VALMALENCO, ITALY (March 29, 2013) – Marielle Thompson added a world junior championship gold medal to the silver she won at the senior world championships when she came out on top in Friday’s weather-affected races in Valmalenco, Italy.
The 20-year-old from Whistler, B.C. – who last year became the first Canadian to win an individual ski cross World Cup overall title – won the qualification round as well as her round of 32 heat and quarter-final before fog and snow halted racing. After a long delay, the race was eventually cancelled and Thompson was awarded gold based on her qualification result and her performance in the early heats.
“It’s a nice cap-off to the season,” said Thompson, who struggled at the start of the 2012-13 World Cup season before she rounded into form with three silvers in her last four races, one of which was at the senior world championships in Voss, Norway.
“We did two heats of girls – a round of 32 and then a round of 16. They got half-way through the quarterfinals for the men and then the fog rolled in and the snow. They held off for a while but they ended up calling it.”
Three BC athletes traveled to Valmalenco Italy to compete in the FIS Junior World Ski Cross Championships, Tyler Murray and Sarah Lepine from BCSX and India Sherret from Kimberley Alpine Team/ABSX. All three athletes have had very successful seasons on the Nor-Am circuit. India took the Nor-Am Cup, Sarah came second and Tyler was the highest placed Canadian male.
Alberta Ski Cross racer India Sherret of the Kimberley Alpine Team struggled in the qualification round at World Juniors, but did well in the first two heats and finished eighth overall. Whistler’s Sarah Lepine of Whistler Mountain Ski Club and the B.C. Ski Cross team, was 20th overall and Abby McEwen, of Sunridge, Alta., was 22nd. On the men’s side, Alberta Ski Cross racer Kevin MacDonald, from Mississauga, Ont., was 22nd and Adam Gibson, of Whistler Mountain Ski Club and the B.C. Ski Cross team, was 24th. Fellow Whistler Mountain Ski Club/B.C. Ski Cross team racer Tyler Murray, who finished 33rd overall, and Alberta Ski Cross athlete and University of Calgary student Matt Brady, from Burlington, Ont., who was 45th, didn’t make it past the qualification round.
, ITA – FIS JUNIOR WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS – WOMEN’S SKI CROSS
MARCH 29, 2013 – VALMALENCO, ITA – FIS JUNIOR WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS – MEN’S SKI CROSS
Here is a picture of the Panorama Ski Cross Course from March 16-17. It was a great weekend for racing, sunny and warm with exciting ski cross race action.
And you can't hold a race without volunteers…this Mel Sherret at Panorama on March 16. Not just your ordinary course worker…that pack is loaded and heavy.
