Cutting Edge 14-05-2008
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Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger – The Next Generation of British Skiers Day 10 - Children's Giant Slalom |
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - The Next Generation of British Skiers
With the dust still settling on the highly successful British Land National Ski Championships for Seniors and Juniors, the spotlight turned to the Children's team, whose turn it was to show off their skills. The Championships, held early April in Meribel, saw the emergence of two great talents, one each in the boys and girls teams.
Mark Simmers, Chief Executive of Snowsport GB said: "It was a fantastic Children's competition this year. The conditions were tough at times but they all rose to the challenge, and many of the children came out with their best results. We have some real stars in the making and it's highly encouraging for the sport as a whole to have talent coming up the ranks."
Day 9 - The Children's Slalom.
Day 9 of the British Land National Ski Championships did not disappoint hosting the first event of the 2008 British Land National Children's Championships. The day witnessed excellent wins in the Girls Slalom from Perthshire skiers Charlotte 'Charlie' Guest and Hope Whitelaw, and from Daniel Yule in the Boys' race.
After becoming the first girl to win Britain a gold medal in an international FIS Children's race when she won the Andorra Slalom in February, Guest's confidence has soared and she showed a great attack in the contrasting conditions on the Mottaret race track. 
While the first course was fast, open and grippy, the second had become rutted near the bottom and it was not easy to stay in the course.
Guest's first run set the foundations for her title, consolidating neatly on the second run she finished with a comfortable overall margin of 2.37 seconds over Whitelaw, who also lifted the Children's 1 title (Year of Birth 1995 and 1996).
"The courses really suited my skiing, fast and open. I made a lot of mistakes, I definitely did not expect to win. I am never usually much of a Slalom skier." Said Guest, "I came here today not really knowing what to expect at all. But the courses were nice and open, with lots of room between the gates."
Whitelaw was also delighted with her results this year especially after being disqualified in both runs of last years Slalom. "My second run was tough and I was just pleased to get down, staying in the course in the ruts was hard enough. I was hoping to win, so I was really pleased to achieve that" said Whitelaw.
Racing at his third British Championships Daniel Yule (14, La Fourly) added the British Slalom title to wins this year already at the Swiss Children's Championships where he triumphed in the Slalom, Giant Slalom and Combined. The Swiss based skier races with his local club at La Fourly, near Verbier where he only started training seriously two years ago.
"I was not sure what to expect today. I had good hopes, I did not ski my absolute best but it was enough" said Yule.
In the Boys' Children 1 age-group Max Moss triumphed in his first British Championships race at Children's age-group. Moss won here last year as a Mini, but made short work of the two courses, finishing 13th overall. He lay second behind Les Houches, France based Louis Russell-Henry but unleashed an all out attack on the second run which gave him a winning margin of a quarter of a second over Russell-Henry.
"I thought my first run was OK, but my coach told me it was the best he had seen me ski, so that gave me lots of confidence for my second run. I had made a real effort to prepare my skis really well and so that all helped" said Moss.
Children's Slalom Results:
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Girls: 1 C Guest (Perth) |
Boys: 1 D Yule (La Fouly, Switzerland) |
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Children 1 (Year of Birth 1995 and 1996): 1 H Whitelaw |
Children 1: 1 M Moss (Rochester, Kent) |
Day 10 - Children's Giant Slalom
In difficult conditions on soft Spring snow which produced some difficult ruts on the Du Corbey race piste, Swiss based Daniel Yule completed a title double at The British Land National Ski Championships when he added the Children's Giant Slalom title to the Slalom championship he won on Tuesday.
Only one run of the Giant Slalom could be completed as the mild temperatures left the track rutted and bumpy. Yule finished 37 hundredths of a second ahead second placed Lewis John (Penicuik, Edinburgh). In the Children's 1 age-group Max Moss (Rochester, Kent) also made it two wins from two disciplines.
The Girls race was won by Tomasine Nilson Wrede (Cobham, Surrey) who won overall and in the younger Children 1 age-group. "My run was good at the top but towards the bottom it was really slushy and I got a bit late on my line, but I am really happy to win." smiled Nilson-Wrede, who trains in Verbier, Switzerland. "I did not expect to do as well as I did because I have been training more in Slalom and have been better in that, so I am pretty happy with the way I skied today. I did not do as well last year, but I have done a bit more training and I am now among the oldest here. Long term I would like to go to the Olympics and World Cups and have skied since I was very little. I came first this year at the BARSC (British Alpine Racing Ski Clubs) Championships but this is the biggest title I have won yet".
