Dustin Cook, Marie-Michele Gagnon lead Canada into world ski championships

CALGARY — The team tasked with keeping Canada on the podium at the world alpine ski championship was announced Thursday by Alpine Canada.

A 15-member squad — eight men and seven women — will wear the Maple Leaf in the biannual world championship Monday until Feb. 17 in Are, Sweden.

Canadians have won 27 medals, including 14 gold, over the 62-year history of the world championship.

Erik Guay, winner of men’s super-G gold and downhill silver two years ago in St. Moritz, Switzerland, retired in November. Manny Osborne-Paradis, who took super-G bronze in St. Moritz behind Guay, is rehabilitating a pre-season knee injury.

Ottawa’s Dustin Cook, a super-G silver medallist in 2015, and Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac Etchemin, Que., competing in her sixth world championship lead the Canadian contingent into Are.

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“The world championships, especially in the first year of the Olympic quad, provide us with an opportunity to work as a team towards preparing for peak performance at a set date on the season’s calendar, as well as expose our up-and-coming racers to large-scale, international racing with a view towards fielding the best possible team in 2022,” Alpine Canada athletic director Martin Rufener said Thursday in a statement.

Downhill training runs for men and women are scheduled for Monday followed by women’s super-G on Tuesday.

Valerie Grenier of Mont-Tremblant, Que., has posted a pair of top-five results in World Cup super-G this season including a fourth Jan. 20 in Cortina, Italy.

Erin Mielzynski and Roni Remme of Collingwood, Ont., Invermere’s Amelia Smart, Laurence St-Germain of St. Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., and Mikaela Tommy of Wakefield, Que., round out the women’s team.

Ben Thomsen of Invermere, B.C., Brodie Seger of North Vancouver, B.C., Calgary brothers Erik and Jeff Read, Toronto’s Jack Crawford, Montreal’s Simon Fournier and Calgary’s Trevor Philp will also compete in men’s races.

The Canadian Press