Alpine hopefuls land in Canada for Whistler Cup
Published Thu 13 Apr 2017
Thirty-one young Australian alpine skiers have landed at Whistler-Blackcomb for the annual Whistler Cup, North America’s pinnacle alpine racing event for children.
Beginning Thursday 13 April, Australian under 16 and under 14 skiers will go to battle on the slalom, giant slalom and super G courses against some of the best young skiers in the world. For the first time on the Whistler Cup schedule, a Nations Team event will be contested on the final day.
Lead by Head Coach Shawn Fleming, who is also the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia’s Ski Cross Coach and Alpine National Development Coach, the U16 team will complete four days training and seeding days ahead of the competition.
The under 16s team is primarily comprised of Australian National Children’s Squad members with some competitive Wild Card entries by invitation.
The following ten athletes will compete in the under 16 field and are seeded per discipline:
| Name | Slalom | Giant Slalom | Super G |
| Thomas Hoffman | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Henry Heaydon | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Tom Davies | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Zac Pulver | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Noah Jones | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Sammie Gaul | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Zoe Michael | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Sophie Mahon | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Adele Selig | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Phoebe Huges | 5 | 5 | 5 |
The program for the 2016 Whistler Cup U16 athletes will be:
- April 13: U16 Super G (M&W)
- April 14: U16 GS (M&W)
- April 15: U16 SL (M&W)
- April 16: U16 Team Event
Australia also has 21 under 14 skiers who will get their first taste of international competition and the pressure of a strong field.
- Penelope Hughes
- Kyra Wheatley
- Letitia Murphy
- Lily Punch
- Maddie Kiely
- Alex Brennan
- Campbell Daines
- George Dance
- Aiden El-hakim
- Laura Papworth
- Charlotte Halley
- Claudia Braysich
- Harrison Daines
- Oscar Morgan
- Billy Thomas
- Claudia Cowan
- Lucy Cornelius
- Kyle McGown
- James Huon
- Will Maisano
- Harry Hoffman.
Keep up with all the action and results via Whistler Cup live timing here
Alexandra Rouse
Ski & Snowboard Australia