Ontario's Erin Mielzynski took the first event of the Northwest Funds Nor-Am Cup Finals in Whistler on Tuesday, surprising nobody given how well her races have gone with the national team this season.
She placed 20th in one World Cup slalom and 13th on another.
In Whistler, she completed two solid runs on the course to take the win, edging out Elli Terweil of Sun Peaks for top spot on the podium. Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S. was third.
Whistler Mountain Ski Club racer Madison McLeish placed sixth in the race, ranking second among the junior skiers 18 and younger.
"The Nor-Am season didn't start out that well because we've been in Europe so much," said Mielzynski. "I did the first two races in Colorado and I didn't do that well, but today was good."
Other Whistler skiers in the race include Rae Swette in 28th, Charley Field in 29th and Kailee Darlington in 34th.
In the men's giant slalom, Jeffrey Frisch was the fastest Canadian in seventh place, with Americans Tim Jitloff, Tommy Ford and David Chodounsky making it an American sweep.
With 167 cm of snow falling the past week it took a lot of hard work to pull the race off as scheduled, and another blizzard moved in to hamper visibility as well. However, Frisch says the race was fair.
"The weather was okay," he said, "it was the same for everybody. It's actually a really good hill with great volunteers and they've done a good job to pull off the race today."
Other Whistler skiers in the competition were Morgan Pridy in 15th and Conrad Pridy in 25th.
The racing continues through Mar. 20. Daily updates and live timing are available at www.bcalpine.com.
