A young Canadian alpine team edged out the mighty Austrians en route to a historic bronze medal performance at the World Junior Ski Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que. on Friday (Feb. 22).
Canmore’s Trevor Philp, Tianda Carroll of Jasper, Mikaela Tommy of Wakefield, Que. and Ford Swette of North Vancouver teamed up in the slalom-style event to win the medal. Sweden took gold, while Switzerland grabbed the silver.
“It was a great night and atmosphere. To win the snowflake medal, that they only give at world championships, is special,” Philp told the Outlook.
The Canadians were underdogs going into the event, but all four racers laid down phenomenal runs to put them into position.
“The goal was to win, but I wouldn’t say we were favourites. We’re all strong individually and had good energy,” Philp said. “It’s awesome to have people pushing and pulling you from all sides. It shows Canada can be a powerhouse.”
In front of a home crowd and under the night lights, Canada was tied with Austria in the final, but won the tie breaker on aggregate times.
Coach Jean-Francouis Beslisle said the win lets the world know Canada is capable of developing strong racers.
“This is a young team and this sends a clear message to everyone that if we keep believing, we can achieve big things,” Beslisle said.
The win gave the Canadian team an early boost of confidence heading into the rest of the weekend. Competing against 250 athletes from 50 nations, the Canadians were strong all day in head-to-head competition.
They defeated Team U.S. in the first elimination round, then France to move into the semifinals. They were defeated by Switzerland by aggregate times to deny them a shot at the gold medal, but came up strong against the Austrians.
A part-time Canmore resident, Philp was Canada’s top junior, having competed at the senior world championships last weekend in Austria. He’s currently splitting his time between the University of Denver and the Canadian National Ski Team, and showing impressive results. Balancing academics and sports is difficult, he said, but doable. He’s got a lighter schedule this year to compensate.
“It becomes tough. Fortunately, we work on the quarter system, where we have one less class and the professors work with us. It’s definitely busy at times,” Philp said.
While he’s focused on classes and ski racing this year, he’s not ruling out a run at the Olympics.
“I hope I’m in the running. I have to get a little stronger for sure,” Philp said.
Philp followed up his bronze medal performance with a 12 th place finish in the giant slalom on Monday (Feb. 25).
