Twelve Canadian U16 racers bring home first overall title since 2013

Whistler, B.C. (April 18, 2019) – The twelve racers selected to represent Canada at the 2019 Whistler Cup captured the international juvenile race’s U16 overall title for the first time since 2013.

"It's absolutely fantastic to bring the cup back to Canada. It’s been six years since the cup made it back to home soil," said the team’s head coach and Alpine Canada’s senior manager of coach education, Jenni Stielow in an interview with Pique News. "The athletes really put their full effort into competition here, which was fantastic. They were very competitive and paid attention to small-scale details and supported each other as one Canadian team, which paid off in the long run."

Hosted at Whistler-Blackcomb April 11-14, the Whistler Cup welcomed U14 and U16 alpine ski racing athletes from around the world for the prestigious event that has become a hallmark of the juvenile race calendar.

Led by Arianne Forget (Prévost, Que./Club de competition Belle Neige-S1 Racing) who captured two individual gold medals in super-G and giant slalom, and silver in slalom, as well as gold in the team event, Canada captured 7 medals in U16 race action.

Alexis Barabé (Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que./Club de ski Saint Sauveur) captured silver in the men’s super-G.

Britt Richardson (Canmore, Alta./Calgary Racing Club) was among the multi-medallists at the event, having finished fthird in the U16 ladies’ giant slalom, captured gold in the team event and the ladies' slalom, and finished fourth in the super-G.

“I didn’t have a lot of expectations for myself (coming in) as I just wanted to race the best I can and see how I stack up against the other racers here,” said Richardson on the weekend. “I’m happy with my results over the past few days. There has been some very tight races and some great skiers.”

Canada’s 12-member team of six male and six female racers all showed their mettle during the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer, Alberta, last February:

Alexis Barabe (Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que./Club de ski Saint-Sauveur)
Aleksas Valadka (Oakville, Ont./Georgian Peaks Ski Club)
Arianne Forget (Saint Jérôme, Que./Club de competition Belle Neige-S1 Racing)
Britt Richardson (Canmore, Alta./Calgary Alpine Racing Club)
Cydnie Timmermann (Calgary/Banff Alpine Racers)
Hemming Sola (Summerland, B.C./Apex Ski Club)
Hugo Culver (Westmount, Que./Club de ski Tremblant)
Marie-Pier Brunet (Bromont, Que./ Club de competition Belle Neige-S1 Racing)
Makenna Lebsack (Calgary/Panorama Ski Team)
Mathis Lafond (Bois-des-Fillions, Que./EDLS-Chantecler)
Penny Robinson (Thunder Bay, Ont./Thunder Bay Franco Alpine Ski Team)
Ryley Fergusson (Edmonton/Sunshine Alpine Racers)

The Team Canada medallists included: Barabe (silver: super-G); Forget (gold: super-G, giant slalom, team event; silver: slalom) and Richardson (gold: slalom, team event; bronze: giant slalom).