Crans-Montana, Switzerland – Switzerland’s Reto Schmidiger successfully defended his Junior World Championship title in slalom while Lotte Smiseth Sejersted of Norway posted the fastest time in the final training of the ladies’ downhill as Junior Worlds ski racing action continued Monday in Crans-Montana.nSchmidiger, 18, claimed the men’s slalom victory in front of the home crowd after doing the same in 2010 at the Junior Worlds in France, becoming the first ski racer ever to defend the slalom title in two consecutive years since the inauguration of the Junior World Championships in 1982. Schmidiger was followed Monday by his countryman Justin Murisier in second and Mathias Rolland of France in third.
Schmidiger was in third position after the first run before claiming the top spot on the podium with an impressive second run. The Swiss skier from Hergiswil distanced his teammate Murisier by a whopping 1.54 seconds after the latter made a huge mistake in his second run. Unlike Schmidiger, however, Murisier has already earned World Cup points thanks to an eighth place result this season in slalom in Val d’Isère, France.
“In the first run I did not think I was skiing particularly well and was kind of surprised I was third in the finish,” Schmidiger admitted. “For the second run I had nothing to lose and attacked from the start. Fortunately, I did not make any big mistakes and my turns were fluent.”
Rolland was fifth after first run and put down a good second run, finishing third at 2.03 seconds off the pace. Finland’s Victor Malmstrom, who was second after first run, straddled a gate half way down the course and was a DNF. The leader of the first run and giant slalom title holder, Alexis Pinturault of France suffered the same fate and went out.
“The second run was disappointing for me because I went out after a solid top section, in which I did not make any real mistakes,” Pinturault said. “It would have been nice to also win the slalom, especially since I am not racing the speed events. The Junior World Championships are over for me now.”
Buck Hill Ski Club’s Matthew Strand, from Lakeville, Minn., finished eighth to lead U.S. skiers in his first Junior Worlds appearance. Laying down two consistent runs, Strand finished the race by cracking the top 10 with a time of 1:31.83.
“It was really mature for him to assess the situation and then put two solid runs together. It was very athletic skiing today, so I’m very proud of him,” said U.S. National Competition Director Walt Evans.
Brennan Rubie, of Salt Lake City, Utah, was next in line for the U.S. finishing in 26th.
The fastest Canadian on Monday was Prospect Group athlete Erik Read from Calgary, Alberta, who finished sixth with a two-run combined time of 1:31.54. Even with a mistake halfway through his first run, he managed to finish 16th place. Read shifted up a gear in his second run and went up 10 spots in the rankings.
“My first run was alright, but the conditions were pretty soft again,” said Read. “At about half way down I caught an edge and slid a little but I stayed up and kept going and I skied the bottom really well. Despite that I was still really happy with my first run. The second run was a lot better and the conditions this afternoon were beautiful. I had to deal with the ruts and the snow conditions but fought through it and I skied really well. I’m really happy with my result today and I’m happy for the whole Canadian team. This is great day for us and hopefully we can keep building on that in the next couple of days.”
A sixth-place finish represents Read’s best result at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships. His previous best was ninth in the combined event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in 2009. Toronto’s Philip Brown, also in the Prospect Group, finished 10th, followed closely by Trevor Philp, 19, from Calgary, Alberta, in 11th. It was a career best finish for Philp at the World Junior Championships, who also skis on CAST’s Prospect Team.
Following Monday’s slalom race, Schmidiger and Murisier, who both did well in slalom and giant slalom, are also in a good position to win a medal in the combined ranking, which includes the disciplines slalom, giant slalom and downhill.
In the women’s final downhill training on Monday, Norway’s Lotte Smiseth Sejersted once again clocked the fastest time, followed by Joana Haehlen and Priska Nufer, both from Switzerland. Their teammates Wendy Holdener and Jasmin Rothmund took fourth and fifth, respectively.
The women’s downhill race will be carried out today along with the first men’s downhill training run.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Junior World Alpine Ski Championships
Crans-Montana, Switzerland – Jan. 31, 2011
Slalom
Gold: Reto Schmidiger, Switzerland, 1:28.54
Silver: Justin Murisier, Switzerland, 1:30.08
Bronze: Mathias Rolland, France, 1:30.57