Telemark skier Jasmin Taylor scored another World Cup podium this morning to cap off a solid weekend of British performances across the globe. There was also another slalom World Cup top 10 for Dave Ryding as well as ski cross top 10s at the Europa Cup and Nor-Am Cup.
The Para Alpine World Championships kicked off today with GB’s 2014 and 2018 Paralympic gold medallists both in action for the first time tomorrow.
Action continues midweek with a number of World Cup and Europa Cup events while the X-Games starts this Thursday in Aspen with two 2017 British medallists chasing glory again.
TELEMARK
World Cup, La Thuile ITA – Sun 20 to Mon 21 January: Jasmin Taylor added to her impressive tally of Telemark World Cup podiums at the first event of the season in Italy. After finishing fourth in yesterday’s sprint, Taylor today claimed second place in the classic to score her 23rd-career World Cup podium.
Louis Hatchwell finished with the best men’s result of the weekend when he was 12th in Sunday’s sprint. The next World Cup event starts on Friday in Pralognan-la-Vanoise.
PARA ALPINE
World Championships, Kranjska Gora SLO & Sella Nevea ITA – Mon 21 Jan to Fri 1 February: The Para Alpine World Championships kicked off in Slovenia today with the men’s giant slalom. Teenage sensation Neil Simpson and guide Jamie Robertson were the first members of the British team to race and sat 10th after the first run. However the pair failed to finish the second run after Simpson straddled a gate midway through the course.
Paralympian James Whitley was 14th after the first run of the standing category, then improved a position on the second run to finish 13th, his highest-ever finish in a World Championships giant slalom.
PyeongChang gold medallists Menna Fitzpatrick and Jennifer Kehoe start their campaign in the ladies’ giant slalom alongside Sochi gold medallist Kelly Gallagher and guide Gary Smith. Fitzpatrick and Kehoe are the Olympic giant slalom silver medallists and won bronze at the 2017 World Championships while Gallagher is a two-time giant slalom bronze medallist from the World Championships of 2011 and 2013.
The technical events will wrap up on Wednesday (men’s slalom) and Thursday (ladies’ slalom) before the Championships shift to Italy for the speed events.
The first run of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday’s races will be at 9am followed by the second run at midday. Live timing is available here: https://www.paralympic.org/alpine-skiing/live-results, while links to the live streams are here: https://www.youtube.com/user/ParalympicSportTV/videos?view=2&sort=dd&shelf_id=67&live_view=502.
ALPINE
World Cup slalom, Wengen AUT – Sunday 20 January: Dave Ryding collected his third top 10 of the season at yesterday’s slalom World Cup in Austria. Sitting in 15th after the first run, Ryding sent down the eighth-quickest second run to move up to eighth overall which is his best-ever result in Wengen.
Laurie Taylor was 36th in the first run, his best result of the World Cup season but still an agonising 0.67sec and six places away from earning a second run.
The slalom World Cup remains in Austria with the next event in Kitzbuhel this Sunday, followed by ‘The Nightrace’ in Schladming two days later.
Europa Cup giant slalom, Zinal SUI – Mon 21 to Tue 22 January: Cara Brown competed in today’s Europa Cup giant slalom in Switzerland but recorded a DNF on the first run. She has the opportunity for redemption tomorrow with a second race at Zinal.
Europa Cup giant slalom, Courchevel – Wed 23 to Thu 24 January: Charlie Raposo will be back in Europa Cup action this week after finishing 35th on Thursday at Kronplatz. He will be hoping to reproduce the form which took him to a career-best seventh at Andalo just before Christmas. Two races will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.
PARK & PIPE
X-Games, Aspen USA – Thu 24 to Sun 27 January: Two of GB Park & Pipe’s leading skiers will showcase their skills at one of the sport’s iconic events when they compete at X-Games this week. James Woods and Izzy Atkin both stood on the podium last year at Aspen and are back chasing more glory.
Woods is a four-time X-Games medallist and has had recent success in Aspen where he won the big air in 2017 and finished third last year. He is on a run of three-straight fourth-place finishes in slopestyle but did claim bronze back in 2013.
