Canadians take overall, super-G, downhill, giant slalom and slalom titles

Calgary, Alta. (March 29, 2017) – The Nor-Am Cup season closes with Canada capturing seven overall titles, 12 World Cup discipline spots and two World Cup overall spots. Top performances put Canadian athletes on the podium in all disciplines. 

National team athletes continued to demonstrate their dominance on the circuit and development team athletes proved the future looks bright for Canadian ski racing.  

Overall Nor-Am Titles (Canadian Ski Team)

Phil Brown – Overall Nor-Am Cup Champion

Ali Nullmeyer – Overall Nor-Am Cup Champion

Tyler Werry - Overall Nor-Am Cup Downhill Champion

Brodie Seger – Overall Nor-Am Cup Super-G Champion

Phil Brown - Overall Nor-Am Cup Giant Slalom Champion

Ali Nullmeyer - Overall Nor-Am Cup Slalom Champion

Amelia Smart - Overall Nor-Am Cup Giant Slalom Champion

World Cup Spots Earned – Canada 

1x men’s overall World Cup spot

1x ladies’ overall World Cup spot

2x men’s downhill World Cup spots

1x ladies’ downhill World Cup spot

1x men’s slalom World Cup spot

2x ladies’ slalom World Cup spots

2x men’s giant slalom World Cup spots

2x ladies’ giant slalom World Cup spots

2x men’s super-G World Cup spots

John Kucera, men’s development team head coach, and Peter Rybarik, ladies’ development team head coach, both saw improvement from athletes across the board, goals smashed and positive progress throughout the season. 

“It was a goal for Phil [Brown] to capture the overall title and he did a great job of coming onto the circuit and battle to win the giant slalom title,” said Kucera. “The younger guys also set out to target some titles and we were really happy to see Brodie [Seger] and Jack [Crawford] battling for the two spots in super-G. Jack showed some really high-level performance at the World Junior Championships with two fourth-place finishes in downhill and giant slalom and a win in the team event. The rest of the group has also had a strong Nor-Am season including Jeffrey [Read] finishing fifth in the slalom standings, improving his consistency. Sam [Mulligan] and Huston [Philp] battled to the top-five in their respective disciplines and showed they have the speed to compete with the best. Riley [Seger] and Simon [Fournier} put together multiple top ten performances. Broderick [Thompson} took a really big step this year finishing second in the downhill standings and being in a position to challenge for the super-G title before his injury, showing his ability to battle into points at the World Cup level. Overall we’re happy with how the team is progressing and looking to be one of the teams to beat next year.”

“I’m really satisfied with the season overall and I was happy to see the athletes reached their goals,” said Rybarik. “Ali  [Nullmeyer] dominated the Nor-Am circuit this season, including taking the overall title and slalom title. Her performance at World Junior Championships was also great. Winning the overall was her goal so it was nice to see her achieve that. Amelia [Smart] achieved her goal of winning the overall giant slalom title and Marina [Vilanova] reached her FIS point profile. She was very competitive and with some luck, she would’ve reached the podium. Stefanie [Fleckenstein] had success in speed and made good improvements in the tech events. As a group it was a strong team and everybody had great moments this season. The focus now turns to spring camps and dryland over the summer.” 

Below are highlights from the back half of the season. Full results can be found here. 

OVERALL TITLES

The best overall skiers on the Nor-Am Cup circuit this year were both Canadian. Phil Brown (Craigleith Ski Club), Canadian Alpine Ski Team, and Ali Nullmeyer (Georgian Peaks Ski Club), Canadian Alpine Development Team, secured the overall Nor-Am Cup titles, winning World Cup spots in all disciplines. Nullmeyer captured 13 podiums this season and Brown finished with seven. 

SLALOM TITLES

Nullmeyer secured the overall slalom title with a month to go in the Nor-Am Cup racing circuit. She continued to produce strong results that extended her lead, closing out the season on a high note. It’s been a breakout year for Nullmeyer with her World Cup debut at the 2017 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships (St. Moritz, SUI), finishing with a top 30 result in the slalom. She followed up that result with a silver medal in the slalom and a gold medal in the team event at the Junior World Ski Championships (Äre, SWE). She closes out the Nor-Am Cup circuit winning four of the last five slaloms on the schedule, accumulating 720 points in slalom. With these outstanding results, Nullmeyer has secured a start in all World Cup slalom races next year. 

“Winning the overall slalom title was a goal of mine this season,” said Nullmeyer. “To achieve it and secure a World Cup spot for next year is really exciting for me! I am looking forward to this incredible opportunity and all the experience I will gain next year from it!”

Laurence St-Germain (Mont Ste-Anne), Canadian Alpine Ski Team, finished second-place in the overall slalom standings with 285 points. 

On the men’s side, Phil Brown, closed out the slalom Nor-Am Cup season ranked second in the standings, securing three slalom podium finishes during the season. Jeffrey Read (Banff Alpine Racers), Canadian Alpine Development Team, rounded out the top-five in the slalom rankings. 

GIANT SLALOM TITLES

The overall giant slalom titles both belonged to Canadian athletes. Phil Brown and Amelia Smart (Team Panorma), Canadian Alpine Development Team, earned themselves a spot on next year’s World Cup giant slalom circuit. 

Brown had secured the Nor-Am Cup giant slalom title before the last races of the season even took place. He secured the title in Mont. St. Marie (CAN), which hosted the final two giant slalom races and two slalom races. Despite Brown missing out on a podium in the last two giant slalom races of the season, he still secured the giant slalom title with 491 points, as well as a spot in all World Cup giant slalom races next year. 

