Sharp and Baxter win GS
Press Release from Snowsport GB
The British Land Alpine Ski Championships, Meribel, France
Lynn Sharp overturned the form book to win the Women's Giant Slalom title here
in Meribel today as The British Land National Ski Championships head
towards one of the most exciting final days for many years. It was reckoned to
be the best day of giant slalom competition seen at these championships for
dozens of years. The Meribel facilities are second to none and this allowed two
giant slalom courses to be set and run at the same time. The Men's and Women's
first runs were run simultaneously. Then the women's race was decided before the
men's second run started. With yet more fresh snow to contend with, and a well
formed icy base as well as plenty of unexpected bumps and ruts to be absorbed in
the flat light the courses were set to take full advantage of the hill which is
well suited to GS competition.
" It's certainly the best GS I have seen for a long time. Just amazing with a bit of everything: flats, fast steeps, rollers and lost of terrain coming at you fast. Just great." commented Roger Cruickshank after taking second place behind Noel Baxter in the Men's GS. Baxter continued the run of form that he has shown this week. After taking second in Wednesday's GS, Baxter was back in the more familiar discipline. He may have silently breathed a sigh of relief when his brother Alain, the six times British champion, crashed out but he lost no time in setting the fastest second run time to add to his quickest first heat to win by a full second from Roger Cruickshank. " It was hard work today so I was really pleased to win. You had to really keep moving and on top of your skis. We will just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings but I am pretty happy with my week so far." Said Noel.
With Finlay Mickel taking fourth place he still heads the overall standings but both Noel and Cruickshank are just 25 championship points behind. Noel must be favourite to retain his overall title.
In the women's race Sharp (18, Glasgow) made an amazing attack on a difficult
first course which really mixed different snow types and some fast tight turns
at the top with at least two blind fall away pitches to really test the
anticipation. She set up her win with the quickest first heat by 1.35 seconds
ahead of Jo Greig. Greig rallied with the faster second run but Lynn won her
second title of the week by a margin of 0.42 of a second. " This was one I
really wanted so much that it was just fantastic to get across the line and hear
I had won. It means so much to me. I am not thinking about the overall but just
focussing on the slalom which I will be
going all out to win." Said Sharp.
The British Land National Ski Championships, Meribel, France: Day 5,
Ladies Giant Slalom:
1 L Sharp (Glasgow/The British Land Alpine Ski Team) 1:04.45 57.24 2:01.69,
2 J Greig (Weybridge/ The British Land Alpine Ski Team) 1:05.80 56.31 2:02.11,
3 P Thorburn (Strathven/The British Land Alpine Ski Team) 1:05.40, 58.26 2:03.66,
4 M Piper (Auchterarder/The British Home Nations Development Team) 1:07.36,
57.52 2:04.88.
Men's Giant Slalom:
1 N Baxter (Aviemore/ The British Land Alpine Ski Team) 1:12.85 1:13.74 2:26.59,
2 R Cruickshank (Banchory The British Land Alpine Ski Team) 1:13.77 1:13.82 2:27.59,
3 R Green (Falkirk/The British Land Alpine Ski Team) 1:13.85, 1:14.91 2:28.76,
4 J-M Kochalski ( The British Home Nations Development Team) 1:13.85 1:15.15 2:29.00,
5 N Palmer (Glasgow/The British Home Nations Team) 1:16.62, 1:14.85 2:31.47.