SKI CROSS:

McIvor, Del Bosco return to stacked CSX team

Nov. 16, 2010 — Alpine Canada      ♦ Photo: Ashleigh McIvor en route to 2009 worlds gold (Agence Zoom/FIS)

Canada Ski Cross kicked off the new Olympic cycle by naming 13 high-performance skiers, led by Olympic champion Ashleigh McIvor and Winter X-Games gold medallist Chris Del Bosco, to the Canadian Ski Cross Team at a press conference Tuesday in Calgary, Alberta.

The team will focus on podium results at several major international competitions during the 2010-11 season including the FIS World Championships and Winter X-Games.

CSX will also be attempting to maintain its two-year grip on the FIS World Cup overall Nations Cup title this season, with the World Cup season highlights including a race at Blue Mountains, Ont., on Feb. 11.

Along with McIvor and Del Bosco, the Canadian Ski Cross Team will have several skiers return from the 2010 Olympic season. Among them is 2009 World Championships bronze medallist Davey Barr, who finished sixth at the 2010 Olympics, Kelsey Serwa, the fourth-ranked women's SX racer in the world, and Julia Murray, the daughter of former Crazy Canuck Dave Murray who has three World Cup podium results in her career.

"This season is important as we refocus on a new four-year plan and preparing the athletes for certain benchmarks on the way to 2014. We've achieved a lot of success in a short time and our mission is to continue the development of this relatively young program," said CSX Director Dave Ellis.

"Our team has a lot of talent with champions at all levels of the sport, including an Olympic champion. We've also got some new younger skiers that are hungry to push for their opportunity to succeed at the top levels of our sport," Ellis said. "It was a good offseason, with dryland training in Whistler and some on-snow camps in Argentina and Switzerland. Everybody is excited about launching the new team today and looking forward to the start of World Cup racing in December."

CSX also announced that an experienced coaching staff that led the team through the 2010 Olympic Games, including head coach Eric Archer and technical coach Brent Kehl, return to the national team this season.

The 2011 FIS World Championships take place at Deer Valley, Utah, with races scheduled for Feb 3-4. The FIS World Cup stops at Blue Mountains the following week.

There are also Nor-Am Cup races at Blue Mountain; Big White, B.C., and Red Mountain Resort, B.C., this season.

The Winter X-Games are at Aspen, Colorado, with ski cross events taking place Jan. 28-30.

Ski cross made is debut in Canada in the winter of 2007, with Canada Ski Cross establishing a World Cup team for the 2008-09 season. Canada Ski Cross was officially incorporated into Alpine Canada in June.

CANADA SKI CROSS NATIONAL TEAM 2010-11

Men's team
Chris Del Bosco (Sudbury, Ont.)
Davey Barr (Whistler, B.C.)
Brian Bennett (Quesnel, B.C.)
Brady Leman (Calgary, Alta.)
Dave Duncan (Golden, B.C. / London, Ont.)
Nick Zoricic (Toronto, Ont.)
Stanislas Rey (Whistler, B.C.)

Women's team
Julia Murray (Whistler, B.C.)
Ashleigh McIvor (Whistler, B.C.)
Danielle Poleschuk (Calgary, Alta.)
Kelsey Serwa (Kelowna, B.C.)
Aleisha Cline (Squamish, B.C.)
Marielle Thompson (Whistler, B.C.) 

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