World Cup winner and former X-Games champion Kelsey Serwa (Kelowna, Big White Racers) and 2012 Crystal Globe winner Marielle Thompson (Whistler, Whistler Mountain Ski Club) lead a group of five B.C. skiers named to the Canadian Ski Cross team for the 2013-14 season.
A total of eleven racers – seven men and four women – have been named to the national ski cross team that is looking to make a comeback after a subpar season in 2013.
Serwa, 24, is coming back from injury and making good progress in her recovery from knee surgery. Also, men’s team leader Chris Del Bosco is looking to back to his best after also returning from injury.
“We’re coming into this season with a very strong team that includes some of the best ski cross racers in the world as well as a new wave of athletes who have great potential,” said Canada Ski Cross athletic director Dave Ellis. “Our goal is to get back to being No. 1 in the world and we want to have a man and a woman on the podium in Sochi. With the team we have announced for 2013-14, we feel very positive about our chances of achieving those goals.”
The four new additions to this year’s squad are former alpine speed skiers and 2010 Olympians Louis-Pierre Hélie, of Berthierville, Que., and Georgia Simmerling, of West Vancouver, B.C. (Grouse-Tyee Ski Club), as well as former ski cross Nor-Am champ Ian Deans, 22, of Kelowna, B.C. (Big White Racers), and Mathieu Leduc, 23, of Comox (Mt. Washington Ski Club), B.C. Hélie, 27, showed promise in his first full season on the ski cross World Cup tour, while Simmerling, 24, won her first career World Cup podium and emerged as a serious medal contender. All four racers were previously part of the prospect program.
“We’re coming in to the Olympic year with what is arguably an even stronger men’s team than we had before 2010 – with four guys who have all been on the podium,” Ellis said of Calgary, Alta., skier Leman – the top male Canadian racer for the past two years – Del Bosco, veteran Dave Duncan, of London, Ont., and young gun Tristan Tafel, 23, of Canmore, Alta., who has two career World Cup podiums.
“With the retirement of a few of our veterans in recent years we wanted to bring in a new crop of men and we’ve done that. They are tracking well and we hope, based on their age and experience, that they will continue to develop. On the women’s side Georgia stepped up and showed great consistency. She’s a legitimate podium threat now, which is a great achievement in only her second year in ski cross.”
In order to qualify for nomination to the Canadian team for Sochi 2014, ski cross racers must meet the ‘freestyle’ criteria. Thompson, of Whistler, B.C. – the 2013 world championship silver medallist – is the only Canadian ski cross athlete who has provisionally pre-qualified through ‘Method A’ criteria based on results from last season. Other racers can still pre-qualify with ‘Method B’ criteria based on at least two top results from this coming season alongside a maximum of two from last season. The season-opening World Cup races are in Nakiska, Alta., on Dec. 7, and the deadline for team nomination is January 21, 2014, so racers will need some strong early-season results to punch their ticket to Sochi.
Men’s team
Ian Deans – 09/04/1991 – Kelowna, B.C.
Chris Del Bosco – 30/03/1982 – Vail, USA/Montreal, Que.
Dave Duncan – 15/07/1982 – London, Ont.
Louis-Pierre Hélie – 01/01/1986 – Berthierville, Que.
Mathieu Leduc – 14/04/1990 – Comox, B.C.
Brady Leman – 16/10/1986 – Calgary, Alta.
Tristan Tafel – 26/02/1990 – Canmore, Alta.
Women’s team
Kelsey Serwa – 01/09/1989 – Kelowna, B.C.
Georgia Simmerling – 11/03/1989 – West Vancouver, B.C.
Danielle Sundquist – 23/01/1986 – Calgary, Alta.
Marielle Thompson – 15/06/1992 – Whistler, B.C.
For more information on the Canadian Ski Cross team visit www.alpinecanada.org