Lake Wanaka, New Zealand – The action was fast and furious in Saturday’s freestyle ski cross at Cardrona Alpine Resort in the 2010 FIS Junior World Championships being held in New Zealand, with Switzerland and Norway taking top honors.nThe battle in the women’s final was fierce with Switzerland’s Fanny Smith demonstrating how she has earned her top-five ranking. After a bad start, she soon took the lead with Katrin Ofner of Austria hot on her heels when a mistake on the second to last jump saw her lose her lead, with Ofner taking full opportunity. However Smith’s experience kicked in and she reined in Ofner, taking a smart line on the last berm to put her across the finish line in first place. Meanwhile the battle for second and third was taking place behind her with Ofner just taking silver ahead of Yulia Livinskaya of Russia and Livinskaya’s teammate, Violetta Kovalskaya, finishing fourth.

“It was a great race and very tough,” said Smith. “I didn’t start as well as I could have but I came here to win and I knew that I must win so I did everything I could and it worked!”

Morganne Murphy, of Truckee, Calif., led the USA Saturday, finishing fifth. A crash in the semi-finals kept her out of the finals. She didn’t let it happen again, winning the small finals to take fifth.

“I was bummed about the run,” said Murphy. “I crashed in the semi-finals which put me in the small finals. But I made the best pass of my life and am so stoked about finishing fifth.”

The men’s race was equally competitive with Norwegian Didrik Bastian Juell taking the title after qualifying in third. After a physical top third of the course where he worked his way up from fourth to first, Juell’s teammate, Morten Ring Christensen, and Russia’s Georgy Kornilov were always close behind. By the second half of the course he had extended his lead slightly to give him a comfortable finish and the world championship title. Anton Grimus of Australia took fourth.

“My day didn’t start out as well as it could have and that’s why I’m so surprised to have won,” said Juell. “But I got a few good starts in the heats which helps a lot. In the final, there was a bit of contact at the start but I came out of that OK and for the rest of the final I kept waiting for someone to overtake me but they never did! It’s amazing and I never expected this – it’s quite a shock!”

Ethan Fortney, of Tenino, Wash., was seventh to lead U.S. skiers in the men’s event. Kyle Smaine, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., just missed the top 10, finishing 11th, while Penn Lukens of Steamboat Springs, Colo., was 19th.

“It was awesome competing in my first international ski cross event,” said Fortney. “It was a non-stop, fun battle the whole time.”

The first World Juniors ski cross was held with 10 nations fielding teams. “There were a lot of really good competitors here – high level,” said Smaine. “It was great to see how well ski cross is developing in the other countries.”

Saturday’s ski cross course was adapted slightly from last Sunday’s snowboard cross taking into account that skiers were traveling at higher speeds. The angles on the take-offs were decreased so the skiers flew longer rather than higher. Joe Fitzgerald, FIS Freestyle Coordinator, said the course was an excellent world championship course.

“It’s very nice, smooth, exciting course and it was noted by one of the Olympic skiers that is very similar to the Olympic course with the banks and flow,” Fitzgerald said.

The freestyle ski action continues tomorrow in Cardrona’s 22-foot superpipe starting at 10 a.m.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 FIS Freestyle Junior World Championships
Cardrona New Zealand
August 28, 2010

Men’s Ski Cross
1. Didrik Bastian Juell, Norway
2. Norten Ring Christensen, Norway
3. Georgy Kornilov, Russia
4. Anton Grimus, Australia
5. Magnus Bjoernnes, Norway

Women’s Ski Cross
1. Fanny Smith, Switzerland
2. Katrin Ofner, Austria
3. Yulia Livinskaya, Russia
4. Violetta Kovalskaya, Russia
5. Morganne Murphy, Truckee, CA