Four Revelstoke athletes recently competed in their national championships – alpine ski racers Mitch Smith, Emily Unterberger, Lachlan Hicks and Alix Petit all raced against the best skiers in the country. Unterberger, Smith and Hicks returned this weekend from the K2 Nationals in Collingwood, Ontario. Petit is just finishing up her eight-day series at the Canadian Championships in Nakiska, Alberta, where she competed against the country’s best – World Cup and Olympic skiers.
“It’s amazing to see my name on the time board beside Olympic athletes,” said Petit. “Seeing people that I usually see skiing on TV racing the same course as me is really cool.” At press time Petit had accomplished strong results so far – 31st, 37th and 38th in speed events – with her best events yet to come.
Her younger teammates also had great results at their national championships. Hicks was the top B.C. boy in two races: the giant slalom, in which he placed 13th, and the super combined, where he finished eighth but was sixth Canadian behind two Americans. Held at Osler Bluff Ski Club, the super combined starts with a Super G run whose time is combined with a slalom run. 22nd after the super G, Hicks skied an outstanding slalom run with the second fastest time to make him sixth Canadian overall.
“It was great being back in Collingwood this year and I had a lot of fun,” Hicks said. “I was fairly happy with my skiing, but disappointed that I fell in the slalom which I was hoping to do well in. It was a great opportunity and I was honoured to be representing Revelstoke and B.C.”
Mitch Smith had solid results throughout the series, including a 34th in giant slalom. His best result came in the final day’s slalom, in which he was 19th overall and fourth from B.C.
Emily Unterberger was consistently fourth and fifth of the B.C. girls, accomplishing a 29th in the super combined, 33rd in the giant slalom at Georgian Peaks and 39th in the slalom at Craigleith Ski Club. “The event was really fun,” said Unterberger. “I didn’t ski that well – I think I maybe worked myself up a little too much; I didn’t relax. The conditions were different – the snow was a lot harder than I’m used to. It was really icy.”
Sonia Schwenck raced at the K2 Western Canadian Championships at Marmot Basin in Jasper. Sonia had consistently strong results in a competitive field of athletes from all over Western Canada, including a 35th in giant slalom and 29th in the final day of slalom racing.
After all these great results the Revelstoke Ski Club has seven athletes who have qualified for Whistler Cup, an international children’s race held in Whistler next weekend. After a win at K1 provincials, Callum Hicks will be representing his country as part of team Canada. His brother Lachlan will race for Team B.C. Emily Unterberger, Mitch Smith and Max Scharf have qualifed as K2s and Sara-Jo Howatt and Bryce Molder have been invited as K1s.
This weekend the entire race team will be competing – the Kinders and E2s at Big White for the Okanagan zone finals, the FIS women at Panorama and the FIS men at Nakiska and Norquay. Good luck to all athletes for the last races of the season!
