After almost two years with no races outside of Whistler, the Whistler Mountain Ski Club’s (WMSC) U16 racers completed their first away races from Feb. 3 to 6 at Silver Star Mountain Resort.
Across the four-day event that saw 140 racers competing, the WMSC walked away with a handful of podium finishes and top-10 results.
Leading the way for WMSC was Vanessa Young, who skied to a third- and fourth-place finish in giant slalom followed by another third-place finish in slalom.
On the men’s side, the top finishers included Thomas Legg, who managed to land on the podium with a pair of third-place finishes in giant slalom, followed closely by teammate Joseph Gibbons in fourth in both races.
The WMSC’s U12 skiers also got back to racing after a two-year hiatus with the Janyk Cup zone race held on Whistler Mountain on Feb. 12 and 13.
“It was a spectacular weekend with lots of sunshine and smiles. It was really great for me personally to see all the young racers from throughout the Sea to Sky corridor up in Whistler competing and having fun again,” said race chairperson Andrew Kirker.
On the ladies’ side of the event, Whistler’s Cecily Gibbons and Thea Han claimed the podium’s top two spots. Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Grouse Mountain completed the sweep with Eric Krastev, Daniel Gold and Lucas Yu finishing in the top three spots, respectively.
Fresh off his Olympic bronze medal performance in alpine combined, Jack Crawford, as well as fellow WMSC Alumni and 2022 Olympians Brodie Seger and Broderick Thompson and para-alpine legend Mac Macoux, were on hand to hang out with the kids, take pictures and present the awards to the winners.
“It was really cool, because in the case of all the athletes that participated, this was their first zone race that they’ve ever gone to because of COVID,” said WMSC’s chair for social awards and media Kevin Yeung.
“They’ve actually never been in a competition, they’ve never put on a bib, they’ve never raced against other clubs, so for them to come together, to compete and have these Olympians there, it was really inspiring because one moment you are watching Jack Crawford [on TV] and the next moment he is handing you a medal. So it was a really special moment and it was fantastic that these Olympians who are all former WMSC athletes all came by.”
Local results roundup
While Whistler’s top male and female athletes are wrapping up their time at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, some of Canada’s next generation of shredders have been showing out over the last month.
Kicking things off, Whistler freerider Olivia McNeill, who won the first leg of the Freeride World Tour’s Ski Women category in Baqueira Beret, Spain back in January, recently put down another top-three finish at the tour’s third stop in Kicking Horse last week.
With two top-three finishes across three events, McNeill has officially punched her ticket to the FWT Finals taking place in Fieberbrunn, Austria and Verbier, Switzerland in March. And with a berth in the finals, McNeill has also secured her spot on the FWT next season.
Meanwhile, Whistler’s Nick Katrusiak secured himself a pair of podium finishes at the Ski Cross NorAm Cup at Gore Mountain, New York on Feb. 9. His second- and third-place finishes mark Katrusiak’s two best finishes at the NorAm Cup level to date, topping his previous bests of fifth- and sixth-place that he received at the Calabogie Peaks event at the end of January.
At that same Calabogie Peaks event, Whistler’s Emeline Bennett skied her way to a first- and sixth-place finish.
Since then, Bennett has headed overseas to compete in multiple European Cup events where she has secured a pair of top-10 finishes so far.
On the snowboard side of things, local snowboarder Truth Smith has been a model of consistency this year, following up his second- and third-place finishes at the FIS event in Whistler earlier in January with a pair of seconds in slopestyle at the Sun Peaks Nor-Am Cup Jan. 20 and 21, as well as another second-place finish at the National Junior Championships in Calgary on Feb. 6.
Whistler’s Keenan Demchuk and Lane Weaver were also on hand at the Nor-Am Cup in Sun Peaks and came away with a third-place and second-place finish, respectively, across the two-day event.
Joining Smith in Calgary for the National Junior Championships, Whistler’s Amalia Pelchat carved her way to a podium finish, landing third in the women’s slopestyle event.
And finally, one of Team Canada’s newest members Finn Finestone took home a first- and fifth-place finish at the Nor-Am Cup at Mammoth Mountain taking place from Jan. 25 to 28.
Next up on the schedule for the slopestyle snowboarders is the Nor-Am Cup in Beaver Valley on March 17 to 20.
