ALPINE:

J1 super-G: Hemphill, Presseault step onto podium at Sugarloaf

March 9, 2011 — Alpine Canada  

SUGARLOAF, Maine — Two athletes made it onto the podium in Wednesday's women’s and men’s super-G as part of the U.S. J1 Championships at Sugarloaf, Maine.

Mary Beth Hemphill of Uxbridge, Ont., finished third after clocking a time of 1 minute, 25.70 seconds.

On the men's side, Gabriel Presseault of Saint-Sauveur, Que., also secured a spot on the podium with a time of 1:25.36, finishing third.

"I've been pretty inconsistent this week so far," said 17-year-old Hemphill. "I didn't finish the slalom and I didn't really ski well in the giant slalom race. So I'm really excited with my super-G race. I skied really well. I ran a super-clean run and I nailed the line I needed to clear with no major mistakes.

"It's definitely a different environment here. The competition is not more or less difficult, it's just different," said Hemphill when asked about her experience in Sugarloaf this week. "It's cool to see the competition between Canada and the USA."

Katherin Irwin of the USA, the winner of Tuesday's giant slalom, was also crowned the U.S J1 champion in super-G as she finished with a time of 1:24.05. Second place was secured by Jordan Schweitzer, also from the USA (1:25.41).

Hemphill's teammate Devon Clarke was fourth, only 0.20 seconds away from the podium.

Presseault was also beaten by two Americans as Alec Jones finished first with a time of 1:24.63. His teammate Austin Dean finished second with a time of 1:25.14.

"My race went really well," said Presseault. "I made a pretty big mistake in the pitch at the end of the course so it wasn't perfect. My expectations today were to win and if I hadn't made that mistake it would have been possible. But in general, I skied pretty well."

The second-fastest Canadian was Gregory Brookes, who finished seventh with a time of 1:25.93.

The athletes are scheduled to race the downhill event Thursday.