Lori-Ann Muenzer (CP)

Early exit for Canada's Muenzer at cycling worlds.
(CBC Sports)

Lori-Ann Muenzer's racing season ended a little earlier than she expected. Muenzer, the Olympic champion, was eliminated in the quarter-finals in the women's sprint at the track cycling world championships on Friday.

Ironically, Muenzer was defeated by her opponent from her gold-medal race in Athens – Russian Tamilia Abassova. But in contrast to the Olympic final, the rules were a little different at the worlds.

In Athens, Muenzer won a best-of-three race, taking the gold in the deciding ride. The International Cycling Union introduced new rules at these world championships, making the quarter-final a winner-take-all single race.

Muenzer, who qualified fifth in the time trial with a time of 11.543 seconds, won her first-round heat against Simona Krupeckaite before getting eliminated by Abassova. "In the first race, against the Lithuanian [Krupeckaite], I was spot on," said Muenzer. "But I played into Tamilia's hands in the next race, by taking the lead too early. I needed to be more patient. Then, when she dove to the bottom of the track [to take the lead back], I didn't shut the door on her."

Muenzer wasn't the only rider to exit the sprint early. Points Race world champion Natalia Tsylinskaya of Belarus was relegated in her heat for leaving her lane. "That's bike racing," she said. "I haven't had a break since the Olympics last August, with appearances, the World Cup and preparing for the Worlds, but now I guess I'm on holidays."

with files from Canadian Press

Alex Despatie(CP)

Courageous win for Alexandre Despatie at diving winter nationals.
(Canadian Sport News)

QUEBEC CITY- World champion and Olympic silver medallist Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., showed great courage on Sunday in a dramatic win on men’s 10-metre tower to complete a golden sweep at the Winter Nationals diving competition.

Despatie took the gold earning 626.85 points. Kevin Geyson of Winnipeg was second at 605.70 and Wegadesk Gorup-Paul of Victoria third at 556.62. On his fifth dive in the final, Despatie attempted a reverse three and a half. His feet hit the platform and the 19-year-old landed hard in the water in belly flop-style. He was not seriously injured. ‘’I was way to close to the board on take off and I completely lost my orientation in the air,’’ said Despatie, who had never hit a board or platform in competition. ‘’I wasn’t too sure where I was when I landed in the water and whether I had been injured. It took a few minutes to get myself back together, but after icing down I wanted to finish the competition.’’

Despatie suffered bruises on one leg from crashing in the water and hurt his jaw, however he did not re-injure his back which had kept him off the boards for a month this winter.

Demonstrating tremendous courage, he came back to execute his sixth and final dive and landed a near perfect back two and half scoring a string of 9.0 and 9.5’s out of a possible 10 from the judges. ‘’For me it was very important to complete the competition and not end what was a very good weekend for me overall, on a bad note,’’ said Despatie, now with 27 career national titles including wins this weekend on one and three metres as well. ‘’As for that failed dive I plan to get back right to work on it and correct what went wrong.’’

On women’s three-metre, Martha Dale of Victoria earned her first senior national title in the event scoring 526.02 points. Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal was second at 509.43 and Mandy Moran of Calgary third at 489.81. ‘’I didn’t miss anything which is rare for me of late,’’ said Dale. ‘’Consistency in my performances is what I’m striving for right now.’’
Benfeito, 16, improved on her personal best by more than 20 points. ‘’I’m very satisfied,’’ she said. ‘’I was most concerned about a new dive I had on my list but I landed everything cleanly.’

In the synchronized three-metre springboard events, Philippe Comtois of Laval and Arturo Miranda of Pointe-Claire, Que., won the men’s competition while Stephanie Delima and Frederique Hebert of Montreal took the women’s title.

Kyle Nissen (CP)

Veronica Bauer, Kyle Nissen and Alexandre Bilodeau win national freestyle titles.

March 27, 2005 - SAINTE-ADÈLE, Que. -- Alexandre Bilodeau, 17, of Rosemère, Que., was not only the teenage sensation, but the sensation, of the Bell National Freestyle Ski Championships Sunday.

Bilodeau, who had never won a national senior championship medal until this week, captured the national dual-moguls title by beating Chris Wong of Prince George, B.C., in the gold-medal contest. Friday Bilodeau captured gold in the individual moguls. "I wasn't expecting that," said Bilodeau of his two-medal performance atMont Gabriel Ski Resort. "I was expecting at least one podium, but not two medals."

