New British Record: Marc Poncin 245.23km/h

 

Records tumble in Les Arcs.

 

Last week in Les Arcs, France, an excellent example on how a speed skiing event should be run was held on the Olympic piste. The KL track was groomed to within an inch of perfection and the organisers conducted the race perfectly.

Britons taking part were Marc Poncin, Nigel Brockton and Millar Reid. Unfortunately Reid had to pull out mainly through other commitments but was happy with his performance up that point, as he had just recovered from pneumonia.

Brockton and Poncin continued the British assault continually maintaining there presence in the top group right up to the final run.

On the final run Brockton was the first Briton to go over the elite mark of 240km/h with a run of 241.45km/h, this threw down the challenge to Poncin, with which Poncin replied with a run a 245.23km/h, giving him the British record and finishing in fifth place and this speed gave Poncin the seventh fastest speed in History.

The race was won by Jukka Vitasaari of Finland. 248.45km/h, 2nd Phillipe May (Switzerland) 248.28km/h, 3rd Simone Origone (Ital) 248.10km/h.

 

Other records that fell were:

 

Handicapped, one leg. Michael Milton (Australia) 210.40km/h

Production men. Stephane Lacoste (Fra) 208.33km/h

Production women. Clarisse Jasmin (Fra) 188.68km/h