By Andrew Mitchell
It was a good weekend for the Janyk family, with Michael earning a silver medal with the men’s team at Beaver Creek, Colorado, and Britt making a strong return to the women’s speed team at Lake Louise.
In fact, it was a stellar weekend for the Canadian Alpine Ski Team in general, as the team added two more medals to the two medals the men’s team earned the previous weekend. In addition to Mike Janyk’s silver in slalom, Ontario’s Kelly VanderBeek placed third in the women’s super G on Sunday. Showing the overall depth of the team, Canadian skiers also finished in the top-30 of every race this past weekend, earning points and improving their start positions for future races.
Men’s Team
The Beaver Creek World Cup got underway with a super combined event on Thursday, Nov. 30. Christoph Gruber and Mario Scheiber of Austria placed first and second in the downhill stage, while Didier Defago of Switzerland was third.
Finishing just 0.18 seconds back of Defago was Francois Bourque of New Richmond, Quebec, who placed sixth.
The racers headed back up the hill in the afternoon for a run on the slalom course, which changed the leader board considerably. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway placed first with the lowest combined time in the two events, while Marc Berthod of Switzerland took second, and Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria was third.
Bourque dropped to 12 th place overall, the only Canadian to finish both his downhill and slalom runs. Although the 21 year old was disappointed to give up some ground, he was happy with his downhill race.
“Today it went very well, I was ready and the course was in excellent condition,” he said. “I love hard snow and steep hills, and always perform well in theses conditions.
“Slalom had been my force when I was younger. However, with the speed events taking a more important role in my career, it’s hard to find time to train as much on the slalom.”
While the World Cup speed team was at Beaver Creek, the men’s technical team warmed up for the weekend’s giant slalom and slalom at a Nor Am Cup race at Keystone Colorado. Whistler’s Mike Janyk won the slalom event racing against a very international field of racers in town for the World Cup. Alexander Koll of Austria and Gaetan Llorach of France were second and third.
A World Cup downhill event was on Friday. American skiers Bode Miller and Steven Nyman secured the gold and bronze, while Didier Cuche of Switzerland earned the silver medal.
The Canadian speed team had less success than at Lake Louise the previous week, but three skiers did earn points by finishing in the top-30. The top Canadian was Calgary’s John Kucera, 22, who won the super G at Lake Louise. He finished his day in 23 rd , tied with Austrian powerhouse Hermann Maier, but knows he could have done better.
“I am satisfied with my skiing today, even if I made a huge mistake on the bottom of the pitch and lost lots of speed,” he said.
Bourque placed 25 th , followed by Manuel Osborne-Paradis in 27 th . At Lake Louise Osborne-Paradis placed second in the downhill. Both skiers had to contend with poor visibility and a stickier track as snow began to fall on the Birds of Prey course.
Saturday’s event was the Giant Slalom. Bourque was the top Canadian in ninth place, moving up three places on his second run with the fourth-fastest second run of the day. He was less than a second back of third place in a tight competition where just 0.07 seconds separated the top-three skiers.
Massimilliano Blardone of Italy took gold, followed by Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway and Ted Ligety of the U.S.
Canada’s Thomas Gradi was 14 th , the only other Canadian to qualify for a second run.
Mike Janyk capped off the weekend with his silver medal performance in Sunday’s slalom. After placing fifth in the first run, Janyk pushed hard in his second run to jump up three spots in the rankings.
“Amazing. Incredible,” said Janyk after the race. “It’s been a long time coming. I was surrounded by 12 of my friends, my mom, my sister, and to win (my first podium) in front of them was tremendous.”
Andre Myhrer of Sweden took gold and Felix Neureuther of Germany took the bronze. Thomas Grandi of Canmore also cracked the top-five, finishing fifth. Paul Stutz of Calgary was 20 th .
Women’s Team
While the men were in Colorado, the women’s speed team was making its debut at Lake Louise. Different skiers shone in the training runs earlier in the week, but it was Kelly VanderBeek who had the best weekend for Canada with a top-10 in one of two downhill World Cup races, and a bronze medal in the super G. Whistler’s Britt Janyk also cracked the top-30 three days in a row.
In the first downhill, VanderBeek placed sixth, just three-tenths of a second off of the podium. It was her career-best result in downhill, and she made it with a less-than-perfect run.
“I felt very confident, very calm in the middle section and through the turning section,” she said. “Then in the bottom flats I relaxed a little too early thinking I was through the rough stuff. I ended up hitting something that caught me off guard and I lost time like crazy.”
Britt Janyk placed 20 th , despite being the 54 th racer out of the gate.
“It’s my first year in a while being back on the speed program, so I’m really happy with my placing today, with my finish. Most of all I’m happy with my run.
“I’m very happy with the placing, to get the points and to get a higher bib number is important.”
Sherry Lawrence of Calgary and Fernie’s Emily Brydon also cracked the top-30, finishing 21 st and 27 th respectively.
Maria Riesch of Germany won the gold, followed by Lindsey Kildow of the U.S. and Nadia Fanchini of Italy.
In the second downhill on Saturday it was Emily Brydon’s turn to shine. Brydon placed 11 th overall, just 0.09 seconds back of the top-10.
“It’s not a podium or a top-10, but it’s a lot better than yesterday,” she said. “It’s something I can work from and build on. I can carry the confidence from today into tomorrow and into the rest of the season in Europe.”
Kelly VanderBeek was 18 th , Britt Janyk 26 th and Genevieve Simard 28 th , once again giving Canada four skiers in the top-30.
Lindsey Kildow took the win, followed by Renate Goetschl of Austria and Anja Paerson of Sweden.
Canada’s performance in Sunday’s super G was the high point of the weekend, with VanderBeek picking up the bronze medal behind Goeschl and Kildow, who went three for three at Lake Louise.
With her bronze, VanderBeek became the first Canadian woman in history to be on the podium at Lake Louise.
“This is my first podium in Canada, I think I am going to cry,” said VanderBeek. “I knew it was coming, I have learned the value of a hundredth of a second.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in. It might when I see all the articles and photos in the papers tomorrow.”
Genevieve Simard placed fifth, Emily Brydon was eighth and Britt Janyk 11 th , giving the Canadians four spots in the top-15 — a Canadian record for a World Cup super G.
“It means we can compete against the best,” said Simard. I watched closely how the girls are skiing the past few weeks and we’re skiing strong. We’ve been doing really good in training and on race day it’s just a matter of doing it and putting everything on the line, which I think we did.”
All racers in the top-10 earn a share of the prize money, which is a minimum of 100,000 Swiss Francs per race this season.
While the Canadian women’s speed team was at Lake Louise, some members of the women’s technical team took part in a Nor Am Cup at Winter Park, Colorado. Brigitte Acton of Mont Tremblant picked up a bronze in the giant slalom, while Marie-Pier Prefontaine of St-Sauveur, Quebec was fifth. In a second GS, Emilie Desforges of the national development team placed sixth.
