Terwiel managed to juggle all this travel, school and racing pressure with the quiet grace she so often exudes, and even though there were some rough turns racing against the best female slalom skiers in the world, Elli always held her head high through each World Cup event.

With four World Cup races under her belt, Elli returned to school and the NCAA Championships, helping her team claim their first NCAA Championship title since 1994.

Terwiel finished the season strong and claimed the Overall Nor-Am Slalom crown which guarantees her a FIS World Cup starting spot for the 2012-2013 seasons.

“The University of Vermont won the NCAA championships, which was a pretty big deal,” said an excited Terwiel. “As NCAA champions we get to meet the President of the United States. . . something as a Canadian I never thought I’d get to do.

“As well, I just finished the last Nor-Am race of the year and I won the Overall Slalom title which means that I will have my own FIS World Cup spot in slalom next season,” Terwiel continues. “I’m very excited and it was a great way to finish the season. I want to thank everyone back in Sun Peaks for all the support they have given to help me realize my World Cup dream.”

This season was no different than many preceding it with the World Cup crew at Lake Louise getting the Downhill and super-G courses ready when most of us out West were still golfing. The organizers and volunteers at Lake Louise are world renowned for their “get it done attitude” and as usual it showed.

With the men racing their first downhill of the year, organizers got three perfect training runs off before race day, which is largely unheard of in ski racing. While the Canadian Men’s Downhill squad showed solid results in the training runs with a third, 10th and 15th place finish, race day proved more of a challenge for the Canadian Cowboys. One bright light for Canada on race day was Jan Hudec who after missing most of the last two seasons with an injury charged to an 11th place finish after starting 43rd. In the end it was Austrian veteran Michael Walchhofer taking the first podium of the year followed in an amazing second and third place tie by Austrian Mario Scheiber and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal sharing times of 1:48.33.

The Sunday super-G at Lake Louise is a whole new monster, as there are no training runs in super-G, and racers only get one hour to inspect the course prior to the race. Swiss racers Tobias Gruenenfelder and Carlo Janka took first and second with Austrian Romed Baumann taking third. In another twist of timing the Canadian team showed they like to stick together. Manuel Osbourne-Paradis, Erik Guay and Robbie Dixon finished 15th, 16th and 17th in times of 1:33.47, 1:33.48 and 1:33.49.

With the Men’s speed events now complete the Women’s World Cup now moves to Lake Louise while the Men’s side heads to Beaver Creek, Col. before heading off to Europe for more races before the Christmas break.

To follow the Canadian Alpine Ski Team or all the FIS World Cup events visit www.fis-ski.com.

You know winter has truly started in Western Canada when the Lake Louise WinterStart Festival opens the Men’s FIS World Cup Downhill and Super-G season. For many racing fans at Sun Peaks Resort, this means it’s time to see if all that hard training by the Austrians in Sun Peaks each November has paid off. For Canadian racing fans it’s a chance to root for their hometown boys racing on home soil before they head off to the US and Europe as the White Circus rolls along.

With the 2010 Olympics coming home to Whistler in February, this season’s races in Lake Louise held that much more importance. With Canada at the top of its game in Alpine racing over the last several seasons, the 2010 Games are the bull’s eye on their dartboard.

Although snow threatened to cancel the event, Saturday’s downhill had all the best racers in the world chomping at the bit to get the 2009-2010 race season underway. In the end Swiss World Cup veteran Didier Cuche was victorious, followed by Werner Heel of Italy and Swiss teammate Carlo Janka. Canadians John Kucera and Robbie Dixon had strong finishes in sixth and eighth spots while veterans Manuel Osbourne-Paradis and Eric Guay finished in 16th and 21st.

Sunday was a brand new day for the first Super-G race of the season and the Canadian squad was pumped. Manuel Osbourne-Paradis laid down a blistering run to take the lead early in the event nervously waiting as the rest of the field tried to best his time. As fate would have it, it was the extreme misfortune of one of his teammates that may have helped Osbourne-Paradis to gold. Teammate John Kucera took a spill in the Gun Barrel section of the course and broke his leg hitting the safety netting. After a 20-minute delay, the race resumed but none could come close to Manuel’s time. Austria’s Benjamin Raich and Michael Walchhofer were second and third with Canadians Eric Guay and Robbie Dixon finishing fourth and fifth.

While Kucera’s injury was a bitter loss to the Canadian Alpine Team, there was a bright spot shining over young Robbie Dixon all weekend. A dark horse last season with some strong finishes from the back of the pack, Dixon showed he’s more than able to now fill the empty spot left by Kucera’s injury.

Although team dynamics may be affected in the short term, the Canadians are on the cusp of a great FIS World Cup and Olympic year. Go Canada go.