Remme and Pridy capture Canadian downhill titles
WHISTLER, Canada — One of Canada’s most promising young skiers surprised even herself when she won the national downhill title at the Sport Chek Canadian Championships in Whistler, B.C. on Friday (March 21) – in only the second downhill race of her career.
The 18-year-old national development team racer from Collingwood, Ont., Roni Remme is a hugely talented technical skier who counts slalom as her best event and only made her downhill debut at the World Junior Championships in Slovakia earlier this month, where she was 33rd.
On Friday, Remme beat out World Cup stars Marie-Pier Prefontaine and Erin Mielzynski – neither of whom are downhillers, either – to claim top honors at the opening race at the national championships.
“It’s definitely unexpected,” said Remme, who clocked a time of one minute, 7.73 seconds, and also claimed top junior honors. “I’ve always been more invested in the technical events, and I just did my first downhill a couple of weeks ago. The goal is always to become the best all-round skier but I’ve never really thought about downhill.”
Remme, a product of the National Ski Academy, was third-fastest in Thursday’s second downhill training run and her goal was to clean up some of the sections she had struggled with earlier in the week.
“I knew I was skiing the top really well,” Remme said. “A little lower down I ran into some soft snow and I was really (mad). I got fired up and I think that helped me in the next part.”
Remme was third in slalom at the NorAm Cup finals last week and finished the season ranked fourth in the overall slalom standings. She’s long been seen as one of the finest up-and-coming young talents on the ladies’ side, but even her coach admitted she caught a lot of people by surprise with her downhill skills.
“Even this year she was a little bit reluctant to do downhill,” said development team coach Peter Rybarik. “We believe it will help her in the future but it was Roni who decided that at world juniors she would do her first downhill.
“Her result (Friday) was surprising for some people but we knew she had the ability. It’s good to see because although she’s focusing more on slalom this shows she’s not afraid to ski fast.”
Préfontaine, of Saint-Sauveur, Que. – generally a super G and giant slalom skier – was the favorite heading into Friday’s race after she won Wednesday’s first training run. She finished second with Mielzynski coming in third. Whistler Mountain Ski Club’s Charley Field, of BC Alpine, was fourth.
“It was really fun. It was sunny and I loved the air time,” said Mielzynski, a slalom specialist who in 2012 became the first Canadian since 1971 to win a World Cup slalom race.
“It was interesting today. I inspected the course with (former 15-time Canadian champion) Britt Janyk and she was able to help me. It’s my first downhill race in three years but I loved it!”
Larisa Yurkiw won the downhill in 2013, but she wasn’t able to defend her title due to injury. All-rounder Marie-Michèle Gagnon would have been a contender as well, but she was racing at the U.S. national championships where she captured the slalom title Saturday before flying to Whistler for the tech races at Canadian championships.
In the men’s race on Saturday (March 22), Morgan Pridy added a national downhill title by more than half a second to an increasingly impressive resumé that included a breakthrough 10th-place finish at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
The 23-year-old hometown hero, who grew up racing on the slopes of Whistler, B.C., provided further evidence that he’s ready to emerge from the shadows of the Canadian Cowboys and establish himself as one of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team’s rising stars.
With three-time World Cup winner Manuel Osborne-Paradis withdrawing due to a back problem and Canadian World Cup podium record holder Erik Guy and Olympic bronze medalist Jan Hudec also absent, Pridy took top honors as Canada’s next generation of speed skiers battled for the prestigious downhill crown. Tyler Werry, who has been training with the national development team, was second Saturday, while Ben Thomsen was third.
“It’s super cool to have a national championship title,” said Pridy of his first podium at nationals. “I got a little bit of luck with the conditions – a couple of course holds here and there and the fog coming in and out – but it all worked out. I’m super happy.”
Pridy, the younger brother of fellow national team racer Conrad, was identified by his teammates and coaches as one to watch going into the 2013-14 season. Like a lot of young racers, he found it difficult to break through on the World Cup circuit but two top-30 finishes in Kitzbuehel, Austria, in January, helped him make Canada’s team for Sochi. He excelled in his Olympic debut, finishing a superb 10th in the super G on the same day Hudec became the first Canadian in 20 years to win an Olympic medal.
“I really needed this. It’s a nice weight off my shoulders going into the off-season,” explained Pridy, who needed points from the national championships in order to set himself up for next season. “We have a chance to score FIS results here, which is great.
