THUNDER BAY – Ella Nichols has already got to experience a lot in her alpine skiing career.
However, the 12-year-old recently accomplished something that very few get to achieve.
The member of the Thunder Bay Franco Alpine Ski Team received the Nancy Greene Raine Award, which is given to the fastest overall Canadian female in the under-14 division, at last month’s Whistler Cup.
“It was really exciting to get that award,” Nichols said. “It was sort of the grand finale to the whole year as that was the last race of the season for me.
“The whole event was pretty cool. There were a lot of different clubs and teams there from all over the world . . . and the racing was really exciting.”
Nichols earned the award thanks to a pair of top 10 finishes at the event. She finished eighth in the slalom and 10th in the giant slalom.
She also competed in a team relay event with fellow Canadian skiers.
“I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped in the giant slalom but I still did okay,” Nichols said.
“The slalom was super hard because of the conditions that day and it was pretty tough to ski on, so I felt like I could have done better there, but I was still able to get in the top 10 in both events so I’m happy about that.”
While Nichols had skied out in the mountains before, this marked her first visit to the legendary British Columbia ski resort.
“It was what I thought it would be like,” Nichols said. “It’s super huge and mountain skiing is so awesome.
“It was really cool to look around the village. I had two days to ski and explore everything, which was a lot of fun.”
In addition to her experiences at the Whistler Cup, Nichols also competed at the Ontario Cup in Collingwood – where she finished second overall – and at the Canadian-American championships in Maine this winter.
She’ll soon be preparing for her second season at the U14 level, but plans to do some mountain biking and exercising during the summer, in addition to taking to the softball diamond.
“I felt like I did pretty well this year, considering that I’m only a first-year skier in this age group,” Nichols said.
“I think next year I’ll have a better chance of ranking higher in those races by having some more experience.”
