Anderson, Maltais, Calve among 19 named to Canada’s snowboard team

QUEBEC CITY, Que. – Defending Olympic gold medallist Jasey-Jay Anderson and 2010 Olympians Dominique Maltais and Caroline Calve are among 19 athletes added to Canada’s Olympic snowboard team.

Anderson, from Mont-Tremblant, Que., claimed gold in the men’s parallel giant slalom at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and is a four-time world champion.

Maltais, from Petite-Riviere-St-Francois, Que., won bronze in snowboardcross at the 2006 Turin Games and silver at the 2013 world championships. She’ll be looking to rebound for a disappointing Olympics in 2010 where she failed to qualify for the snowboardcross final.

Calve, from Aylmer, Que., became the first Canadian to win a women’s parallel giant slalom world cup event in 2011 at Carezza, Italy. She recently took gold there again in December.

“Going to Sochi is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one that I am honoured to have been chosen for,” Calve said. “I have been working on perfecting my game for such a long time now and am excited to be competing against the world’s best.

“It will be an honour to be representing Canada at the Olympics.”

Also named were: Jenna Blasman (Kitchener, Ont.); Alexandra Duckworth (Kingsburg, N.S.); Ariane Lavigne (Lac Superieur, Que.); Marianne Leeson (Burlington, Ont.); Mercedes Nicoll (Whistler, B.C.); Katie Tsuyuki (Toronto); Rob Fagan (Cranbrook, B.C.); Kevin Hill (Vernon, B.C.); Jake Holden (Caledon, Ont.); Michael Lambert (Toronto); Crispin Lipscomb (Whistler, B.C.); Derek Livingston (Aurora, Ont.); Brad Martin (Ancaster, Ont.); Matt Morison (Burketon, Ont.); Maxence Parrot (Bromont, Que.); and Charles Reid (Mont-Tremblant).

They will join defending Olympic snowboardcross champion Maelle Ricker of West Vancouver, B.C., and first-time Olympians Mark McMorris of Regina, Sebastien Toutant of L’Assomption, Que., Spencer O’Brien of Courtenay, B.C., and Calgary’s Chris Robanske, who were named to the team earlier this month.