rubens from Calgary, Kelly Vanderbeek from Kitchener and Whistler’s Janyk. Although Janyk is no stranger to the GS discipline, she spent most of last season focusing on the slalom, where Canada has yet to qualify for an Olympic quota spot.

The men’s team will be led by Thomas Grandi of Canmore, who was third overall in the World Cup GS standings last season. He will be joined by Ryan Semple of St-Jovite, Quebec, Francois Bourque from New Richmond, Quebec, Brad Spence from Calgary, Julien Cousineau from Lachute, Quebec and John Kucera from Calgary.

Following the races in Austria, both Canadian teams will return to Canada for a month-long training camp leading up to the Winterstart World Cup races at Lake Louise, Alberta in December.

Canada finished last season ranked seventh overall on the World Cup. Alpine Canada Alpin has set a goal of qualifying 22 athletes for the 2006 Winter Olympics. So far the list of qualified racers includes Grandi, Simard, Brydon, Forsyth, Bourque, Jean-Philippe Roy, Patrick Biggs and Whistler’s Michael Janyk.