Pique Magazine, published 17.02.04

The warm weather has been heating things up here in Europe. Today after our training session on the hill I stepped out of my skis in my t-shirt and sat in the sun! I arrived back over here at the beginning of the week after a brief trip home. I started the week in Austria in the town of Saalfelden for training with the whole women’s World Cup group; we were here last month as well for training and it is a great spot. On Thursday we flew up to Sweden for the World Cup races being held in Are. This year they will run a Super G on the Saturday and a Giant Slalom on the Sunday.

I am looking forward to the next GS race in Sweden because for one I had a good result there last year but also because it is just such a great area. I feel confident and strong training these days and most of all feel like I’ve gotten some rest. The season is long and as it is very important to continue training on snow and off snow it is also just as important, if not more, to take good recovery rests.

My 12th place result in the last World Cup giant slalom race felt great. The result not only gave me some confidence but it also put confidence in the plan that I have been working with my coaches on. My teammate, Gail Kelly also had a great result by qualifying for her first time in a World Cup. And she didn’t just qualifying she boldly skied into 14th place in the first run.

Both Gail and I have been working on a plan since the New Year set by our coaches, Jim and Matt to build toward top results in the World Cup events. We have scheduled great training and chose to start in some FIS races last month to get our race confidence up so we could take that into the World Cup races. I think the weekend in Arber, Germany just proved that we are working in the right direction.

The World Junior Championships took place in Maribor, Slovenia this past weekend where the Canadians got some top five finishes in the men’s Super G. Manuel Osborne-Paradis from B.C had the best result; he finishes second overall in the race and Francois Bourque from Quebec was third overall. The girls weren’t quite so lucky to get a podium finish and one reason being that many of them came down with the stomach flu just prior to and during the championships and couldn’t recover. I know how hard it can be when you are sick on the road and can’t get out of bed. There just isn’t anything that can be done.

Also on the men’s World Cup there were some results made in the slalom event with Thomas finishing 10th overall after having two DNF’s in the last races. My brother, Michael who also started in the race had a great first run and missed the top thirty by only .10. I spoke with him at the beginning of the week and he was nothing but encouraged by the result. He will start in the next World Cup slalom, which will be in Kranska Gora, Slovenia. I was pretty excited when I heard his result, and I know that his teammates were as well.

Our disabled national team was also over here in Europe and competing in the Disabled World Championships. Leslie Clarke, a local coach, was there with them for the events that took place in Austria. The Canadian team proved to be very strong, walking away with 6 championship medals. Our disabled team is one of the strongest on the circuit. They are now back in Canada and resting for their upcoming World Cup events at the end of the month.

So keep enjoying the snow because summer is just around the corner, and that also means spring skiing is on its way. Bathing suit anyone?

Enjoy and have fun.
Britt