Kelowna’s Serwa bound for Olympics in South Korea
Okanagan to be well represented at Winter Games
CALGARY — Marielle Thompson has time and the Olympic schedule on her side as she attempts to come back from a major knee injury and defend her women’s ski cross gold medal.
The 25-year-old from Whistler was among the eight athletes — four men and four women — named to Canada’s Olympic ski cross team Monday at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Thompson ruptured her ACL and MCL in an October training crash and has yet to race this season.
Women’s ski cross is scheduled for Feb. 23, which is two days before the closing ceremonies in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“We have a good amount of time,” Thompson said Monday. “We have a really good plan set. “I’m taking it one day at a time.” Sunday was her first day back on snow skiing lightly with a knee brace at nearby Nakiska Ski Resort. She planned to return to Nakiska today to test her knee again.
“We have a very strict return-to-snow protocol,” she said. “I’m going through all that step by step, day by day, making sure my knee is in a good place.
“I’m very happy where I’m at in my recovery process.”
Canada will send a full ski cross contingent to a Winter Games for the first time after seven athletes competed in 2010 and six in 2014.
Canadian women won both gold, as well as a silver medal, since ski cross made its Olympic debut in 2010.
Ashleigh McIvor Demerit, the 2010 champ, introduced the 2018 squad of Thompson, 2014 silver medallist Kelsey Serwa of Kelowna, Brittany Phelan of MontTremblant, Que., India Sherret of Cranbrook, Calgary’s Brady Leman, Montreal’s Chris De Bosco, Toronto’s Kevin Drury and Dave Duncan of London, Ont.
Del Bosco was fourth in the 2010 men’s race and Leman was also fourth in 2014.
“You can’t beat the experience our team has,” said coach Stanley Hayer of Kimberley. “A couple fourths which were heartbreaking for sure and then the golds and silver, which are an amazing high.
“It’s time for the guys to step up to the plate for this race and the girls to hold their ground. Our women’s team is amazingly strong. If we can throw a Marielle in there, our team goes to another level.”
The strength was dented on Saturday, however, when Vancouver’s Georgia Simmerling broke bones in both legs at a World Cup in Nakiska.
With Thompson sidelined, Simmerling was Canada’s top-ranked female sitting fourth overall in the World Cup standings.
“We’re super devastated about losing Georgia at the Nakiska race,” Serwa said. “We’re going to miss her at the Games, but she’s still part of our dream team and we love her.”
Moguls’ team to feature Penticton’s Naude, Kingsbury
MONTREAL — Canada’s freestyle skiing moguls team set the bar high at the last Winter Olympics, but Mikael Kingsbury and the rest of the squad are ready for the challenge.
Kingsbury finished second to two-time Olympic champion Alex Bilodeau in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, while Justine DufourLapointe won gold ahead of her sister, Chloe, in another 1-2 Canadian finish.
Expectations aren’t as high this time, but Kingsbury will be the heavy favourite for gold after dominating the World Cup circuit in recent years. The Deux-Montagnes, Que. skier saw a run of 13 straight World Cup wins end Saturday at Mont-Tremblant, Que., when he finished second. But Kingsbury still has 16 consecutive top-three results.
“I want to win a gold medal for sure. It would be a dream come true and it’s the only thing I’m missing in my sport,” Kingsbury said Monday as the Canadian team was introduced before cheering students at Antoine de SaintExupery high school.
Kingsbury is joined on the men’s team by Montreal’s Marc-Antoine Gagnon and Philippe Marquis of Quebec City, who’s recovering from a knee injury suffered two weeks ago at Deer Valley, Utah.
The women’s side has Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal, Andi Naude of Penticton and Audry Robichaud of Quebec City.
Naude just missed qualifying for Sochi but is confident heading to South Korea.
“It was heartbreaking at the time, I was devastated, but at the same time I’m really glad I didn’t end up in Sochi because it really made me know deep inside I wanted to be at the next Games,” she said. “So the past four years I worked really hard. I’m thrilled to be going to Pyeongchang.”