There’s lots of talent to look out for on Team Canada’s alpine skiing squad. With results from both this season and next determining the Olympic Quota Allocation List, athletes will begin to have their eyes on the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, now not so far in the distance.
The FIS World Cup circuit kicks off the weekend of October 26-27, 2024 in Soelden, Austria and continues through to the FIS World Cup Finals taking place March 20-27, 2025 in Sun Valley, Idaho. There is one World Cup stop at which Canadian fans can cheer on their favourites at home. A big focus for the season will be the biennial FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in February.
Here’s a quick glimpse at who and what to watch this season.
Valérie Grenier will look to return to form after an unfortunate crash just days after her second World Cup podium finish last season and undergoing surgeries on her left shoulder and right knee. The two-time Olympian is no stranger to rehab, having missed the 2019-20 season due to injury.
The 27-year-old is playing it by ear in terms of what her first race of the season will be, but was able to join the national team at a pre-season training camp in Chile. She’s confident that she can return to last season’s form relatively quickly.
“I feel good about my skiing,” Grenier said. “Right before my injury, I was in such a good spot that I feel like, technically, I probably don’t need that much time on snow to really be back to that level.
“I’ve realized that I’m pretty resilient and that nothing can really get me down that much, even though I’ve had a lot of injuries,” she continued. “It makes me proud to see the way that I go through these things.”
She isn’t the only member of the Canadian women’s technical team (those who specialize in slalom and/or giant slalom) looking to make an impact.
Beijing 2022 Olympian Ali Nullmeyer will be aiming to build on the consistency she found last season, which saw her earn four top-seven finishes on the World Cup circuit to place 11th overall in the slalom standings.
Two-time Olympian Laurence St-Germain is also expected to be in the hunt for the slalom events. St-Germain won slalom gold at the 2023 FIS World Championships, but finished 26th in the slalom standings last season as a pesky ankle injury took her out for a bit.
The Canadian women will look forward to racing in front of the home crowd when the FIS World Cup circuit visits Tremblant in December for the second year in a row with a pair of giant slalom races. The hill has particular significance for Grenier, who grew up skiing there. Tremblant also proved lucky for one up-and-comer, 21-year-old Britt Richardson, who posted her first ever top-15 World Cup finish there in one of last year’s giant slaloms.
The last few years have seen a resurgence for the Canadian men’s speed team (those who specialize in downhill and/or super-G), following in the successful footsteps of the Crazy Canucks of the 1980s and the Canadian Cowboys of the mid-2000s and 2010s.
Olympic bronze medallist Jack Crawford is the veteran leader, with four career World Cup podiums to his credit, as well being the 2023 World champion in the super-G. While he didn’t stand on a podium last season, he was in the top-five in three World Cup races.
Cameron Alexander was on a bit of a hot streak last season, earning two of his three career World Cup podiums and posting two other fifth-place finishes to wind up in ninth place in the FIS World Cup downhill standings. Alexander proved himself as a big race performer when he won downhill bronze in his first ever world championship start in 2023.
Jeffrey Read will look to build momentum, having earned his first ever World Cup podium last season, placing second in the super-G at Kvitfjell in February. Read finished 10th overall in the World Cup super-G standings. This season, Read will begin his quest to secure his spot at Milano Cortina 2026, which would see him join his older brother, Erik, and father, Ken – one of the previously mentioned Crazy Canucks – as an Olympian.
Of course, they are far from the only Canadians who will be racing around the world this season. Other names to keep an eye out for on the women’s side include Amelia Smart, Cassidy Gray and Kiki Alexander.
The men’s national team also includes Asher Jordan, Broderick Thompson, Brodie Seger, Kyle Alexander, Liam Wallace and Riley Seger.
