ALPINE:

Vancouver’s Steeves wins super-G at K2 championships

March 22, 2011 — Alpine Canada     ♦ Photos: Runner-up Roni Remme; the women's podium (www.alpineontario.ca) 

COLLINGWOOD, Ontario — Canada's Kelly Steeves finished first in the women’s super-G Tuesday at the President's Choice K2 Canadian Championships.

Vancouver, B.C.-based Steeves crossed the finish line with a time of 43.18 seconds.

"I'm really excited to win. It was a great course," said B.C.'s K2 super-G and giant slalom champion. "Today I put everything together. It wasn't a perfect run but it was the best of my season."

Tuesday's result follows Steeves' second-place finish in the K2 overall standings at the B.C. K2 Provincials.

"I have great coaches this year — Rob Boyd is the K2 coach at our club and I worked with him all summer and this season. We feel pretty lucky to have him," added Steeves.

Monday's winner in the super-combined race, Collingwood-based National Ski Academy athlete Ronni Remme, finished second, 0.01 shy of first place. She clocked a time of 43.19.

"It is disappointing to come so close," said Remme. "You look back and try to figure out where you made a mistake, but I guess it is good to know there is more work to do, more places to improve upon."

The women raced on a fast track that was kept in good shape thanks to the many volunteers working on the course.

"I did get a bit out of control on the jump, did a spread eagle," added Remme. "I have been in this position before, losing by 0.01 seconds, but Kelly is a great skier."

The podium was rounded out by Remme's Ontario teammate Lizzie Currie, from Osler Mountain Ski Club, who finished with a time of 43.36.

On the men's side, the winner of Tuesday's super-combined was the USA's Wyatt Queirolo, who finished with a time of 1:14.24.

Second place went to Lambert Quezel of Mont-Saint-Sauveur, Que., finishing with a time of 1:14.43.

"I wanted to get revenge for yesterday's super-G race since I fell and didn't finish well," said Quezel. "Super-combined is my strongest event so I really wanted to do well."

Quezel, who was first after the super-G event by 0.01 seconds, finished second in the slalom race.

"Since the beginning of the year, I've been struggling with my second runs because of the stress," added Quezel. "Since I was first after the super-G I was pretty nervous before the slalom, especially since it's a pretty big event here for us. I did really well and I'm really happy about this result.

"We are going in to technical events, and those are my strongest events so I'm looking forward to them and I hope I can be on the podium for those events as well."

Third place went to Mike Gillespie from Banff, Alta., who finished with a time of 1:15.29.

Wednesday's event will be the women’s giant slalom.

Remme wins super-combi Monday
Roni Remme was crowned President's Choice K2 Canadian champion in super-combined after winning Monday's race in a time of 1 minute, 15.25 seconds. 

Remme, from Collingwood and the National Ski Academy, narrowly beat out Ontario teammate Liz Currie, who took the silver medal on her home-club hill. Currie was only one-tenth of a second back in the super-G and finished with a combined time of 1:16.64; in third spot was Valerie Grenier, from Quebec, in 1:17.45. 

Both Remme and Currie received loud cheers from the Ontario crowd at the finish and congratulated each other.

"It is great how Lizzie and I are battling it out this year and that we can both stand on the podium today," said Remme, the second-year K2 racer. "The course was great, the skiing is actually much better than you would think in this warm weather. The course workers did a great job keeping the snow hard. The SG was super bumpy but no huge ruts and the slalom was a super-fast set, we really had to charge to win."

Remme admitted to running on pure adrenaline in Monday's race. She was the lone K2 Canadian to attend this past weekend's Children's FIS race — Topolino — in Italy. She flew home just yesterday from a week in Europe. 

"I'm not that tired considering, but lately it is just skiing non-stop, you have to push it, everything counts so I just keep on going," she said.

For Currie, the silver medal follows her recent K2 Provincial title for Ontario. "I feel pretty good, maybe I could have charged a bit more but I'm thrilled - slalom is not my specialty so this is a great result for me," she said.

In the men's race, USA skier Wyatt Queirolo, from Killington, Vermont, took the super-G in a time of 44.90. Following Queriolo in second spot was Alberta's Mike Gillespie, in 45.29, and Walton William, of B.C., in 45.36. 

Wyatt is one of 14 racers in Collingwood from the United States this week. It is his first time racing in Canada.

"My race was good, I was lucky enough to have a rerun so I got to fix a few of my earlier mistakes in the top half of the course," said Quierolo. "The set was fairly simple except for a very tricky gate at the end. I knew I had to tighten my line, fix my balance and move forward — lucky for me it worked out OK."

Queirolo is just coming off the Vermont State Championships win for the J3 category and is aiming to hit the podium again this week. 

COLLINGWOOD, ONT - MARCH 22, 2011 - SG - WOMEN

1   8     STEEVES Kelly                           WHIST     0:43.18
2   24    REMME Roni                              NATAC     0:43.19
3   6      CURRIE Lizzie                            OSLER     0:43.36
4   2      MERRYWEATHER Alice                 USA         0:43.61
5   10     MCNEILL Emily                          LKLSE      0:43.94
6   29     BOULANGER Elyse                      ESS         0:44.38
7   28     FORTIER Maggie                       TREMB     0:44.62
8   4       MELINCHUK Hannah                  RABBT     0:44.67
9   9       MCKERCHER Haley                     SUNSH    0:44.73
10 13     PARENTEAU-THIBAULT Marjorie   ESS        0:44.75

COLLINGWOOD, ONT - MARCH 22, 2011 - SC - MEN

1    8        QUEIROLO Wyatt                          USA       0:42.17 0:32.07 1:14.24
2    3        QUEZEL Lambert                            STSAV    0:42.16 0:32.27 1:14.43
3    7       GILLESPIE Mike                             BANFF    0:42.99 0:32.30 1:15.29
4    12     HALLIWELL Brennen                      RABBT    0:43.64 0:31.69 1:15.33
5    4       KOFMAN Gregory                          CRAIG     0:43.52 0:31.82 1:15.34
6    66     STAMLER Max                               USA        0:43.76 0:31.92 1:15.68
7    6       DOAN Chris                                     LSDA      0:44.26 0:31.46 1:15.72
8    35     HICKS Lachlan                                REVEL     0:44.09 0:31.64 1:15.73
9    19     ROBERTS Aj                                   BANFF     0:43.81 0:31.94 1:15.75
10   9      MACKAY Brian                               CRAIG     0:43.18 0:32.63 1:15.81