Whistler’s Britt Janyk came
within 0.16 seconds of winning a World Cup medal in the first race held on her
home turf in 13 years, leading off a respectable weekend of racing for the
national team. There were no podiums, but strong skiing put a few Canadians in
the hot seat each day for a little while, and gave the thousand-plus race fans
that hiked from the base in Creekside or backroads of Nordic something to cheer
about.
The World Cup races were a
test event for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, and things went as well as could
be expected. On the positive side the weather was close to perfect all week,
aside from one day where the third women’s downhill training run was cancelled,
and if anything the snow was a little softer than normal because of warmer
temperatures and sun. The local Weasel Workers spent close to a month putting
up fences and conditioning the course leading up the World Cup, and their
efforts paid off.
The racers also praised the
courses as being appropriately challenging.
On the negative side, several
people complained about the long walk up to the timing flats, and the fact that
spectators were not allowed to view the races from the slopes. The walk won’t
be an issue in 2010, as a temporary people mover or lift will be installed to
bring people to the Timing Flats, and the issue of allowing spectators to watch
from the side of the course during the Games is being discussed.
Back to the races.
The women got the week going
with back-to-back training runs on the downhill course, with Friday’s run
cancelled. The men’s super G took place that day, the women’s downhill and
men’s giant slalom on Saturday, and the women’s super combined on Sunday.
In Friday’s race, Erik Guay
just missed the super G podium by 0.18 seconds, bumped by a pair of Austrian
skiers, Christoph Gruber and Hannes Reichelt, and the out-of-nowhere
performance of bronze medalist Ales Gorza of Slovenia.
“On this particular race I
know exactly where I lost it,” said Guay. “I was a little too round in the
middle, I could feel it. I was able to make the correction and get back on line
and ski aggressively towards the bottom but it was already too late by then. To
win a World Cup you’ve got to be perfect from start to finish.”
Guay told reporters that the
course was steep and difficult, but also what the athletes are looking for.
“I think that this is the
toughest super G in the world,” he said. “The course is tough, the snow is
tough, the setting is tough. There is not much flat on the way down so it’s
challenging and a lot of fun.”
The other Canadians also did
well, as the team finished with four athletes in the top-15. Francois Bourque,
Whistler’s Robbie Dixon, and John Kucera were 13
th
, 14
th
and 15
th
respectively, while Manuel Osborne-Paradis placed a
respectable 21
st
.
In the downhill the following
day, all eyes were on Whistler’s Britt Janyk. She had a solid run on the
course, but like Guay she was bumped by a surprise performance — this time by
Switzerland’s Nadia Styger.
American Lindsay Vonn
captured second place and the overall World Cup title, while Julia Mancuso of
the U.S. picked up the bronze.
Janyk quickly shrugged off
her fourth place finish, just 0.16 seconds back of Mancuso, joking to reporters
that at least she got the fourth place finish in Whistler out of the way for
2010. Last season, in her first year with the national speed team, Janyk placed
fourth in four different races.
“I really followed my plan of
attack the whole way down and was really focused in on the course,” she said.
“It’s a technical hill and you need to remember that because every section has
something different.”
Kelly Vanderbeek placed
ninth, giving Canada two racers in the top-10, while Emily Brydon was 17th.
In the giant slalom, where
the Canadian men aren’t usually expected to produce any medals, Calgary’s John
Kucera came pretty close with a fifth place finish, 0.4 seconds back of the
bronze medal. Kucera actually had the fastest run of the day at one point, but
was bumped back by Hannes Reichelt of Austria, Didier Cuche of Switzerland,
Benjamin Raich of Austria and Ted Ligety of the U.S.
It was Kucera’s fourth career
top-10 in GS.
“My (second) run was good,”
he said. “The first run was strong from where I started although I made a
mistake on the top part, a little tactical error. But I had a strong bottom and
it was basically the same story in the second run.”
Erik Guay, who is looking to
add GS to his World Cup repertoire, also had a solid couple of runs to place 23
rd
overall.
“This result will give me
some valuable GS points in the overall standings,” he said. “I would love to
compete in the World Cup finals in Bormio (Italy) in three disciplines.”
The final event was the
women’s super combined on Sunday, which started off with a super G and finished
with a run of the slalom course.
Fernie’s Emily Brydon led off
her day with a third place finish in the super G, but dropped back to 10
th
overall after making a few mistakes in the giant slalom.
“Today, for me it was really
important to ski the super G like it was its own race,” she said. “We don’t get
another super G race here before the Olympics and every girl who is going to be
in the Olympics was out there today so I think that was really important.”
The win went to Maria Riesch
of Germany, followed by Austria’s Marlies Schild and Sweden’s Anja Paerson.
Emilie Desforges was 29
th
for Canada.
The World Cup athletes have
another two weeks of racing before the World Cup finals in Italy.
No Canadians are in the
running for any overall titles, but athletes are looking to improve their
current standings and add a few more medals to the team tally. Alpine Canada’s
goal was to win 14 medals this year, the same as last year, and the team is
four medals short.
John Kucera is the top
Canadian in the overall men’s standings in 13
th
place, and currently
sits 10
th
in giant slalom and 11
th
in super G.
Erik Guay is 21
st
overall and sits 12
th
in downhill and seventh in super G.
Jan Hudec is 29
th
overall and sits eighth in downhill and 15
th
in super G.
Manuel Osborne-Paradis is
38th overall and 10
th
in downhill.
Francois Bourque is 19
th
in GS and 23
rd
in super G.
On the women’s side, Britt
Janyk is 11
th
overall, and currently sits third in downhill and 12
th
in super G.
Emily Brydon is 12
th
overall, ninth in downhill and fourth in super G.
Kelly VanderBeek is 18
th
overall, fourth in downhill and 19
th
in super G.