Ski Racing - March 12, 2012

not finish. Canada had just one finisher, Tianda Carroll in 37th. Stephanie Marcil was DQ’d while Mikaela Tommy and Sarah Freeman were DNF’s.

Men’s GS, March 7
The weather deteriorated for the men’s GS. A fog
blew in on a warm wind and it all made Norway’s
Henrik Kristoffersen feel right at home.
“Being Norwegian, I am used to these kind of
conditions,” said Kristoffersen. “I have trained a lot
in strong wind, s***ty snow and low visibility, but I
don’t care about that when I race. All I think about
is racing.”
The conditions didn’t seem to faze him, but they
crushed everybody else. The snow was more like
slush and pushed into piles of crud quickly.
German Thomas Dressen was the last man to
make the flip 30, finishing 30th in the first run, 2.78
seconds back. With nothing to lose and a smooth
second course, devoid of any traffic, to lose it on, he
ripped a fabulous second run. And nobody bettered
his two run time until Kristoffersen, the first-run
leader, rode the ruts down in his second run 29
skiers later.
“Before the best racers came down I had no
expectations to be on the podium,” said Dressen,
“but this is part of the game. I almost can’t believe
it.” Few could.
Kristoffersen said the second run was slush, “but I
just knocked on. I was just skiing.”
“It was a very solid victory,” said Norwegian sports
director Claus J Shaker. “He wins a lot in harsh
conditions and shows tremendous strength. He
impresses me very much.”
The new champion said it was great to win the junior
world championship gold against the guys here. “I
have three years left as a junior and I manage to win
already,” said Kristoffersen. “But I say what Kjetil
Andre Aamodt said: ‘the next victory is the best.’”
It was the third gold medal of the championships
for Norway, prompting Shaker to add: “This is in
excess. Not only do we have three gold, but also
several fourth places and many top- 10 placements.
Today, I am a proud sports director.”
The bronze medal went to Slovene Zan Kranjec.
He had been fourth after the first run. “Being on the
podium in my first junior world championship feels
great,” he said. “Monday I was on the podium with
my team, but winning an individual medal means a
lot to me. The second run was hard, but I just went
for it, and it worked.”
Alaskan Kieffer Christianson had a heroic first
run, starting 39th and fighting his way to 25th. He
registered the fourth fastest second run and made
the top 10 in ninth. Canadian Trevor Philp placed
seventh, moving up from 16th in the first run.
Other US results included Ryan Cochran-Siegle in
28th, Robert Cone 40th and Bryce Bennett 43rd.
Tanner Farrow and Matt Strand did not finish. Philp
was the only Canadian finisher with Morgan Megarry
and William St Germain on the DNF list and Ford
Swette not starting.