“I would have liked to have raced Johnny (Kucera), Manny, Erik and Jan for the title but that’s how it works out and I’m pretty pleased with the result, for sure.”
Super G has been Pridy’s best discipline this season, and he’s also considered a strong prospect in giant slalom. Due to his smaller frame, he’s not an archetypal downhiller, but he showed Saturday that he’s making big strides in the glamour discipline.
“I really don’t want to have another season where I’m only performing in one discipline,” said Pridy. “I want to race and do well every weekend – not five days out of every year. Downhill is something I’m going to have to work hard at but today is great. I’m going to be focusing more on giant slalom and I’ll do everything here (at nationals) except slalom.”
With the fog rolling in and out Saturday, the weather was a factor in a race that was extremely tight – with positions two through nine separated by less than four-tenths of a second. U.S. veteran Steven Nyman – a two-time World Cup winner who was a major podium threat – was one of the racers who went down in less than perfect conditions.
Werry, who won the NorAm Cup super G title to earn himself a World Cup spot for next season, was second Saturday. Thomsen, who struggled on the World Cup this season but came through with a clutch 12th-place finish in the Kitzbuehel downhill to qualify for the Olympics, had a strong run Saturday to claim his first podium at nationals.
“I thought it was a pretty good run but apparently I was missing a couple of things,” said Thomsen. “Morgan skied really, really well today – he really brought his A-game. I’m really happy that I’m on the podium.”
Veteran Jeffrey Frisch of Mont-Tremblant, Que., who was second in downhill at the 2013 nationals and won the super G, finished fourth, while Nyman was one-hundredth of a second back in fifth. Development team racer William Schuessler-Bédard (Club de ski Sutton/Ski Québec Alpin) was the top U21 in sixth, while Cameron Alexander of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club was the top U18 in 17th.
Release courtesy of Alpine Canada
WOMEN’S RESULTS
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | Diff. | FIS Points | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 18 | 107583 | REMME Roni | 1996 | CAN | 1:07.73 | 56.07 | |||
2 | 10 | 106825 | PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier | 1988 | CAN | 1:07.89 | +0.16 | 59.31 | ||
3 | 22 | 106961 | MIELZYNSKI Erin | 1990 | CAN | 1:08.09 | +0.36 | 63.35 | ||
4 | 12 | 107469 | FIELD Charley | 1995 | CAN | 1:08.17 | +0.44 | 64.97 | ||
5 | 19 | 107518 | BARTLETT Caroline | 1995 | CAN | 1:08.45 | +0.72 | 70.63 | ||
6 | 11 | 107497 | POITRAS Adrienne | 1995 | CAN | 1:08.58 | +0.85 | 73.26 | ||
7 | 13 | 107044 | IRWIN Madison | 1991 | CAN | 1:08.77 | +1.04 | 77.11 | ||
8 | 16 | 107532 | TOMMY Mikaela | 1995 | CAN | 1:08.81 | +1.08 | 77.92 | ||
9 | 14 | 107613 | GRENIER Valerie | 1996 | CAN | 1:09.08 | +1.35 | 83.38 | ||
