ALPINE:

Iceland, Italy, USA secure Whistler Cup gold

April 10, 2010 — Alpine Canada

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WHISTLER, B.C. — Two Italians were joined by an American and a ski racer from Iceland as winners on the second day of competition at the 2010 Whistler Cup. The ski race for the world's elite 11- to 14-year-old (K1 and K2) ski racers continued Saturday with girls’ giant slalom and boys’ slalom races.

Fornari tops podium again in GS
The podium in the girls’ one-run giant slalom was identical to Frrday’s kombi, with Elisa Fornari keeping her season-long win streak intact. Fornari finished in 1 minute, 3.95 seconds, with Canada's Mikayla Martin in second, just over half a second back.

"It was a really slow, turny course. I am not upset but I thought I could have done better. I feel like I am going to come back for revenge tomorrow. I need to step it up a little but I think I can do it," said Martin, who skis out of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club.

Mio Arai of Japan was third.

Iceland’s Bjarnason rules slalom
Iceland's Jakob Helgi Bjarnason won the boys’ K2 slalom in a two-run combined time of 1:18.95.

Valentijn Van Der Avoort of the Netherlands claimed second place in 1:19.29, while Nik Sterle of Slovenia moved up from fifth after the opening run to claim third place in a time of 1:20.31.

Fifteen-year-old Alex Kreutz of the Vernon Ski Club was the top Canadian in fifth overall at 1:21.03.

"I moved up in the second run, which was nice," said Kreutz, who was 16th in the opening run.

"It's a really fun event and good to see where you stand against skiers from the rest of the world. It's a fun race, the last race of the year, and you can just let it all out and that's what I tried to do," added Kreutz.

Italy’s Blengini wins K1 slalom
Italian Alberto Blengini made it two Italian winners, improving on a second-place finish in Friday’s boys’ K1 kombi to win Saturday’s slalom in a two-run combined time of 1:07.42. Matej Prielozny of Slovakia finished just 0.1 back in second with Filip Forejtek of the Czech Republic in third.

The top Canadian was Friday winner Keegan Sharp from Team Panorama, who placed sixth in 1:08.81.

"It was not my best today. I didn't charge enough in my first run," said Sharp, who was eighth after run No. 1.

"I usually just try to forget about it and focus on the future, on charging in my next race," said Sharp.

USA’s Shiffrin wins girls’ K2 GS
Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States dominated the K2 giant slalom race, finishing first in a time of 1:44.77.

The Burke Mountain Academy ski racer was 1.64 ahead of Slovakia's Petra Vlhova, with Chiara Mair third, .01 behind second place.

"Today went really well. I just tried to put it down the hill as fast a possible and it worked out. The conditions were great and the course was great, so it was perfect," said Shiffrin, who won the slalom and finished with three podiums at last year's Whistler Cup.

Shiffrin, who also won gold in Italy's famous Topolino ski race earlier this season, said she was enjoying racing in Whistler.

"Everybody brings the same enthusiasm and focus to skiing. There are definitely similarities although Topolino is a bit bigger," said Shiffrin,

Alix Wells of the Prince George Ski Club finished as the top Canadian in eighth in a time of 1:49.30.

The girls ski racers conclude the 2010 Whistler Cup with a slalom while the boys have a giant slalom.

The ski race for the world's elite 11- to 14-year-old ski racers has proven to be a destination of future ski racing champions, with a total of seven of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games medallists at the alpine events having competed in the Whistler Cup, including USA's Lindsay Vonn (Kildow) and Julia Mancuso as well as Slovenia's Tina Maze and Anja Paerson of Sweden.  SRC