WMSC Alumni Achievements
WMSC athletes go on to achieve great success. Some graduate to ski for BC, others earn ski scholarships to colleges and universities, others become coaches and instructors and still others succeed in endeavors outside of skiing. This is a place to capture and share these achievements and stay connected with your former ski-racing colleagues. If you have news on alumni, however big or small, please send to this e-mail and we’ll post it.
March 7, 2009
Manuel Osborne-Paradis wins gold and bronze in downhills in Kvitfjell, Norway. Robbie Dixon has two consecutive top ten finishes
WMSC alumnic, Manuel Osborne-Paradis has joined a select group of Canadian ski racers, following up the first World Cup win of his career with another downhill podium a day later. Osborne-Paradis, winner of yesterday men’s World Cup downhill in Kvitfjell, NOR, posted the third fastest time today, finishing in one minute 32.58 seconds.
“It’s a really nice feeling to be able to do it two days in a row,” said the 25-year old Paradis who has vaulted up the men’s downhill standings in the last two days. He is now the top Canadian in any discipline, sitting fourth in the DH with 299 points.
“Today was a totally different day, totally different course,” he said. “It was a lower start because of fog at the top. It made it more of a sprint. It made it where the little mistakes did matter, you didn’t have time to make up speed.”
Robbie Dixon (Whistler, BC) finished seventh today for his second straight top 10 result, 0.23s behind Osborne-Paradis.
Another solid top ten for John Kucera (Calgary, AB) as well, placing eighth in 1:32.82 followed by Erik Guay (Mont-Tremblant, QC) in ninth.
“I am really happy with the third place and I am super happy that (four of) the Canadian boys were in the top 10. We are all finishing as a group and moving ahead as a group, it’s nice to share it with those guys,” Osborne-Paradis said. All four Canadians will participate in the World Cup Finals DH in Åre, SWE next week.
March 5, 2009
WMSC Alumnus Ali Leighton loves Montana State NCAA college racing life
After a long and successful stint with the B.C. Ski Team, Whistler’s Ali Leighton is tearing it up as a skier in the U.S. college stream. Ali is the daughter of our own Chris Leighton.
Leighton, now a member of the Montana State University ski team based in Bozeman, is happily settled in as an Exercise Science student at the NCAA Division 1 school. The idea of college racing appealed to her because after many years of racing with the B.C. team and the Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC), the past winner of the Pontiac Cup women’s series standings wasn’t ready to leave her sport behind.
“I decided on racing college because I wasn't really done with the sport and thought that I could still enjoy ski racing in a more relaxed setting,” Leighton wrote in an email to The Question. “College racing is a great opportunity to get an education and to continue with skiing in a competitive environment.”
Leighton, who knocked off national team racers to win a silver medal in the 2006 Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships super G event in Whistler, said she loves “the team aspect of college racing,” where individual results are combined to help the team score. The Alpine team tallies are then added to the Nordic team’s score for a total to rank against the other schools.
Happily describing how the college circuit is taking her to interesting places such as New Mexico and Alaska, Leighton said college racing is still highly competitive.
“There are lots of Europeans that come over to race NCAA that have good points and are fast skiers. It compares to races at the NorAm level that I participated in with the B.C. team,” she wrote.
With a 10th-place result at a race in Park City last season and several top-10 second-run times in slalom and giant slalom races this season, Leighton said she came well prepared to the program thanks to the B.C. team and the WMSC.
“Both teams provided a competitive environment with some great coaching that was able to carry over to my college career. I owe a lot to the WMSC program and Jordan Williams that set me up to qualify for the B.C. team, which really progressed my career,” Leighton wrote.
Williams warmly remembers Leighton’s rise with Kendall Benbow and Danielle Robson as the illustrious RC3 group — the Rookie Chicks 3 — who moved solidly from the WMSC to the provincial ski team. Williams said Leighton’s current path is “great to see,” offering a different set of opportunities and educational advantages while demonstrating what hardworking, focused athletes can achieve.
“She’s really a diligent athlete… Ali was one that was always prepared,” Williams said.
While she misses Whistler, Leighton said she’s happy where she is and enjoying the chance to try something new. She chose Montana State because it seemed like the best fit for her, with the school located in an active, outdoors-minded community like Whistler and a great group of athletes on the team, plus a passionate coach.
Leighton said she also misses racing super G — her favourite event with the B.C. team — but she sated her craving in a recent FIS Development Speed Series event at Big Sky Resort, where she finished fifth in a super G race.
After taking some lumps and hikes in the Western Regionals event in Reno, Nev., Leighton is hoping to tackle some more FIS races to close out the year with some solid results.
Written by Megan Grittani-Livingston
This article is courtesy of the Whistler Question newspaper and first appeared on February 26, 2009: http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20090226/WHISTLER02/302199743/1007
March 2, 2009
Former WMSC racers Ashleigh McIvor and Davey Barr win skicross gold and bronze at freestyle championships
Ashleigh McIvor won gold in women's skicross while fellow Canadian Davey Barr won bronze in the men's event Monday March 2nd, 2009 at the world freestyle championships held in Inawashiro, Japan. Ashleigh and Davey are both former WMSC FIS racers. McIvor won gold despite being the 28th and final qualifier for the skicross heats. She had the poorest of four start positions because of her lower seeding, but made up for it with a quick start. "I don't know how I did this," said the native of Whistler, B.C. "Even to qualify I had to hike two minutes back up the mountain because I'd hooked a gate and wouldn't have qualified if I hadn't. It hasn't really hit me. All I want to do is jump up and down." The win at the world championships is the latest in a string of excellent results for McIvor, who seems to have sewn up a berth on the 2010 Canadian Olympic squad. She was coming off a third-place finish at a World Cup event in Sweden which gave her three podium finishes on the circuit so far this season. Her best prior to Monday was a silver at the World Cup event at West Vancouver's Cypress Mountain on Feb. 7.