Atkin returns to the X-Games for the third consecutive year and will be looking to emulate her podium-winning efforts from last January when she won silver just weeks before claiming Olympic bronze.
Men’s slopestyle qualifications are on Thursday evening before the ladies’ slopestyle final and men’s big air qualifying on Friday. The men’s ski big air final will take place in the early hours of Sunday (UK time) followed by the men’s ski slopestyle final on Sunday evening.
X-Games will be screened live on BT Sport-ESPN.
X-Games Schedule: http://www.xgames.com/events/2019/aspen/schedule/inperson
World Cup ski & snowboard slopestyle, Seiser Alm ITA – Thu 24 to Sun 27 January: Matt McCormick and Sam Ward will representing GB Park & Pipe at this week’s World Cup slopestyle World Cup in Italy.
McCormick comes into the event on the back of some impressive form at last week’s Europa Cup in Austria where he was second in snowboard slopestyle and third in big air. While Ward has competed in two ski halfpipe World Cups, this week’s event will be his first in slopestyle.
The finals of the slopestyle World Cup in Seiser Alm will be broadcast live on Eurosport Player from 11am on Saturday and Sunday.
CROSS COUNTRY
Norwegian Cup, Nes NOR – Fri 18 to Sun 20 January: Andrew Young finished with GB Cross Country’s best results at the Norwegian Cup over the weekend. On Friday, all four British skiers made it through to the sprint top 30, however Young was the only one to move through to the semis. He then went one better to qualify for the final where he finished fifth. He backed that up with ninth in Saturday’s 10km classic.
Annika Taylor picked up three top 20s at the event (sprint 17th, 5km classic 18th, 10km free 13th) and Nichole Bathe scored two top 20s (sprint 20th, 10km free 20th). James Clugnet was 21st in the sprint but didn’t contest the weekend races while en route to Finland for the U23 World Championships.
U23/Junior World Championships, Lahti FIN – Sun 20 to Fri 25 January: World Cup squad member James Clugnet led the British contingent on the opening two days of the U23 and Junior World Cross Country Skiing Championships in Finland. Clugnet fell just short of moving into the top 30 of today’s classic sprint, finishing 31st – just 0.22sec outside of qualifying for the heats. Hamish Wolfe was 70th while Oliver Newman finished 87th in yesterday’s junior sprint.
Newman’s next race is tomorrow’s junior 10km free followed by Thursday’s 30km mass start. Clugnet and Wolfe will race Wednesday’s U23 15km free and Wolfe will also race Friday’s 30km classic mass start.
Links to live timing: https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/cross-country/live.html
SKI & SNOWBOARD CROSS
Europa Cup ski cross, Val Thorens FRA – Thu 17 to Fri 18 January:
Alannah Lawrie was the highest-finishing member of the GB Ski Cross squad at last week’s Europa Cup in Friday, coming away with two top 10s. After finishing 10th on Thursday, Lawrie backed that up with seventh in Sunday’s race. Zoe Winthrop also grabbed a top 10 on Friday when she finished eighth.
The squad will also feature at this week’s Europa Cup in Switzerland with two races in Lenk on Thursday and Friday.
Nor-Am Cup ski cross, Calabogie Peaks CAN – Fri 18 to Sun 20 January
PyeongChang Olympian Emily Sarsfield led the GB squad which contested the Nor-Am Cup in extremely cold conditions in Canada last weekend. Sarsfield picked up a pair of fourth-place finishes while Emma Peters was just behind in sixth on Saturday and fifth on Sunday. Junior World Championship bronze medallist Elliane Hall’s best result was 16th place in yesterday’s race.
Sarsfield and Peters will join junior world champion Ollie Davies at the World Cup in Blue Mountain on Friday and Saturday.
Europa Cup snowboard cross, Grasgehren GER – Sat 19 to Sun 20 January:
Six British riders took to the snowboard cross Europa Cup in Germany over the weekend with Maisie Potter returning the best results. The 21-year-old was 18th in Saturday’s race and 23rd on Sunday amongst a field packed with depth. Kyle Wise (44th) was the highest-finishing Brit in Saturday’s race while reigning British champion Huw Nightingale (33rd) was best-placed on Sunday.