Michael Janyk

Biography

One of the finest male technical skiers Canada has produced, Mike Janyk had a historic breakthrough at the 2009 World Championships. His bronze was the first medal ever won by a Canadian man in the slalom at the world championships. Two seasons earlier, Janyk had made himself one of the Canadian Cowboys by winning his first career World Cup medal, slalom silver at Beaver Creek. Canadian Cowboys is the name given to the current members of the Canadian men’s alpine ski team who have won a World Cup, world championship or Olympic medal. In 2006-07, Janyk provided one of the 12 World Cup medals won by the Cowboys. A three-time Olympian, at Vancouver 2010 Janyk was able to share the experience with his older sister Britt. They had grown up skiing the mountains at Whistler, where the family had moved when Janyk was 13. At Sochi 2014 he produced the best Canadian result in the slalom, finishing 16^th. Janyk had a bit of an off-year in 2012-13, recording just three World Cup results and none in the top-10. He has finished in the top-10 a total of 27 times during his World Cup career, all in the slalom. At the 2013 World Championships, Janyk finished 14^th in the slalom while battling a painful rib sprain that had occurred earlier in the week.

Getting to know…

Getting Into Sport: The Janyk family moved from West Vancouver to Whistler in 1995 so that Mike and Britt could pursue their skiing… Andree had skied competitively as a youth and became a ski instructor… Sometimes she would allow her children to skip school and have extended skiing weekends as long as their grades remained high… Outside Interests: In 2007 he joined teammate Manuel Osborne-Paradis in awarding an annual bursary to hardworking young ski racers in BC… In the spring of 2008 they turned it into a four-day all expenses paid ski camp for 10 up-and-coming young ski racers… Mike and Manny’s Cowboy Camp celebrated its sixth anniversary in 2013 with 16 skiers from around Canada who would not otherwise be able to afford off-season skiing, particularly with coaching from elite international competitors… Odds and Ends: Nickname: Seagull, because he’s loud and steals teammates’ food… Knows every line of the Jim Carrey movie Ace Ventura… Superstitions change from season to season, but if something works he will stick with it, whether it’s playing the same song before each race or wearing the same clothes…