WHISTLER, B.C (Mar. 15, 2011) – The Canadian women’s team took the first two positions in the women’s slalom as their teammates were off the pace, and the podium, in the men’s giant slalom, to kick start the Northwest Funds Coupe Nor-Am finals Tuesday on Whistler Mountain.
Ontario’s Erin Mielzynski (Georgian Peaks/Collingwood) and Elli Terwiel, of Sun Peaks, BC (Sun Peaks Alpine Club) – both fresh off the World Cup circuit – finished 1-2 in a tight women’s race that saw the first three women separated by only 0.27 seconds. U.S. Ski Team skier Resi Stiegler finished third.
“This race was quite important to me because I’m trying to stay top-two in the Nor-Am standings which will get me a World Cup spot for next year, so this is a step in the right direction,” said Terwiel who is now in second place with 266 points in the overall slalom standings – 83 points behind first place Mikaela Shiffrin from the USA. The ladies take part in one final slalom race on Wednesday.
“The conditions were really tough today and you really had to ski aggressively and also smart”, added Terwiel.” You couldn’t let yourself get too out of control. I think that coming from B.C. these are conditions that probably suit me more than people from other provinces because I ski in soft snow a lot.”
For Mielzynski, a sophomore on the World Cup circuit, the win capped a season spent mostly in Europe.
“My Nor-Am season didn’t start out that well because we’ve been in Europe so much,” said Mielzynski, 22. “I did the first two races in Colorado and I didn’t do that well, but today was good.
“The first run was fine. I made one mistake; I put my pole between my legs. The second run was more solid. The snow has made the conditions difficult, especially for the later girls. It kind of gets rougher and rougher, but I love Whistler and I love being here.”
For the B.C. Alpine skiers, Mackensey Young (Fernie, B.C.) led the pack, finishing 24 overall after starting the race with bib No. 66. Whistler Mountain Ski Club racers Rae Swette and Charley Field were next, finishing 29 and 34 respectively, followed by Kailee Darlington (Whistler, B.C.) and Celine Rytz (Fernie, B.C.) in 24th and 26th.
The U.S. men’s team dominated the wet and snowy conditions on the men’s giant slalom race on the Raven-Ptarmigan track, taking the top six positions. American team veteran Tim Jitloff won the race with an impressive two minutes, 3.38 seconds, just ahead of teammates Tommy Ford and David Chodounsky.
Mont Tremblant, Quebec’s Jeffery Frisch was the top Canadian with a time of 2:06.46, followed by Alpine Canada Prospect Group’s Phil Brown and Erik Read, both of Alberta. B.C.’s own Morgan and Conrad Pridy had a solid day, finishing 15th and 25th respectively.
Volunteers worked hard on the two race tracks to make the conditions as fair and secure as possible after heavy snow fall the past few days.
“Even with the bad conditions you have to have your objectives at the beginning of the day and then go with it,” added Frisch. “The weather was okay, it was the same for everybody. It’s actually a really good hill with great volunteers and they’ve done a good job to pull off the race today.”
The ladies will race another slalom event Wednesday and the men will compete in giant slalom.
COMPLETE OFFICIAL RESULTS (when available)
NOR-AM CUP FINALS
Slalom, Ladies – Whistler, B.C. (UNOFFICIAL RESULTS)
Mar. 15, 2011
1 19 MIELZYNSKI, Erin CAN SR 57.19 (7) 46.87 (1) 1:44.06
2 1 TERWIEL, Elli CAN SR 56.80 (4) 47.38 (2) 1:44.18
3 9 STIEGLER, Resi USA SR 55.38 (1) 48.95 (4) 1:44.33
4 2 STAPLES, Kiley USA SR 57.03 (6) 48.08 (3) 1:45.11
5 6 SHIFFRIN, Mikaela USA J1 55.74 (2) 49.64 (13) 1:45.38
6 7 MCLEISH, Madison CAN J2 56.92 (5) 48.96 (5) 1:45.88
7 21 DELANEY, Devin USA J2 58.98 (11) 49.20 (7) 1:48.18
8 8 FORD, Julia USA SR 58.58 (9) 49.84 (15) 1:48.42
9 12 ROTH, Julia CAN J2 58.79 (10) 50.02 (16) 1:48.81
10 14 IDE, Maisie USA J2 1:00.15 (12) 48.97 (6) 1:49.12
BC Results:
2 1 TERWIEL Elli 1989 CAN 56.80 47.38 1:44.18
23 66 YOUNG Mackensey 1992 CAN 1:03.85 50.74 1:54.59
27 69 SWETTE Rae 1995 CAN 1:04.75 52.81 1:57.56
28 71 FIELD Charley 1995 CAN 1:04.69 52.88 1:57.57
33 67 DARLINGTON Kailee 1994 CAN 1:05.33 53.82 1:59.15
35 50 RYTZ Celine 1992 CAN 1:06.72 53.47 2:00.19
Did not finish 2nd run
51 FREEMAN Sarah 1992 CAN
Did not finish 1st run
62 RAMSDEN Jocelyn 1993 CAN
34 ELLIOT Sarah 1992 CAN
Giant Slalom, Men – Whistler, B.C. (UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Mar. 15, 2011
1 19 JITLOFF, Tim USA SR 1:02.53 (3) 1:00.85 (1) 2:03.38
2 3 FORD Tommy USA SR 1:02.43 (2) 1:01.38 (2) 2:03.81
3 23 CHODOUNSKY, David USA SR 1:02.81 (4) 1:01.41 (3) 2:04.22
4 5 GREGORAK, Will USA SR 1:02.34 (1) 1:02.04 (4) 2:04.38
5 2 BIESEMEYER, Thomas USA SR 1:02.85 (5) 1:03.52 (14) 2:06.37
6 1 CHRISTIANSON, Charles USA SR 1:02.95 (6) 1:03.46 (12) 2:06.41
7 20 FRISCH, Jeffrey CAN SR 1:03.73 (8) 1:02.73 (6) 2:06.46
8 13 BROWN, Philip CAN J2 1:03.90 (10) 1:03.07 (8) 2:06.97
9 15 READ, Erik CAN J2 1:04.02 (14) 1:03.36 (11) 2:07.38
10 12 TARBERRY, Ace USA SR 1:04.03 (15) 1:03.49 (13) 2:07.52
BC Results:
15 54 PRIDY Morgan 1990 CAN 1:05.26 1:02.72 2:07.98
25 56 PRIDY Conrad 1988 CAN 1:05.14 1:04.44 2:09.58
51 48 ZAITSOFF Sasha 1990 CAN 1:06.89 1:07.33 2:14.22
Did not qualify 1st run
91 MOES Sebastian 1991 SWE
Did not finish 1st run
74 WERRY Tyler 1991 CAN
57 THOMSEN Benjamin 1987 CAN
53 SWETTE Ford 1993 CAN