Jess Anderson was disappointed after the Super G races but came back and produced a performance that she was "very happy with" in the Women's National Championship Downhill. The smile in the finish said it all. Anderson took the win from the hugely exciting emerging talent that is Charlotte Holmes with Lois Jackson in fourth overall, taking third British racer. Andorra's Jordina Caminal Santure took third overall, 0.01 behind Holmes. Daisi Daniels and Lucy Jackman rounded out the top five British racers.
With Australian World Cup racer, Greta Small, opting not to race the Downhill races after winning the Super G, the field was compact, just 12 racers on the start list. There is a saying that goes "you can only beat those that are in the race," and this is just what Jess Anderson did.
"Everyone knows that I am not that fast on the flats," Anderson explained and at the split timing done just above the Rossignol jump, she was eight tenths off the lead. By the time she had crossed the finish line, Anderson was ahead. "To see that I was down by eight tenths at the splits was not anything new," she explained, "I knew that I had to ski hard and fast down the bottom, which is what I did. I nearly took out the second last gate which was quite scary," she smiled at.
Charlotte Holmes is having a dream debut season. She is benefitting from training alongside Alex Tilley and Lois Jackson with the set up at Team Evolution. Despite having suffered a knee injury that saw her out of action from early January until two weeks before the National Championships, she is fast gathering a lot of medals from the Championships: A third in the junior Super G followed up by a second in the National Downhill.
Lois Jackson is enjoying her last year racing as a Junior: She has achieved her goal of racing at the World Juniors and is now making a real impact at the British Championships with consistent fourth place finishes overall.
British National Women's Downhill results
Action pictures from the racing are available at www.racerready.zenfolio.com