Canmore ski cross phenom Tristan Tafel will be on the hunt for redemption on Friday (April 11) at Sunshine Village during the Sport Chek Ski Cross Canadian Championship.
Back in familiar territory, Tafel will face off for a national title against the likes of Brady Leman and Louie-Pierre Helie, while Olympic gold medallist and Crystal Globe winner Marielle Thompson will be the favourite in the women’s race.
“I’m extremely excited to be racing at nationals. The coaches said the course should be easy for us and it’s lots of fun to wrap up the year with a whole bunch of Canadians and a few Americans,” Tafel said.
It’s been a tough go for Tafel. Leading into the year, he was a good bet to reach the 2014 Winter Olympics. As one of the young members of the national team, he had several world cup top three finishes to his credit and finished fifth at a Sochi test event in 2013.
But an early season crash left the 24-year old with a nasty concussion and he had a tough time finding his game. He knew something was up when he failed to qualify at the world cup stop at Nakiska, even though he pushed to improve.
“Up until January, my skiing felt like it was a little off. I was making the right moves, but my timing was a little too early or late until Val Thorens (where he finished 11th),” Tafel said. “I definitely had a tough time with it. It wasn’t easy, but I realized at the pro level it’s extremely tough. But if it wasn’t tough, it wouldn’t be gratifying when things go well. I had so many ‘what ifs,’ but with racing, you either did or you didn’t. That’s definitely motivated me for the next four years.”
The result has motivated him to work even harder to reach the 2018 Winter Olympics, where he wants to be a medal contender.
“It was definitely hard to see my Facebook feeds blowing up with Olympic content, knowing I could have skied that course well.
Despite hyper-extending his knee in the final world cup race of the season, Tafel said he’s healthy and is ready to go, which is more than the rest of the Canadian team can state. Tafel is critical of world cup course construction, alluding to its contribution to injuries on the team.
“Some of the courses aren’t well built. The time was not put into them. We’re still battling FIS to get better course builds and have a higher standard. For the majority of the athletes on the world cup, everyone wants to move in that direction,” Tafel said.
In order to prepare for next season, Tafel will take some time surfing in Mexico before moving to Whistler for the summer to train and he wants to raise his skiing to the next level. He has tons of support in Canmore, but said he needs to train with the team in Whistler to receive the full extent of team benefits.
“I only switched to ski cross four years ago. I’m extremely happy with my progress and hope I can keep a similar trend to my progression,” Tafel said.
Star attraction and Olympic medallist Thompson will be on the hunt for her third national title, as well as sharing her story of triumph with younger racers.
“I’d like to be a three-time national champion – it has a nice ring to it,” said Thompson, the national title holder in 2011 and 2012. “I’m looking forward to racing with some of the younger girls. It was so much fun for me to do it when I was younger – racing against Kelsey (Serwa), Ashleigh (McIvor, the 2010 Olympic champion) and Julia (Murray).”
Qualifying runs are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. off the Angel chair at Sunshine, with finals scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
