Mikayla Martin watched her favourite ski racer, American Lindsey Vonn, win Olympic gold in Whistler before earning two gold medals of her own at the BC Winter Games, which ran in Terrace Thursday to Sunday (Mar. 4 to 7).
Martin won the K1 giant slalom and slalom events for Zone 5 Squamish-Vancouver, having qualified for the provincial competition by winning gold, two silvers and a bronze at Hemlock Valley Resort in January.
She is excited about her results, especially because the BC Winter Games featured stiffer competition, she said.
"It was more challenging and the times were closer together," said Martin, a Grade 7 student at Mamquam Elementary School.
In fact, Martin won the slalom with a time of 47.95 seconds, just two one-hundredths of a second in front of silver medalist Thirza Ross from Chase.
But she earned a more decisive victory in her preferred event, the giant slalom, which includes gates that are spaced at greater distances from each other than those on slalom courses. With a time of two minutes and one second, Martin beat Vancouver's Siobhan Finan by nearly two seconds.
She prefers the giant slalom because it's faster and requires a more aggressive approach.
Although Martin was focused on reaching the podium, she said she used the BC Winter Games as a warm-up for the provincial championships coming up at Red Mountain near Rossland on March 19 and 20.
A member of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, Martin started racing in the K1 division last year but is loud and clear about what level she wants to someday reach. She said the recent 2010 Winter Games only strengthened that ambition.
