Olympic Preview - Sibling Rivalry

Though Mike and Britt Janyk were born in Vancouver, their parents moved the family to Whistler so the siblings – then in their teens – could focus on competitive skiing. A seemingly extreme step, it felt like par for the course to the sibling skiers.

Come February, they’ll have home-field advantage when the Olympics take place in Vancouver and Whistler. Below, brother Mike Janyk discusses his career thus far, sibling rivalry and how it will feel to have the world’s biggest stage in his own backyard.

Lifestyle Magazine: You come from a family with a storied skiing history. [Their mother, Andrée, was a member of the national alpine ski team in the ’60s; their grandfather was Hungarian-born skier Peter Vajda.] Was getting into skiing something you wanted to do, something you felt you had to do, or both? 

Mike Janyk: Getting into skiing as a recreational sport was not an option for us. Since my parents were big skiers, they obviously wanted to ski with us as soon as possible. So we ended up growing up on skis and loving it. There’s not many things parents can do with their kids every weekend of the winter, and for us kids, we loved it because we got to follow our mom – dad took up the rear – down the mountain all the time. As for the racing side of it, we were never pushed into it, my sister and I actually started in the racing program a couple years later than most of the kids we raced with because we were too busy skiing with our parents. We got into racing because a few of our good friends that we went to school with were in the racing program and we wanted to hang and ski with them. It was just a natural move into racing, but once involved, I totally fell in love with it.

LM: Obviously, skiing runs in the family. What’s it like to have an older sibling [Britt is two years older than Mike] who also skis competitively?

MJ: It’s great having my sister do the same thing as me. We were always competitive growing up, but it was more me trying to chase her and keep up with her. I always knew she was going to beat me on skis until we got older and I knew if I could just keep up, I’d be doing great. We live very unique lives: living on the road nine months of the year, being under constant pressure to perform, living out of a bag, and not always getting along with your teammates, who become your extended family. It can be very tough at times, so I think of myself as very lucky that I have someone very close to me, my sister, who I can talk to all the time about the ups and downs that happen in a season – and she totally understands it all.

LM: What’s been the highlight of your career so far?

MJ: I have a few highlights. I was third at the world championships slalom this year in Val d’Isère, France, which was unreal, a dream come true. Going to the Torino Olympics was a huge childhood dream of mine. Even though I didn’t have my best race, the experience was priceless. I was second in a world cup slalom in Beaver Creek (Colorado) in ’06, which was crazy since it was my first world cup podium and 12 of my friends [and some of my family] flew down to see me. Lastly, a really cool highlight was when [Britt] and I both won the Canadian National Championship slalom on the same day, which was my first Canadian Championship win but about the 10th for Britt.

LM: You’ve competed overseas and in Canada. Can you describe the difference?

MJ: Competing at home is cool because you obviously have the hometown crowd and that pumps you up and is totally unique to any other race. But racing in Europe is where the action is. They go crazy for skiing over there... so it’s cool to get that bit of celebrity status. When I’m racing and there are 20 to 50 thousand fans screaming and going nuts for the sport, it brings out a whole new kind of emotion. I was totally taken by it when I raced my first world cups, I couldn’t believe skiing could be so big.

LM: Will competing at home for the Olympics feel different than competing at home in some other international competition?

MJ: I’m not exactly sure how the Olympics will feel, all I have to go off is when we raced the world cups there. I think it will be more calming to race on my home hill, the run I’ve skied my whole life, then if the races were at some other mountain in Canada. I remember getting up to go race that world cup, and stepping out of the gondola I had a feeling of, “Oh this is just another day on Whistler, I know this.” I’m sure there will be a lot more emotion and pressure for the Olympics, but I really think there will be that calming effect of home.

LM: Is it something you think about when you’re at the starting gate, or is it more something to deal with until you get to that point?

MJ: The pressure and the rest is all dealt with before you get in the gate. I always say to myself, just let me get on course, then I’ll be comfortable. When I’m ready to compete and confident that I can ski my best, getting in the gate has a calming effect.

LM: Will Canadian skiers (particularly those from Whistler) have an edge over the competition?

MJ: I think there will be an edge to knowing the courses and the terrain of the hill. Our team has been training on the runs for the last three springs and we’ve learned a lot. Now, whether an athlete can use and take advantage of that edge on race day is up to each skier.

LM: Other than competing, what are you most looking forward to about the Olympic experience?

MJ: I’m excited to see how my hometown deals and puts on the Games. To see all the other athletes in Whistler and what they think of it will be cool. I know it’s going to be great, I mean it’s Whistler, how could it not be?

LM: What’s the first thing you’re going to do after the Olympics are over?

MJ: Hopefully go to my favourite bar in Whistler and celebrate a gold medal with my friends and family.

LM: So – be honest – which Janyk is the better skier?

MJ: Well on the race course I’d definitely say I’d take her down now, but you know my specialty is slalom and hers is downhill so once the speed gets up on a fast downhill track, she might be taking me down. As for just skiing around for fun on Whistler, that’s yet to be decided. I think we’re both behind our mom.