Congratulations to our Cypress Ski Club racers who competed in the 22nd Whistler Cup on April 2, 3, and 4th! The Whistler Cup is the premiere race event for juvenile ski racing in North America. Over 400 athletes from over 25 countries race in U14 and U16 competitions. The U16 raced super-G, GS, and Slalom, while the U14s raced Dual Slalom (making its debut at this edition of the Whistler Cup), GS and Slalom. The Austrian team overwhelmed the other nations to win the Nations’ Cup title, Norway was second followed by Canada in third.
Cypress Ski Club Team at Whistler Cup: (back row left to right) Hayden Sidey-Phillips, Andrzej Lawnik, Isabelle Shaw, Ashley Slay, Adrienne Pop, Grace Scharf, Ana Guri, Gavin Preziosi; (front row left to right) Base Wagner, Olin Wakkary, Mark Konigsmann, Kavi Ghandi, and Peter Konigsmann.
Peter Konigsmann qualified for the BC Quota U16 Men’s by being ranked 13th in the province. Peter consistently moved up from late starts to half his bib numbers by finishing 32nd in the Super-G and and 36th in GS. He bettered both results in Slalom by finishing 28th. Ana Guri represented Spain’s U16 Ladies team and finished 48th in the Super-G and Slalom but failed to complete her first run in GS.
On our U14 Men’s team, Olin Wakkary finished 19th in Slalom and 19th in the GS. Sliding out at an early gate kept him to 31st in the Dual Slalom elimination. Also in the Dual Slalom, Kavi Ghandi finished 86th and Base Wagner 92nd. Base also finished 62nd in Slalom and 91st in GS. Kavi finished 67th in GS and had his best result in Slalom finishing 42nd from a bib start of 86!
On our U14 Ladies’s team, Adrienne Pop’s best result was 36th in Slalom, improving from 38th in GS, and 65th in Dual Slalom. Ashley Slay finished 40th in GS, 42nd in Slalom and 60th in Dual Slalom. Grace Scharf finished 78th in Slalom, 92nd in GS, and 104th in Dual Slalom. Isabel Shaw finished 70th in Slalom, 95th in GS, and 102nd in Dual Slalom.
Complete results can be found at http://bcalpine.com/calendar/event/?cal=1&event=1649
Photos of athletes can be purchased from Coast Mountain Photography at http://www.coastphotostore.com/Events/Whistler-Cup-2014
Whistler Cup was not only a chance for our athletes to compete against the best internationally but to experience an event that took over Whistler Village for three days from the Whistler Cup parade to open air awards ceremonies in the Village Square.
The Whistler Cup, presented by Rio Tinto Alcan, has an incredible track record of showcasing future stars. Former participants and Olympic medalist in Vancouver and Sochi include the USA’s Lindsey Vonn (Gold Downhill & Bronze SG, Vancouver), Julia Mancuso (Bronze Combined, Sochi) and Mikaela Shiffrin (Gold Slalom, Sochi), Slovenia’s Tina Maze, Italy’s Christof Innerhofer (Silver Downhill and Bronze combined, Sochi) and Austria’s Nicole Hosp (Silver combined and Bronze SG Sochi), Anna Fenninger (Gold SG and Silver GS, Sochi) and Mathias Meier (Gold Downhill Sochi).
Some of Canada’s biggest stars have also graced the event over the years, including Gold & Silver Ski Cross medalists (Sochi), Marielle Thompson and Kelsey Serwa, Olympic Bronze Medalist (Sochi), Jan Hudec, world downhill champion Erik Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Que., Whistler’s Robbie Dixon, Britt and Michael Janyk and Manuel Osborne-Paradis, of Vancouver, B.C.
More on Whistler Cup can be found at http://whistlercup.com
