Coronet Cup Slalom Race Report

Queenstown, New Zealand (20 August 2014) – The New Zealand Alpine Ski Team were back in action on their home ground at Coronet Peak today, taking on the Slalom as part of the New Zealand Alpine Coronet Cup (ANC).

With the national Slalom title under his belt after yesterday’s championship race, Adam Barwood (Queenstown) could relax a little and in doing so put down a solid first run, finding himself in sixth place overall going into the second run. 

“I’m pretty happy with that,” he commented of his first run time of 43.84s, “I skied much better than yesterday.” 

The technical courses made for quick skiing and several racers failed to finish their first runs in both the men’s and women’s fields. 

Alexander Ginnis (USA) was the fastest man on course, posting a first run time of 42.75s. 

In the women’s field NZ national champ Piera Hudson (Hawke’s Bay/Wanaka) chose not to race today having sustained injuries to her shoulder and thumb earlier in the week. Eliza Grigg (Canterbury) posted a first run time of 50.95s putting her into ninth place after the first run. 

Russia’s Elena Prosteva was the fastest woman in the first run with her time of 54.18s.

With the day warming up and snow conditions beginning to deteriorate, racers faced an added challenge for their second run. Only seven of the 20 original starters would finish a second run in the women’s field. Eliza Grigg was the only Kiwi woman to do so, finishing with a combined time of 1:42.25s for sixth place overall.

The women’s podium went to Carole Bissig (SUI), first place in 1:37.50s, followed by Kristin Lysdahl (NOR), second in 1:37.90s and Elena Prosteva (RUS), third in 1:37.94s.

USA’s Tom Kelley topped the men’s field, winning in a combined time of 1:29.03s. Adam Zampa (SVK) followed in second place posting a time of 1:30.10s with Espen Lysdahl (NOR) third in 1:30.55s. 

Adam Barwood finished the fastest of the Kiwis but made a few mistakes in the hunt for more speed on the second run and dropped to eighth position overall with a combined time of 1:31.48s. 

Full results are available here 

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