Delancey British Alpine Team member Billy Major finished 14th place in the FIS giant slalom from Haus im Ennstal, Austria. The young Brit scored 38.27 FIS points which is the third best score in his ski racing career so far.
The 20 year old picked up a bad shoulder injury during the summer and is starting to get back to full race pace. “I was actually quite happy with the result knowing I’m not ready yet and didn’t ski very well.
“This has actually given me a bit of a confidence boost and I really look forward to the next races. I think that come January I should start to see the progress I’ve made this year and start being fast in races.”
The start of the season has been slightly frustrating for Major only managing one result from four slalom races in Pass Thurn, which may be down to getting back to race pace: “It’s hard as I’m a bit bit impatient and want to be skiing fast now!
“I’m still not quite ready and all set for racing yet, so I have taken my first races of the season more as training.”
Once Major is finally back to race pace, it’ll be interesting to see how far up the timing board he can get in races later on in the season. He certainly has age on his side to improve his FIS points and world ranking over time.
Unfortunately fellow British skier Laurie Taylor couldn’t follow up on his impressive win yesterday because he skied out on a blind turn on the first run. Taylor won the first of two FIS GS races in Haus im Ennstal from bib 46.
Despite the mistake Taylor was still in good spirits: “I was happy with my skiing today, I just didn’t make a smart move on a blind gate. I ended up outside the line and missed a gate.
“Now it’s back to training before some slalom races next week. I’m excited to put what I’ve learnt in these races in training in preparation for the next races.”
Major was also complimentary about Taylor’s recent form: “I’m really pleased for Laurie and his result yesterday, it shows where we’re at.”
Both British racers will be hoping to push each other on this season and build momentum going into the New Year!
Words - Peter Davies
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