In the first giant slalom race, Trevor Philp (Banff Alpine Racers), Canadian Alpine Ski Team, finished in third-place, just 0.25 seconds back from the winning time. In the second race, Philp improved, finishing in first-place. Joining Philp on the podium was Jack Crawford (Whistler Mountain Ski Club/ Georgian Peaks Ski Club), Canadian Alpine Ski Team, in third-place. Philp’s strong performances landed him a second-place overall in the giant slalom rankings with 340 points, as well as a World Cup spot. 

Jack Crawford and William St-Germain also finished in the top-ten overall giant slalom standings, finishing seventh and ninth respectively. 

Smart closed out the Nor-Am season with 409 points in giant slalom, which came from a strong start and consistency throughout the year. She finished with four giant slalom podiums to clinch the title.

“It feels great!” Smart said of winning the title. “I’m super excited to see what next year brings now that I have the opportunity to race some World Cups.”

Finishing behind Smart in the giant slalom standings was teammate Nullmeyer, who was ranked second, just 31 points back from Smart’s total, also earning her a World Cup spot in giant slalom. 

“It was definitely a close race at the end,” Smart said. “I’m just excited that we ended up one and two and that we will both have a World Cup spot for next year.”

In the final giant slalom races of the season, Canadian athletes yet again found the podium. Mikaela Tommy (Edleweiss), Canadian Alpine Ski Team, finished in third-place in the first race and bettered her result in the second giant slalom finishing in first-place. Teammate Candace Crawford hit the podium in the second race for a second-place finish. 

DOWNHILL TITLES    

The Nor-Am Cup downhill titles were decided at Copper Mountain (USA) in early February. Tyler Werry (Fernie Alpine Ski Club), Canadian Alpine Ski Team, secured the men’s downhill title and teammate Broderick Thompson (Whistler Mountain Ski Club), Canadian Alpine Ski Team, closed out the season ranked second overall. Both athletes secured World Cup spots next year. Also cracking the top ten for the downhill overall season was Canadian Development Team athlete, Read finishing in ninth-place. 

In the final downhill Nor-Am races of the season, Thompson finished in first-place, 0.30 seconds ahead of the next fastest time in the first race and Werry secured his title by winning the second downhill race. 

On the women’s side, Stefanie Fleckenstein (Whistler Mountain Ski Club), Canadian Development Team, finished just 38 points back from the downhill overall winner to finish the year in second-place. Fleckenstein won the first downhill Nor-Am of the season in Lake Louise (CAN) after starting in her first World Cup race earlier that week at the ladies’ World Cup speed opener. Fleckenstein went on to post a third-place, fourth-place and eighth-place finish in the Nor-Am downhill races this season. By finishing second overall, she has earned a World Cup downhill spot for next year. 

Four Canadian ladies finished in the downhill overall top ten including Fleckenstein in second, Roni Remme (Alpine Ski Club) in sixth, Soleil Patterson (Red Mountain Racers) in seventh, and Antonia Wearmouth (Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club) in tenth.  

SUPER-G TITLES

Canadians went one-two in the overall super-G Nor-Am Cup standings with Brodie Seger (Whistler Mountain Ski Club), Canadian Alpine Ski Team taking the win with 281 points. Teammate Crawford finished in second-place with 275 points. In the final two super-G races of the season, Seger landed on the podium in third-place and Crawford finished in fifth and sixth-place. 

Thompson finished sixth in the overall standings. He was taken out of the running for the overall title by an injury sustained on the World Cup circuit. 

On the ladies’ side, Fleckenstein was the top Canadian in the overall standings finishing in fourth-place. In the second-last super-G of the season, two Canadians landed on the podium with Tommy finishing in second-place and Nullmeyer in third-place. 

ALPINE COMBINED TITLES

The Canadian ladies finished the alpine combined season ranked third (Smart), fourth (Nullmeyer), fifth (Fleckenstein) and sixth (Tommy) filling the top-ten. In the final alpine combined of the season, Tommy and Nullmeyer went one-two on the podium and Fleckenstein and Marina Vilanova (Club de Ski Mont Tremblant), Canadian Development Team, finished in the top-ten with a seventh and eighth-place finish respectively. 

Sam Mulligan (Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club), Canadian Development Team, won the final alpine combined race of the season making waves by moving from 14th-place after the first run, to win the race. National Team athlete, Philp, joined Mulligan on the podium in second-place. Two other Canadians finished in the top ten with Brodie Seger capturing sixth-place and Erik Read (Banff Alpine Racers), Canadian Alpine Ski Team, in seventh-place. 

Mulligan’s performance put him in fourth-place in the overall alpine combined Nor-Am Cup standings. Tyler Werry was the top Canadian in the standings finishing in third-place. 

THANK YOU

The Canadian portion of the Nor-Am Cup circuit would not be possible without the support of the terrific host venues, Lake Louise Ski Resort, Panorama Mountain Resort, Mont Ste-Marie, Val Saint-Côme and Mont Garceau, local organizing committees and the teams of tireless volunteers. Thank you to Helly Hansen, Budget Rent-a-Car of Calgary, National Bank, Element Financial and PCL Construction for your ongoing commitment to the Nor-Am Cup and Canadian Alpine Development Team.

ABOUT ALPINE CANADA

Alpine Canada is the national governing body for alpine, para-alpine and ski cross racing in Canada. With the support of valued corporate partners along with the Government of Canada, Own the Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee, Alpine Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic, world championship and World Cup medallists to stimulate visibility, inspiration and growth in the ski community.