VALMALENCO, ITA – The final event of the 2015 Junior World Championships took place Wednesday, as ski cross victories for India Sherret (CAN) and Tyler Wallasch (USA) closed out nine days of Freestyle action in Valmalenco, Italy.

Sherret is considered to be one of the top Canadian development team athletes, and came into Valmalenco on a streak that saw her win both the Canadian and Italian national championships as well as score a second place result at the Swiss national championships immediately before arriving for competition at the JWCs.

However, in her big final heat, Sherret found herself matched up against both the German and Swedish national champions in Daniela Maier (GER) and Alexandra Edebo (SWE), as well as the top 2014/15 Europa cup skier in Katherina Tordi (GER).

Despite the stacked field of future World Cup stars, 18-year-old Sherret was able to come out on top, taking gold for a Canadian team that has seen a decline in numbers on its ladies ski cross roster over the past few seasons. Maier would take silver for the promising German squad, Edebo bronze, and Tordi would be forced to settle four fourth place.

In the men's competition, Tyler Wallasch was the recipient of some good fortune on his way to claiming the biggest victory of his career, as French skier Youri Duplessis Kergomard was disqualified for illegal contact in their quarter final heat, moving Wallasch from third to second and through to the semi-finals.

In the big final, Wallasch would be matched up against the relatively unheralded Tim Hronek (GER), big Russian Artem Kostenko, and the upstart Canadian Kristofor Mahler.

20-year-old Mahler, who has only been competing in FIS-sanctioned ski cross events since January of this year, is clearly one to watch. He won all of his heats on the way to the final and was leading the big final up until the final few corners before slipping out and letting the rest of the competitors through.

Wallasch, just behind Mahler before his mistake, was able to slide past and hold on to the lead through the final few seconds of the race to claim the gold medal.

Hronek, in second, added another silver to Germany's medal haul for the day, Kostenko was able to claim third place and the bronze, and Mahler was left with a disappointing fourth-place result on a day where he looked sure to take the win.

With the final results of the 2015 junior worlds in, the tabulations were made to determine the winner of the 2015 Marc Hodler trophy for the standout nation of the championships. With the addition of Wallasch's win, the USA was able to claim this year's trophy with 129 points, followed closely by Russia with 109, and France in a distant third place with 49 points.

FIS news
01 April 2015 16:43

RESULTS

FIS Junior World Ski Championships - Men's Ski Cross
Chiesa in Valmalenco (ITA) 01.04.2015
Race codex : 8545

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Result Level Points
  1  5  2529201 WALLASCH Tyler  1994  USA       360.00
  2  17  2530943 HRONEK Tim  1995  GER       288.00
  3  3  2528564 KOSTENKO Artem  1994  RUS       216.00
  4  2  2532050 MAHLER Kristofor  1995  CAN       180.00
  5  13  2528266 ZOOLER Bryan  1994  SUI       162.00
  6  9  2531605 BONNEFOND Tom  1995  FRA       144.00
  7  14  2532017 GUIPPONI BARFETY Morgan  1995  FRA       129.60
  8  18  2529928 BRADY Matt  1994  CAN       115.20
  9  6  2528377 HULT Otto  1994  SWE       104.40
  10  23  2532585 HUBER Fabian  1997  AUT       93.60
  11  24  2531539 SIEBENHOFER Sandro  1997  AUT       86.40
  12  1  2529333 RENN Marzellus  1995  GER       79.20
  13  7  2530502 MOZHAEV Evgeniy  1996  RUS       72.00
  14  11  2529138 GIBSON Adam  1995  CAN       64.80
  15  8  2528099 GARNER Lee  1995  AUS       57.60
  16  10  2532384 SEITZ Anton Felix  1995  AUT       54.00
  17  16  2529604 LEHIKOINEN Niki  1996  FIN       50.40
  18  19  2530127 HOLMBERG Anders  1996  SWE       46.80
  19  20  2531933 PAP Koppany  1996  HUN       43.20
  20  22  2532097 CRAWFORD Douglas  1998  AUS       39.60
  21  28  2530399 OMELIN Igor  1995  RUS       36.00
  22  31  2529952 ZORZI Edoardo  1996  ITA       32.40
  23  15  2530378 GOLOB Nik Gal  1996  SLO       28.80
  24  21  2531792 GUNSCH Yanick  1997  ITA       25.20
  25  25  2532676 SKAZA Ziga  1997  SLO       21.60
  26  26  2531123 NABIULIN Artem  1996  RUS       18.00
  27  27  2531472 VALDES Joaquin  1997  CHI       16.20
  28  29  2531585 HAYES Michael  1997  USA       14.40
  29  30  2531359 HOEN Benoit  1994  FRA       12.96
  30  32  2529571 BABAKIN Danil  1996  KAZ       11.52
  31    2528654 FROST Axel  1995  SWE       10.08
  32    2531517 HENZI Nicolas  1996  SUI       9.36
  33    2531763 MOBAERG Erik  1997  SWE       8.64
  34    2529713 WILMSMANN Florian  1996  GER       7.92
  35    2529834 WILLOWS Laurence  1996  GBR       7.20
  36    2528545 PIETZKO Franz  1994  GER       7.09
  37    2532184 STROS Luka  1998  SLO       6.98
  38    2529700 HILL Max  1996  AUS       6.88
  39    2530633 HAN Sang-Hyun  1995  KOR       6.77
  40    2531354 FURUNO Tetsuya  1997  JPN       6.66
  41    2530782 SOLER Eduardo  1996  CHI       6.55
  42    2530780 VANDEVELDE Patrick  1995  BEL       6.44
  43    2532638 POPOV Vladimir  1994  BUL       6.34
  44    2528447 ALLEN Sam  1994  GBR       6.23
  45    2532690 LANK Karel  1998  CZE       6.12
  46    2532696 DRTILEK Miroslav  1995  CZE       6.01
  47    2531855 CHOI Ji-Hoon  1996  KOR       5.90
  48    2532118 MALM Russell  1998  USA       5.80
  49    2529619 GARVIE Scott  1996  GBR       0.00
  50    2529572 ALDABERGENOV Madi  1996  KAZ       0.00
  51    2531409 KAIRAT Olzhas  1998  KAZ       0.00
  52    2532119 NEGRIN Roberto  1998  CHI       0.00
  53    2529641 CASAS CORDERO Juan Pablo  1996  CHI       0.00
 Did not finish 
     2532622 ONEAL Danny  1995  USA       
      2532615 HENIG Jakub  1995  CZE       
      2532176 JERSIC Mark  1998  SLO       
      2530206 GIORGI Nicola  1994  ITA       
      2528094 EASDALE Timothy  1994  AUS       
      2531428 WHEELER William  1997  GBR       
      2532700 TONON Andrea  1994  ITA       
      2530785 DUPLESSIS KERGOMARD Youri  1996  FRA       
      2529784 IRELAND Ned  1994  CAN