British Slalom racing is looking very promising as some of the next generation of racers scored some outstanding results in the Citizen Race in Combloux France. Jai Geyer took second place scoring a 35 point result but it was the result of ... Robert Poth that stands out even more. Poth, a 1997 year of birth and in his first year of racing in the FIS races scored a career best result of 56 points in taking 20th spot from a start of 58. Poth has been making great inroads all season and is highly tipped to go far in the sport by his coaches Stephen Edwards and Richard Breese.
There were other notable results from Greg Saunders, Oliver Smith and Euan Kick, all scoring under a hundred points.
For Poth, who only arrived back out in the Alps two days prior to the race, he took his opportunity on a relatively flat hill. Having started 58, Poth made the flip for the second run and started 6th racer down. Talking after the race, Richard Breese said: "He took his chance on a relatively flat hill." Poth is a smooth skier technically and he used this ability to attack the course and used the firmness of the slope to get the most out of his skis.
With the hill being pretty flat, there were a lot of racers crashing out through straddling, including Ashley Breese.
With both Geyer and Poth scoring season best results, this is great news for the future of slalom racing in the UK. The bar for the rest of the 1997 year of birth's has certainly been raised with this result! To be best in the UK used to be the focus, the new generation of racers have greater aspirations.