The four strong British team for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne have committed themselves very well. While the glory of winning a medal has not happened, this does not take away from the performances that Daisi Daniels, Sophie Foster, Rob Holmes and Jack Cunningham have produced across the races to date. With each racer having to do all disciplines, there is a chance for all to find their performance.
The races have taken place in Les Diablerets.
Daniels picked up an 18th in the opening race, the Super G but despite a strong first run in the Giant Slalom, she has crashed out in all the racers since then. The Super G saw a first YOG medal for Israel as Noa Szollos took third behind local favourite, Amelie Klopfenstein. Foster finished in 33rd.
Daniels, who has already represented Team GB before at the Sarajevo 2019 European Youth Olympic Games (EYOF), said: “It was really sweet. Out of the start the nerves were obviously there but I knew I just had to be confident and send myself down there as fast as I could. At the start I was a bit off [with] my balance and needed to tighten up and I know that going into GS I can be more clean."
Jack Cunningham placed 26th in the Men's Super on the same day, while Rob Holmes did not finish.
Day two saw the racers to to the Alpine Combined and it was a difficult day for some of Team GB's alpine skiers as Daisi Daniels, Jack Cunningham and Robert Holmes were unable to finish their slalom in the alpine combined event (following the previous day's Super G), while Sophie Foster put in a strong showing finishing in 23rd place in a time of 1:40.31, +6.57 behind eventual winner Amanda Salzgeber from Austria. In the men’s competition it was a dead heat with Auguste Aulnette (France) and Mikkel Remsoey (Norway) both crossing the line in 1:28.41 to share gold.
It was a difficult day at Les Diablerets ski resort for Team GB’s alpine skiers in the Giant Slalom, with Daisi Daniels and Sophie Foster both recording DNFs in the giant slalom. Both skiers were well ahead of their starting bib positions after the first run, sitting comfortably in 23rd and 31st respectively, however faced difficulty on the second run and were unable to complete the course.
Day four of the alpine skiing saw Robert Holmes and Jack Cunningham returning to action in the giant slalom. Holmes secured a top twenty finish in the event, placing 20th in a time of 2:12:28 – +5.97 behind eventual winner Philip Hoffmann of Austria.
Seventeen-year-old Holmes started bib no.37 and rapidly made his way up the leaderboard to be in 23rd position after run one. He then made up even more ground during run two, moving up three places to finish in a very respectable 20th place, and he was extremely pleased with how his day panned out:
“Today’s been great – to be competing at the event in the first place is amazing. I’ve worked so hard to be selected for Team GB over the last ten years and especially the last two months. I’ve been all over Europe every single weekend – competing in a crazy amount of races.
“I was happy with my first run – I came through the top split and I was in front which was brilliant. Coming from a dry slope background, it was kind of hard to maintain and I’m still working on the steep hill elements of the course, but it was a good start to the race. I really tried my best to attack it, so it’s great to finish, especially after crashing out in the Super G.
“My GS (giant slalom) is actually quite weak at the moment and my technique still needs a little bit of work, but I feel like I’ve done well and to the best of my ability today.”
Teammate Jack Cunningham recorded a DNF, but will look to bounce back in tomorrow’s slalom event. Daisi Daniels and Sophie Foster will also return to action in the women’s slalom, in what promises to be a busy day for the alpine skiers.
In the Slalom, Cunningham crashed out in the first run while Holmes was disqualified on the second run. In the girls race Sophie Foster finished 20th and Daniels failed to finish the first run.
The team race will end the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games for alpine racing.
Full results
Picture GBSnowsport.com