Crans-Montana, Switzerland – U.S. Development Ski Team member Ryan Siegle, of Starksboro, Vt., led the U.S. charge in 13th Sunday in the opening FIS Junior World Alpine Ski Championship giant slalom in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. France’s Alexis Pinturault won gold.nSiegle, a member of Vermont’s legendary Cochran skiing family, put down a solid first run and the third fastest second run for a combined time of 2:23.00. Siegle’s time was fast enough to put him inside the top 15 for his Junior World Championship debut.
Pinturault won the race convincingly with a time of 2:19.62, over a half of a second ahead of silver medalist Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria. France’s Mathieu Faivre earned the final medal joining teammate Pinturault on the podium with bronze.
Siegle was joined by a group of four U.S. athletes in the top 30 including Nick Daniels (Tahoe City, Calif.) in 18th, Keith Moffat (Berkeley, Calif.) in 19th and Michael Ankeny (Wayzata, Minn.) and Kieffer Christianson (Anchorage, Alaska) tied in 25th.
The top Canadian Sunday was Philip Brown, from Toronto, Ontario, and a skier from Alberta Ski Academy who is also part of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team’s prospect program. He finished in 11th place overall.
“The conditions were pretty tough today and because of the nerves I didn’t really ski well my first run,” said Brown, who was also 11th after his first run. “My ranking was pretty good considering how I felt about my run. My second run was definitely better. I felt way looser and the skiing was really good. Overall I think I did pretty well today and I’m satisfied with my result. The field is pretty tough and the top 15 guys are very strong so to be able to compete against them is amazing.”
The second fastest Canadian was Erik Read, a Calgarian in the prospect program, who was just fresh out of his first World Cup experience in Schladming, Austria, last week. He finished in 16th place.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Junior World Alpine Ski Championships
Crans-Montana, Switzerland – Jan. 30, 2011
Giant Slalom
Gold: Alexis Pinturault, France, 2:19.62
Silver: Vincent Kriechmayr, Austria, 2:20.25
Bronze: Mathieu Faivre, France, 2:20.71