FRANCE – On an alpine course rooted in deep family ties, Canmore’s Jeff Read carried on family tradition with his own history at France’s renowned Val-d'Isère – and he is only getting started.
The speed racer rocketed to his first ever world cup points after taking 26th place (2:06.09) to kick off the season at Sunday’s (Dec. 13) downhill at the FIS Ski World Cup in Val-d'Isère.
For the past few seasons, it hurt the 23-year old knowing he was consistently on the outside looking in the top 30, which gains world cup points and earns better start positions. But now, he is ready to become a mainstay in at the top 30 ahead of the important season with a world championship, and Winter Olympics just over a year away.
“I’ve been right on the brink for a while. I’ve been really itching to get [world cup points] and it’s a first big step to start off the season that way,” Read said.
“It was a track that suits me a bit more – it was a lot of high speed, and like, gliding sections, and it was one I could finally feel confident on and really put it together.”
In first was Slovenia’s Martin Cater at 2:04.67 – just 1.42 seconds faster than the Canuck.
Read had limited familiarity racing the course. The last time he was on it was in 2016, where he did about 80 per cent of the run.
However, the track itself has a lot of family history connected to it. Read's father, Ken, one of the famous Crazy Canucks, became the first non-European and first North American to win a world cup in men’s downhill in 1975 on the course.
Jeff’s older brother Erik, who is also on the national alpine team, has had world cup success at Val-d'Isère in giant slalom with two top 10s in 2016, and a 12th in 2018.
“I knew that there was a family history there, so felt like I should do my best to perform,” Read said. “One day I hope I’ll be able to say I won that alongside my dad, but I think this is a big step … it’s just a good course for the Reads.”
The O-K piste of @valdisere was always one of my favourites ... and still is. Separated by 40 years... Le plus ça change, le plus reste la même chose! ❄️ @criterium1neige #canskiteam 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/emiTGGG9IQ
— Ken Read (@Skier_one) December 13, 2020
The world cup at Val-d'Isère replaced the annual races at Lake Louise, which were scrapped this year along with the two other Northern American stops in favour of a European-only calendar due to the pandemic.
The Lake Louise world cup usually kicks off the season, and Read said he almost didn't feel ready for it because the high-energy home-course element was missing.
“I think by the time it was race day, I was feeling about the same as I would a normal year, but leading up to it it felt pretty different,” said Read.
Despite the abnormal start to the season for the ski community, the national downhill team was able to get in solid training on local ski hills such as Nakiska and Panorama throughout November. Read thinks its helped give an edge to the Canadian racers entering the new season.
He will be in Europe through the holidays and racing until March. Read aims to continue building on the great world cup start, gaining as many points as possible as he aims to qualify for the season's big event, the world ski championships in February in Italy.
"Anything can happen at those big events," said Read.
"[At Sunday's race, Cater] was bib 41, he was two spots ahead of me and came down into first. He really seized the opportunity and maybe it was a bit flukey with the track speeding up a bit, but hopefully with a competitive bib I can punch it in and maybe do something huge."
