With the start of the South American Cup series of races in El Colorado, the British racers have been recording some impressive results. With Delancey British Alpine team racer Jack Gower headlining the British contingent, racers from Evolution, The British Ski Academy and the French Orsatus training group have been testing themselves against strong entries from Norway, Italy, Germany, Slovenians amongst others.
Eleventh place for Honor Clissold in the Giant Slalom in El Colorado was the pick of the results amongst the girls race. With Cara Brown and Yasmin Cooper also fighting their way into the top twenty finishers, Clissold’s second run saw her end up in 11th place with the FIS point result of 51 points. While this is not her best result of her career, it is a promising start to the season.
For Brown and Cooper, finishing in 19th and 20th place overall and scoring 65 and 66 points respectively, they will be looking for bigger and better results as the season progresses.
After over a year and a half out of racing through injury, Jazmine Butcher made her come back in the El Colorado race and while she finished in 30th place, the hard work that she has put in to getting back on snow and doing what she loves is to be applauded. Butcher, with the support of the British Ski Academy, will work her way back up to the standard that she was at before twice being hit with knee injuries. The full roster of injuries suffered by Butcher includes two ACL reconstructions, one posterior lateral corner reconstruction and three meniscus repairs. As she posted on her Instagram account “My skiing was no where near what I am capable of in training but it is one step in the right direction.”
In the men’s race, Jack Gower, another on the comeback from illness, placed 13th in a good field to score a solid 36 FIS point result. It is just over a year since Gower last raced, a giant slalom in Cardrona, New Zealand that he won. Gower produced a strong second run to place 13th.
Leo Karavasili produced a determined performance from bib 92 to finish 48th and score a 108 point result.
In La Parva, a South American Cup Slalom race, Jazmine Butcher lead the British racers home in 19th place as she continued her recovery from injury. Clissold, Cooper and Lucinda Dilworth all failed to finish.
In the Men’s race Karavisili continued his attacking from the back in finishing 40th from a start number of 78 but there was no joy for Dexter Lee again as he failed to finish.
Paul telling from Evolution explained how things had gone for his group during their training in South America on the Evolution Facebook page "Heading into the penultimate day of a long but super productive #Chile camp. Huge improvements made across the board and although the race results from yesterday didn't show quite how well everyone is progressing, the skiing was there and the confidence is high. Excited to put it all into the last few runs of slalom today and then start to pack the bags and begin planning for next year!"
The South American Cup now focuses on a double downhill and Super G in La Parva.
Results
El Colorado (Giant Slalom) - Women / Men
La Parva (Slalom) - Women / Men