Kelly Vanderbeek
Lessons learned from alpine ski worlds
With less than one year to the Sochi Olympics, athletes and federations and athletes will draw on lessons learned from the alpine ski world championships to prepare for the Games.
Kelly Vanderbeek
Alpine ski worlds have been anything but predictable
As the alpine skiing world championships continue in Schladming, Austria, the focus is now squarely on the technical events which entail the slalom and giant slalom. But these worlds have been anything but predictable so far.
Kelly Vanderbeek
Expect the unexpected at alpine ski worlds
Too many variables exist in the sport of ski racing to properly predict outcomes, especially at major events like this week's world championships in Schladming, Austria.
Kelly Vanderbeek
Kitzbuehel a definite bucket list item
Whether it's unspoken, written, or shared, we all have things we'd like to do and experience. For many professional athletes,
that bucket list includes sporting events like the Masters or Stanley
Cup finals. For Canadian skier Kelly VanderBeek, the famous race in Kitzbuehel, Austria is a must.
Scott Russell
Field of Play: Celebrating our last king of Kitzbuehel
Todd Brooker, who is celebrating the 30-year anniversary of his victory on the famed Streif downhill course at Kitzbuehel, Austria this weekend by
broadcasting the event for CBC, is a link to the glory days of Canadian
alpine ski racing.
Kelly Vanderbeek
Smiling because it happened
Canadian skier Kelly VanderBeek announced her retirement from competitive sport on Saturday, but as she moves toward her second life, she writes that she'll take some advice from Dr. Seuss and "not cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
Kelly Vanderbeek
St. Anton, Adelboden considered classic ski courses
Kelly VanderBeek of Kitchener, Ont., professes to be proudest of her second-place finish at St. Anton in December 2007 because of the challenging technicalities of the Austrian course.
Kelly Vanderbeek
Young Canadian women have skiing star power
With the recent top-10 finishes of Erin Mielzynski, Marie-Michele Gagnon and Britt Phelan in Zagreb, Croatia, CBCSports.ca's Kelly Vanderbeek is ready to pass the torch to the young Canadians.
Kelly Vanderbeek
Life lessons from the hill
Many would argue that for something to be a life lesson, it has be hard
to endure and even harder to overcome. If that's the case, then ski
racing (often to its detriment but usually to its benefit) is riddled
with life lessons
Kelly Vanderbeek
Canadian World Cup ski team filled with promise
With the World Cup season now well underway, a few things have become apparent. The Canadian men's speed team is looking a lot deeper with Manuel Osborne-Paradis and John Kucera returning from injuries, and Canada's women's technical team has shown incredible promise so far.
Scott Russell
Field of Play: Life goes on for ski cross at Nakiska
For the first time since the tragic death of Canadian racer Nik Zoricic, ski cross returns to competition on the world stage this weekend. The World Cup picks up at Nakiska, Alta. in what is an exhilarating but at times, risky pursuit still in its' formative stages.
Rob Snoek
Stars & Stripes flying high over Lake Louise
The stars of the last few days in the Rockies - aside from the gorgeous Lake Louise skiing area and the hundreds of incredible volunteers preparing the mountain for World Cup racing - have been wearing Stars and Stripes.American skiers have produced the top four spots on the podium so far, including back-to-back wins for the amazing Lindsey Vonn.
Rob Snoek
Canadian skiers taking right strides
The sun was shining in Lake Louise, Alta., and in Norway this past weekend as former overall World Cup champion Aksel Lund Svindal had two victories. There were no Canadians on the podium but some significant strides were taken in that direction.
Kelly Vanderbeek
Lindsey Vonn vs. the men is great for skiing
If the "Tiger Woods Effect" can increase ratings for a golf tournament
in which he's pushing for the title by 30-50 percent in some estimates,
then what is the potential "Lindsey Vonn Effect" if she's allowed to
race the men's downhill at Lake Louise?Everyone has an opinion. And, no surprise, so do I.
Kelly Vanderbeek
David Ford: Whitewater trailblazer
David Ford's career has blazed a new trail in the sport of whitewater
kayaking. He often talks of his motivation coming from once being told a
Canadian would never, and could never, be a world champion in the
sport. After countless years of intense training, in 1999 David became
the first non-European to win the world championship title, which he
held for three years.Sadly, his journey appears to be nearing its end. On April 15, David narrowly missed qualifying for his sixth Olympics.
Kelly Vanderbeek
Why do athletes keep risking it?
Why do athletes in snow sports choose to put ourselves in such extreme circumstances, knowing
we face serious injury and possibly death? Having lost two great
athletes in Sarah Burke and Nik Zoricic this year, questions and concerns within the snow sport community have never been louder or more fervent.So why keep doing it? It's simple. It's because of athletes
like Jan Hudec, Erin Mielzinsky, Ben Thomsen, Marie-Michele Gagnon and
Anna Goodman, to name but a few. They've defied the odds, and in doing
so found ways to inspire us all.
Kelly Vanderbeek
What can we learn from Nik Zoricic's death?
Alone at my home in B.C., I scour the internet for anything to hold
onto. I try to cling to the community that I've laughed with, cried
with, and grown with. I'm searching for a reason, for support, for a
sense of understanding why someone like Nik Zoricic would be taken so
young, doing what he loved best - skiing.
Kelly Vanderbeek
Erin Mielzynski's magic moment
Erin Mielzynski shocked the ski community on Sunday in Germany by winning a women's slalom for her first-ever World Cup victory (and first time finishing in the top 10). It was the first win by a Canadian in a World Cup slalom since Betsy Clifford in 1971.Incredible doesn't begin to describe Erin's momentous achievement at the very young age of 21. She's young and fast, which is great news for Alpine Canada and the women's team, who needed (and I believe deserve) a pick-me-up. This positive affirmation will not only help Erin, but the whole team moving forward.
