ALPINE:

Brown closes strong with 7th in world juniors super-G

Feb. 4, 2011 — Alpine Canada  

CRANS MONTANA, Switzerland — Philip Brown put the finishing touches on a successful FIS World Junior Championships for the 19-year-old skier by clocking the seventh-fastest time in the men's super-G event Friday.

Brown has been Canada's most consistent athlete at the World Junior Championships, landing on the podium with a third-place finish in the combined, finishing 10th in the slalom, 11th in the giant slalom and 14th in the downhill.

"My super-G was OK, I was pretty happy when I came down, but I was hoping for a top-five finish today, and I know I could have made it," said Brown, who had a time of 1 minute, 23.84 seconds. "I made some mistakes and I wasn't on the line that I should have been in certain parts of the course. The top was pretty slow but the bottom was really rough.

"I'm happy I'm done, I feel like I can finally breathe and think," added a relieved Brown. "I was so focused these past few days on what I had to do and the races to come. I feel like I had so much to think about, it was mentally draining, but I'm happy with how things went and finishing in the top 15 in every race is amazing."

It was another great day for Team Canada as four Canadians finished in the top 30 in Friday's event.

Calgary's Erik Read, who was sixth in the slalom, was the second-fastest Canadian Friday as he finished 20th with a time of 1:24.57, tied with Norway's Joergen Brath. Read was also a consistent performer at the world juniors, finishing fifth in the combined event.

Canmore, Alta.-based athlete Andy Trow finished 27th with a time of 1:24.92, while Trevor Philp from Calgary, Alta., was 30th with a time of 1:25.09. The last Canadian to enter the start gate was Tyler Werry from Fernie, B.C., who finished in 47th place with a time of 1:26.24.

"I'm really proud of our boys. I do believe that we could have been on the podium in certain events, but as a team I think we did really well," said men's head coach Kip Harrington.

"I was really impressed with the way they handled everything. It was a long haul and the conditions were not always easy. It took great focus and composure and there isn't much between them and the guys that won the events. I'm confident that within a year we will be able to close the gap between them."

It was a long week for the men's team, who didn't have any days off to recover between events.

"On behalf of the whole team, I want to thank the coaches for the amazing job they did, not only this week but over the whole season," said Brown, a member of the Prospect Group. "Without the hard work, support and confidence they had in us we wouldn't have been able to perform the way we did this week.

"I also want to thank our physio, who was hard at work every day and making sure we were in the best physical shape possible. Lastly, I think our technicians also deserve two thumbs up for making our skis fast so we would be able to rip the hill," added Brown.

The men's Prospect Group is on its way back to Canada and they will be heading to Aspen, Colo., for a Nor-Am Cup series.
The women will officially close the FIS World Junior Championships on Saturday with the last event, the super-G. S-Magazine