WHISTLER, BC (April 10, 2010) – Two Italians were joined by an American and a ski racer from Iceland as winners on the second day of competition at the 2010 Whistler Cup. The race for the world’s elite 11 to 14-year-old (K1 and K2) ski racers continued Saturday with girls giant slalom and boys slalom races.
K1 LADIES PODIUM UNCHANGED IN GIANT SLALOM
The podium in today’s ladies one-run giant slalom was identical to yesterday’s kombi with Elisa Fornari keeping her season long win streak in tact.
Fornari finished in one minute 03.95 seconds with Canada’s Mikayla Martin (Squamish, BC) in second just over half a second back.
“It was a really slow, turny course. I am not upset but I thought I could have done better. I feel like I am going to come back for revenge tomorrow. I need to step it up a little but I think I can do it,” said Martin, who skis out of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club.
Mio Arai of Japan was third.
BJARNASON OF ICELAND WINS BOYS K2 SLALOM
Iceland’s Jakob Helgi Bjarnason won today’s boys K2 slalom in a two-run combined time of 1:18.95.
Valentijn Van Der Avoort of the Netherlands claimed second place in 1:19.29 while Nik Sterle of Slovenia moved up from fifth after the opening run to claim third place in a time of 1:20.31.
Fifteen-year-old Alex Kreutz (Vernon, BC) of the Vernon Ski Club was the top Canadian in fifth overall 1:21.03.
“I moved up in the second run, which was nice,” said Kreutz, who was 16th at the opening run.
“It’s a really fun event and good to see where you stand against skiers from the rest of the world. It’s a fun race, the last race of the year and you can just let it all out and that’s what I tried to do,” added Kreutz.
ITALY’S BLENGINI TRIUMPHS IN BOYS K1 SLALOM
Italian Alberto Blengini made it two Italian winners today, improving on a second place finish in yesterday’s boys K1 kombi to win today’s slalom in a two-run combined time 1:07.42. Matej Prielozny of Slovakia finished just 0.1s back in second with Filip Forejtek of the Czech Republic in third.
The top Canadian was yesterday’s winner Keegan Sharp (Invermere, BC) from Team Panorama, placing sixth in 1:08.81.
“It was not my best today. I didn’t charge enough in my first run,” said Sharp, who was eighth after run #1.
“I usually just try to forget about it and focus on the future, on charging in my next race,” said Sharp about how he deals with results he’s not satisfied with.
USA’S SHFFRIN WINS GIRLS K2 GIANT SLALOM
Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States dominated the ladies K2 giant slalom race, finishing first in a time of 1:44.77.
The Burke Mountain Academy ski racer, was 1.64s ahead of Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova with Chiara Mair third 0.01s behind second place.
“Today went really well. I just tried to put it down the hill as fast a possible and it worked out. The conditions were great and the course was great, so it was perfect,” Shiffrin said, who was the slalom and finished with three podiums at last year’s Whistler Cup.
Shiffrin, who also won gold in Italy’s famous Topolino ski race earlier this season, said she was enjoying racing in Whistler.
“Everybody brings the same enthusiasm and focus to skiing. There are definitely similarities although Topolino is a bit bigger,” said Shiffrin,
Alix Wells (Prince George, BC) of the Prince George Ski Club finished as the top Canadian in eighth in a time of 1:49.30.
The girls ski racers conclude the 2010 Whistler Cup with a slalom while the boys have a giant slalom.
The ski race for the world’s elite 11 to 14-year-old ski racers has proven to be a destination of future ski racing champions, with a total of seven of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games medalists at the alpine events having competed in the Whistler Cup including USA’s Linsay Vonn (Kildow) and Julia Mancuso as well as Slovenia’s Tina Maze and Anja Paerson of Sweden.
WHISTLER, BC – APRIL 10, 2010 – GIRLS K2 – GIANT SLALOM
1 9 SHIFFRIN Mikaela USA1 54.04 (1) 50.73 (1) 1:44.77
2 1 VLHOVA Petra SVK1 55.03 (3) 51.38 (2) 1:46.41
3 2 MAIR Chiara AUT1 54.75 (2) 51.67 (5) 1:46.42
WHISTLER, BC – APRIL 10, 2010 – BOYS K2 – SLALOM
1 12 Jakob Helgi Bjarnason ISL1 36.62 (1) 42.33 1:18.95
2 11 Valentijn Van Der Avoort NED1 36.78 (3) 42.51 1:19.29
3 33 Nik Sterle SLO1 37.45 (5) 42.86 1:20.31
WHISTLER, BC – APRIL 10, 2010 – GIRLS K1 – GIANT SLALOM (1 run)
1 8 FORNARI Elisa ITA1 1:03.95 (1)
2 4 MARTIN Mikayla CAN1 1:04.53 (2)
3 9 ARAI Mio JPN1 1:04.65 (3)
WHISTLER, BC – APRIL 10, 2010 – BOYS K1 – SLALOM
1 12 BLENGINI Alberto ITA1 33.11 (1) 34.31 (2) 1:07.42
2 1 PRIELOZNY Matej SVK1 33.66 (5) 33.86 (1) 1:07.52
3 11 FOREJTEK Filip CZE1 33.35 (3) 34.39 (3) 1:07.74
NATION POINTS SO FAR
|
1. |
CAN1 |
Canada 1 |
171 |
|
2. |
ITA1 |
Italy 1 |
149 |
|
3. |
AUT1 |
Austria 1 |
107 |
|
4. |
SVK1 |
Slovakia 1 |
97 |
|
5. |
JPN1 |
Japan 1 |
90 |
|
6. |
USA1 |
USA 1 |
81 |
|
7. |
CZE1 |
Czech Republic 1 |
67 |
|
8. |
SPA1 |
Spain 1 |
60 |
|
9. |
AUS1 |
Australia 1 |
53 |
|
10. |
NED1 |
Netherlands 1 |
49 |
|
11. |
SLO1 |
Slovenia 1 |
48 |
|
12. |
CRO1 |
Croatia 1 |
47 |
|
13. |
ISL1 |
Iceland 1 |
33 |
|
14. |
RUS1 |
Russia 1 |
15 |