CANMORE – With podium spots ready to be scooped up at junior worlds later this month, top Canadian ski prospect and Canmore’s Britt Richardson is preparing for the major U20 alpine competition by going head-to-head with the sport's best.
The world’s top ranked 19-year-old skier in giant slalom (GS) was called up to the world cup circuit ahead of schedule after golden NorAm Cup performances, trading the holidays in Canmore for snowy slopes in Europe. A fair deal for Canada’s youngest national alpine team skier who's getting helpful course education for years to come.
“Right now, I’m getting experience and if I punch into the top 30 it’s a bonus,” said Richardson.
A few weeks away is the main event of Richardson's season, the Alpine Junior World Ski Championships in St. Anton, Austria. The biggest event of the year for junior skiers will be a telling test for Richardson, who is a part of Alpine Canada’s young core the organization has hopes of driving toward the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
A rookie last season, Richardson is still feeling out the courses as a sophomore. In many cases, she’s experiencing the bumps, the curves, and the flow of the European hills for the first time.
However, the promising athlete has been tough-to-beat in the NorAm's GS, Richardson's specialty race, in which racers zig-zag through gates 10 metres or more apart in two runs.
Jumping out of the gate, Richardson's season started at the Killington world cup in Vermont, USA in late November.
A week later on the other side of the country, she was still riding the high pressure and energy of the world cup and was on full attack out of the gates at the NorAm Cup in Copper Mountain, Colorado. Richardson won a pair of gold medals in GS and two fifths in super-G in the feeder circuit to the world cup.
“It was able to really help me have success in those races because I brought an attitude like I would in a world cup race,” said Richardson.
Her NorAm results plowed the way for more world cup starts over the holiday season in Austria, where she flirted with breaking her own world cup personal best. Pushing the limits of her skiing on Dec. 28, an ill-timed wipe-out only a few metres away from the finish line ended what would have likely been a top 20 result. The young Canuck's best world cup result was 22nd in GS last season in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
The crash is one of those unfortunate things in ski racing, she said.
“I was pretty bummed to finish the race like that,” Richardson said. “I had some pretty good intervals. I was ranked 19th in the two intervals leading up to that so it would have been probably a good result for me.
“Luckily, I’m all in one piece and nothing was hurt so I'm just trying to take the good part of my skiing and move on with that.”
Following a loaded January of world cup starts, Richardson then competes in the super-G and giant slalom at junior worlds. Her race days are Jan. 20-21.
St. Anon is Richardson’s second junior worlds. Last season in Panorama, British Columbia, her top placing was ninth in GS and she believes now her skiing is at a level where top five spots are reasonable goals.
“If I ski really well I know I can be on the podium so I’m trying to prepare for that,” she said. “My skiing is at a level that I can place well at the those races.”
