Alpine Canada boss Ken Read says he was pleased – and frustrated – by the alpine team's results at the Torino Olympics. (Chuck Stoody/Canadoan Press)

A charter member of the underestimated but unshakeable Crazy Canucks, Ken Read became the first North American to win a World Cup downhill event back in 1975.

Since taking on a leadership role with Alpine Canada in 2002 – first as president, now as CEO – he has set his sights on an even greater feat: transforming relative lightweight Canada into the top alpine skiing nation at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

With the 2006-07 World Cup schedule about to get underway, Read spoke with CBC Sports Online about the latest in Canadian skiing.

The Canadian alpine team missed its goal of winning a medal at the Torino Olympics, but had three fourth-place finishes. How did you feel about the team's performance?

Overall we were pleased, but of course frustrated. The young athletes, the ones that weren't necessarily expected to be knocking at the door, were the ones that came so close. Those being Erik Guay, Francois Bourque and Kelly VanderBeek. We know that we were stymied a little bit, so that's where the frustration comes in. Guay had a nagging leg injury that kept him out of the downhill, but then, with virtually no skiing for almost a three-week period, came fourth in the super-G. Now the most important thing is to use Torino as a way of rededicating everyone – the athletes, the coaches, the whole organization 2 to the fact that it's the attention to detail and the focus on what we call relentlessly pursuing every avenue that makes up the difference of those hundredths of a second by which we fell short. Our competition, especially the Austrians, are doing that all the time. We've got to do that so we don't come away with three fourth-place finishes. We've got to come away with three medals. Guay, Bourque and VanderBeek are all 25 or younger.

How do you feel about the team's future?

We're very optimistic. We've got an outstanding blend of veterans and youth. It's still a relatively young team, but it's one that's gaining experience and maturity. Most of the team that is here now will be around in 2010, and we're even seeing some glimmers that those who we thought might not be around in 2010 might stick it out.

Can you tell us who?

Thomas Grandi isn't ruling it out. He's saying he's going to go year by year, and that's a completely reasonable way for him to approach that. I think he looked at last season and the kind of success he had with five podium results and he knows he can do it. He's having the most success of his entire career, so why stop? And if that continues, why stop? Similarly, Gen Simard [26 years old] is young enough to consider being around in another four years. Grandi was the only one of the entire group that had a question mark. All the others, as long as they're improving and performing, have every expectation of being around for 2010. And a lot of them will fall into their performance peak period.

Grandi has been the face of Alpine Canada as an athlete for quite some time. Has there been any talk of him moving into another role with the organization once he decides to retire?

There hasn't been any talk because everything has been focused on his performance and ensuring he's supported completely. But I do know that the asset he's provided to the organization is that he's a leader, both by example and by speaking out. He recognizes that it's the contribution of each individual that makes the strength of the team. You can't do it by yourself. He always makes sure that the coaches and servicemen get recognition because they tend to be the invisible parties in success. And he also knows that the more competition he has around him from his teammates, the better off he is. He knows that having guys like Janyk and Biggs and Julien Cousineau and Ryan Semple around him, pushing him, training with him, is only going to make him stronger. For the younger athletes, you couldn't ask for a better leader or a better role model.

Apart from Guay, VanderBeek and Bourque, are there any other rising stars worth keeping an eye on this season?

Erik's younger brother, Stefan, turned 20 this year. He won two medals at the world junior championships last year and became the first Canadian to win gold in giant slalom at the juniors, which underscored his technical skill. Another is Brigitte Acton, a former world junior championships medallist who was on the team in Turin. She's coming along very positively in her development. There's also John Kucera, Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Patrick Biggs and Michael Janyk. I pick them out because they already have top-10 finishes in World Cups and are still relatively young.

From your experience, how important is it to have a strong and deep team like, say, the Austrians?

Erik Guay is looking to rebound from last year's injury-plagued season. (Thomas Kienzle/Associated Press)

Having a strong team with depth is absolutely crucial. An individual can do it, but it's so much easier to do it from within a strong team. The obvious advantage is that there's a dogfight to get the four coveted Olympic spots each country is allotted in each discipline for both men's and women's, so people have to push hard, they have to take risks. Less well understood is that there's an internal pride of trying to be the best Canadian, and that can sometimes be an even more powerful motivator that winning a race. Of course, the goal is to get to where being the best Canadian is winning the race. We want them to be one and the same. That's where the Austrians are at, and that's where we need to be.

It seems likely Canada will get two more World Cup stops for next season. What's the latest on that?

The confirmation comes at the FIS [skiing's international governing body] council meeting, which takes place in the third week of November. That's when they give final approval to the World Cup calendar. We have to wait to get that approval from FIS before we can formally say that we have them.

Would you say it's a done deal or is there still some doubt?

It's a pretty strong likelihood. Our argument has been that we need to have these events to prepare properly for the 2010 Games. We've put together a strong, logical rationale for why we need them. It's a tall order to ensure we have qualified people to run the Games. We have not run any technical [slalom and giant slalom] events in Canada for over 10 years. We have lots of experience in the speed disciplines [downhill and super-G], but we need to build it up in the tech disciplines because running slalom and giant slalom events is very different from downhill and super-G. Running speed events requires a long period of preparation, and then the actual running of the event is relatively straightforward. Tech events don't require anywhere near the same setup in advance because there's nowhere near the safety precautions required and the hills aren't as long. But the actual running of a tech event is a very, very intense undertaking, and we want to ensure we run an exceptional Games in Vancouver and exceptional World Cup events before that.

You were recently named CEO of Alpine Canada after four years as president. Will the new title entail new responsibilities, or simply a new nameplate?

It will be different. I'm actually shedding a lot of responsibility. As president, I'm ultimately responsible for the overall direction of the organization. With the growth of Alpine Canada, it was becoming impossible to deal with both the growth and performance elements. Preparations for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver are really ramping up. We've had a lot of activity prior to this point, but now 2010 is very much in the forefront. So this step was done to have one person [new president Gary Allan] running the operation, overseeing all the nuts and bolts of making sure Alpine Canada runs well, and another person [Read] who is focused on the external view, on the strategic direction, on being the voice and face of the organization over the next four years.

You were part of a group that in September purchased historic Mount Norquay in Banff National Park. Anything new on that front?

Not much that I can tell you. I am part of the investor group, but because I'm president of Alpine Canada, I have to make sure that operationally I'm not involved. But I do know they're planning to open on Nov. 1. They've got lots of snow.