Canada names weekend WC alpine starters

Emily Brydon and Erik Guay lead the roster of Canadian skiers that will open the North American leg of the World Cup Tour that begins this Saturday at Panorama and Lake Louise.
EMILY BRYDON and Erik Guay lead the roster of Canadian skiers who will open the North American leg of the World Cup Tour that begins this Saturday at Panorama and Lake Louise.
    Six athletes will compete in the Panorama giant slalom including two-time Olympian Brydon, Christina Lustenberger, Britt Janyk, Gail Kelly, Emilie Desforges and Marie-Pier Préfontaine.
    “The girls have had excellent pre-season training in Panorama, Nakiska and Norquay,” said women’s head coach Marjan Cernigoj. “We would especially like to recognize Brad Brush and his team of mountain operations staff at Panorama Mountain Resort who have done an outstanding job preparing the race tracks on Old Timer (giant slalom) and Hay Fever (slalom). The race venues are in excellent shape and we anticipate an exciting weekend of technical racing – the first for many years in Canada.”
    Cernigoj said Canadian athletes to race in the Panorama slalom will be named later Wednesday.
    Bombardier Winterstart Super G champion John Kucera will be back to defend his title as will last year’s silver medalist in the Bombardier Winterstart DH, Manuel Osborne-Paradis. They will be joined by World Cup winner Erik Guay, World Championships silver medalist Jan Hudec, François Bourque, Jeffrey Frisch, Gareth Sine and Robbie Dixon.