After a day of rain that caused problems for the snowboard cross athletes, the best student ski cross athletes in the world got to work on a tight and technical course at New York’s Gore Mountain under beautiful clear skies.
Qualification took place on Sunday the 15th and the 1 run format was being used to seed the athletes for the round robin phase to take place on Monday 16th January at the FISU World University Winter Games.
Kiersten Vincett (CAN) was the fastest qualifier in the women’s race with a time of 50.02 whilst in the men’s race it was Scott Johns (Manchester Metropolitan University, GBR) who won in a time of 46.64, just +0.34 ahead of his nearest challenger Niklas Illig (GER).
With qualifications out of the way, the racers returned the following day for the gruelling round robin format. This format sees all the qualifiers race in heats where 4 points are awarded for a win, 3 for 2nd, 2 for 3rd and 1 for 4th. The men would have to race in 5 heats with the top 8 in points all progressing through to the semi-finals. The fastest qualifier tag can put a target on the back of a skier but Johns proved up to the challenge. The Brits first heat saw him race against the skiers ranked 2nd – 4th in qualification so on paper, it was the toughest heat of the round robin phase. No issues though for Johns as he stormed his way out of the start to lead from top to bottom and claim the 4 points on offer. This was a trend of things to come as Johns won all 5 of his round robin heats to claim a maximum of 20 points meaning he progressed into the semi-finals as the top seed.
In a semi final that contained the current world junior champion, Lucas Richard (SUI), Johns did not get the best of starts and for the first time looked in danger. Strong skiing from the Brit enabled him to get into 2nd after the start and although he was pushed hard, the tight and twisty course made for limited overtaking opportunities and Johns was able to hold on for a place in the big final.
The women’s big final was up first and saw Lin Nakanishi (JPN) battle hard for the gold medal. The Japanese skier stormed to victory ahead of Nikola Fricova (SVK) and Elizabeth Filiatrault (CAN).
All of the skiers in the mens race either have world cup, Europa cup, Nor Am, World Junior Championships or Youth Olympic experience and this next generation of skiers lined up, all with their eyes on gold. Johns was up against Niklas Illig (GER), Tim-Ole Mietz (GER) and Jack Mitchell (USA). Scott Johns saved his best start for when it matters and powered away over the tricky start section to take the lead into the first corner.
The Germans proved to be fast and with Jeff Sadis, one of the best technicians in ski and snowboard cross world prepping their skis it was inevitable that Illig and Mietz would be able to challenge until the finish line. However, Johns had too much for the rest of the field and once he had the lead he was never going to relinquish it. By the time the finish line was approaching Johns could relax and celebrate as he claimed a historic victory in front of a packed finish area at Gore Mountain with the silver going to Mietz and bronze to Illig.
A large GB delegation had made the trip from their HQ about 90 minutes north of Gore Mountain to watch the ski cross and the team celebrated with Scott Johns as he stop atop the podium to claim a historic gold medal (Great Britain’s first gold medal on snow at the Winter University Games and only the second ever medal of any colour. The only previous medal belonging to Amanda Pirie who took bronze in the Downhill at Tarvisio 2003).
After the race Scott Johns spoke with Ian Findlay and explained how things had gone: "I was just trying to stay happy, smile in the starting gate and enjoy the whole experience. When I crossed the final line it was just relief. As soon a Is got out the starting gate in the final I was saying to myself I would just take the tight line and I was pretty confident I could stay away, I was pretty much smiling the whole way down and then when I crossed the line it was just relief!"
Johns will take a well earned rest of a week before getting back to work on snow and with the confidence of a dominant performance at Lake Placid 2023, the future looks very bright in ski cross for Scott Johns.