ALPINE SKI JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Jessica Depauli of Austria earned the title in the ladies’ slalom on Thursday. She was .90 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Anna Swenn-Larsson and .95 seconds faster than third place finisher Mikaela Shiffrin from the USA.

Photo: Deprez Photos SA, Crans-Montana

Depauli was .26 seconds behind first run leader Brittany Phelan from Canada going into the second run. She put down a solid second run taking the lead with a combined two-run time of 1.40:32. The 19-year old Swenn-Larsson was in second with a time of 1.41:22 and American Shiffrin, who turns 16 in March, held the third-fastest combined time of 1.41:27. After a huge mistake in the steep, Phelan fell back to fifth place in the second run, 1.81 seconds off the winning pace. Swiss Wendy Holdener,'s fourth place, missing the podium by 0.76 seconds, was sufficient to win the combined ranking.

Six years after Rok Perko won the men's downhill title, Kline was able to capture downhill gold for Slovenia. Only four hundredths behind Kline, Frederic Berthold, who is the son of the men’s head coach of Austria, took second. Berthold’s teammate Otmar Striedinger rounded off the podium in third, .44 seconds behind.

Berthold is not the only offspring of a famous name from the ski circuit, who shines in Crans-Montana. The only 15-year old Estelle Alphand, the daughter of former overall World Cup winner Luc Alphand, is one of the world's best in her year (1995). Another one is Erik Read, the offspring of the "Crazy Canuck" and former Lauberhorn and Hahnenkamm winner, who made the top 10 already twice with a fifth place in combined and a sixth place finish in slalom.

Combined titles go to the Swiss Wendy Holdener and Reto Schmidiger

Five of the six medals in the combined ranking at the Junior World Championships in Crans-Montana go to the Swiss youngsters while Canada captures bronze.

In 1987, the Swiss ‚grown-ups‘ were also very successful in Crans Montana at the World Championships winning 14 medals. 24 years later, the Swiss youngsters set a new record in terms of medals in the Valais high plateau. It was the best showing ever at World Junior title competitions for the Swiss.

The Swiss ladies Wendy Holdener, Andrea Thuerler and Joana Haehlen celebrated a triple success in the combination of slalom, giant slalom and downhill, while Reto Schmidiger and Justin Murisier took 1-2 on the men’s side.

Although Holdener finished just off the podium in fourth in the slalom, the 17-year-old from the canton Schwyz, was so far the most successful female athlete of the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships in Crans Montana. She earned gold in combined, silver in downhill and bronze in the giant slalom. Holdener will be competing in the World Cup slalom in Zwiesel Arber already on Friday.

Schmidiger finished the combined standings ahead of Justin Murisier after he was only slightly slower than him in the downhill placing 29th. Schmidiger is only the third Swiss after Daniel Albrecht and Beat Feuz, who earned three Junior World title wins but will get another shot at it next winter when he is still able to compete on the junior level. The bronze medal in combined went to Canada’s Philip Brown, who was able to edge off Mathieu Faivre of France to fourth place after finishing 14th in downhill.

The last men’s race of the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships in Crans Montana will be the super G held on Friday at 10:00 local time.

FISalpine.com
Thursday 3 February 2011

Sara Hector captures the win in the ladies giant slalom at JWSC

Sara Hector of Sweden landed on the top spot of the podium in the ladies giant slalom on Wednesday, second was Italy’s Lisa Magdalena Agerer .16 seconds off the winning pace. Switzerland’s downhill silver medalist Wendy Holdener placed third, 1.17 seconds behind.

By putting down the fastest first run time, .58 seconds ahead of Agerer and .87 seconds ahead of Holdener, the 18-year-old Hector laid the foundation for her title win. The tricky course setting of the first run had many competitors struggle at the same gates. Out of the top 20 racers, less than 50 percent made it down the hill. Hector used this to her advantage and successfully defended her lead in the second run, winning by .16 seconds over Italy’s Agerer with a combined time of 2:28.27. It was Hector’s second medal at World Junior title competitions after winning bronze in slalom in Les Houches, France in 2010.

The 19-year-old Agerer , who is the current giant slalom European Cup leader, has never before podiumed at Junior World Championship competitions. Her overall run time of 2:28.43 was good for second place, edging off the two year younger Swiss skier to third by over a second.

Holdener’s third place finish with a combined time of 2:29.44 came to many as a surprise as her best discipline is slalom, which will be held on Thursday. The bronze-winning run today momentarily puts her in the lead for the combined ranking, which includes the downhill, giant slalom and slalom results. Her podium finish in a technical discipline today may also be a convincing argument to bring Holdener along to the World Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen where she could gain valuable experience for future big events.

For the German but even more so for the Austrian team, the giant slalom on Wednesday did not end on a positive note. The Germans came just short off the podium with a fourth place and additionally scored a sixth and eleventh place finish whilst the Austrians only placed one single racer in the ranking. Ramona Siebenhofer was the only Austrian who finished the race in 28th position after making a serious error in the first run. All others including Jessica DePauli, Lisa-Maria Reiss, Mirjam Puchner and Lisa-Maria Zeller were DNFs.

FISalpine.com
Wednesday 2 February 2011

Lotte Smiseth Sejersted wins ladies DH

The Norwegian Lotte Smiseth Sejersted nailed both training runs and on Tuesday the downhill race to claim her first gold medal in this discipline. She was .34 seconds ahead of second place finisher Wendy Holdener of Switzerland and .69 seconds faster than Austria’s Cornelia Huetter in third.

The ladies’ downhill race was about two seconds faster than both trainings as the surface underneath was icier. The ladies adapted easily and quickly to the slightly changed course conditions even though a few were surprised over the increased speed.

After setting the fastest qualifying time in both downhill trainings, Sejersted was the big favorite for Tuesday’s downhill race. The 19-year-old Norwegian skier, who lives close to Oslo, already won two downhill medals at previous Junior World Championships: bronze in 2010 in Megève, France and silver in 2009 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Today she was going for gold to complete her full set of junior medals. Starting with bib 22, Sejersted held nothing back in her run and was fast from top to bottom. She posted the best intermediate split times and finished in a time of 1:32.11.

Even though Holdener only stood on downhill skis three times this season, the Swiss talent came closest to the Scandinavian, clocking a time of 1:32.45. For Holdener, it was the first medal in a Junior World Championships competition after placing 5th in last year’s title events in the Mont-Blanc region of France. Being only 17 years old, she will have two more chances to participate in the World Juniors. Both Holdener and Sejersted have already scored several times in World Cup races. The Swiss skier is best in slalom and has claimed two 18th place finishes in the World Cup races of Courchevel and Aspen while Sejersted finished 17th at the same venue where she now won the Junior downill title!

The Austrian Cornelia Huetter consistently got faster with every downhill training run, placing 21th on day 1 and 12th on day 2. Today she landed on the podium in third place with a run time of 1:32.80. She nudged her teammate and last year’s World Junior silver medal winner Jessica Depauli off the podium to fourth place.

On the men’s side, the fastest time in the first downhill training was posted by Switzerland’s Justin Murisier, who already took silver in the slalom on Monday. He edged off Johannes Kroell, the first of four Austrian skiers, to second place by .05 seconds. Frederic Berthold came in third, Otmar Striedinger got fourth and Mario Karelly finished fifth.

On Wednesday, the first run of the ladies’ giant slalom will be at 9:00 and the second run at 12:15 local time. The men’s second and final downhill training will also take place tomorrow.

FISalpine.com
Tuesday 1 February 2011