Cook far back in his first World Cup race

By Dan Plouffe

Ottawa’s Dustin Cook kicked off his 2011-2012 FIS Alpine World Cup season this past weekend in Soelden, Austria by competing in the giant slalom and finishing almost two seconds away from the top 30 skiers that get to race in the final run.

Cook was pleased that he skied well on the top portion of the course, but got caught up in the ruts created by skiers in front of him since he had a poor starting position at #68. The Mont Ste. Marie athlete wound up finishing 57th in a time of one minute, 12.94 seconds.

“Finishing that far back is no fun and only provides motivation for me to train harder and do everything I can to be competitive at this level,” the 21-year-old Nepean High School grad writes on his blog at dustincook.ca. “I know I can be in there, and now it’s just the process of doing it.

“I gain experience with every race and put that towards the next one. Nobody said this was going to be easy, but the fight to get where I want to be, has always been rewarding and fun.”

Cook, the 2009-2010 Nor-Am Cup champion, had the best result of 28 in the super combined last season on the World Cup circuit.