Dual-moguls world champion Jennifer Heil of Spruce Grove, Alta., could have challenged for a second medal at these championships. But she sat out the event following her Friday victory in individual moguls. With Heil on the sidelines cheering on her team-mates, Elisa Kurylowicz of Manotick, Ont., defeated another world championship team-mate, Sylvia Kerfoot of Vancouver, to win women's dual moguls.

Kurylowicz had one silver and one bronze medal in previous nationals, but no national medal in dual moguls despite a World Cup dual victory at Fernie, B.C., last season. "Duals is my thing. When I'm on the ball, I can really rev it up and continue to rev it up," said Kurylowicz, who was ninth in dual moguls at last week's world championships. "I'm really tired after coming back from the worlds. I was mentally fried, but this goes to show I can do it when I put my mind to it."

In men's aerials, the winner was Kyle Nissen of Calgary with a career-high score that would have landed him a silver medal at last week's World championships in Finland. Nissen finished fifth at the Worlds after turning his World Cup season into over-drive with two medals in three late-season starts, following late-January knee surgery. "It's a shame I didn't get that score last week," said Nissen of his winning score of 257.87. "To be honest, the Nationals are kind of a fun event. But I didn't have a national title and I definitely wanted one," added Nissen, 25. "I put down two of the nicest jumps I've done and won, and I'm really pumped to get training on water," he said of preparations for the 2006 Olympics.

2005 world champion Steve Omischl of North Bay, Ont., became the first jumper in the world Saturday to try two new jumps, including a quad-twisting triple somersault with two twists on the last flip. Omischl was second after the first round, but a shakier-than-desired landing for that jump left him fourth. "I'm fourth at the National Championships, but we have a strong team and the performances today speak volumes," he said.

Calgary 's Warren Shouldice, who was ninth at last week's World Championships, emerged second for the second straight season. His score was 227.86. Ottawa 's Jeff Bean, who was second at the Worlds, placed third in 222.02. "I wasn't feeling very good this week, but I started feeling more and more confident as the day went on," said Shouldice. "It's been three months since we started the World Cup season and it's nice to end on a strong note."

Veronika Bauer of Toronto has a perfect record in jumping at the Mont-Gabriel site during Nationals. In four visits, she has won each time, including Saturday. But Bauer, 24, admitted the victory wasn't pretty. "It feels great," said the world's seventh-ranked female aerialist of her low winning score of 149.45. "At the same time it feels really bad when I had a poor performance and still won."

One of the day's happiest medallists was second-place Elise Pallard of Edmonton in women's aerials. After placing third last year, she won silver today with a career-high score of 148.30 as third place went to World Cup team member Melissa Prefontaine of Grande Prairie, Alta. "I had the best day I've had all year," said Pallard, who turned 18 last week. "I landed both jumps, and even though I didn't land the second one clearly, I still landed it. "It feels amazing to be up here on the podium with Little Vee (Veronika) and Melissa."

World's sixth-ranked Deidra Dionne of Red Deer, Alta., did not compete after hurting her hand in training just before the event.

Perianne Jones(CP)

Canadian men ski to 17th in Cross Country Relay at Junior Worlds.
(CODA Release)

Rovaniemi, FIN-Canada's cross-country men's relay team struggled to keep up with the world's best, finishing in 17th place at the Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Rovaniemi, Finland on Friday.

The Canadian quartet, led by Calgary's Brent McMurtry finished the 4 x 10 kilometre relay race nine minutes back of the leading country for a combined time of one hour 45 minutes 40.3 seconds. "It was a tough field and a tight race, but everyone skied quite hard and did their best," said 18-year-old McMurtry, who led the Canadian charge out of the mass start and into the first 10 kilometres of the technically challenging course.

Joining McMurtry was 16-year-old Alex Harvey of St. Fereol des Neiges, Que., the son of legendary Canadian cross-country skier Pierre Harvey, who skied the second leg of the relay race in his rookie stint at the junior world championships. Following Harvey was Chris Butler, of Thunder Bay, Ont., and Chris Werrell of Burns Lake, B.C., who have both been making significant strides throughout each race on the weeklong campaign.

Perianne Jones posted one of the strongest distance race results in nearly a decade for a Canadian junior cross-country skier over the weekend. The 19-year-old Jones finished 14th in the women's five-kilometre free technique event with a time of 15 minutes 26.1 seconds. It marks the best performance by a junior Canuck in a distance race at the world championships since Amanada Fortier was eighth in 1996.

