The crowds spilled into the streets
after a spectacular opening
ceremony for the 2012 FIS Alpine
Junior World Ski Championships in
Roccaraso, Italy.
Norway and Switzerland
Battle for World Junior
Dominance By Hank McKee
The Norwegians and Swiss are really enjoying the FIS Junior World Championships at Roccaraso, Italy. After nine races Norway was leading the Hodler Cup 70
to 56 over the Swiss with third-ranked France having 41 point but just one bronze
medal. (Look for full results in the next issue of Ski Racing.)
It hasn’t been all bad for the U.S, either. While an anticipated medal from
Mikaela Shiffrin was lost to a hooked tip in rapidly deteriorating conditions, a
gold medal in downhill was earned by Ryan Cochran-Siegle, establishing yet
another chapter in the Cochran ski racing legacy. Though Olympic gold-medal-winning mother Barbara (Sapporo 72) was in attendance there wasn’t much
time for celebration. Ryan was headed to bed early. He had another race the
next day.
Women’s Slalom, March 1
The championships opened, after a spectacular opening ceremony, with the wom-
en’s slalom, a race in which Shiffrin could have been expected to excel. A sun-baked
course that hadn’t the chance to set up over night turned thick and soft — which is
nice in a bath towel but has no place on a racecourse. Coaches were exasperated
trying to suggest what to do. “We were basically telling them to ignore the gates and
ski what’s there,” said the U.S. women’s team leader, Trevor Wagner.
Wagner said the organizers did all they could do to present a fair course,
including starting the event at 8 a.m., before temperatures could climb too
Mikaela Shiffrin ran
into some problems in
rugged conditions at
World Juniors.