10 | 9 | 107352 | BERMEL Rebecca | 1994 | CAN | 1:09.42 | +1.69 | 90.25 | ||
11 | 24 | 107698 | MARTIN Mikayla | 1997 | CAN | 1:09.53 | +1.80 | 92.48 | ||
12 | 8 | 107387 | CRAWFORD Candace | 1994 | CAN | 1:09.66 | +1.93 | 95.11 | ||
13 | 7 | 107447 | GOULD Stephanie | 1994 | CAN | 1:09.78 | +2.05 | 97.54 | ||
14 | 3 | 107427 | ST-GERMAIN Laurence | 1994 | CAN | 1:09.94 | +2.21 | 100.77 | ||
15 | 21 | 107424 | SCHMIDT Hannah | 1994 | CAN | 1:10.16 | +2.43 | 105.22 | ||
16 | 17 | 107415 | MOORE Kelly | 1994 | CAN | 1:10.23 | +2.50 | 106.64 | ||
17 | 26 | 107648 | BURGESS Georgia | 1997 | CAN | 1:10.29 | +2.56 | 107.85 | ||
18 | 1 | 107570 | STEEVES Kelly | 1996 | CAN | 1:10.36 | +2.63 | 109.27 | ||
19 | 4 | 107515 | WELLS Alix | 1995 | CAN | 1:10.42 | +2.69 | 110.48 | ||
20 | 2 | 107695 | WEARMOUTH Antonia | 1997 | CAN | 1:10.62 | +2.89 | 114.53 | ||
21 | 6 | 107491 | NORTON Gina | 1995 | CAN | 1:10.64 | +2.91 | 114.93 | ||
22 | 15 | 107512 | TURNER Andrea | 1995 | CAN | 1:11.36 | +3.63 | 129.50 | ||
23 | 23 | 6535460 | KEPL Elizabeth | 1996 | USA | 1:12.95 | +5.22 | 161.66 | ||
24 | 25 | 107484 | KWONG Alysia | 1995 | CAN | 1:16.72 | +8.99 | 237.91 | ||
Did not start 1st run | ||||||||||
20 | 107482 | KING Emma | 1995 | CAN | ||||||
5 | 107384 | CLARKE Devon | 1994 | CAN |
MEN’S RESULTS
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | Diff. | FIS Points | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7 | 103612 | PRIDY Morgan | 1990 | CAN | 1:04.01 | 8.00 | |||
2 | 5 | 103762 | WERRY Tyler | 1991 | CAN | 1:04.56 | +0.55 | 19.77 | ||
3 | 6 | 103271 | THOMSEN Benjamin | 1987 | CAN | 1:04.67 | +0.66 | 22.13 | ||
4 | 18 | 103512 | FRISCH Jeffrey | 1984 | CAN | 1:04.69 | +0.68 | 22.55 | ||
5 | 9 | 533866 | NYMAN Steven | 1982 | USA | 1:04.70 | +0.69 | 22.77 | ||
6 | 11 | 104015 | SCHUESSLER BEDARD William | 1993 | CAN | 1:04.73 | +0.72 | 23.41 | ||
7 | 2 | 100558 | COOK Dustin | 1989 | CAN | 1:04.74 | +0.73 | 23.62 | ||
8 | 8 | 103385 | PRIDY Conrad | 1988 | CAN | 1:04.89 | +0.88 | 26.83 | ||
9 | 12 | 104023 | STEINKE Chris | 1993 | CAN | 1:04.92 | +0.91 | 27.48 | ||
10 | 14 | 103942 | BELL Jeffrey | 1993 | CAN | 1:05.20 | +1.19 | 33.47 | ||
11 | 16 | 103984 | LAJOIE Vincent | 1993 | CAN | 1:05.40 | +1.39 | 37.75 | ||
12 | 17 | 103729 | READ Erik | 1991 | CAN | 1:05.58 | +1.57 | 41.60 | ||
13 | 10 | 103997 | MEGARRY Morgan | 1993 | CAN | 1:05.62 | +1.61 | 42.46 | ||
14 | 1 | 104238 | KUUS Karl | 1995 | CAN | 1:05.78 | +1.77 | 45.88 | ||
15 | 13 | 103857 | ST-GERMAIN William | 1992 | CAN | 1:05.86 | +1.85 | 47.60 | ||
16 | 3 | 103676 | BROWN Philip | 1991 | CAN | 1:05.99 | +1.98 | 50.38 | ||
17 | 44 | 104537 | ALEXANDER Cameron | 1997 | CAN | 1:06.36 | +2.35 | 58.30 | ||
18 | 25 | 104265 | RAMSDEN Blake | 1995 | CAN | 1:06.75 | +2.74 | 66.64 | ||
19 | 30 | 104246 | LYNOTT Patrick | 1995 | CAN | 1:06.80 | +2.79 | 67.71 | ||
20 | 22 | 104272 | SEGER Brodie | 1995 | CAN | 1:06.82 | +2.81 | 68.14 | ||
