Sestriere, Italy – Canada’s skiers made the most of an unexpected day off Friday after snow and thick fog led to the downhill training run being canceled in Sestriere.nMarie-Pierre Préfontaine from Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, and Lac-Etchemin, Quebec skier Marie-Michèle Gagnon completed a couple of slalom runs while their tech coaches watched on, despite the difficult conditions.

“As long as you see the gate in front of you, you are good to train slalom,” said Gagnon. “That’s the beauty of slalom – it doesn’t really matter what the conditions are.”

Georgia Simmerling, of West Vancouver, British Columbia, and prospect athlete Victoria Stevens, from Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, were scheduled to do some giant slalom but due to bad visibility the coaches canceled those plans. Instead, both ladies – who are not known for being slalom skiers – decided to strap on their slalom skis and join the two other Quebec girls.

Whistler’s Britt Janyk, who is hoping to build on last week’s ninth place finish in the Cortina d’Ampezzo super G, didn’t free ski due to the conditions. Instead, she took a bit of a breather and went for a tour in the little town of Sestriere, in search of a good Internet connection.

“It’s a shame I didn’t get to ski today,” said Janyk. “I was mentally prepared to get another run out of the downhill. It’s pretty easy and I knew where I could shed some good time off yesterday’s run.”

The women’s team also took part in video, physiotherapy and dryland training.

“It’s always weird to have days off like this, because every day is so calculated,” added Janyk. “We know what time we have breakfast, lunch and dinner. We know what time we need to get physio, to do our dryland. We have our team meetings and our video sessions. Even our naps are calculated in our schedules.”