Ontario ski racers from Georgian Peaks Club opened the Pontiac GMC Canadian J1 Championships by winning both the men’s and ladies super combined today in Whistler, BC.
Mike Turnbull (Oakville, ON), a 16-year-old second year J1 ski racer from Georgian Peaks, absolutely dominated a challenging slalom run to win the super combined by almost three seconds. Turnbull’s win in a two-run combined time of one minute 50.95 seconds came despite being over a second behind the leader after the opening super G run.
“I’m more of a slalom skier, so I figured when I was fourth in the super-G I had a pretty good chance of a podium in the super combined. When we were warming up for the slalom, I felt pretty good just free skiing, but I did a couple of training runs in the gates and wasn’t finishing. I really had to re-group at the bottom and tell myself I knew I could do it. Obviously it worked out, so I’m happy,” said Turnbull.
“I was skiing well at the beginning of the season, but I went into a bit of a valley for a while. This result tells me I’m back to where I should be now. I’m really looking forward to the slalom race,” said Turnbull, adding that Whistler is among his favourite mountains to race on.
“I don’t get out here more than about once a year. If feels pretty cool to ski on the Olympic run. When we watch the Olympics, we’ll know the terrain and know how it feels for the racers,” he said.
Whistler Mountain Ski Club racer Willy Konantz (Whistler, BC), who was well back in eighth place after the opening super-G, ended up in second place overall in a two-run time of 1:53.74. "I definitely went a little too round in the super G", said Konantz. "I could have gone a lot straighter. The super G track is perfect. The course workers have done a great job." Konantz, who is a member of the BC Alpine J1 Development Team, was hoping for a top-10 finish in Saturday’s super combined. "I’m pretty happy with second place", he told us after the slalom run. "I almost lost it so many times during the slalom. It was really soft at the top then it got icy later on. It was hard to adapt. I have to say all the training I’ve had this year has really helped me. It’s been an amazing experience to be part of the BC development team."
William St-Germain (Mont-Ste-Anne) of Mont-Ste-Anne, QC was third in 1:53.91.
On the ladies side, the top three from the morning super-G run remained in tact after the slalom. Brenley Nella (Toronto, ON) the 17-year-old younger sister of Canadian national development team skier Tyler Nella (Toronto, ON), won in a two-run combined time of 1:50.57.
“I’ve only raced one super combined before. I’m confident in super-G but slalom is always hot and cold for me, so to pull it off today is big. After the super-G, I knew I was in the lead but I couldn’t let myself think about that. I had to go away and focus on doing a good slalom run in the afternoon. A race isn’t over until it’s over. Now I can celebrate,” said Nella, who races out of the Georgian Peaks Club.
“It’s so exciting to think that the top athletes in the world will be on this track in 2010. This is a huge win for me and it allows me to dream, I mean if I can win here, maybe I can win in the Olympics one day,” she added.
Both men’s and ladies races took place on the Lower Dave Murray, which will play host to men’s races during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games next winter.
American Vanessa Berther from Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State was second, just under half a second back with Julia Roth (Waterloo, ON) a first year J1 from Devil’s Glen Ski Club finishing in third place.
General Motors of Canada, the title sponsor of the national J1 championships, is providing skiers in Whistler with the opportunity to win a trip to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games with ballot boxes located in Whistler at Roundhouse, Rendezvous, Creekside Guest Relations and Glacier Creek Lodge.
Residents of Whistler can tune into Mountain FM for full details as well as information on the Pontiac Snow Team activities.
The Pontiac Snow Team was at Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s in Squamish, BC from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. local time this morning offering drivers of Pontiac and GMC vehicles two lift passes to Whistler Blackcomb. The Pontiac Snow Team will be in front of the Mountain FM studio in Squamish at Garibaldi Village in front of Boston Pizza and Canadian Tire tomorrow at the same time handing out more lift pass (while supplies last.)
Women’s Top-15 Super Combined
1 6 NELLA Brenley 1992 CAN 1:06.09 44.48 1:50.57
2 8 BERTHER Vanessa 1992 USA 1:06.21 44.80 1:51.01
3 3 ROTH Julia 1993 CAN 1:06.34 44.87 1:51.21
4 15 BISNAIRE Samantha 1993 CAN 1:06.84 45.82 1:52.66
5 12 KRIESE Kandace 1992 CAN 1:07.49 45.94 1:53.43
6 14 TESCHNER Randa 1992 CAN 1:08.15 45.40 1:53.55
6 2 BARRETT Christine 1992 CAN 1:08.51 45.04 1:53.55
8 11 FREEMAN Sarah 1992 Fernie 1:08.30 45.42 1:53.72
9 18 MCLEISH Madison 1992 WMSC 1:08.46 45.37 1:53.83
10 13 MICHALIK Victoria 1993 CAN 1:08.04 45.90 1:53.94
11 60 ELLIOT Sarah 1992 Big White 1:09.68 45.01 1:54.69
12 16 RYTZ Celine 1992 Fernie 1:10.03 45.14 1:55.17
13 1 BLAIR Catriona 1992 WMSC 1:07.14 48.20 1:55.34
14 20 LESSARD Katherine 1992 CAN 1:10.93 45.35 1:56.28
15 23 RAMSDEN Jocelyn 1993 WMSC 1:09.78 47.24 1:57.02
COMPLETE WOMEN’S RESULTS
Men Top-15 Super Combined
1 13 TURNBULL Mike 1992 CAN 1:05.43 45.52 1:50.95
2 26 KONANTZ William 1993 WMSC 1:06.30 47.44 1:53.74
3 4 ST-GERMAIN Wiliam 1992 CAN 1:05.90 48.01 1:53.91
4 22 WELTON James 1992 CAN 1:06.72 47.51 1:54.23
5 33 MORRIS Spencer 1993 WMSC 1:07.05 48.04 1:55.09
6 21 PIKE Samuel 1992 CAN 1:07.50 48.16 1:55.66
7 9 GERVAIS Alex 1992 CAN 1:07.16 49.00 1:56.16
8 29 HAYTO Justin 1993 WMSC 1:08.04 48.29 1:56.33
9 36 DAWSON Brett 1993 CAN 1:07.94 48.46 1:56.40
10 23 BIGSBY Adam 1992 CAN 1:07.81 48.73 1:56.54
11 45 BERGERON Nicolas 1993 CAN 1:07.87 48.83 1:56.70
12 39 MCKENNA Christopher 1993 USA 1:07.62 49.14 1:56.76
13 64 LAW Michael 1993 CAN 1:06.56 50.36 1:56.92
14 30 MCKILLOP Curtis 1993 CAN 1:07.14 49.87 1:57.01
15 43 KWONG Daniel 1993 WMSC 1:07.40 49.92 1:57.32