Golden Weekend
Things started Thursday evening (February 5th) in Whistler on the fastest sliding track in the World. Jeff Pain showed he is doing all the right things to get in top form taking the Bronze in skeleton. Jeff won the first run only to be bested on run two by team-mate Jon Montgomery who took the Gold. Jeff is currently ranked 4th overall with two races to go.
Helen Upperton and Jenny Ciochetti slid the Canada 1 bobsleigh to a 4th place finish in a race where Helen was significantly hampered by a detached rib suffered in late January. Imagine it being hard to breathe deeply. Now imagine going down a track that gives you more G’s than you can find on a scrabble board. Helen will sit out this week’s final World Cup event in Park City to try and reduce pain levels for World Championships the following week in Lake Placid. Heather Moyse delivered a silver medal with pilot Kaillie Humphries in Canada 2.
Back in Vancouver, Joannie Rochette made the most of her Olympic test event taking Silver in front of the “Japanese Army”. Only one more step to the top of the podium with the Gold having gone to Korea.
Just up from the Lions Gate bridge at Cypress Mountain history was being written. In the new Olympic sport of Ski-Cross Canadian men swept the podium with Davey Barr taking the Bronze. As if this was not enough…the ladies took the first two spots on the podium with Aleisha Cline delivering Gold. B2ten began supporting this super mom (a nine month old and two and a half year old at home) in December allowing her to pursue a return to the sport she previously dominated.
As the lights came on Friday night at Cypress, Steve Omischl went to work in aerials. Being the World Cup leader Steve showed he can handle the pressure executing a near perfect second jump (3 flips, 4 twists) to win Gold in front the Canadian fans!
Saturday evening saw another first in Mogul skiing. Canada took both Gold medals on the Olympic course in front of an electric crowd! Jenn Heil and Alex Bilodeau stared down the pressure as favourites to win convincingly. “Big Al” is learning from his “sister” what it means not to let anything distract him from the task at hand.
While Vancouver was getting ready for the Olympics, Denny Morrison and Christine Nesbitt were in Norway for the All-Round World Championship. They both took Gold in the 500m while Ms. Nesbitt delivered silver in the 1500m just behind her Canadian team-mate Kristina Groves.
In Bulgaria, François-Louis Tremblay won Gold in the 500m distance at the Short Track speed skating World Cup in Sofia. Canada finished the weekend with 7 Medals.
People at all levels of amateur sport are working hard to help the athletes perform to their best. When everybody works together, wonderful things can be accomplished.
