By Andrew Mitchell
It was a good weekend for Whistler on the World Cup circuit,
with Britt and Michael Janyk leading the way for the Canadian Alpine Ski Team
in their respective events.
Following an accelerated schedule due to the number of World
Cup events affected by the lack of snow, the women’s speed team spent a busy
weekend in San Sicario, Italy with a super G, downhill and another super G in
just three days.
Britt Janyk led the way in the first super G on Friday, placing
fourth and missing her first World Cup podium by three one-hundredths of a
second. As it was fourth was her best career result, after a fifth place in
giant slalom in 2003.
“I was in the leader booth from very early in the race, and
kept seeing the best in the world go by over my time,” she said. “I almost saw
myself on the podium, but a fourth place is not that bad at all.”
This season, Britt was bumped back from the national team to
the development team following three difficult years on the technical circuit.
That demotion meant she had to pay Alpine Canada $25,000 to be able to train
and compete with the national team. And, boosted by strong results at last
year’s nationals in the speed disciplines, Janyk gambled with a switch to the
speed squad.
All those questions at the start of the season now seem to have
been answered. Her fourth place finish at San Sicario qualified her for the
Alpine World Champisonships, in super G and downhill. It also means Alpine
Canada will refund 80 per cent of her training fee.
While she has yet to podium, Janyk has been very consistent in
speed events this season. Leading up to her fourth place finish on Friday,
Janyk has placed in the top-30 nine times, or in all but two events.
Boosting the team, Kelly VanderBeek of Chilliwack placed fifth,
just one-one hundredth of a second back of Janyk.
“It wasn’t a perfect run but it was a pretty good run,” said
VanderBeek. “I was so pumped for Britt. I knew she was right on top so it
motivated me to push even more.”
VanderBeek was fourth in the Olympic super G last year at San
Sicario, missing the podium by one one-hundredth of a second.
Friday’s win went to Renate Goetschl of Austria, followed by
Lindsey Kildow of the U.S. Austria’s Christine Sponring, one of the last skiers
on course, bumped Janyk out of the bronze medal position.
Fernie’s Emily Brydon also earned points, placing 24
th
.
In Saturday’s downhill, VanderBeek was the fastest Canadian in
13
th
place, while Janyk placed 20
th
. Goetschl picked up
her second gold of the weekend, followed by teammates Elisabeth Goergl and
Maria Holaus.
In the second super G on Sunday, Janyk proved that Friday’s
result was no fluke with her second fourth place finish — this time
missing the podium by just 0.28 seconds.
“I’m definitely feeling pretty good,” she said. “I’m fourth and
of course I would have liked to have been on the podium but the fact that I’ve
had two fourth place finishes on the weekend tells me that the podium is within
my reach and that’s a great feeling.
“Now that I’m fourth I can see more and more that it’s
attainable to be on the podium.”
With the points she earned on the weekend Janyk climbed to
sixth overall in the World Cup SG rankings, as well as 28
th
on the
DH rankings. She is also 22
nd
in the Combined standings.
VanderBeek and Genevieve Simard also cracked the top-30 Sunday,
finishing 10
th
and 29
th
respectively though they were
separated by just 1.11 seconds.
While Britt was earning points in Italy, her younger brother
Michael was leading the men’s technical team at Kitzbuhel, Austria.
In Saturday’s slalom he was the lone Canadian to qualify for a
second run, finishing his day in ninth place.
“It was another solid result,” he said. “I am happy with my
skiing. I went all out and made some mistakes, but you have to do that if you
want to be on that podium.”
Mike is now ranked fifth in the slalom standings, buoyed by a
silver medal performance in Beaver Creek earlier this year. He has also been
the most consistent member of the technical team, with three top-10 results to
his credit leading up to the events in Kitzbuhel.
This was the first race where Janyk featured the Resort
Municipality of Whistler logo on his helmet, after announcing a sponsorship
deal with his hometown last week.
He also used his ninth place result to give kudos to his
sister, one day after her first fourth place finish.
“She worked very hard in the summer, and it’s good to have her
back in the game,” he said. “She is one of the hardest working girls on the
circuit and she’ll podium sooner than later.”
Jens Byggmark of Sweden took the gold medal, while Mario Matt
of Austria picked up the silver and Alois Vogl of Germany claimed bronze.
In a second slalom, on Sunday, Janyk again qualified in the
top-30 for a second run, but end up with a DNF after straddling a gate close to
the finish line. He was on pace to crack the top-10 once again.
Mike shrugged off the incident. “You can’t really think about
straddling that gate. It happens so quickly. If you want to win, you’ve got to
ski on the edge. You take chances. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t.
It’s always better to come once on a podium than twice in the 10
th
position.”
Byggmark picked up his second gold of the weekend, and Matt his
second silver. Italy’s Manfred Moelgg took the bronze.
For the next two weekends the Canadians who qualified will be at the FIS Alpine World Championships in Are, Sweden.