Jones, of Almonte, Ont., who is making her third trip to the international junior spectacle, maintained pace with the pack under cloudy skies and wet snow conditions off the start, but kicked it into high gear and made up eight spots in the final half of the race before crossing the finish line. "This definitely surpasses any expectations I had heading into the week," said a jubilant Jones, who also finished 15th in the women's sprint earlier this week. "I thought I'd do well in the sprints, but I think this proves to myself that I am developing into a strong all-round skier. It was a great race and I'm very happy with my results this week overall."

Amanda Ammar of Onoway, Alta. was the only other Canadian woman to suit up on Friday and finished a disappointing 44th in the field of 71 junior women. The Russians dominated the women's event.

"Overall we had five top-30 results from our team this week, so I'm pretty pleased with how things went as a whole," said Alain Parent, Canadian junior team coach. "What we accomplished here this week will definitely have a tremendous impact on future junior world championships."

Stefan Read and Team

Canada's Stefan Read soars to top 15 at Ski Jumping junior worlds.
(CODA Release)

Rovaniemi, FIN-Canada's Stefan Read capped off his season with bang, soaring to a career-best 15th-place finish in the ski jumping event at the 2005 FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Rovaniemi, Finland on Friday night.

The 17-year-old Calgary native, and nephew of Crazy Canuck Ken Read, flew off the K90 tower for a two-jump total of 217 points, to secure Canada's best result at the junior world championships in over 15 years. "I am beyond excited about my result here today," said Read, who has seen multiple top-30 results on the Continental Cup circuit throughout the season. "I know I can jump up with these guys and this proves it. It's definitely a step forward and I am just so incredibly happy."

Read, along with the rest of the Canadian contingency, jumped into seventh in the team event at the junior world championships earlier this week. "I think we showed the world our potential as high-class athletes," said Read, of Canada's success. "This is only the beginning. I think we are all going to take what we've learned here and apply it to both our training and future competitions."

Finland's Joonas Ikonen excited the hometown crowd, jumping his way to the gold medal. Joining Ikonen on the podium was Austria's Arthur Pauli, who slipped into second place, while Junj Tepes of Slovenia rounded out third. There were 66 of the world's best ski jumpers under the age of 18 in Friday's competition.

Calgary's Gregory Baxter was the next best skier to fly with the maple leaf in the individual event. The 16-year-old ended the day in 31st place at 97.5, just one point shy of advancing to the next round. Two other Canadians, both from Calgary, rounded out the Canadian assault. Graeme Gorham, 17, finished the day in 33rd spot with a total of 95.0 points, while Dominik Bafia, 17, jumped into 51st place at 77.0 points.

"I think this shows that we are in there competing with the top ski jumping nations," said Ron Read, technical director, Ski Jumping Canada. "This proves that what we did seven years ago, in trying to foster athletes from the grassroots up, is really paying off."

To date, two Canadian athletes have met the Canadian Olympic standard in order to be eligible to be named to the 2006 Olympic team. "Our results today, and throughout the season, show us that we've got some talent and with continued development we will have athletes ready for the Olympic Games at home in 2010," said Read.

Thomas Grandi (CP)

Canadian skiers win their way to new cars, GMC sponsors world cup performance.
(Alpine Canada Alpin)

On March 19, in the midst of the 2005 Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships, four members of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team drove away with new Pontiac GMC vehicles. As an incentive to Canada’s elite alpine racers, General Motors of Canada provides the keys to a new Pontiac or GMC vehicle for one year to any skier who wins a World Cup gold medal or finishes the season ranked among the top ten in any discipline.

Thomas Grandi, from Canmore (AB), who captured World Cup gold and ignited national pride by making history as the first Canadian man to win a Giant Slalom in Alta Badia, Italy and repeated the win three days later at Flachau, Austria, was presented with the keys to a new GMC Canyon.

Geneviève Simard, from Val Morin (QC), once again qualified to drive away in a GMC Yukon Denali with her fifth place finish in the overall World Cup standings in giant slalom.

Also finishing in th e top ten in the 2004-2005 World Cup rankings in the women’s combined are Emily Brydon of Fernie, (Overall World Cup ranking - 3rd in the combined) and Brigitte Acton, from Mont-Tremblant, (Overall World Cup ranking - 10th in the combined). The two athletes have yet to choose their car models.

Calgary Wrestlers bring home international medals in last month of season.

It has been a busy last month for a number of the Wrestlers based out of the Calgary National Training Centre.

Helen Hennick the Senior National Champion in 2004 at 63kg had three medals in international competition. A gold, a silver, and a bronze in events in Colorado Springs, Sweden and Italy. Hennick’s gold medal came at the Klippan Cup in Sweden against a stellar field of athletes. Her victory over the Belarus athlete in the final whom place 6th shows the steady improvement Hennick is making.

