Canadians win six medals at paralympic ski worlds.
(CBC SPORTS ONLINE)

Canada's Chris Williamson captured three bronze medals at the paralympic alpine skiing world championships in Wildschonau, Austria.

Williamson, a Calgary native, and his guide Curtis Christian took third
place in the men's visually impaired giant slalom, Super-G and downhill this
week. Unfortunately for Williamson, the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic champion in the visually impaired slalom, Christian suffered a knee injury and could not race in Thursday's slalom event.

According to Alpine Canada, Williamson was to ski with another guide, but
they were disqualified from the race, ending Williamson's hopes of winning a medal in all four skiing disciplines.

Lauren Woolstencroft of Victoria was also a big winner at the world
championships, capturing gold in the women's Super-G. Woolstencroft, the defending Olympic champion in the standing slalom, also finished fourth in the giant slalom and sixth in the downhill.

The last event of the international competition, the women's slalom, gets
underway on Friday. In other Canadian results, Scott Patterson of Vancouver won the silver medal in the men's Super-G and Kimberly Joines of Edmonton took the bronze in the women's Super-G.

The Canadian squad, which has been training in Europe since early January, has won six medals so far at the world championships. The team's next competition is a World Cup on home soil, Feb. 24-28 in
Kimberley, B.C.

Beckie Scott's Olympic Gold medal continues to inspire next generation of cross- country skiiers.
(CODA Release)

Stryn, NOR-Two years may have passed since Canada's Beckie Scott captured the nation's first Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing, but her feat still has an impact on hundreds of young skiers.

Three of Canada's future Olympians - Perianne Jones, Casey Dyck and Christopher Werrell - all who look up to Scott for inspiration, took a significant step forward in their pursuit of excellence in the sport, finishing in the top-15 in a one-kilometre sprint event at the Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Stryn, Norway on Saturday. Jones was 13th in women's action, while Dyck was 14th and Werrell was 15th in the men's competition.
"Our junior program has moved forward since Beckie won her medal in 2002," said Alain Parent, head coach, Canadian Junior Cross-Country Ski Team. "Canadian athletes now believe they can get on the podium and compete with the best in the world."

Jones, of Almonte, Ont., headed into the World Championship events with a goal of placing in the top-30. The 18-year-old leader of the junior squad, who is making her second appearance at the World Championships, crushed her goal and finished 13th against 71 of the world's best junior female cross-country skiers.

"This result exceeds any expectations I had heading into the week," said Jones, who qualified for the top-16 in the head-to-head sprint finals in 11th spot. "I had a tough start to the week and I woke up today very excited to race. I calmed my nerves and told myself to go out there and have fun."
Jones was the lone Canadian woman to qualify for the round of 16, which pits four athletes racing head-to-head in each heat, with the top-two crossing the line advancing towards the final.

In men's competition, Calgary's Casey Dyck and Christopher Werrell, of Kelowna, B.C., the only two Canadians to qualify for the round of 16, appeared to be skiing fast enough to contend for the podium after finishing sixth and ninth respectively in the qualification round. Both athletes crashed in a rough quarterfinal heat, but settled for a solid result.

Other Canadian results included: Amanda Ammar, of St. Albert, Alta., (45); Claire Rennie, of Ottawa, (52); and Crystin Jacques, of Edmonton, (55). In the men's event, David Nighbor, of North Bay, Ont., (23); and Calgary's Brent McMurtry was 37th.

While the Canadian juniors grabbed inspiration from Beckie Scott, the leader of the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team was making tracks of her own in World Cup action on Saturday in La Clusaz, France, competing in a 4 x 10-kilometre relay. While Canada has only two women on the World Cup circuit, Scott and Sara Renner, the two teamed up with a pair of Norwegian athletes to post an unofficial eighth-place result in the relay.

Canada suited up a team of four in the men's competition as Adam Kates, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Gordon Jewett, of Toronto, who are in Europe preparing for an Opa Continental Cup event, joined up with Canada's young World Cup men's duo of Chris Jeffries, of Chelsea, Que., and George Grey, of Rossland, B.C. The Canadian foursome were in tough on Saturday against the world's elite and finished 14th.

"This course out here is ridiculously tough and were happy to ski as well as we did today," said Jeffries. "It is much different out here on the World Cup from competing at home, because a poor race translates into a bad result. At the NorAm level in Canada, you can still post a good result even if you make some mistakes."

Complete results: Nordic Junior World Ski Championships

Canada wins two relay medals at short track speed skating World Cup.
(Canadian Sport News)

MLADA BOLESLAV, Czech Republic- A trio of rookies helped Canada win silver and bronze medals in the men’s and women’s relay respectively on Sunday to conclude the fifth stop on the short track speed skating World Cup circuit.