Children's Giant Slalom Results:
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Girls: 1 T Nilson-Wrede (Cobham, Surrey), |
Boys: 1 D Yule (La Fouly, Switzerland), |
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Children 1 (Year of Birth 1995 and 1996): 1 T Nilson-Wrede (Cobham, Surrey), |
Children 1: 1 M Moss (Rochester, Kent), |
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Children 2 (YOB 1993 and 1994): 1 C Guest (Perth), |
Children 2: 1 D Yule (La Fouly, Switzerland), |
Day 12 - The Final Day
With mild air temperatures again leading to a soft and a deteriorating snowpack in Meribel, the third and final discipline of the
British Land National Ski Championships, Super G, had to be cancelled.
A substitute one run Slalom was contested before morning temperatures rose too high to maintain a safe race track, leaving the British Children's overall champions to be decided only over Slalom and Giant Slalom.
Switzerland based David Yule added the overall Boys British Champion title to his wins in Slalom and Giant Slalom at the Swiss championships earlier this season, while the Girls' overall title was won by Charlie Guest (14, Perth) who races with The British Children's Ski Team and who became the first British skier ever to win an international FIS medal when she won the Slalom at the Children's International Races in Andorra.
Her Perthshire friend and occasional training partner Hope Whitelaw won the overall Girls' Children 1 title while Max Moss (Rochester, Kent) collected the overall Boys Children 1 championship.
Children's Slalom Results (race 2):
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Girls: |
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Boys: |
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Children 1 (Year of Birth 1995 and 1996): |
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Children 1: |
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Children 2 (YOB 1993 and 1994): |
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Children 2: |
2008/2009 British Alpine Ski Team Selection
Last week (w/b 5th May) saw the announcement of the 2008/2009 British Alpine Ski Team Selections. Snowsport GB would like to congratulate the following athletes on their selection to the British Alpine Ski Team.
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World Cup qualification for British Nordic Skiers!
The British Nordic Ski Team returned from their final races of the season in the Finish Arctic with the best results seen in British Nordic skiing for 14 years. A young team of 5 athletes aged between 15 and 18 years old headed to the Arctic for a series of 4 FIS races. Three of the team had recently competed for Great Britain at the World Junior Championships and for the two youngest team members these events would be their first ever FIS races.
The Arctic weather gave great snow conditions over the 4 days racing, in a highly competitive field with many World cup skiers who had just returned from the World Cup finals in Bormio. The first day of competition saw a strong set of results from Fiona Hughes (18), Callum Smith (15) and Simon Spencer (18) finishing in 17th, 26th and 27th positions respectively. However the team was to be stunned by the performances of Andrew Musgrave (18) and Andrew Young (16) who finished 8th and 17th gaining World Cup Qualifying performances.
Andrew Musgrave from Insch, Aberdeenshire has shown great form all season, but snow conditions prevented him from gaining the highly sought after World cup qualification standard at the recent World Junior Championships. Finally though all the cards fell in to place in Finland and he was able to gain the required standard. Andrew Young from Huntly, Aberdeenshire in his first ever FIS race just achieved the required standard, an amazing achievement, especially considering that he suffered a broken ankle just 2 months before the start of the season and is only 16 years old.
The second and third days of competition saw the team build on their solid first day of races, with Andrew Musgrave gaining another qualifying result. But the best had been saved for the final day of races where the whole team upped their game, Fiona Hughes from Huddersfield, Yorkshire scored her best FIS points of the season in a skate race. Callum Smith from Inverurie, Aberdeenshire and Simon Spencer from Cheltenham also scored some of their best points.
Andrew Musgrave skied a fantastic race to finish 5th Junior and Andrew Young was close on his heels finishing just 9 seconds behind in 7th place. These performances earned them their best points of the season and another qualifying selection race each.
Great Britain has not been represented at world cup level in Nordic skiing since 1995 and next season will now see the team competing on the world cup circuit as well as at the Junior and Senior World Championships. It will also see Andrew Young compete at the European Youth Olympics where there is a very real chance of a top ten finish.
Commenting on the team performances Al Dargie – team manager and Junior team coach said “the achievements this season have not been seen for many years in Nordic skiing, and for it to be achieved with such young athletes is unbelievable. Next year will see the team compete on the World Cup circuit in the build up to hopefully qualify athletes for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver”
Roy Young – Head coach said “It has been an amazing week for British Nordic skiing, we will now have a major task ahead of us in securing the financial support required for the team to compete on the world stage. What is also worth remembering is that we still have a good base of younger athletes developing at similar if not better performance levels than the current team.”