Also experiencing great success was Brittanee Laverdure at 55 Kg’s. Laverdure won a silver medal at the Dave Schultz Memorial tournament in Colorado Springs where she lost a close decision to Tina George of the USA a 2x World Silver medalist. Laverdure lost the opening round to the favoured George but then rebounded with a dominant 5-1 win in the second round of the match. The third and deciding round was won by the more experienced George but clearly stated that Laverdure is ready to step up and be a force on the international stage.

Laverdure then won the CIS University National Championships without allowing a point to be scored against her. Following the Tournament she jumped on a plane for Italy where she secured another medal this time bronze. Her only loss in the tournament was to fellow Canadian Tonya Verbeek whom people will remember was the Silver medal winner at this summers Olympic Games.

Breanne Graham also struck gold this past month in the 59kg weight category. After rebounding from coming 5th in Sweden, she traveled to Naples Italy where she won a gold medal at the Trophee Milone International. Two of Graham’s wins included defeating top ranked American Brandy Rosenbrock and former World Silver Medalist Dialetta Giampicola of Italy enroute to the Gold medal.

Rounding out the medal haul for Calgary athletes was Erica Sharp at 51kg. Sharp has moved back down to 51Kg after moving up to 55 Kg last year in an attempt to make Canada’s Olympic Team. If her results this season are any indication she will be a potential medal threat this fall at the Senior World Championships. Sharp a former World Finalist placed second at the Dave Schultz International in Colorado Springs. She then won a gold medal in Naples where she defeated US national Champion in the finals and Canadian Rival (and Olympian) Lyndsay Belisle in the semi finals of the event. Sharp is looking to put the disappointment of missing the Athens Olympic team behind her and show that she belongs back on the podium at the World Championships this September in Budapest Hungary.

Kathy Kreiner

Looking back... Kathy Kreiner’s Dream Come True.
(First published in Fast Forward, the newsletter of Athletes CAN)

Not many people get the chance to live a dream. Kathy Kreiner counts herself as one of the lucky few.

Growing up in Timmins, Ont., Kreiner vividly recalls listening to stories about the 1968 Winter Olympics told by her father, the Canadian ski team doctor at the Games in Grenoble, and an eye witness to one of the greatest moments in Canadian sport history.

Tales of Nancy Greene’s stunning victory in the women’s giant slalom accompanied by her father’s grainy home movies left an indelible impression on the young ski racer. "I remember sitting there as a 10 year old thinking ’wouldn’t that be great to do one day -- to stand up on the Olympic podium and receive a gold medal around my neck."

Eight years later at the 1976 Winter Olympics, Kreiner, by then 18 years old, flashed down the giant slalom course in Innsbruck, Austria to become the youngest skier in history, up to that point, to win an Olympic gold medal. "It seems like it happened yesterday," recalls Kreiner, now 47, and a busy mother of three children ranging in age from 10 to 13.

Every detail of the race -- before, during and after -- remains crystal clear nearly three decades later. "I was really relaxed, really confident," recalls Kreiner. "I remember looking around at the start thinking, ’these people don’t know this, but I’m going to win today.’"

German veteran Rosi Mittermaier was a heavy favourite after having already won gold in both the downhill and slalom, but Kathy, first out of the gate, clocked a time that proved to be unbeatable. Mittermaier finished 12-hundredths of a second behind the flaxen-hair teenager from northern Ontario and had to settle for the silver medal.

Looking back at what she call the "best run" she ever made, Kathy says it all came down to mental focus. A week before the Olympics she took a break from training and went to Germany to her visit her brother’s friend. Over coffee, they discussed how she was going to approach the race, in effect, going through a mental training exercise long before the practise became widespread in sport. "He asked me where I wanted to finish in the race and I said I liked the idea of being first. I had won a World Cup race two years before so it was realistic to think I could win."

They talked more about what she would think about in the start gate and when she was skiing down the course. She came up with two key thoughts to concentrate on: stay on the outside ski and keep looking straight ahead. "I thought if I’m on my outside ski and carving I’ll be fast and, if I’m looking straight ahead, I’ll be right on line. So I just kept repeating those two things and I never lost my focus all the way down."

It was to be the pinnacle of Kreiner’s career; although she remained one of the best all around skiers in the world until her retirement in 1981, she never reach the top of the podium again, either on the World Cup circuit or at subsequent world championships and Olympics.

