Olympic alpine skiing team adds nine more athletes
With the qualification window now closed, Canada has nine more alpine skiers who have earned tickets to Sochi, joining the six who were already nominated earlier this month.
Leading the way is Mike Janyk, the 2009 World bronze medallist in slalom, who will be competing at his third straight Games. Returning to the Olympic team after debuting at Vancouver 2010 will be Brad Spence, Erin Mielzynski and Marie-Pier Préfontaine.
Erin Mielzynski training at Sunshine Village
The squad is completed by Olympic rookies Phil Brown, Trevor Philp, Morgan Pridy, Ben Thomsen and Elli Terwiel.
It took clutch performances by some this past weekend in Kitzbühel to win the battle for spots. Thomsen, who won a World Cup medal on the Sochi downhill course in February 2012, finished 12th in the legendary Hahnenkamm downhill on Saturday while Pridy finished a career-best 21st in the super-G on Sunday.
The Canadian Olympic alpine team already included Erik Guay, Jan Hudec, Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Marie-Michèle Gagnon, Brittany Phelan and Larisa Yurkiw.
With 15 alpine skiers in Sochi, Canada will have the sixth largest team behind Austria (22), Switzerland (21), the United States (20), France (19) and Italy (19).