21 | 48 | 104525 | PEIFFER Max | 1997 | CAN | 1:06.83 | +2.82 | 68.36 | ||
21 | 19 | 104378 | GOUGEON Jake | 1996 | CAN | 1:06.83 | +2.82 | 68.36 | ||
23 | 50 | 104529 | MULLIGAN Sam | 1997 | CAN | 1:07.04 | +3.03 | 72.85 | ||
24 | 21 | 104436 | QUENNEVILLE Raphael | 1996 | CAN | 1:07.08 | +3.07 | 73.71 | ||
25 | 26 | 104308 | TRUSLER Thomas | 1995 | CAN | 1:07.35 | +3.34 | 79.49 | ||
26 | 27 | 104269 | RONSKY Russell | 1995 | CAN | 1:07.58 | +3.57 | 84.41 | ||
27 | 23 | 104153 | MCCONVILLE Patrick | 1994 | CAN | 1:07.68 | +3.67 | 86.55 | ||
28 | 45 | 104531 | CRAWFORD James | 1997 | CAN | 1:07.72 | +3.71 | 87.40 | ||
29 | 29 | 104156 | NACIUK Anthony | 1994 | CAN | 1:07.88 | +3.87 | 90.83 | ||
30 | 36 | 104233 | HAWKINS Devon | 1995 | CAN | 1:07.93 | +3.92 | 91.90 | ||
31 | 42 | 104347 | LEITCH Jack | 1996 | CAN | 1:08.10 | +4.09 | 95.54 | ||
32 | 24 | 104268 | MERCIER ROBIN William | 1995 | CAN | 1:08.25 | +4.24 | 98.75 | ||
33 | 32 | 6531526 | OSBORNE Andrew | 1996 | USA | 1:08.29 | +4.28 | 99.60 | ||
34 | 35 | 104407 | LALIBERTE Felix | 1996 | CAN | 1:08.32 | +4.31 | 100.25 | ||
35 | 53 | 104399 | WALTON William | 1996 | CAN | 1:08.33 | +4.32 | 100.46 | ||
36 | 37 | 104412 | BRUNEAU-BOUCHARD William | 1996 | CAN | 1:08.42 | +4.41 | 102.39 | ||
37 | 34 | 104367 | KIRSHENBLATT Samuel | 1996 | CAN | 1:08.51 | +4.50 | 104.31 | ||
38 | 33 | 104245 | LLEWELLYN Austin | 1995 | CAN | 1:08.53 | +4.52 | 104.74 | ||
39 | 49 | 104539 | SEGER Riley | 1997 | CAN | 1:08.65 | +4.64 | 107.31 | ||
40 | 57 | 104301 | MCCONVILLE Will | 1995 | CAN | 1:08.70 | +4.69 | 108.38 | ||
41 | 46 | 104277 | TAYLOR Collin | 1995 | CAN | 1:08.95 | +4.94 | 113.73 | ||
42 | 39 | 104282 | YATES Kyle | 1995 | CAN | 1:08.98 | +4.97 | 114.37 | ||
43 | 40 | 104280 | WONNACOTT Benjamin | 1995 | CAN | 1:09.08 | +5.07 | 116.51 | ||
44 | 38 | 104160 | PITFIELD Graham | 1994 | CAN | 1:09.13 | +5.12 | 117.58 | ||
45 | 47 | 104213 | BROWN Scott | 1995 | CAN | 1:09.25 | +5.24 | 120.15 | ||
46 | 58 | 104528 | HUTCHISON Jonathan | 1997 | CAN | 1:09.47 | +5.46 | 124.86 | ||
47 | 31 | 304488 | KOTAKE Yoriaki | 1994 | JPN | 1:09.54 | +5.53 | 126.36 | ||
48 | 43 | 104293 | CHEWPA Olexa | 1995 | CAN | 1:09.61 | +5.60 | 127.86 | ||
49 | 52 | 104535 | LLEWELLYN Carson | 1997 | CAN | 1:09.67 | +5.66 | 129.14 | ||
50 | 51 | 104352 | ROBERTS A.J. | 1996 | CAN | 1:09.78 | +5.77 | 131.49 | ||
51 | 54 | 104532 | ARMSTRONG Harrison | 1997 | CAN | 1:10.04 | +6.03 | 137.06 | ||
52 | 56 | 104541 | GERSHON Alex | 1997 | CAN | 1:11.02 | +7.01 | 158.03 | ||
53 | 41 | 104281 | WOOD Clinton | 1995 | CAN | 1:11.09 | +7.08 | 159.53 | ||
54 | 55 | 6531864 | KRAY Corbin | 1997 | USA | 1:12.30 | +8.29 | 185.43 | ||
Did not start 1st run | ||||||||||
20 | 102899 | OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel | 1984 | CAN | ||||||
Did not finish 1st run | ||||||||||
28 | 103964 | FRY Steven | 1993 | CAN | ||||||
15 | 104409 | QUEZEL Lambert | 1996 | CAN | ||||||
4 | 104096 | THOMPSON Broderick | 1994 | CAN |