The action was fast and furious in Saturday's ski cross at Cardrona Alpine Resort in the 2010 FIS Junior World Championships with Switzerland and Norway taking out the honors.

The battle in the ladies' final was fierce with Fanny Smith (SUI) demonstrating how she has earned her world top five ranking. After a bad start, she soon took the lead with Katrin Ofner (AUT) hot on her heals, a mistake on the second to last jump saw her lose her lead with Ofner taking full opportunity. However Smith's experience kicked in and she reined in Ofner, taking a smart line on the last berm putting her across the finish line in first place. Meanwhile the battle for second and third was taking place behind her with Ofner just taking silver ahead of Yulia Livinskaya (RUS) whilst Violetta Kovalskaya (RUS) came in fourth.

"It was a great race and very tough," said Smith. "I didn't start as well as I could have but I came here to win and I knew that I must win so I did everything I could and it worked!"

The men's race was equally competitive with Norwegian Didrik Bastian Juell taking the title after qualifying in third. After a physical top third of the course where he worked his way up from fourth to first, his teammate, Morten Ring Christensen and Georgy Kornilov (RUS) were always close behind. By the second half of the course he had extended his lead slightly to give him a comfortable finish and the world championship title. Anton Grimus of Australia took fourth.

"My day didn't start out as well as it could have and that's why I'm so surprised to have won," said Juell. "But I got a few good starts in the heats which helps a lot. In the final, there was a bit of contact at the start but I came out of that OK and for the rest of the final I kept waiting for someone to overtake me but they never did! It's amazing and I never expected this - it's quite a shock!"

The course was adapted slightly from last Sunday's snowboard cross taking into account the skiers were travelling at higher speeds. The angles were decreased angles on the take-offs as so the skiers flew longer rather than higher

Joe Fitzgerald, FIS Freestyle Coordinator, said the course was an excellent world championship course. "It's very nice, smooth, exciting course and it was noted by one of the Olympic skiers that is very similar to the Olympic course with the banks and flow."

The freestyle ski action continues Sunday in Cardrona's superpipe starting at 10.00am.

FIS news
27/08/2010

Canada, USA triumph in junior ski half-pipe

Noah Bowman (CAN) and Britta Sigourney (USA) were crowned as the 2010 FIS junior world champions in the ski half-pipe.

A heavy overnight snowfall delayed start while the pipe was emptied of snow but by 1.00pm competition was underway for a two-run final.

Bowman threw down the run of the day in his first run, which in hindsight was good planning on his part. A huge left 5 mute into a right 7 tail, into a switch left 7 mute, right 5 reverse mute, left 9 tail, perfectly executed earned him 40.5. Walter Wood of USA and Kristopher Atkinson of Canada took second and third respectively.

Stop-start conditions and eventual dense fog saw the men's finals being decided on just one run causing disappointment among competitors who didn't land their first run which included one of the top riders, Byron Wells (NZE).

"I wasn't too worried about the weather," said Bowman. "I did a safer run for my first run and was planning to do a harder one second time round but luckily I scored well on that first run."

The ladies' event was one rider short of completion and Devin Logan (USA) waited over two hours for a gap in the fog to complete her second run. However, Mother Nature wasn't her side and the women's event also reverted to a one run final. While Sigourney had put down her highest scoring run in her second run, her first attempt was also enough to earn her first place with 41.1 with a left 5, alleyoop, straight tail mute, alleyoop 5 finishing with a straight 7.

"It was a little challenging out there at first with the pipe being stuck in a big cloud but I was really glad we got to do the competition," said Sigourney. "I'm stoked with my results and it was too bad Devin didn't get to do her second run after waiting so long."

Hannah Haupt (USA) took second and Devin Logan rounded out the podium in third.

At the end of competition the USA were announced as recipients of the Marc Hodler Trophy as the most successful nation in the Freestyle events. "We're excited and really proud to have represented the USA the way we did," Cheryl Pearson, USA freestyle program manager. "The kids stayed focused and stuck to their game plans throughout the competition and were in the top six in every event. We'd also like to thank the organizing committee for running such an excellent event."

The final event of the 2010 FIS Snowboard & Freestyle Junior World Championships is the snowboard big air on Tuesday 31 August with live music and the official closing ceremony.

FIS news
27/08/2010

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