In the men's skicross final, Barr's bronze was his third in international competition this season, after the Brackendale, B.C., native placed third at the Airwave Games in France and the World Cup event at Cypress. "I've got to break the bronze curse," said Barr, a day shy of his 32nd birthday. "I wish I'd brought my semifinal start to the finals," he said of the race in which he was second behind teammate Chris DelBosco, a Canadian whose home is in Vail, Colo. In the four-skier final, Barr was third behind the 1-2 Austrian combo of Matt Andreas and Thomas Zangerl. Del Bosco was fourth.
February 28, 2008
Maelle Ricker captures snowboardcross gold in Maine
Former WMSC racer Maelle Ricker won the gold medal in a snowboardcross race at a World Cup event Saturday February 28th, held in Maine. "It definitely feels good to finally get that win," she said. "At the start, I just push myself and said to myself 'Maelle, it's go time. I had a really nice start and was able to keep a very nice line on the course and fend off my competitors and it worked out nicely for me." Ricker beat a field that included defending world champion Helen Olafsson of Norway, Switzerland's Mellie Francon and World Cup leader Lindsey Jacobellis of the U.S. "It was a really nice course, with a little bit of everything," Ricker said. "The weather we had made it really challenging for everyone. The rain we got (Friday) just froze completely overnight, which made the course really icy. The course workers did a great job this morning, but it was nasty out there."
February 28, 2008
Konantz takes Super Combined Silver at PGMC J1 National Championships
Former WMSC racer and BC Development team member Willy Konantz put in a spectacular slalom run to win silver his first ever J1 National Championships. Willy, who was well back in eighth place after the opening super-G, ended up in second place overall in a two-run time of 1:53.74. "I definitely went a little too round in the super G", said Konantz. "I could have gone a lot straighter. The super G track is perfect. The course workers have done a great job." Konantz, who is a member of the BC Alpine J1 Development Team, was hoping for a top-10 finish in Saturday's super combined. "I'm pretty happy with second place", he told us after the slalom run. "I almost lost it so many times during the slalom. It was really soft at the top then it got icy later on. It was hard to adapt. I have to say all the training I've had this year has really helped me. It's been an amazing experience to be part of the BC development team."
February 24, 2009
Toria Whitney posts impressive 5th place finish at Italian Europa Cup Downhill in Tarvisio, Italy
Whistler's Victoria Whitney (BC Ski Team) tore up the Tarvisio downhill track in one minute, 13.29 seconds, just over half a second behind the winner, Isabelle Stiepel of Germany. Georgia Simmerling of West Vancouver and the Canadian Development Team finished 18th in 1:14.14. Both athletes are in Europe racing and training in preparation for the upcoming World Junior Championships beginning March 1st in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany. For now they will train in Kirchberg, where they just received a meter of new snow. The entire World Junior team will move to Garmiche on Friday.
February 23rd, 2009
WMSC's Toria Whitney selected to represent Canada in the World Junior Nationals
Toria Whitney, a graduate of WMSC's racing program and resident of Whistler has been selected to be part of the Canadian team at the World Junior Championships at Garmisch Partenkirchen, 
Austria which will be held March 1-8, 2009. Toria is the daughter of our Alpine Chair, Irene Whitney, and timing guru Al Whitney. Like many of our athletes, Toria was first a member of WMSC as a J4 with Denis Embacher. The Canadian objectives at the 2009 World Junior Championships are to achieve podium success for Canada and to provide experience and international exposure to elite level Canadian athletes identified as future potential medalists. Toria will be joined by five other Canadian women (Marie-Michele Gagnon, Kate Ryley, Georgia Simmerling, Erin Mielzinski & Brittany Phelan) and six Canadian men (Dustin Cook, Michael Mackie, Mathieu Routhier, Kelby Halbert, Erik Read & Andy Trow).
February 15th, 2009
Former WMSC racer Michael Janyk makes ski racing history
Our congratulations go to Whistler’s Michael Janyk on his World Championship bronze medal.
Michael Janyk, a WMSC alumni made Canadian ski racing history on Sunday in Val d’Isère, France by claiming bronze in slalom, becoming the first Canadian male to medal in a technical event at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. Read the story at http://www.canski.org/webconcepteur/web/alpine/en/nav/news.html?page=details.jsp&iddoc=130929.
February 17th, 2009
Jocelyn Ramsden qualifies for Senior Nationals in her first year as a J1
Congratulations go to BC J1 Development team member Jocelyn Ramsden who, in the recent PGMC cup at Mt Norquay, was 5th in the opening GS and the second J1. This is a significant accomplishment for Jocelyn who is in her first year as a J1 and just last year was a WMSC K2. Her great performance has meant that she has qualified for Senior Nationals.
