Kelowna’s Ana Large capped off an outstanding season on the slopes with a podium finish at the largest youth ski racing event in North America.
The Apex Ski Club member, representing Team B.C. 1, picked up a third-place finish in the GS race last wekend at the Whistler Cup.
More than 400 racers from 23 countries around the world competed at the event, April 13 to 16.
Big names like Julia Mancuso, Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin, Tina Maze, Christof Innerhofer, Marcel Hirscher and Mathias Meier all competed as young ski racers on these slopes before enjoying World Cup and Olympic glory.
Large secured the third-place finish with Noa Szolas from Hungary taking the gold medal, and Tessa Foote from Ontario narrowly edging Large out to take second.
Large also was the top female points earner on team BC 1 finishing the SL race in 13th position and the Dual SL in 14. Three top 15 finishes in an international event was more than Large anticipated for the weekend.
“I was hoping to make the top 10 in the GS race as it’s my specialty and I knew if I skied well that was possible but I did not anticipate two top 15 results in the SL events,” Large said. “It’s a great feeling to know you can compete with top level athletes from around the world. I am very happy with the weekend it was an amazing experience”.
The Whistler Cup event marks the end of an exceptional season for Ana Large but as she happily explains “Now it’s time to go to work, I want to get stronger through the off season because I have big goals with this sport and big goals mean hard work.”