France takes the top spots – the rest are left to rue what might have been
It was not an easy slope but it is was the same for all the racers and it was the French team that skied away with the top two spots. Remember the names Clara Direz and Estelle Alphand. Alphand is the daughter of Luc, an Olympian and Gold medal winner in his own right but his daughter is fast rising up the recognition stakes with her performances in the Youth Olympics. Neither girl shone on the first run, won by the Swede Magdalena Fjaellstroem but ski racing is all about getting the combined time from two runs, Fjaellstroem stuttered into fifth after the second run. Jasmina Suter took third for the Swiss.
With the weather holding for another day, rain is expected on the horizon soon, the snow was hard and while a number of different lines appeared towards the end of the first run, conditions for racing were hard, cold and great. The Giant Slalom slope used part of the 1976 Olympic downhill course and this was a challenge for the youngsters. Steep sections, blind rollers and some long flat sections all leading into the finish section.
This was a great race to watch and many of these racers will go on to bigger races. The Austrian, Swiss, French and Slovak rivalry will be there for years to come and add the Scandinavians into the mix and the competition is intense. For those that think this was just a race for first and second year Juniors, the winner walked away with 25 FIS points! Indeed the top 26 racers all finished with under 100 points!
Sadly Rachelle Rogers failed to finish her second run and having been placed 34th on the first run. Her day will come and with the slalom her favoured event, this happens on the Friday. Rogers was disappointed to crash out midway down the second run but has been learning so much on the cultural side of the Games. Results are one thing that everyone wants but the emphasis from the IOC and the YOG 2012 programme has been on so much more than just the results in the competition.
Ireland’s Florence Bell made her belated entry into the Games in the Giant Slalom and while she finished in 34th spot, up from 37th after the first run and having started with bib 42, the nerves took their toll. Bell is in her first year of FIS racing and wanted to do the Super G to get the nerves out of the way but was unable to get the start spot.
The IOC have been at great pains to give racers a taste of what the racing is like for those that go on to the World Cup and other races. For the two French girls and the Swiss that got the podium spots, the Doping Control personnel were never to far from them as they came out of the finish area having taken the flower ceremony.
There are lots of events going on here, including the Culture & Education Program; it is amazing stuff for today's youth to learn and benefit from. The Games are not all about winning and losing in actual competition; sometimes too much of an emphasis is place on this. Culture and education is an integral part in the maturation process of today's youth.
Men’s Giant Slalom tomorrow and Paul Henderson goes in this for GB.
