Canadian Olympic Snowboard Team announced

Jan 25, 2010

Author: Scott Birke

Québec, QC -- As expected, Jeff Batchelor, Brad Martin and Justin Lamoureux have been nominated to the Canadian Olympic Committee to be on the 2010 Games team for halfpipe. But for the women, it was a bit of a surpise that in addition to Olympic veterans Sarah Conrad and Mercedes Nicoll. 17-year-old Collingwood, Ont. resident Palmer Taylor has also made the pipe team cut.

"I don't want to say I'm 'stoked' since that's what everyone's saying, but that's what I am right now," said Brad Martin on his way from the press conference to the airport. " It's been a long few years of chasing F.I.S. points in contests to get here. It all turned out for me."

In total, for all three disciplines--halfpipe, snowboardcross and parallel giant slalom -- 18 riders were nominated for inclusion to the Olympic team. It'll be the first Games for 21-year-old Jeff Batchelor, who placed second at Friday night's World Cup pipe event at Stoneham, and 17-year-old Palmer Taylor. Dustin Craven, who had put his filming and shooting on hold for the last year was not named to the team.

“The team we have for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is solid, experienced, dynamic and ready to compete for gold, at home, in our backyard. The riders we have selected deserved to be selected following years of hard work, and stellar results in the year leading up to the Olympic Winter Games,” said Christian Hrab, Director of High Performance for Canada~Snowboard (the governing body of snowboarding in Canada--again, not to be easliy confused with Snowboard Canada). According to Canada~Snowboard the objective of the 2010 Canadian Olympic Snowboard team is to win five medals at the Olympic Games.

There were other expected appointments today including Maelle Ricker and Domoinique Maltais making the Women's Snowboardcross team. On the men’s side, four were named: Drew Neilson, Mike Robertson, Robert Fagan and Francois Boivin.

For men's PGS, defending world champion Jasey-Jay Anderson and Matt Morison were shoo-ins after several wins this season, but now Michael Lambert, infamous for his appearances on CTV's Over The Bolts, also made the men's PGS team today, a result no doubt of his win January 17th in Nendaz, Switzerland.

2010 CANADIAN OLYMPIC SNOWBOARD TEAM NOMINATION
NAME                                 DISC. HOMETOWN                            HOW THEY QUALIFIED
CALVÉ, Caroline                  PGS     Montreal/Aylmer, QC                 Other Nomination
CONRAD, Sarah*                HP       Halifax, NS                               Other Nomination
LOO, Alexa*                       PGS     Richmond, BC                          Other Nomination
MALTAIS, Dominique*         SBX     Petite-Rivière St-Francois, QC     Top 5 Nomination
NICOLL, Mercedes*             HP      Whistler, BC                              Other Nomination
RICKER, Maëlle* ^              SBX    West Vancouver, BC                   Top 5 Nomination
TAYLOR, Palmer                  HP      Collingwood, ON                       Other Nomination
ZAKRESKI Kimiko              PGS    Calgary, AB                               Other Nomination

ANDERSON, Jasey-Jay* ^   PGS    Mont-Tremblant, QC                   Defending World Champion
BATCHELOR, Jeff ^            HP      Oakville, ON                              Top 5 Nomination
BOIVIN, François* ^          SBX     Jonquière, QC                           Top 5 Nomination
FAGAN, Robert                  SBX     Squamish, BC                           Top 5 Nomination
LAMBERT, Michael              PGS    Toronto, ON                              Other Nomination
LAMOUREUX, Justin* ^      HP      Squamish, BC                           Top 5 Nomination
MORISON, Matthew ^        PGS    Burketon, ON                            Top 5 Nomination
MARTIN, Brad* ^              HP      Ancaster, ON                             Other Nomination
NEILSON, Drew* ^            SBX    North Vancouver, BC                  Other Nomination
ROBERTSON, Mike             SBX    Canmore, AB                             Top 5 Nomination

Legend:
( * ) : Olympic Winter Games experience
( ^ ) : FIS World Championships medals

COACHES
FAWCETT, Mark                  PGS     Saint-John, NB                         Head Coach, Alpine
JEAN, Sylvain                     PGS     St Férréol Les Neiges, QC          Coach, Alpine
MARKS, Carl                       PGS     Bromont, QC                           Video coach, Alpine
MATHIEU, Marcel                SBX     France                                    Head Coach, Snowboardcross
BRUNNER, Rene                 SBX     Austria                                    Coach, Snowboardcross
MILNE, Tim                        SBX     Whistler, BC                             Coach, Snowboardcross
HUTCHINSON, Tom             HP       Val David, QC                          Head Coach, Halfpipe

DeCOSTE, Kris HP Thornbury, ON Coach, Halfpipe

FULTON, Jesse                    HP       Orangeville, ON                        Coach, Halfpipe

SUPPORT STAFF
LEBRUN, Connie                             Edmonton, AB                         Physician
COX, David                                    North Vancouver, BC                Clinical Sport Psychologist
HELLIER, Marilyn                            Whistler, BC                            Head Physiotherapist
MORO, Vas                                    Whistler, BC                             Physiotherapist
OSBORNE, Heidi                            Calgary, AB                              Physiotherapist
HRAB, Christian                             Vancouver, BC                          Team Leader
M’SEFFAR, Nadia                            Vancouver, BC                         Team Manager
JONCAS, Robert                            Vancouver, BC                           Team Manager
NAPERT-FRENETTE, Guy                Calgary, AB                               Media Attaché

2010 Canadian Olympic Snowboard Team – By the Numbers
37: Oldest rider: Alexa Loo (PGS)
17: Youngest: Palmer Taylor (HP)
27.5: Average age
18: Total number of riders
8: Total number of women
10: Total number of men
8: Number of riders for whom this will be therir First time at the Olympics
17: Number of riders with World Cup podiums
60: Number of World Cup victory
169: Combined numbers of World Cup podiums
10: Number of riders with OWG starts
1: Number of riders with OWG medals (Dominique Maltais, Bronze, 2006)
15: Total number of OWG Starts
17: Number of riders with FIS World Snowboard Championships starts
8: Number of riders with FIS World Snowboard Championships medals
87: Total number of FIS World Snowboard Championships starts
6: Number of riders from British Columbia
5: Number of riders from Ontario
4: Number of riders from Québec
2: Number of riders from Alberta
1: Number of riders from Nova Scotia