In the men’s 5,000-metre relay final, China took the gold medal while Canada followed with Italy in third. Skating for Canada was Jean-François Monette of Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que., Éric Bédard of Ste-Thécle, Que., Charles Hamelin of Ste-Julie, Que., and Steve Robillard of Montreal.

Hamelin and Robillard, both 19, are national team rookies who made the world team with big performances at the Canadian championships last month. Robillard won the national overall crown.

‘’It was their first relay in the big leagues and I was very impressed,’’ said Canadian national team coach Guy Thibault of Le Gardeur, Que. ‘’There’s some fine tuning to be done but even in the individual races they showed they belonged.’’

In the women’s 3,000 relay final, China won again, Italy was second and Canada was third. The Canadian skaters were Amélie Goulet-Nadon of Laval, Que., Alanna Kraus of Abbotsford, B.C., Amanda Overland of Kitchener, Ont., and another rookie Anouk Leblanc-Boucher of Montreal. Leblanc-Boucher won the world junior title in the 500 last month.

‘’There’s a lot of progress being made in the women’s relay and our goal is to have them at the top at the Olympics,’’ said Thibault. ‘’Anouk did well in her first relay with the team and Amanda is another youngster on the rise who made some very nice passes.’’

In the individual races, Monette, the 500-metre winner on Saturday, was fourth in the 1,000 and fifth in the 3,000. Hamelin and Robillard were eliminated in the 1,000 semifinal and placed fifth and eighth respectively.

On the women’s side, Kraus, third in the 500 Saturday, was sixth in the 3,000 and eliminated in the 1,000 semifinal for seventh. Goulet-Nadon was ousted in the 1,000 quarter final for 15th and Overland bowed out in the heats for 19th.

The Koreans continued to dominate with world champions Hyun-Soo Ahn placing first overall in men’s competition and Eun-Kyung Choi tops for the women. Monette was fourth overall and Kraus eighth.

The World Cup season ends next weekend at Bormio, Italy.

Canadian teen Gregory Baxter repeats performance at nordic World Jr. Championships.
(CODA Release)

Stryn, NOR-Canada's Gregory Baxter was the second youngest in a field of 63 of the top junior ski jumping athletes who descended in Stryn, Norway for the Nordic World Junior Ski Championships on Saturday. But age didn't faze the 14-year-old Calgarian, who finished 21st on the K90 tower for the second consecutive year.

"I am pretty happy with my result today, but I know if I jumped 100 per cent, it could have been a lot better," said the confident teen, who is competing in his fourth World Junior Championship despite his young age. "If I would have put it all together, I could have been in the top-6, but I have to get better technically, gain more power on my take offs and get more experience."

Baxter is one of four Calgary teens that will make history next week while representing Canada on the World Cup circuit for the first time in a decade. Stefan Read, 16, was the next best Canadian in 40th spot, while Dominik Bafia, 15, was 47th and Andy Osadetz, 16, was 54th. Each competitor was given two jumps in the competition. Jumps are graded according to style and distance.

The Canadian team will now move from competing against the athletes their own age to gaining the experience of competing against the world's best in the sports at a World Cup stop in Germany.

"This foursome is the nucleus of a talented pool of young athletes in the country who one day, we hope, will return the Canadian ski jumping program back to the world-leading level it once was, and capture our first Olympic medal in the sport," said Ron Read, past-chair, Ski Jumping Canada. "These athletes have steadfastly held true to their initial vision of competing in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and this marks the first major step towards their journey."

Complete ski jumping results at Nordic World Junior Ski Championship.

Canadian men and women hold top spot in skeleton world cup rankings.
(Skeleton Canada Release)

The first ever World Cup race in Women's skeleton in Sigulda, Latvia today saw the German team claim all three podium positions with Kerstin Juergens leading the charge to post her first ever World Cup victory. Lindsay Alcock was the lone Canadian in the top 6, finishing a respectable 4th place to maintain her lead in the overall world cup title race.

"I am thrilled to have tackled the challenge of learning and competing on this track,” said Alcock who set a new push record on her first run and then bettered it on her second. “We worked together this week and from our race results we were able to maintain our team ranking of number one which sets us up well for the World Cup final in Altenberg.”

Michelle Kelly of Fort St. John, BC, overcame a disappointing first run which left her in 12th place to finish 7th, overall, while Mellisa Hollingsworth of Eckville, AB finished just behind her in 8th place.

"This track is unpredictable. You can have a clean run and get a slower down time and on the other hand you can take a lot of hits on the way down and have a fast time. You never know what you are going to get," said Kelly who currently sits 2nd in the overall World Cup standings.

