ALPINE:

Rapatel appointed national athletic director for Alpine Canada

April 3, 2010 — Alpine Canada

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Jean-François Rapatel has been hired to the new position of national athletic director as Alpine Canada begins a new Olympic cycle by placing renewed emphasis on development programs, the governing body for ski racing in Canada announced Monday.

Rapatel will oversee all aspects of the Canadian development ski racing system in his new role.

Chief Athletics Officer Max Gartner said Rapatel, who has led Canada's Para-Alpine Ski Team as the CPAST high-performance director since 2005, has a proven track record of developing a world-class ski racing program.

“J.F. will be leading a new Prospect Team, working with the leaders at the national and provincial levels to identify elite ski racers and oversee their progression onto the national teams," said Gartner.

"ACA focused a great deal of energy and resources toward the 2010 Winter Games in the last four years. This is an indication that in the next four years there will be more energy and more resources directed toward athlete development," he said.

Rapatel led the CPAST team to the overall Nations Cup title for the first time in its history in 2009, as well as first place in the nations standings at the 2009 IPC World Championships with 16 medals. At the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, Canada's para-alpine skiers captured 13 of the host nation’s 19 medals won, led by Lauren Woolstencroft's record-setting five gold medals.

"In alpine ski racing in Canada, we are lucky to have strong leadership, knowledge and expertise for developing athletes from grassroots all the way to the national team,” said Rapatel. “I have a lot of respect for the leaders we have at every level and I look forward to working with and continuing to learn from all of them. To be successful as a nation in alpine ski racing, we need to capitalize on all the expertise we have in our sport and within the Canadian sport system, by working together to continually improve how we develop our athletes.”
 
A new director for Canada's Para-Alpine Ski Team will be announced in the next week.  SRC