Alpine Canada names 2006-07 team; Grandi returns{mosimage}Veterans Thomas Grandi, Allison Forsyth and Geneviève Simard will return to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team next season to help the 40 national team athletes improve on this year’s record-setting performance.

Alpine Canada Alpin named 26 veterans and 14 high-potential younger athletes to the 2006-07 national alpine ski team, including Grandi, who mounted the podium five times last season, Forsyth, who is recovering from a knee injury that knocked her out of the 2006 Winter Olympics, and Simard, who finished last season with two World Cup medals.

With 12 World Cup medals last season — twice as many as the previous winter — Canada recorded the country’s highest total point count ever in the World Cup Nations Cup standings — 3,060.

The CAST team for the upcoming season will be anchored by last season’s World Cup medal winners — Grandi, Erik Guay, Simard, François Bourque and Emily Brydon, as well as fourth-place finishers and podium contenders Forsyth, Kelly Vanderbeek and Michael Janyk.

‘Having veteran athletes return after an Olympic year to form the core of a rapidly developing young team is very important to our plan to become a world-leading racing nation by 2010’ said Ken Read, ACA president.

ACA Alpine Director Dusan Grasic said the focus during summer training will be for each athlete to maintain an extremely high level of fitness in preparation for the upcoming ski racing season.

‘We have done an excellent job focusing on the athletes’ fitness level in the summer months over the last couple of years, but we can always strive to do better. We plan to do a lot of skiing this winter and maintain a high level of fitness as well as strong technical development’ Grasic said.

‘Tremendous focus and resources are being applied to improve the international competitiveness of our top ski racers’ said Grasic. ‘We must build on our recent success to strengthen our overall program.’

Grasic said the following athletes have been officially named to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team for the 2006-07 racing season:

CANADIAN ALPINE SKI TEAM
Senior women (with ski clubs)
Brigitte Acton Mont-Tremblant Ski Club, QC (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec)
Emily Brydon – Fernie Snow Valley Ski Club, BC (Fernie, B.C.)
Allison Forsyth – Mount Washington, B.C. (Canmore, Alberta)
Gail Kelly – Le Relais, Quebec (Ste-Anges-de-Beauce, Quebec)
Sherry Lawrence – NATC / Team Panorama, Alberta (Calgary, Alberta)
Christina Lustenberger – Windermere Ski Club, B.C. (Invermere, B.C.)
Shona Rubens – Lake Louise Ski Club, Alberta (Canmore, AlbertaB)
Genevi̬ve Simard РVal St-C̫me / Montcalm, QuebecC (Val Morin, Quebec)
Kelly VanderBeek – Chicopee, Ontario (Kitchener, Ontario)

Senior men (with ski clubs)
Patrick Biggs – Ottawa Ski Club, Ontario (Orleans, Ontario)
Fran̤ois Bourque РPin Rouge, Quebec (New-Richmond, Quebec)
Julien Cousineau – Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (Lachute, Quebec)
Thomas Grandi – Banff Alpine Racers, Alberta (Canmore, Alberta)
Erik Guay – Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec)
Stefan Guay – Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec)
Jeffrey Frisch – Mont-Tremblant, QuebecC (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec)
Jan Hudec – Banff Alpine Racers, Alberta (Calgary, Alberta)
Michael Janyk – Whistler Ski Club, B.C. (Whistler, B.C.)
John Kucera – Calgary Alpine Racing Club, Alberta (Calgary, Alberta)
Vincent Lavoie – Stoneham, Quebec (Longueil, Quebec)
Manuel Osborne-Paradis – Whistler Mountain Ski Club, B.C. (Invermere, B.C.)
Jean-Philippe Roy – Mont-Comi, Quebec (Ste-Flavie, Quebec)
Ryan Semple РMont-Tremblant, QuebecC (St-Faustin-Lac-Carr̩, Quebec)
Gareth Sine – NATC / Kananaskis Alpine Racers, AB (Calgary, Alberta)
Brad Spence NATC / Team Panorama, AlbertaB (Calgary, Alberta)
Paul Stutz – Banff Alpine Racers, Alberta (Banff, Alberta)

High potential athletes invited to participate in the summer training
program are:

WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT GROUP & SKI CLUBS
Britt Janyk – Whistler Mountain Ski Club, B.C. (Whistler, B.C.)
Emilie Desforges Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (Montreal, Quebec)
Jennah Durham Timmins Ski Club, Ontario (Timmins, Ontario)
Anna Goodman – Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (Pointe Claire, Quebec)
Danielle Poleschuk Fernie Alpine Ski Team, B.C. (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Marie-Pier Pr̩fontaine РSt-Sauveur, Quebec (St-Sauveur, Quebec)
Megan Ryley Craigleith Ski Club, Ontario (Toronto, Ontario)
Larisa Yurkiw – Georgian Peaks Ski Club, Ontario (Owen Sound, Ontario)

MEN’S DEVELOPMENT GROUP & SKI CLUBS
Scott Barrett Olser Bluff Ski Club, Ontario (Toronto, Ontario)
Robbie Dixon Whistler Mountain Ski Club, B.C. (Whistler, B.C.)
Louis-Pierre H̩lie РMont-Ste-Anne, Quebec (Berthierville, Quebec)
Jonathan Robert Club Edelweiss, Quebec (Ottawa, Ontario)
Trevor White NATC / Fortress Alpine Ski Team, Alberta(Calgary, Alberta)
Patrick Wright Huronia Alpine Development Team, Ontario (Oakville, Ontario)

Athletes selected to participate in summer training, chosen on a basis of performances within the domestic race series and international rankings, will go through a rigorous summer regiment including dryland exercises in Calgary and Mont Tremblant, on-snow training camps in Chile and Argentina as well as on snow training at the Farnham Glacier in southeastern British Columbia.

– Alpine Canada Alpin