"I am pleased with my performance today,” commented Hollingsworth. “After witnessing several crashes in training earlier this week I didn't let fear hold me back. I decided to go for it today and take a risk and push for the fast lines in the corners."

Latvia took home it’s first World Cup medal on Saturday in the men's race as Tomass Dukurs put down two solid runs to take the gold medal by a .01 second margin over Germany’s Frank Kleber. Duff Gibson of Calgary, AB was the top Canadian finisher in 4th, just .13 seconds back of the winner. The men's team moved into first place overall in the World Cup standings with their results here today.

"I am not disappointed in my performance today but it is tough to know that I was only a couple hundredths of a second from a gold medal performance,” commented Gibson following the race. Gibson retained second place in the overall World Cup standings with his result and is in a good position heading into the World Cup finals at Altenberg, Germany on February 15th.

Jeff Pain, the 2003 World Champion who sat out the first two World Cups of the season due to injury, continued his climb up the overall standings with a 6th place finish here today. "There are some key corners on this track that can make or break you. I am looking forward to returning here to figure them out. I am pleased with my performance today, but not satisfied because I know there is more there."

Nathan Cicoria of Millarville, AB finished 18th today, followed by Paul Boehm of Calgary, AB in 19th. "It was great race one of the most exciting we had this season,” said Cicoria who is currently 21st in the overall standings. “I knew it was going to be a race of consistency based on how training went all week. I am pleased with my results today - I gained some ground on my second run. It was a great way to finish."

"This was a race that was wide open for anyone,” said Teresa Schlachter, High Performance Director for the skeleton team. “The young Latvian definitely had an advantage on his home track and he had been training well all week. This race was an exciting one to watch -- the top 7 places were so close. It is going to be interesting going to the World Cup final in Altenberg. This track was excellent preparation for the upcoming race.”

Results: Complete results can be found on the FIBT website.
Profiles: Canadian athlete bios and their print-quality photos are available on our website: www.bobsleigh.ca under “Our Team”.

Other Canadian amateur sport headlines this week:

New Zealand outlasts Canada, wins softball worlds.
CBC SPORTS ONLINE - Pitchers Gerald Muizelaar and Nick Underhill are
returning to Canada with silver medals and sore necks.
On the strength of three homers, host New Zealand won its third straight
world softball title on Sunday, outlasting Canada 9-5 in Christchurch.
The Canadian squad has now won nine medals in 10 trips to the world
tournament (three gold, five silver, one bronze).

"We had a great tournament and given that it is our off-season when some of these teams are in-season, our results were positive," Canadian head coach Mark Smith said. "We have a dynamic team filled with a great group of talented men who worked hard all week to get to the final game. "We wanted gold, but at least we are going home with a medal." The world championship is held every four years and because men's softball is not an Olympic event, it is considered the pinnacle of the sport.

Skater awaits new challenge.
(The Daily News (Halifax)) - A new challenge awaits Catriona LeMay Doan, and it has nothing to do with speed skating.

In three months, the two-time Olympic gold medallist from Saskatoon will
become a first-time mom, and go from putting on skates to putting on
diapers. "I think the hardest part of this thing is you don't have any control over it, and that's tough for someone like me, laughed the affable LeMay Doan, who's due to give birth to her first child May 20. But you know what?
Everything I do, I'm very goal-orientated and very driven, so I'm just
thinking this child will have to adapt."

Since retiring from speed skating last May - 15 months after her gold-medal
win at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City - the 33-year-old LeMay
Doan has been staying busy. She continues to be a motivational speaker, telling audiences about her method of achieving personnel excellence. And then, last summer, LeMay Doan added a career in sports broadcasting to her resume, as a feature reporter for CBC Sports. She is also the colour-commentator for the network's speed-skating broadcasts.

"It's a learning experience. It's pretty intimidating in some ways, LeMay
Doan said. You know people would say, 'Oh, it will be so easy. You've done
so many interviews.' But that's so different. But I really like when you get into the in-depth interviews, the sit-down interviews. And I enjoy the play-by-play stuff, too. We went live, and doing the live stuff was fun.

LeMay Doan has no regrets about her decision to retire. And really, why
would she? Besides winning two straight Olympic golds in the 500 metres, she also broke eight world records during her 23-year skating career, won
Canada's female athlete of the year trophy three times and captured the 2002 Lou Marsh Award as the country's top athlete. It was the perfect time to retire. I wouldn't change anything.

