West Vancouver multi-sport star Georgia Simmerling appears poised to add another great chapter to her unique Olympic story after winning medals in two straight World Cup ski cross races to close out 2017.
The podium placings come less than two months before the Winter Olympic Games are set to begin in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Simmerling began her mountain assault on Dec. 21 with a second-place showing in Innichen, Italy. She survived a rough semifinal to make the final where she skied into the lead early but was passed by Germany’s Heidi Zacher who went on to win the race. Simmerling stayed strong the rest of the way, racing home in second spot for her first podium placing of the season.
One day later she was back at it in Innichen, skiing well through several races to make the final. In the big race Simmerling found herself in a battle with Switzerland’s Fanny Smith at the finish line, reaching out to beat her by a fingertip in a photo finish for third place. Simmerling now has nine career World Cup podiums in her career, four of which have come in Innichen.
The recent strong showings bode well for Simmerling as she looks to add to her already unmatched Olympic resume. The Grouse Tyee Ski Club racer competed in alpine skiing in Whistler at the 2010 Winter Olympics before switching to ski cross in 2014. She then made an even bigger jump, earning a place on the Olympic track cycling team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. She made history just by showing up for the event, becoming the first Canadian ever to compete in three different sports in three different Olympic Games, but also earned some hardware along the way, helping Canada win bronze in women’s track cycling team pursuit.
She then jumped right back into the snow, setting her sights on ski cross at the 2018 Games. Simmerling hit the podium twice during the 2016-17 World Cup ski season and has picked up her game even more to start the 2017-18 campaign, placing in the top five – including the two medal showings – in four of the five races during the season-opening Cross Alps Tour which hit Val Thorens, France and Montafon, Austria earlier in the month before arriving in Italy.
The Canadian team came home for the holidays and will be back in action Jan. 13-14 for a pair of races in Idre Fjäll, Sweden, before returning to Canada for the final pre-Olympic race at Nakiska Jan. 20. The Olympic ski cross race is scheduled for Feb. 23 at South Korea’s Phoenix Snow Park.
