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Two Invermere athletes off to Olympics

Manny Osborne-Paradis and Ben Thomsen to represent Canada in alpine skiing
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Team Canada photo

Two Columbia Valley athletes are going to the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics to represent Team Canada in alpine skiing.

Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Benjamin Thomsen, both of Invermere, will be representing Team Canada at the games for alpine skiing. The announcement of the official team was made by the Canadian Olympic Committee and Alpine Canada Monday, January 29th.

This will be the second Olympic games for Benjamin Thomsen. He attended the 2014 Sochi Olympics for alpine skiing, earning 19th place finish.

Back in 2010 / 11, Mr. Thomsen was permitted to compete on the World Cup circuit, but as an independent, meaning he had no funding from Alpine Canada. Fellow Invermere athlete Manuel Osborne-Paradis stepped in to help out, working out a deal with his own sponsors to funnel funding to Mr. Thomsen. In December, 2010, Mr.Thomsen made good on the investment, earning a breakthrough 16th place finish in the Val Gardena downhill. Following that success he was added to the national team. In 2012, he took a second place finish at the World Cup downhill in Sochi, Russia.

In the 2018 FIS Alpine World Cup series, he finished 20th in Germany, 19th in Austria, and 30th in Italy. He had right knee surgery in spring of 2016, and was back on the snow in November, 2016, returning to competition in January, 2017.

This will be Mr. Osborne-Paradis’ fourth Olympics. He attended Turin in 2006 for alpine downhill, combined, and Super-G; Vancouver 2010 for downhill and Super-G, and Sochi for downhill and Super-G. One of his career highlights was winning super-G bronze at the 2017 FIS World Championships.

Ben Thomsen was announced Monday as part of the Team Canada. Osborne-Paradis was announced previously. See related story here

For the full list of Canadian Alpine Ski Team for 2018 Olympics, see here