The Canadian alpine ski team will be led by three World Cup champions, as the 2007/08 World Cup season gets underway this weekend with giant slalom races in Sölden, AUT.
World Cup champion John Kucera (Calgary, AB), who had three top 10 finishes in GS last season, leads a group of seven Canadians into Sunday’s Men’s race.
Three-time World Cup giant slalom medallist François Bourque (New Richmond, QC) will also start along with World Cup champion Erik Guay (Mont-Tremblant, QC) and Erik’s younger brother Stefan Guay (Mont-Tremblant, QC), who was a FIS Alpine World Junior Ski Championships giant slalom champion in 2006.
Julien Cousineau (Lachute, QC), last season’s Coupe Nor-Am Cup overall champion, is also racing as well as Jean-Philippe Roy (Ste-Flavie, QC / Gatineau, QC) and Robbie Dixon (Whistler, BC).
“We have had a great training period. The guys have been pretty injury free all summer, which has been great,” said Men’s team head coach Paul Kristofic.
“We will have different expectations of different racers,” Kristofic added. “There are guys who are proven GS contenders, who are skiing quite well at the moment. There are also a couple younger guys who are in there who will be to gain experience and will be pushing for a top 30 position for the first time.”
On the Ladies side, Saturday in Sölden will mark the return of World Cup champion Geneviève Simard (Val-Morin, QC) to World Cup ski racing. Simard, who won a super G race in 2004, missed all of last season rehabilitating a left knee injury.
“We had an outstanding summer,” said Ladies Team Director Patrick Riml. “I am very pleased with how Gen is skiing. She has done a really great job coming back and is skiing really fast right now.”
Marie-Pier Préfontaine (St-Sauveur, QC), who was third in the Coupe Nor-Am Cup giant slalom standings last season, will also be racing.
“We will definitely have to come from behind this coming Saturday but I am confident that our girls are going to do a great job and if they ski what they are able to, they can have a really great result,” Riml said.
The World Cup speed season opens in late November with the Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart. Men’s races kick things off with a downhill and super G Nov. 29th and 30th followed by Ladies downhill races on Dec. 5th and 6th and super G Dec. 7th.
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Alpine Canada Alpin (ACA) is the governing body for alpine ski racing in Canada with more than 50,000 athletes, coaches, officials and volunteer members and over 200,000 supporting members. ACA manages the high performance programs for the athletes of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team and the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team who represent Canada throughout the world. For more information on Alpine Canada Alpin, visit www.canski.org
