CALGARY — The coaching staff of the Canadian women’s ski team has been overhauled, with heavyweights who worked with stars Mikaela Shiffrin and Tina Maze joining the organization.
By making the off-season moves, Alpine Canada sent a message that it’s time to push Canada’s women from contenders to conquerors. The skiers agree.
"Our team is young and we’re at a point where we need to step up," slalom racer Erin Mielzynski said. "Instead of defending where we are, we need to chase."
Roland Pfeifer coached U.S. slalom star Shiffrin from 2011 to 2014. The 20-year-old phenom won Olympic and world championship gold as well as a pair of overall World Cup slalom titles during that span.
The U.S. ski team made staff changes midway through last season. Pfeifer was re-assigned to the men’s squad in January.
The Austrian says he jumped to the Canadian team this season because he trusts Alpine Canada athletic director Martin Rufener.
Pfeifer is the head coach of Canada’s seven women, but works primarily with slalom racers. He replaced Jim Pollock, who retired in June after guiding Canada’s women through four Olympic Games and seven world championships.
With Pfeifer came Luca de Marchi, who was a strength and conditioning coach of Shiffrin and the U.S. women’s team.
Canada’s speed program is bare bones with just Valerie Grenier of Mont-Tremblant, Que., racing World Cup downhills Friday and Saturday in Lake Louise, Alta.
Larisa Yurkiw of Owen Sound, Ont., will also race for Canada, but she runs and funds her own program outside Alpine Canada.
Valerio Ghirardi of Italy came on board as a speed coach and also trains giant slalom racers. Ghirardi spent last season coaching Slovenia’s Maze, the reigning downhill and giant slalom Olympic champion who is taking a year off.
Mielzynski of Collingwood, Ont., Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., and Marie-Pier Prefontaine of Saint Saveur, Que., ranked just outside the world’s top 10 at the end of 2014-15.
Mielzyinski, 25, has stood on the podium once since winning a World Cup slalom in 2012. Gagnon, 26, has finished fourth to eighth in 16 World Cup slaloms in her career.
"I did know Erin and Mitch from seeing them on the women’s circuit," Pfeifer said. "It is a very interesting challenge to help them get a little bit better. They’re good. It just takes a little more to make them real good."
Mielzynski finished just outside the medals Sunday when she was fourth in Aspen, Colo. Gagnon was eighth and Mielzynski 10th in another slalom there Saturday. Shiffrin swept both races.
"(Roland) says ‘to beat Mikaela in slalom, you’re going to have to do this and this and this,"’ Gagnon said. "Then I have my mind set on it, am working super-hard towards it and have a purpose.
"For me, I’ve kind of been in the same ranking in the world, between sixth and 15th, for the last few years and I’m really wanting to get on that podium more often.
"It is a work in progress. I can’t expect to start working with Roland and start winning World Cups right away. It’s possible, but I have a lot of work to do and I am intending on doing that over the winter, even between races."
Pfeifer’s goal for Mielzynski is for her skiing to be more effortless.
"If you’re fighting, it’s more fatiguing than if you have a flow and you’re kind of dancing with the hill and letting it guide you," Mielzynski said.
"If I have the guts to make a big change, instead of defending where I am, I can chase Mikaela. The reason we say Mikaela is because she is the standard."
Prefontaine’s strength is giant slalom. The 27-year-old was 15th in the season-opener in Soelden, Austria. Prefontaine didn’t finish her first run last week in Aspen.
"So far, it’s been really good for me to work with Valerio," Prefontaine said. "His personality is super-calm. And he speaks French so that’s kind of nice for me to have."
The Canadian women have talent on the horizon as well. Toronto’s Candace Crawford and Mikaela Tommy of Wakefield, Que., ranked first and second overall respectively on the Nor-Am developmental circuit in 2014-15.
All the more reason to bring in a big name like Pfeifer to get the most out of that talent, said the man who hired him.
"We want to get to the next level," Rufener said. "I believe he is strong. He is a leader. He can do that."