Canada captures Whistler Cup; Coast Mountain Photo captured the images!

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April 11th to 14th, Whistler Blackcomb welcomed U14 and U16 alpine ski racers from around the world for the 27th Whistler Cup. This prestigious event has become the hallmark of the juvenile race calendar. Canada captured the overall title for the first time since 2013.

"It's absolutely fantastic to bring it back for Canada," said the team’s head coach and Alpine Canada’s senior manager of coach education, Jenni Stielow in an interview with Pique News. "The athletes really put their full effort into competition here, which was fantastic. They were very competitive and they paid attention to small-scale details, which I really think paid off in the long run."

Led by Arianne Forget (Prevost, Que./Club de competition Belle Neige-S1 Racing) who captured two individual gold medals in super-G and giant slalom, and silver in slalom, as well as gold in the team event, Canada captured 7 medals in U16 race action.

Alexis Barabe (Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que./Club de ski Saint Sauveur) captured silver in the men’s super-G.

Britt Richardson (Canmore, Alta./Calgary Racing Club) was among the multi-medallists at the event, having finished third in the U16 ladies’ giant slalom and slalom races, captured gold in the team event, and finished fourth in the super-G.

“I didn’t have a lot of expectations for myself (coming in) as I just wanted to race the best I can and see how I stack up against the other racers here,” said Richardson on the weekend. “I’m happy with my results over the past few days. There has been some very tight races and some great skiers.”

SUPER G

Arianne Forget (Team Canada) took the gold in one minute, 08.78 seconds followed by Noa Szollos of Israel and Emillie Bakkevig from Oslo, Norway was third in 1:09.71.

In the men’s U16 super-G competition, Alexis Barabe (Team Canada) placed second in the men’s super-G with a time of one minute, 08.63. John Herland of Norway won the gold medal in 1:08.44 seconds and Tollef Jostein Haugen of Norway was third in 1:09.03.

GIANT SLALOM

Arianne Forget was on top of the podium again in the GS with a two-run-time of 2:19.11 with Noa Szollos of Israel placing second, 2:20.81 and Team Canada’s Britt Richardson was third in 2:22.72. Other Canadians in the top ten include Makenna Lebsack, Calgary, Alta., was fourth in 2:23.23 and Cydnie Timmerman of Calgary 8th in 2:24.41.

In the men’s giant slalom, Tollef Jostein Haugen led Norway to a 1-2 finish clocking a two-run-time of 2:17.34. Hermann Fjeldavlie Lindberg, of Lillehammer, Norway was second in 2:18.07 and Manuel Horwitz of Chile was third, 2:18.74.

BC’s Hemming Sola was top Canadian, finishing just off the podium in fourth in 2:19.34.

SLALOM

On the ladies side, two Canadians were on the podium. Britt Richardson captured first-place, Arianne Forget, gold medalist in Super G and GS was second and Emilie Bakkevig from Norway took third-place.

Britt Richardson from Canmore Alberta (Team Canada) led the pack by 0.9 seconds over Team Canada’s Arianne Forget from Prevost, Quebec.

Cyndi Timmerman of Calgary was 6th in 1:32.13 and Penny Robinson of Thunder Bay, Ont., was 7th in 1:32.48.

In the men’s U16 slalom, Tamas Trunk of Hungry was the victor in 1:29.48, Tollef Jostein Haugen of Norway second in 1:30.51 and Nick Kirkwood of US third in 1:31.05.

Mathis Lafond of Bois-des-Fillions, Que., was fifth in 1:31.73, Brady Shears of Edmonton, Alta., sixth in 1:32.66, Aleksas Valadka of Oakville, Ont., seventh in 1:32.76, Ojas Ashok Dhaka of Alberta ninth in 1:33.38 and Matthias Shorter of BC was 10^th in 1:33.91.

TEAM EVENT