Calgary, Canada – Jean-François Rapatel has been hired to the new position of National Athletic Director as Alpine Canada Alpin (ACA) begins a new Olympic cycle by placing renewed emphasis on development programs, the governing body for ski racing in Canada has announced.nRapatel will oversee all aspects of the Canadian development ski racing system in his new role.

ACA Chief Athletics Officer Max Gartner said Rapatel, who has led Canada’s Para-Alpine Ski Team as the CPAST High Performance Director since 2005, has a proven track record of developing a world-class ski racing program.

“JF will be leading a new Prospect Team, working with the leaders at the national and provincial levels to identify elite ski racers and oversee their progression onto the national teams,” said Gartner.

“ACA focused a great deal of energy and resources toward the 2010 Winter Games in the last four years. This is an indication that in the next four years there will be more energy and more resources directed toward athlete development,” he said.

Rapatel led the CPAST team to the overall Nation’s Cup title for the first time in its history in 2009, as well as the first place in the nation’s standings at the 2009 IPC World Championships with 16 medals. At the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada’s para-alpine skiers captured 13 of the host nations 19 medals won, led by Lauren Woolstencroft’s record-setting five gold medal performance.

“In alpine ski racing in Canada, we are lucky to have strong leadership, knowledge and expertise for developing athletes from grassroots all the way to the national team. I have a lot of respect for the leaders we have at every level and I look forward to working with and continuing to learn from all of them. To be successful as a nation in alpine ski racing, we need to capitalize on all the expertise we have in our sport and within the Canadian sport system, by working together to continually improve how we develop our athletes,” said Rapatel.