Competition officially began today for the alpine teams in Kananaskis. The Super-G races are run on a determined course, where each athlete gets on chance to earn the fastest possible time. Team BC fared well on the hill with 6 top-20 finishes.
Before the race begins, athletes have 45 minutes to inspect the course; learning and memorizing each turn and corner so they can be prepared when they reach top speeds. Most racers can reach speeds upwards of 100km/hour.
In the women’s category, there were 53 total female finishers. In first place, Arianne Forget of Quebec finished with a time of 0:45.90. Team BC athletes were just a couple seconds behind. Top Team BC finisher, Jaden Dawson (North Vancouver) placed 11th with a time of 0:47.97, only a tenth of a second out of the top-10. Brynn Applegath (Kamloops) unfortunately did not finish because she missed one of the turns at the beginning of the run.
In the men’s category, there were a total of 61 finishers. In first place, Alexis Barabe of Quebec finished with a time of 0:45.27. Taylor Nellis (Burnaby) placed in the top 10 with a time of 0:46.74. Adam Usher (North Vancouver) had a crash just before the finish line, ending with a DNF (did not finish).
Throughout the race, Team BC had coaches at different points along the course. Using radios, the coaches relay information to the athletes; letting them know the course conditions and provide some race strategy. The key advice to the athletes from Team BC was to ‘charge it’. The coaches wanted each athlete to give in their all down this course as it was short and only had a small jump.
The para-alpine team was able to train on the Legacy run this morning. Coach Katie Spittlehouse (Rossland) worked on gathering video of training for review.
Tonight after some stretching, dinner, and a team meeting, the Team BC alpine crew were able to check out a special speaker who visited Kananaskis - Ron McLean from Hockey Night in Canada!
Fun fact, at the end of each Team BC alpine meeting, the group goes through something called ‘Rose, Bud, and Thorn’. This means that each athlete and coach goes around and says one thing that went well that day or that they are excited for (rose), one thing to work on/improve (bud), and one thing that didn’t go well (thorn). This has really helped to bring this team together!
Women’s Super-G Results
11th - Jaden Dawson (North Vancouver) 47.97
19th - Noa Hooton (Heffley Creek) 48.74
20th - Noa Rogers (North Vancouver) 48.82
21st - Sara Stiel (Mt. Currie) 48.84
23rd - Charlotte Gibson (Prince George) 48.97
28th - Fiona McInnes (North Vancouver) 49.32
DNF - Brynn Applegath (Kamloops)
Men’s Super-G Results
10th - Taylor Nellis (Burnaby) 46.74
13th - Heming Sola (Summerland) 47.14
17th - David Wood (Whistler) 47.39
25th - Matthias Shorter (Whistler) 47.97
30th - Chase Burns (Abbotsford) 48.41
32nd - Benjamin Jacoby (Kamloops) 48.67
DNF - Adam Usher (North Vancouver)
Next up: Tuesday, Feb. 26 2019 - Giant Slalom starting at 9:15am with the women’s para, 9:35am - men’s para, 10am women’s able body, 10:55am, men’s able body. Starting at 12:50pm, all categories will do their second run.