Windermer skier grabs World Cup silver

Tenth ranked in ski cross, Hoffos saves season with penultimate podium apperance

By Steve Hubrecht steve@columbiavalleypioneer.com

Windermere Olympian Courtney e 25-year-old took the podium on March 17 following the second to last race of the season in Craigleith, Ontario. A “sparkling finish” to what was otherwise a tough season, she said. e silver was Hoffos’ first podium of the year — a long-awaited result, she said e course in Craigleith was “turn-y and hectic,” said Hoffos of her first visit to the course. ere was an unusually steep pitch and more linked giant slalom than normal.

Hoffos finally grabbed the success she was looking all season and it came during the penultimate race of the 2022-2023 World Cup ski cross season — her first medal of the season, a silver.

“I’ve been skiing fine, but not hitting the marks I want to,” said Hoffos. e difference between skiing well from a technical perspective and earning less-thandesired results became “frustrating” as the winter wore on, she said.

Hoffos was born in Invermere, grew up in Windermere, began skiing with the Windermere Valley Ski Club when she was six years old, and graduated from David ompson Secondary School (DTSS).

Since then she’s been pursuing her ski cross career, but still returns to the valley, where her family lives, any time she’s not training or skiing with the Canadian team. Alpine Canada lists Windermere as her hometown.

“ e flow was very fast paced, and there was not a lot of space between features. It was constant.” is, she outlined, meant a lot of technical skills were needed to ski the course well, which suits her skiing style. In addition warm weather softened the course and made it bumpy. “It was a bit of a battlefield out there,” she said

Her final race of the season came the following day at Craigleith. Hoffos’ follow up was a seventh-place finish to close out the 2022/2023 World Cup season.

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