Calgary, Canada – Patrick Riml will lead Canada’s Alpine Ski Teams (CAST) in the new position of CAST Athletic Director, the national sport governing body announced this week.nRiml, the Canadian women’s ski team manager the past two seasons, will focus on sustaining efforts that have led to dramatic improvements in performance by Canada’s national alpine ski teams since 2002.

“Patrick has shown tremendous leadership and has a proven track record of success leading teams to Olympic and World Championship success,” said Alpine Canada Alpin (ACA) Chief Athletics Officer Max Gartner. “Having Patrick in this new position will ensure we continue the momentum that Canada’s Alpine Ski Teams have developed with the success in recent years as we shift the focus to a new Olympic cycle.”

Riml, an Austrian native whose wife Jodie is from Lethbridge, Alberta, spent the past two seasons as the manager of the Canadian ladies alpine ski team. He spent seven seasons with the U.S. Ski Team prior to that.

Riml’s coaching accomplishments include coaching Emily Brydon, of Fernie, British Columbia, to World Cup podiums results in Lake Louise on consecutive days – a first by a Canadian female ski racer – as well as Olympic giant slalom gold in 2006 and overall World Cup titles with the U.S. team.

Hugues Ansermoz is returning to Canada’s women’s alpine ski team after spending four successful seasons with the Swiss ski team. Ansermoz spent nine seasons with the Canadian team beginning in 1997, serving in various capacities including the ladies’ team manager. Last season, he led the Swiss women’s ski team to 10 World Cup podiums, including two World Cup victories in the super G.

This week’s announcements complete a new structure within Alpine Canada Alpin’s athletics department, which is now lead by Athletic Directors for CAST, the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team (CPAST) and National development teams.

ACA has also announced that women’s World Cup speed team coach Rob Boyd is moving to a position with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, while Heinzpeter Platter is moving on to skiing-related employment in his home country of Italy.

“I have enjoyed and appreciated my last six years of employment with ACA, working and learning with some of the best athletes and coaches in the world. I am proud to have enjoyed many accomplishments including several podiums and a couple victories,” said Boyd, who is also one of Canada’s all-time most recognizable ski racers with six career World Cup podium results including a downhill victory in Whistler in 1989.

Boyd has taken a position as Sport Development Manager with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club.

“I plan to work with the local race club encouraging and sharing with the athletes and coaches in hopes of creating future champions in ski sports,” said Boyd, a Whistler resident who retired from World Cup competition in 1997 joining the national team in a coaching capacity in 2004.

Platter, the head coach of Canada’s women’s speed team since 2005, has taken a position with aerial lift manufacturer Leitner Lifts, allowing him to be closer to his young family in Europe.

On the ladies’ technical team coaching staff, Mark Sharp, who began coaching with the national ski team in 1995 and has served in a number of different capacities including as a ladies’ technical team coach, is returning to coach for Team Panorama, a ski club near Invermere, British Columbia, that includes Sharp’s son Keegan.