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Jun 27 '16 | By miao1234 | 157

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Canadas freestyle ski team will have a decidedly different look this season. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . The likes of Justine Dufour-Lapointe, Dara Howell and Mikael Kingsbury will be there, but there was one glaring absence on the squad unveiled Wednesday. Two-time Olympic moguls gold medallist Alex Bilodeau retired after the last World Cup season, leaving a big hole on the team as it begins the long road to the 2018 Games in South Korea. Bilodeau became the first Canadian to win Olympic gold on home soil with his memorable victory at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, and he repeated the performance in Sochi earlier this year. Kingsbury, who battled Bilodeau for the last few years and finished second in Russia this winter, says he will miss competing against his rival. The first couple World Cups, Im going to miss somebody to look up to and to learn from. Hes been a great athlete, Kingsbury said on a conference call. He pushed me. Since I was very young, he was my role model. Kingsbury is a three-time overall World Cup champion, and while he and Bilodeau were friends away from the hill, they were fierce opponents on it. Im going to miss him in a way, but in another way he was one of the strongest competitors to have, said Kinsbury, a native of Deux Montagnes, Que. Im going to try to have new motivation, to continue to push and work hard to stay ranked first in the world. Kingsbury, who turns 22 next week, said Bilodeaus retirement doesnt open any doors because hes already had a lot of success in his young career. He was the star for sure. He won the Olympics in Vancouver -- first (Canadian) gold medallist to win on home soil -- and Sochi, Kingsbury said. He won the two days that he needed to win, but at the same time I dont think its my turn to shine because I won the Crystal Globe and he was there, I won the world championship and he was there. At the Olympics he did his run. I tried everything I could to win but he had the run that he needed and he totally deserved it. Like the rest of the freestyle ski team, Kingsburys focus is primed on training for the coming season, with thoughts of the 2018 Olympics in South Korea also lingering. I just want to continue what Ive been doing, and not do more because Alex is not there, he said. If he would have continued I would have been super happy and still would have worked hard to win the gold medal in 2018. Thats my next plan. Its four years -- four years is long. Im going to be ready for 2018 but theres many things to come. Dufour-Lapointe won gold in Sochi in womens moguls, and will now take it one year at a time as she starts to build towards the next Games. The same is true of teammate Audrey Robichaud, who finished 10th in the womens moguls in Sochi. Personally I feel like Im still on a high from the Olympics, said Robichaud, a native of Quebec City. What keeps me going is I feel like I can still get better and theres room for improvement. Also headlining the Canadian team for the 2014-15 season is Howell, who topped the podium in womens slopestyle in Sochi, Chloe Dufour-Lapointe -- the silver medallist in moguls behind her younger sister at the Games -- and Kim Lamarre, who finished third in slopestyle. The other Sochi medallist on this years team is Mike Riddle, who took silver in halfpipe. The rest of the Canadian freestyle team for the upcoming year includes: aerial skiers Travis Gerrits, Olivier Rochon, Jean-Christophe Andre and Sabrina Guerin; halfpipe skiers Mike Riddle, Justin Dorey, Simon dArtois, Rosalind Groenewoud, Keltie Hansen, Megan Gunning; slopestyle skiers Alex Beaulieu-Marchand, Alex Bellemare, Evan McEachran and Kaya Turski; and moguls skiers Marc-Antoine Gagnon, Philippe Marquis and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe. Cheap Authentic Jerseys . -- Colorado Avalanche forward P. Wholesale Jerseys . Hockey Canada announced the roster on Monday, naming 15 forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders to the team. For additional coverage, watch SportsCentre and Thats Hockey for in-depth reports and analysis.Larisa Yurkiw believed she should compete with the best in the world in the Olympics, and shell get that chance Wednesday in the womens downhill at Rosa Khutor. When the best Canadian womens speed racers from the 2010 Winter Olympics soon retired and Yurkiw endured injury woes with after effects that extended into years, official Alpine Canada funding dried up. The dollars were targeted at the emerging women on the team, all technical specialists. Yurkiw poured tens of thousands of her own dollars into a bid to make the Sochi Olympics, and raised more than six figures from private individuals and businesses to back her quest. Racing as an independent under coach Kurt Mayr, Yurkiw earned Tier 1 qualification for Sochi with a pair of top 12 results this season, a seventh-place finish in the season-opening downhill in Lake Louise, Alta., and a sixth place at Altenmarkt, Austria last month. The Owen Sound, Ont., native was aiming to compete at the Vancouver Games but tore up her left knee in a crash in December 2009. Yurkiw didnt participate in a full season again until 2012-13, but didnt crack the top 20 in any races, which put her at a career crossroads at just 25 years of age. In what seemed like another cruel blow after all her hard work, Yurkiw went down in a training run in Sochi last week. But she recovered to post the ninth fastest time in the last training session. The contenders There wont be a repeat Olympic downhill champion as American ski star Lindsey Vonn of the United States underwent knee surgery, but 2010 silver medallist Julia Mancuso and bronze recipient Liz Goergl are competing in Russiaa. Cheap Jerseys. Both are capable of getting back to the podium. Mancuso hasnt enjoyed great World Cup results this season, but now owns four career Olympic medals after earning a bronze in Mondays super-combined. The Hawaiian resident did so on the strength of a downhill that was nearly a half-second faster than the next best skier, Lara Gut of Switzerland. Goergls two World Cup wins this season (one downhill, one super-G) have come in the last month, while Gut, Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden of Austria and Slovenias Tina Maze also own downhill wins this season. Maria Hoefl-Riesch, with three, is the only skier with multiple downhill wins this season. The German veteran would have to be considered co-favourite along with Mancuso for the downhill, after winning her third career Olympic gold medal in Mondays super-combined. She is also the overall World Cup points leader. Dominique Gisin of Switzerland hasnt been on the World Cup podium since late 2011, but served notice she could be a factor with a winning training session earlier this week. Anna Wenninger of Austria and Elena Fanchin of Italy are also contender, each having been on the World Cup podium twice in downhill this season, though not yet in the top spot. Tina Weirather under normal circumstances would be considered a strong medal contender after racking up nine World Cup podiums this season, including four in the downhill. But the skier from tiny Liechtenstein, who suffered a serious injury that put her on the sidelines just days before the 2010 Olympics, is uncertain to compete after hurting her leg in a weekend training session. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale JerseysCheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '

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