Kananaskis Valley (AB), Canada – Calgary, Alberta’s Jan Hudec ended his long wait for a first national ski racing title by winning the men’s giant slalom at the GMC Canadian Championships last Tuesday at Nakiska Ski Area in Alberta.nHudec, 29, edged teammate Brad Spence by three hundredths of a second to take the victory with a two-run combined time of two minutes, 19.94 seconds. Hudec competed in his first Canadian championship in 1998 and has one second- and three third-place finishes, one of which came in the super G two days earlier.
“That’s shocking,” said Hudec, when informed he had just won his first national title. “I’ve been around for so long I honestly thought I had won one. But I guess it’s hard to win when you are injured. It’s nice to be healthy again.”
Hudec, who has come back from multiple knee surgeries, was fastest after the first run and went into the second one trying to protect a lead of just over 0.70 seconds.
“I knew I had a bit to play with but I didn’t want to just go easy, so I went out charging,” said Hudec. “I had a brutally rough run and I was all over the place, getting knocked around. I was just trying to survive. It ended up being me on top but it could have gone either way.
“I’m pretty excited to get a win in GS. I’m known more as a speed skier but I finally put two decent GS runs together. Hopefully I can build on this and start skiing giant slalom in the World Cup.”
Spence, also of Calgary, was the defending national giant slalom champion but he wasn’t bitter about losing out by such a narrow margin.
“It’s great to be here and it’s great to have another second place,” said Spence, who was second in the men’s super combined last Monday. “This year I had just about given up on GS, to be honest. The turns tend to be a little tougher on my knee. I did a few days of giant slalom skiing last week in Europe and I’m definitely happy with how things panned out.”
Slalom ace Michael Janyk, of Whistler, British Columbia, said it was fun watching Hudec and Spence battle for first place.
“Jan and Brad are the top GS skiers here,” said Janyk, who was competing in his first event of the week and was sixth with a time of 2:21.79.
Third place went to Jeffrey Frisch, of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, who had a combined time of 2:20.67.
“The first run was not great – I just over-skied the whole run,” said Frisch, who won the super G. “The second run was good – really good. I made just one major mistake.”
Frisch, who has also endured a tough run of injuries, says his performances at the GMC Canadian Championships this week prove he can still ski with the best.
“I haven’t done a lot of skiing but this shows that I’ve still got it,” said Frisch, who isn’t a member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team and has been helped out in recent times by sponsor Sport Dinaco and a group of seven guys from the Montreal area, who have the first letter of their last names etched into a ‘DGRGCPM’ patch on his ski jacket. “I’m on the way back; I can feel it.”
A surging second run from Phil Brown, of Toronto, Ontario, sent the Prospect Group skier soaring into fourth place with a time of 2:21.20.
“I’m really happy,” said Brown, 19, who was the top junior. “First run, I was struggling with equipment but on the second run I really attacked it. I was pretty far out and I had nothing to lose. I was a little bit disappointed this morning but to come from that far back is really nice.”
Official Results
GMC Canadian Championships
Men’s Giant Slalom – March 29, 2011
Nakiska Ski Area, Alberta, Canada
(Rank, Bib, Name, Born, Nation, 1st run, 2nd run, Total)
1 1 HUDEC Jan 1981 CAN 1:06.35 1:13.59 2:19.94
2 2 SPENCE Brad 1984 CAN 1:07.09 1:12.88 2:19.97
3 3 FRISCH Jeffrey 1984 CAN 1:07.57 1:13.10 2:20.67
4 5 BROWN Philip 1991 CAN 1:08.22 1:12.98 2:21.20
5 4 FRANK Chris 1983 USA 1:07.49 1:14.06 2:21.55
6 16 JANYK Michael 1982 CAN 1:08.80 1:12.99 2:21.79
7 7 COOK Dustin 1989 CAN 1:08.05 1:13.86 2:21.91
8 8 PHILP Trevor 1992 CAN 1:08.13 1:13.88 2:22.01
9 6 DONALDSON David 1986 CAN 1:08.36 1:13.69 2:22.05
10 17 TROW Andy 1991 CAN 1:08.78 1:13.31 2:22.09