ALPINE:

Janyk 7th in final Lake Louise women’s DH training

Dec. 3, 2009 - The Canadian Press          ►Photo: Britt Janyk at Lake Louise (Agence Zoom)

LAKE LOUISE, Alberta — Britt Janyk of Whistler, B.C., finished seventh Thursday in the final training run before the first World Cup downhill of the season.

Finishing her run at Lake Louise in 1 minute, 51.76 seconds, Janyk was just two-tenths of a second behind sixth-place Elisabeth Georgl of Austria.

Austrian Maria Holaus, whose 2009 season ended prematurely with a knee injury, clocked the fastest time.

Holaus, who turns 26 later this month, has been the most consistent skier ahead of the weekend's World Cup downhill doubleheader, finishing first or second in all three training runs. She reached speeds of 123 kilometres an hour and clocked a time of 1:50.95 Thursday, finishing ahead of Swiss racer Nadia Styger and Andres Fischbacher of Austria. Styger posted a time of 1:51.23, edging Fischbacher’s 1:51.26.

German star Maria Riesch was fourth in 1:51.32 while reigning World Cup overall champion Lindsey Vonn rounded out the top five in 1:51.35.

Temperatures have plummeted this week, reaching minus-15 degrees Celsius on the hill Thursday as the skiers wore tape on their faces to protect from frostbite.

Emily Brydon of Fernie, B.C., was 13th, Shona Rubens of Canmore, Alta., finished 26th, Larisa Yurkiw of Owen Sound, Ont., finished 39th, Kelly VanderBeek of Kitchener, Ont., was 43rd, Georgia Simmerling of West Vancouver, B.C., finished 56th and Victoria Whitney of Whistler was 59th.

VanderBeek, who was third in a super-G here in 2006, trained with a heavy heart Thursday. She said her mother-in-law had just died from a terminal illness. VanderBeek is married to Olympic whitewater kayaker David Ford.

The top women racers in the world return to Lake Louise's Whitehorn Mountain Friday for the season-opening downhill. There is another downhill scheduled for Saturday and the first super-G of the season Sunday.

Holaus has stood on every step of the podium but has yet to win a World Cup downhill. Her lone World Cup win came in the super-G in Cortina two years ago. She has finished second in the downhill twice.

Last year she cracked the top five in the downhill at Lake Louise for the first time.

Styger finished second Thursday to go with a third-place finish in training on Tuesday. She is the only woman in the field to have won a downhill (February 2008) in Whistler, the British Columbia ski resort that will host the 2010 Winter Games in just 10 weeks.

Her best result in Lake Louise was a fourth in the downhill two years ago.

The 24-year-old Fischbacher is one of three Austrians who finished in the top six Thursday, and it will take a monumental effort to keep them from the podium this weekend. Fischbacher was runner-up in Lake Louise twice in the super-G last year and four years ago.

Germany's Riesch has been showing steady improvement in training all week, going from 16th to seventh and now fourth. She is expected to challenge American Vonn for the World Cup overall title this season.  SRC

Lake Louise women's World Cup downhill training No. 3 results