Charlie Raposo produced one of his most accomplished performances as he stayed on the cusp of making a first qualification for the second run on the World Cup. Ultimately the records will show he was way off the pace but what this does not explain is how close he was until the last roller above the finish. This was Raposo demonstrating how much he has improved in the last year and that a second run qualification is not far away.
Marcel Hirscher destroyed the rest of the field with a memerizing first run top be streets ahead of the rest of the field after the first run. Hirscher managers to generate speed into the turn and then hold on to the power through the turn like no other racer at the moment. Racers spend many an hour observing and trying to immitate his turns but no one can live with him at the moment.
Starting 38 racers after Hirscher, Raposo is in that group of racers that are chasing a spot on the second run. Raposo was certainly in with a shout of making it when he made an error about five gates from home and pulled up before sliding down into the finish.
Talking after the run, Raposo explained that while he was disappointed to not make the flip, he knows that he is getting ever closer to making it. "I know I am skiing well and am getting closer to making the cut," he added.
"This is such a nice hill to ski," Raposo explained. Conditions were hard but yet the course had been set up so well that conditions ran well for racers all the way to the last racer. "It is so much fun to ski, that was some of the most fun I have had racing," he continued.
"That was the skiing I have been put into training," Raposo admitted. "It felt really good to bring that into the race. I was relaxed, i was comfortable, I was confident.
"I felt that this was were I belong, I do not yet but with some more skiing like that, hopefully i will soon," Raposo continued.
The Gran Risa course is one of the hardest races on the Giant Slalom tour. With much of the course in the shade, the snow is traditionally very hard. This means the racers have to work that much harder to keep the line. It is not one of the longest but Raposo was not alone is saying that he "was hanging when he made his error that saw the end of his challenge: "I came a little tight into the right footer, I knew it was coming, I just did not have it, maybe the legs gave way, maybe the ski gave way, maybe I leant in a little bit and then i was crawling out of it."
It is a busy programme for Raposo now. No sooner had he left the finish area and he was off to the next set of races, two Europa Cup Giant Slaloms in Andalo Paganello, along with Jack Gower, then it is off to Saalbach Hinterglemm for another World Cup Giant Slalom - four races in four days!
Raposo is skiing well and is building for the future.
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