ALPINE:

Ottawa’s Kelly Moore podiums at U.S. J1 Championships at Sugarloaf

March 6, 2011— Alpine Canada 

SUGARLOAF, Maine — Canada's young technical skiers produced some strong individual performances at the U.S. J1 Championship on Saturday, with Kelly Moore sealing a third-place finish in the women’s slalom.

Moore, from Ottawa, Ont., and a member of the Mont-Tremblant Ski Club, was lying second after a storming first run of 43.02 seconds at Sugarloaf Mountain. The 17-year-old battled challenging snow conditions in her second run to finish third overall with a combined time of 1 minute, 32.46 seconds.

"It was really great out there," said Moore. "It's nice to be able to race against some of the girls that are here.

"The snow conditions were a factor with the ruts in the second run and I just kind of lost the aggression. I hope that next time I can just go for it."

Canada's Devon Clarke was sixth with a time of 1:33.24, while teammate Florence Lacombe was 11th in 1:34.58. The race was won by the USA's Mardene Haskell in 1:31.86. Lila Lapanja, also of the USA, was second in 1:32.31.

On the men's side, Patrick McConville led the way for Canada with a combined time of 1:30.34, good for fourth place overall. Other standout Canadian results included a sixth-place finish for Gregory Brookes (1:30.97) and Tomas Syrovatka's 11th-place result (1:32.00). Daniel Demschar of Australia won the race in 1:28.23. The USA's Danny Duffy was second (1:28.93) and his fellow countryman, Thomas Robles, was third (1:29.69).

"After the first run I was 11th and then came fourth in the second run," said McConville, of London, Ont., a member of the Devil's Glen Ski Club. "I haven't had the greatest season so far but I felt good today. It was cool just to see the other guys ski."

Don Lyon, Team Canada's head coach for this event, said Saturday's slalom races gave Canada's racers a great opportunity to compete against the USA's best young skiers.

"Kelly's first run was very good — it was a good learning experience for her," said Lyon. "Some of the guys skied really well today, including McConville and Brookes, who had a couple of good runs.
Syrovatka was out of it in the first run but the second run he put together was pretty incredible and he moved up to 11th.

"It's a great experience. You never know if down the road one of these American guys could be a Bode Miller."

Friday, three Canadian skiers finishing in the top 10 in the giant slalom.

Mac Senior, from Collingwood, Ont., led the way with a fifth-place finish thanks to a combined two-run time of 1:59.17 seconds, and Alexandre Selesse of Quebec was right behind him in sixth (1:59.44).

Nine Canadians in total went head-to-head with the best young skiers from the U.S. at Sugarloaf Mountain, in Maine, and coaches were happy with the results.

"It was a good performance overall with five of our athletes finishing in the top 15 and three in the top 10," said Jean-Francois Rapatel, national athletic director for Alpine Canada. "Our skiers have shown that they can compete with the best Americans of the same age, which is important for their confidence at this stage of their development."

Canada selected a team for the U.S. Championships based on performances at the Canada Winter Games. The athletes chosen for Friday's giant slalom were 15- and 16-year-olds from across Canada.

Canada had four skiers in the top five after the first run, but several U.S. skiers jumped up the rankings after the second leg.

The race was won by the USA's Danny Duffy in 1:58.33, with teammates Alec Jones (1:58.64) and Michael Boardman (1:58.88) second and third, respectively.

 "I didn't make too many mistakes. I felt solid on both runs," said Senior, a 16-year-old member of the National Ski Academy. "This is pretty big for me. I'm really happy I qualified and really, really happy with what I did today. I'm just ecstatic.

"It shows where I am within this group. It really makes me feel great."

Rapatel said the event provides a great learning experience for the athletes.

"It's a good opportunity to see how some of our best J1 athletes measure up against the best Americans from the same age group," said Rapatel. "We see a lot of value in bringing together some of our best athletes at a major race like this one and working together as a nation to help them improve."