AUSTRIA – While most eyes are pinned on athletes heading to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the new season for Alpine Canada got a glimpse of Bow Valley skiers who’ll carry the torch into the future.
It all started as a dream for Canmore’s Britt Richardson, the National Ski Team’s (NST) youngest athlete at 18 years old, and last Saturday (Oct. 23), that vision turned to reality when she rode down the mountain in Austria for her world cup debut.
“Ever since I was really young and watching the world cup on TV and the one at Lake Louise, I would always ask my mum, ‘what’s the youngest you can start a world cup?’” said Richardson. “Now I’ve started a world cup, which is pretty crazy. The dream of mine has finally come true.”
The Burke Academy alumni finished with a time of 1:06.73 in her single giant slalom (GS) run at the first world cup of 2021-22 in Soelden, Austria. Richardson didn’t qualify for a second run, but was overall pleased to start and make it down to the finish line, where she was greeted by screaming fans and friends.
“That was the coolest feeling when I crossed the finish [line] and there was 10,000 people cheering and then all my friends are there holding signs up and hugging me and it just made the experience so special,” said Richardson, who’s the top ranked GS racer in the world for her age, according to the International Ski Federation (FIS).
Canada’s Valérie Grenier finished seventh and clocked in at 2:09.07 and the sport’s top female star Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States won her 70th world cup with a time of 2:07.22.
“It was pretty cool when I saw [Shiffrin] ski down on the day of the race and that’s when it kind of hit me that I was going to be racing with her and skiing the exact same course as she was,” Richardson said.
About a week prior, Richardson was selected to Alpine Canada’s world cup team, which also includes local veterans Erik Read, Jeff Read, Trevor Philp and Liam Wallace, who was named to the NST two seasons ago.
The rest of the team includes a heavy veteran presence leading into Beijing, which includes Grenier, Marie-Michèle Gagnon, Jack Crawford, Sam Mulligan, Cassidy Gray, Kyle Alexander, Ali Nullmeyer, Amelia Smart, Asher Jordan, Broderick Thompson, Brodie Seger, Roni Remme, Riley Seger, Laurence St-Germain, Erin Mielzynski, and Cameron Alexander.
Richardson, the baby of the team, thinks qualifying to the Olympics this season will be a tough get, but anything is possible.
“I’ll be doing hopefully a few more [world cups], not too sure yet, but it depends how I’m skiing leading up to them, but I’d love to be racing more and I was one of the youngest that entered that race so it’s kind of crazy being with all those girls,” said Richardson.
In a few weeks, Richardson will begin racing in the NorAm Cup circuit starting in Colorado, USA.
After opting out of the 2019-20 NST to attend university in Alaska, Banff's Wallace had a "do or die moment" last season. The 22-year-old, specializing in slalom and GS, struggled to fight his way back onto the NST during the upside down pandemic season when starts were hard to come by everywhere.
"I got penalized really hard last year so I actually lost affiliated with the team," said Wallace. "I really kind of had to clean up my act and get some results in and it actually worked out really well in the end for me."
This past summer and into the fall, Wallace rededicated himself to the NST and trained overseas with the team. However, he didn't make his world cup debut last weekend in Austria.
Instead, he watched teammates and 2018 Olympians Erik Read and Philp ski to a great opening weekend in the men’s GS on Sunday (Oct. 24) in Soelden.
Read finished 18th at a time of 2:07. 43 and Philp finished 22nd and clocked in at 2:07.66.
The two locals look well on their way to qualifying for their second Games. For Wallace, February in Beijing is on the back of his mind.
"If you have a good start to the year and a good early to mid-season then you’ll do yourself some favours in being in the conversation for Olympic criteria, which, I think, they're coming out with soon," said Wallace, who's ranked 17 in slalom in the world for his age or younger, according to FIS.
Like Richardson, Wallace will compete in the NorAm cups and hopes it will lead to more world cup starts.
But for now, the technical skier has been anxious to get back on skis and rejoin the NST.
“When you’re a full-time athlete and you don’t have your competitive seasons to look forward to and train towards, it's kind of a hard one for your focus and your motivation," said Wallace. "It's three weeks out pretty much from our first race and I'm pretty amped to get started, even NorAm racing here it's going to be really good."
