Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Whistler rookies off to strong World Cup start

Stan Rey and Marielle Thompson get the call-up and they impress
65226_l

There is always a turnover of athletes after an Olympic cycle, and this year was no exception.

But when veteran athletes retire, they open spots for up-and-coming athletes - many of whom have been competing a step down from the World Cup level and are ready to test themselves against the best.

From Whistler, there are four World Cup rookie skiers of note this year.

In ski cross, NorAm champions Stan Rey and Marielle Thompson got the call up, joining what is arguably the best team in the world.

In freestyle, a pair of skiers who started out with the Blackcomb Freestyle Ski Team and worked their way up, are now on the World Cup moguls circuit - Eddie Hicks, joining the men's team, and Chelsea Henitiuk, who will be skiing alongside Olympians Kristi Richards, Jennifer Heil and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe.

With only a few events to their credit, all four athletes have already earned FIS points, and three out of the four have cracked the top 10 in eighth place.

Take Chelsea Henitiuk. She has completed four competitions this year, placing 15th and 16th before placing eighth in China. Overall she now ranks 14th in the world.

Or Eddie Hicks. He was 13th in his first World Cup, dropped to 43rd in his second event, then moved up to eighth in event number three.

Ski cross racer Marielle Thompson has been in two World Cup events to date, placing 21st in her first race then moving up to eighth a day later on the same course.

The men's ski cross circuit is incredibly hard to break into, but after placing 48th in his first World Cup race Stan Rey moved up to 27th on day two - a top-30 result that placed him ahead of over 40 other racers in that competition.

To find out how things are going, Pique checked in with our World Cup rookies this week.

For Marielle Thompson, who was the NorAm champion last season, it's about hard work paying off.

"The work I've done leading up to the season in gym, and pre-season on-hill training, has definitely helped me get ready for World Cup season," she said. "Leading up to this season I've been working much more on my upper body than I had before this season and it showed in San Candido as my starts were much faster than they were last season and in the summer, but I still have a fair way to go. Last year at the NorAm Cup level it was pretty competitive amongst the girls, but this year after the hype of the Olympics and with the addition of another provincial ski cross program in Canada (in Alberta) there will most likely be a bigger field of girls."

While NorAm Cup competition is strong, Thompson says the difference at the World Cup level is significant.

"There are many more athletes in the World Cups and the intensity is higher," she said. "The courses are faster and the racers are more competitive than the NorAm Circuit."

Still, with an eighth place result under her belt, Thompson believes that a World Cup podium is within reach this year.

"After the race in San Candido I've learned that I can hold my own at this new level," she said. "I'm working towards (World Cup) Finals and I would like to work for a World Cup podium this year."

For his part, mogul skier Eddie Hicks calls Langley home but grew up skiing in Whistler with the local freestyle club. He's slightly old for rookie status at 22 years old, but given the strength of the men's freestyle team - three in the top-five at the 2010 Winter Games - it's a tough nut to crack.

Still, he hung in there, and after three races already has one eighth place result to his credit.

"The eighth result is good for me, looking ahead towards the final selection for the World Championships and also for team ranking and selection next year," said Hicks. "However, as a team we're very deep and I will have to do better than that to be one of the top three or four guys and I feel I can do better."

Hicks said the NorAm Cup, where he was a regular on the podium, was strong enough to make the top skiers competitive at the World Cup level.

"NorAms are very competitive," he said. "Part of that is due to the fact that the Canadian and American teams are so deep in their talent - especially Canada the last couple years. For example, last year we had at least nine guys on our team who made top 10s at World Cup events."

Hicks said that training with the national team is helping, but said most of his off-season preparation has been mental.

"For me it wasn't so much a question of training more intensely, but learning how to compete and especially learning what I need to do to win," he said. "I definitely knew coming into this year that even though I'm still on the development team that I would be skiing World Cup and I trained with that in mind, but little changed from past years. We're so competitive in Canada you always have to be working hard."

Travelling with the national team is also a lot more intense, he said, although the schedule for the rest of the season will be more forgiving without an event in China to attend one week after a competition in Austria. The biggest difference between NorAm and World Cup is in the competition itself.

"On the World Cup there is so much less margin for error, especially if the judges don't know you," said Hicks. "Everyone is skiing at a high level and the judges are just waiting for you to make their job easy by stumbling or making some small mistake. Judging is a very hard job, especially in a field with so much depth. It's really the little things that make the difference, finding little efficiencies to exploit - whether it be choosing a line with better exits to carry more speed that will allow you to gain 0.10 seconds in split time, or realizing that you can go bigger on the airs because the top guys are pushing it further than you are."

Hicks said his goals haven't changed since his top 10 result - he still wants to finish the season with a top five result and a top 10 in the World Championships. "So far (my goals) haven't changed much, but I'm feeling more confident about my ability to achieve them," he said. "In addition to those I've added a new one recently - finish top 10 in the overall standings for the year."

Chelsea Henitiuk also has an eighth place result to her credit and agrees with Hicks' assessment of the NorAm Cup circuit.

"Winning a NorAm, you can be sure you have the technical ability to ski top 10 at a World Cup," she said. "The hardest part of the transition is staying focused on skiing and not being overwhelmed by the hype of a World Cup."

Henitiuk did step up her physical training in the off-season to prepare for the World Cup, as well as her mental preparation.

"I have increased my physical fitness this year to be able to handle hectic competition schedules and training loads that comes with skiing on World Cup," she added. "I also have been working on my mindset for being confident and aggressive, which greatly improves my skiing."

The biggest different for Henitiuk at the World Cup level is the number of spectators - some of the bigger events draw tens of thousands of fans.

"The major differences at the World Cup level would be that people actually watch the events," she said. Other changes include the way bib numbers are given out based on World Cup rankings, and the amount of travel involved - although finding out that she would be getting a share of prize money for placing in the top-10 was a nice difference as well.

Henitiuk's big goal is to place in the top 10 overall.

"Right now I am number 14 but I have many competitions ahead of me," she said. "My goals have definitely changed after my eighth place in China. Every time I reach a goal I immediately set an even higher one.

"It is an awesome feeling reaching these goals faster than I had anticipated. Being consistently in the top 10 is the next challenge, and of course a World Cup podium is definitely on my mind!"

As for what its like to be a member of a team with Olympic champions and six consecutive Nations Cup titles, Henitiuk is inspired.

"The atmosphere on the Canadian team is amazing right now," she said. "We have veterans who have won World Cup medals, overall titles and the Olympics. And then we also have so many rookies that are coming right up behind, making finals, making top 10 and winning medals. When there are 11 Canadians in a 32-personal final you know we have a strong team right now."

The ski cross team is back in action this weekend with a World Cup at St. Johann, Austria. The moguls team is back on snow at Mont Gabriel, Quebec on Jan. 15-16 with a dual moguls competition.