Alpine skier Philip Brown is hitting the slopes at the World Juniors.
Silverthorn Collegiate Institute grad Philip Brown is pictured training last August at Mt. Hood in Oregon. Brown is currently competing in the World Junior Alpine Championships being held in the Mont Blanc region of the French Alps Jan. 30 to Feb. 6.
Courtesy photo
Always the little guy in a sport where every second and every inch counts, Etobicoke's Philip Brown is proving he can race with the best of them.And he's doing just that with 15 other Canadians who qualified for the World Junior Alpine Championships, taking place Jan. 30 to Feb. 6 in the unforgiving Mont Blanc region of the French Alps.The 18-year-old Silverthorn Collegiate Institute grad, currently ranked first in the country in Giant Slalom (GS), second in Super G and fifth in Slalom, has come into his own since transferring from the provincial team to a private American program, Iced Out Racing, two years ago. The program consists of a travelling team of elite-level skiers between 15 and 17 years old. It's headquartered out of the Colorado area and is headed by 2008 United States Ski Association Coach of the Year Bruce Knoepfel.The provincial program couldn't provide Brown the instruction he needed and the opportunity to grow compared to the smaller, American program."I felt I was not getting the most out of myself, so I looked for another program that would work best for me," he said. "So far it's working out great." Brown, a product of Collingwood's Craigleith Ski Club who started skiing at eight, but only started taking the sport seriously in his Grade 10 year, makes his debut at the four-event world junior championships this year after a breakout year on the slopes.His older sister Kendall is also active in the sport and is currently on scholarship in Utah with Westminster College. He has another sister who isn't involved in the sport competitively.A "nagging" knee injury emerged last season and has done little to sidetrack Brown."I worked very hard in the summer time to rehab it the best that I could, so the pain would not be overwhelming (this season)," said Brown from France. "I'm coming off the strongest season I've ever had, so my confidence level is very high. I know that if I remain confident and don't get intimidated by European ski racing... then I will be great in the races."He's particularly keyed up for the GS event, his strongest of the four and his first event of the competition. "It will be my best opportunity to have a great result," he explained. He is concerned, however, about the downhill event, which he said is his weakest discipline."I don't have much experience in downhill so I'm looking to gain more experience and have some fun," he said. "I do not have high expectations for the downhill event, but I think that if I approach it with an open mind it will work out well."Brown will return to Etobicoke next week where he will regroup before hitting the road again with Iced Out for February and March. The team will unwind in Sweden and Norway in April. "We did this last year and it was a lot of fun and a great experience." The province will also be represented at the competition this week by Craigleith's Madison Irwin from Toronto, Erin Mielzynski from Guelph, Julia Roth from Waterloo and Kelby Halbert from Bradford.