British Land National Ski Championships - Super G
Press Release
From The British Land Alpine Ski Championships, Meribel, France.
While Finlay Mickel and Jo Greig duly collected today's Super G titles, it is
the engaging races for the overall British combined champion titles at The
British Land National Ski Championships in Meribel, France which are shaping up
to be most exciting.
Theoretically it is the foundation skills discipline of Giant Slalom where all
the skills meet and tomorrow's Giant Slalom could all but decide both the Men's
and Women's Combined Championships.
Mickel added his second title in as many days with a confident run. The small
errors cost him time, but he still retained the Super G title he won last year
in Tignes. Noel Baxter laid down the gauntlet for Mickel though when he finished
a close second in a discipline he does not routinely train.
Now with Noel's elder brother Alain, who returns to competition after a couple
of days of rest, returning as favourite to win the Giant Slalom and the chance
for other younger members of The British Land Alpine Ski Team to make their mark
in the discipline they train and are measured by regularly, Mickel will have to
ski to his best in the giant slalom which he has won before.
On a course set by performance director Mark Tilston to test pre race inspection
skills and the ability to adapt quickly on the fast changing terrain, Noel
Baxter proved he has these virtues in his armoury as he eclipsed Roger
Cruickshank who is better known as a speed disciplines skier.
" I made a bit of a mistake on the final pitch and had one leg way up in
the air but managed to recover but I am sure it cost me some time."
In the Women's Super G race it was Jo Greig who took the title she last won in
Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria as a Junior aged racer. She gave herself a margin
of 77 hundredths of a second over Lynn Sharp. With a first from yesterday and
today's second, while Greig did not ski the downhill, Sharp should be on course
to win the women's overall.
" It just feels like everything is coming together nicely at the moment and
I am skiing well. I have got much more confident over the last few weeks and
that is helping." Said Greig.
The British Land National Ski Championships, Meribel France. Day 3, Super G
Championship:
Women:
1 J Greig (The British Land Alpine Ski Team/Weybridge) 1:14.73,
2 L Sharp (The British Land Alpine Ski Team/Glasgow) 1:50.50,
3 P Thorburn (The British Land Alpine Ski Team/Strathven) 1:16.51.
Men:
1 F Mickel (The British Land Alpine Ski Team/Edinburgh) 1:10.35,
2 N Baxter (The British Land Alpine Ski Team/Aviemore) 1:10.69,
3 R Cruickshank (The British Land Alpine Ski Team/Banchory) 1:10.73,
4 R Green (The British Land Alpine Ski Team/Falkirk) 1:11.09,
5 J Brauer (Aus) 1:11.81, 6 D Crawford (The British Home Nations Development
Team/Glasgow) 1:12.44