Puzzled by her inability to win big again Kathy went on to examine the pyschological factors affecting champion athletes in her masters thesis in sports pyschology at the University of Ottawa in the mid-eighties. She co-authored Winning After Winning, The Psychology of Ongoing Excellence with well-known sports pyschologist Terry Orlick, which studied how winning athletes coped with their success.

"We discovered that athletes who had major success and were able to repeat it generally were older when success came and had achieved success gradually," she explains. "My experience was the opposite with success coming quickly and at a young age. Although I had my most consistent season in the year following the 76 Olympics, I never reached the top of the podium again."

Not surprisingly, Kreiner has found her niche working as a mental trainer for young athletes 11 and up in the Vancouver area where she lives with husband Dave Phillips, a former member of the Canadian freestyle ski team, and athletic offspring Nelson, 13, snowboarding and skateboarding, Liam, 11, hockey and ski racing and Michela, 10, gymnastics.

"Working at the local ski club has been a real eye opener," she says. "Kids at this level are learning so much more than just to ski better. They are learning all kinds of skills like setting goals everyday and they’re also doing a lot of cross training in other sports and general fitness."

At the other end of the spectrum, Kathy still follows closely the exploits of Canada’s alpine ski team and, like many observers, was thrilled at Thomas Grandi’s back-to-back giant slalom victories this season on the World Cup circuit. "It’s incredible, to do two in a row like that," says Kreiner, the last Canadian before Grandi to win a World Cup giant slalom 30 years ago at a race in Pfronten, Germany.

When she was on the national team most of the resources went into the downhill, a frustrating experience for an all around skier like Kreiner. Still, she managed to rack up over 50 top-ten World Cup finishes across all disciplines in a 10-year career, including a gold, three silver and three bronze medals.

She may never have soared again as high as she did at the 76 Olympics but Kathy Kreiner makes clear she has no regrets. "It really was a dream come true."

Swim coach takes over troubled team: Strong club system can drive revival, Lafontaine says.
(National Post)

Swimming Canada's new chief executive officer knows all about the pressure helping his students succeed.

Pierre Lafontaine, a Montreal native, learned all about it while teaching his wife Alisa how to keep her head above water. "I had to teach her how to swim so that when she took the kids to the pool she wouldn't drown," laughed the 48-year-old father of four over the phone from Canberra, Australia, where for the last three years he has been head coach at the Australian Institute of Sport.

During his tenure there, he guided four Australians to podium results at the 2004 Athens Olympics. While coaching in Phoenix, Ariz., he saw eight of his charges win medals at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Coming home has not been an easy decision for Lafontaine. He decided on the weekend to accept Swimming Canada's overtures after being courted since around Christmas. "It's hard because it's a great setup that I have here," said Lafontaine. "We've worked hard at making this team grow like it is now. It's probably one of the best teams in the world. "But you can't live on what you're going to miss, you've got to be excited about what you're going to have, so I think it's going to be an exciting opportunity for both my family and I to come back home and see what I can do to help the coaches help the swimmers."

Lafontaine inherits a program that, after years of declining performance, hit bottom in Athens when the team failed to win a single medal. That led to criticism from the media, and from some of the athletes as well. Soon after the Olympics, Dave Johnson, Canada's national team coach of 12 years, was fired.

Lafontaine's plan is to get everyone from the media to the federal government working in the same direction. "We need support from the city councils to make life easier for home coaches in the city pools," he said. "I think we need support from the school districts, from the university presidents. I think it's one big team that needs to get together from the summer clubs in British Columbia and Toronto and Montreal all the way to the corporate people that want to attach their name to great performances."

Alex Baumann, Canada's double gold medallist in swimming at the 1984 Games, said it was time for a change. "I think certainly accountability has been lacking in Canadian swimming for a long time," said Baumann from the offices of the Queensland Academy of Sport, a government-funded elite sports school near Brisbane that he runs.

Now an Australian citizen, he was approached by Swimming Canada but had no interest in the job. "The strength of the Canadian system is the club system, but there needs to be an integrated approach and a co-ordinated approach and I think that will be Pierre's big challenge," said Baumann. "It's a loss for Australia because I think he has done a very good job at the Australian Institute of Sports. "Pierre's got very good technical expertise, but I think his strengths are in facilitation and motivating others to rise to a higher level."

As for whether Lafontaine can help Canada return to its former glory in the pool, he said success, is a matter of building on what is already in place. "We don't need to change the wheel. I mean it's just a little flat tire, so we just got to fix the flat tire and get on with it."