Canada misses shot at Athens.
(The Ottawa Sun) - There will be no berth in the Athens Summer Games for Canada's under-23 men's soccer team. The U.S. defeated Canada 2-0 at the regional Olympic qualifying tournament yesterday in Guadalajara, Mexico, to secure one of two Group A semi-final spots and eliminate Canada from contention for a spot in Athens.

After losing its opening game of the tournament 1-0 on Tuesday toHonduras
-- one that saw Canada register just two shots on goal -- Canada needed at least a tie against the U.S. to keep its Olympic hopes alive. Canada has not qualified for the Summer Games since 1984 in Los Angeles, when the squad reached the quarter-finals before losing 4-2 on penalty kicks to eventual silver medallist Brazil.

Winter sports groups try teamwork in push for funding: bid to turn Canadian athletes into gold-medal winners in 2010.
(The Vancouver Sun)

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to run it up the flag pole. Yes, coming soon to a federal election campaign near you: "Own The Podium!" On Tuesday, leaders of Canada's Winter Olympic organizations and the sport-funding bodies finished two days of meetings in Calgary designed to bury the hatchet and plan for the 2006 and 2010 Games. Their unified message: Make Canada the No. 1 winter sports nation when Vancouver hosts the
Winter Games at the end of the decade.

But to assure that lofty goal, they say, Canadians will have to dig into their pockets to the tune of $35 million a year in new federal government funding. They're also expecting provinces to pony up millions more. And they want that message delivered in time for the election that's expected in the spring. "We see [funding for Olympic athletes] as a hot-button issue in the next election," said Chris Rudge of the Canadian Olympic Committee. "We'd love to see the media make that an issue. That would be unique in Canadian elections."

Already, Rudge sees progress with new Sport Minister Stan Keyes and the Paul Martin gang, too. "We got a single paragraph in the Throne Speech on Monday," he laughed. "The same as defence. It's small, but it's something to build on." Now, only in Canadian sport would the collaboration of all the sports and funding bodies that participate in the Winter Games be seen as a
revolutionary achievement.

But after years of operating parallel, competing operations, the various organizations have finally sought safety in numbers. Thanks to this unique meeting at Hockey Canada headquarters, the wind-chill brigade have put aside their own agendas to agree on performance criteria, fundraising, coaching, training, co-operation and the issue of toques over hats for the opening ceremonies in Vancouver. OK, they want to see what Roots comes up with on the head-gear issue first.

But there does appear to be consensus on the rest of the issues -- and the
very un-Canadian ambition of being No. 1 in the world at Winter Games in
B.C. It's a considerable challenge in a nation that often begrudges its Olympic heroes a decent standard of living while expecting the world of them. "For Canada to be the No. 1 Winter Olympic sport nation in the world in 2010, we must win approximately 35 Olympic medals," said Mark Lowry,
executive director of the Canadian Olympic Committee. "This is double the
performance of the 2002 Olympic success of 17 medals."

The $35 million a year -- on top of the current $50 million being supplied
-- is just a starter in negotiations, says Rudge. He feels a figure between $50 million and $70 million a year more is probably closer to what will be needed if Canada's Olympians and paralympians are to grab second in 2006 (Torino, Italy), then first in 2010.

And the winter-sport mavens want people to know that funding is needed from other levels of government, too. Currently, Quebec funds a very generous $25 million for sport; at the other extreme, wealthy Ontario supplies less than $5 million per annum to its athletes for elite competition. The municipalities must help, too.

And there is the corporate community, which has never been very rabid about helping Canadian Olympic athletes, either. Now before you get all taxpayer-revolted over this money thing, Ken Read, president of Alpine Canada, has a simple formula for you. "To fund an extra $35 million a year," he says, working the ol' abacus, "every Canadian would have to pay an extra $1 a year. That seems like a realistic goal." New slogan: Turn that O Henry into an O Canada!

In case Canadians don't get on board with the Gang of 14, however, Read says Big Brother Jacques Rogge is watching. "When they awarded the Games to Vancouver, the IOC's measure of success was 1.) stage a well-run Games and 2.) Canada come up with a successful team," Read said during Tuesday's conference call.

In other words, if Canada wants to stage another Olympics, it can't deliver
a puny Montreal-1976-like haul of medals, when the home nation failed to win a single gold. It's all very ambitious and, if it succeeds, very atypical of our deferential Dominion. But the cash can't come soon enough, says Read. While the Canadian National Hockey League teams are benefitting from a strong loonie versus the U.S. dollar, Canada's amateur sports teams are being murdered on the exchange rate versus the mighty Euro when they travel overseas. "We're anywhere from 10 to 15 percent in the negative this winter on exchange. And it's really stretching us and our finances."
One last slogan: Gold Is a Loonie Investment!