Canadian World Cup winner Britt Janyk (Whistler, BC) won today’s ladies super-G, the opening alpine event at the New Zealand Winter Games in Coronet Peak, NZE as Canadians continued preparing for the upcoming World Cup season by claiming three of the top four spots at the FIS races.
Janyk won in a time of one minute 04.74 seconds while a total of six members the ladies Canadian Alpine Ski Team (CAST) finished in the top 11.
Shona Rubens (Canmore, AB), a three-time GMC Canadian slalom champion, finished third as she clocked a time of 1:05.01. Swedish World Cup veteran Maria Pietilae-Holmner, a 2008 World Cup medalist, finished second a mere three hundreds of a second ahead of Rubens.
Other Canadians in the top 10 included Emily Brydon (Fernie, BC) fourth, Kelly VanderBeek (Kitchener, ON) seventh and Marie-Pierre Préfontaine (Saint-Sauveur, QC) in eighth.
Marie-Michèle Gagnon (Lac Etchemin, QC), who finished 11th, said she felt good racing a speed event for the first time this season.
“I was really happy to be back on long skis today. Since it was my first speed day I took a very passive approach, it was more of a training run that a race run for me,” said Gagnon. “But I am still satisfied with today’s results.”
“I think it is a good thing for the whole team that we are competing in races during our training camp here in New Zealand,” said Gagnon. “It gives us a good idea if our training is effective and it obligates us to train with the same high intensity that we would have during our race season in winter. That way we are gaining momentum.”
Larisa Yurkiw (Owen Sound, ON) and Victoria Whitney (Whistler, BC) were not able to finish the super-G run.
Today’s race was actually pushed back one day because of wind and snow in the New Zealand resort. The ladies team is scheduled to participate in a giant slalom tomorrow and slalom on Sunday.
On the men’s side, American Jake Zamansky won today’s super-G in a time of 1:03.26. There were no Canadians in that race.
The New Zealand Winter Games are described by organizers as a unique competition for elite winter sports athletes and a testing ground against world class competition, as preparations continue for the upcoming FIS World Cup season and 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
More than 800 athletes are participating from 30 different countries, competing in a variety of different sports including alpine skiing, free skiing, x-country skiing, snowboarding, curling, ice skating and adaptive snow sports.
