L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Heel wins Super G in Val Gardena with Defago and Jaerbyn on the podium ... Paerson wins Super combined from Hosp and Suter ... Walchhofer retains King of the Hill in Downhill, Miller 2 and Osborne Paradis 3 ... Gut wins Super G in St Moritz from Suter and Fanchini

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

Anxiety and worry played its part at the British Land British Junior Championships for the Giant Slalom.  A change in the weather conditions forced the race organisers to hurry the proceedings along and they succeeded in doing this without compromising the safety of the athletes.  The humid conditions meant that the snow softened up much earlier than it had on previous days and this in turn made the courses very bumpy.  The racing itself was exciting as the racers had to fight to find speed as well as maintain speed down the steep section of the Piste de Corbey slope in Meribel.  Dougie Crawford was best placed British racer coming in fourth overall behind three French racers and Lynn Sharp added the Junior Giant Slalom Title to the Junior Super G Title that she won yesterday.

The soft conditions did not upset too many of the fancied racers on the first run yet by the time the courses had been reset for the second run, the courses were deteriorating very quickly.  With the snow slowing down and the course getting bumpier after each racer, risks were being taken at every opportunity so to gain even the slightest advantage.  The men's race saw the technically better French racers pack the leader board with Crawford, Ed Drake and Greg Samuels able to match the times set by the local French juniors.  Tristan Glasse Davies and Ed Drake, two members of the British Junior Team mistimed the time it would take them to get to the start and were not fully prepared for their first runs as they rushed into the start hut.  Drake made it down but admitted to not being correctly prepared while Glasse Davies was well off the pace. 

The second run saw a host of casualties in the girls run.  Melissa Piper and Claire Robb were unable to capitalise on their tremendous first runs that had seen them in first and third overall respectively.  Dani Bryson had crashed out in fourteen races consecutively prior to this race and set herself the objective of "getting down!"  Bryson's coach, Sam Liddell, was delighted with this result: "This result has been coming all season! It is great that she has put two runs together but in my opinion she could have won today," commented the Scottish Part time Team coach.  Bryson was critical of her run but delighted on the whole.  For a while the sixteen year old lead the race, staying ahead of older and faster races from the first run.  In the end with first Robb and then Piper crashing out, Bryson held on to third behind Pam Thorburn (second) and Lynn Sharp who took her second title of the week.

Thorburn was not at all pleased with her result.  "I know i should have been ahead of the younger girls but I seem to be suffering from Championship nerves this week," explained Thorburn.  The ever smiling Thorburn, whilst unhappy felt her first run was pathetic as she had overturned and seemed to have a mental block recently.  In the last race before this race, Thorburn had scored 32 FIS points and had expected more of the same.  Whilst she lead in the finish, Thorburn was overtaken by her team mate Sharp.

Sharp was delighted to have taken her second title of the week.  "It was a shame that Mel and Claire fell on the second run but it was a fight to finish the second run, it was a real helmet shaker," explained Sharp.  With just the Slalom to go, Sharp is feeling confident of being able to complete a clean sweep of the Junior Titles this week.  "It is almost the same field as at the Scottish and I did well there, it has been a great week coming into the Championships."

With Drake and Glasse Davies both coming to grief on the second run, it was left for David Ryding to battle his way onto the podium behind first year FIS racer, Greg Samuels and Dougie Crawford.  With Kenny Morton making his best British Junior Championship result, this was a result that allowed some of the new breed of racers to claim podium places.  Ryding has had an indifferent year: podium results at the Scottish FIS races in Oppdal in January and Scottish Championships last week have been punctuated with glandular fever in March.  Ryding had expected to ski well but has been suffering from inconsistency.

Samuels has been gathering podiums at these Championships with regular consistency.  Having taken the decision to go full time this season at the expense of his education, this gamble has paid off.  Samuels has been skiing regularly to 70 FIS points recently and in winning the Junior One age group as well as finishing second British Junior Overall, Samuels is demonstrating considerable talent for the future.  "Being with the Development Squad full time has improved my skiing no end," admitted the happy Samuels after the race.  Samuels also took the best Junior One age group prize.

Taking the British Junior Two Title was Dougie Crawford.  Crawford, from Glasgow, was delighted as he felt he had not been skiing too well recently.  "I am delighted especially as this is my first year in Junior 2!" explained Crawford.  Crawford is another racer that has been involved with the Development Team based in Lofer this winter.  In January he injured his knee that required a month off the snow with bone bruising.  "My second run did not feel too good but I managed to keep the skis running," explained Crawford.

With Bryson and Samuels taking places on the main podium as well as winning the Junior 1 titles, the remaining places on the podiums were taken by Sophie Readman and Helena Bray in the girls and Callum Campbell and Peter Whelan in the boys.

In the race for the Overall in the boys events, Greg Samuels has taken the lead as a result of his two results and Crawford and Drake having both only finished one race.  Samuels has 130 points and is 30 points ahead of the others.  With Scott Bryson having taken second in the Seniors, although back on 60 points and in 9th place in the Overall race, he is also still in contention for the Overall. 

In the Girls race Lynn Sharp with a perfect 200 points from her two race wins, leads Pam Thorburn by 60 points.  With these two the only two in with a chance of winning the Overall, Erica Taylor holds third at the moment.