Crans-Montana, Switzerland – Prospect Group athlete Philip Brown earned Canada’s first medal at the 2011 FIS World Junior Championships on Thursday by finishing third in the combined event as American racer Mikalea Shiffrin earned bronze in the slalom.nThe combined event regroups the slalom, giant slalom and downhill races and the top three are determined by the race points accumulated over the course of all three events. Slovenia’s Bostjan Kline claimed gold. Finishing close behind to win silver was Austria’s Frederic Berhold with a time of 1:37.38, only four hundredths off of Kline. Otmar Striedinger, also from Austria, rounded out the podium with bronze. American Keith Moffat, of Berkeley, Calif., celebrated his 20th birthday Thursday with a fourth place finish.
Before the downhill event Brown, of Toronto, Ontario, was ranked fourth, but his 14th place finish helped him climb his way up to third.
“I knew getting into this race that I had pretty a good chance of being on the podium,” said Brown, who officially heard about placing third a couple of minutes before the flower ceremony for the men’s downhill race. “I was fourth before the downhill and I had a great training run (Wednesday) so the confidence was there.
“My downhill race today was not as good as I was expecting,” acknowledged the 20-year-old. “It felt faster but the times are not really faster than yesterday. It was super bumpy and at times during my run I wasn’t really at the spots I should have been. I’m really pumped with this result and this might be my ticket to the National Team.”
This is the second consecutive year that a Canadian has finished third in combined event after Toronto’s Kelby Halbert was third last year.
Moffat, who kicked out of the start for the first time no longer as a teen, led the U.S. charge in fourth, just missing the podium by 0.32 seconds. Teammate Nick Daniels, of Tahoe City, Calif., was next in line for the USA in 18th.
“It was tough but I’m happy with how I skied, said Moffat. “Right now I’m just looking forward to the super G and hopefully get an opportunity to slide in there.”
Other American racers finished outside the top 30. Ryan Siegle, of Starksboro, Vt., finished 33rd, followed by Michael Ankeny, of Wayzata, Minn. in 35th, Anchorage, Alaska’s Kieffer Christianson in 36th and Brennan Rubie, of Salt Lake City, Utah, crossing the finish line in 44th.
As for other Canadians, Brown’s teammate Erik Read was fifth in the combined event with 79.49 points. This tops Read’s previous best result at a World Junior Championship, the 6th place finish he earned in the slalom event earlier this week. Read finished 31st in the downhill. Calgary’s Trevor Philp also scored a spot in the men’s downhill top 30 for Canada when he finished 16th. Fernie, British Columbia’s Tyler Werry was 17th and Canmore, Alberta ’s Andy Trow was 27th, making him the fourth Canadian team member to finish in the top 30.
“We had a pretty good day today,” said Canadian men’s head coach Kip Harrington. “We had an incredible day in yesterday’s training run. The results we got with Erik and Philip were above our expectations, especially with the amount of downhill training we did this season.
“I think three athletes in the top 20 is a pretty decent performance for our guys and I’m happy for everyone, not to mention two guys in the top five for the combined event.”
In women’s slalom action at the WJC’s on Thursday, first year FIS racer Shiffrin, of Vail, Colo., took home bronze behind gold medalist Jessica Depauli of Austria and silver medalist Anna Swen-Larsson of Sweden. Shiffrin, one of two U.S. women to start the race, sat in fourth after first the run. Charging out of the start she picked up a spot in the second run to finish third and take home bronze in her first Junior Worlds.
Shiffrin came into Junior Worlds strong after posting strong results on the NorAm circuit. However, Depauli’s speed couldn’t be matched posting a time of 1:40.32, nearly a second ahead of the field. Shiffrin’s teammate, Maisie Ide of Minneappolis, Minn., DNF’d.
The Canadian women’s team also enjoyed a good day, with Brittany Phelan from Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, finishing fifth after crossing the finish line with a two-run combined time of 1:42.13. Phelan was in position to take the podium after finishing first in the first run, but because the slalom started late in the afternoon, the snow conditions had deteriorated by the time she started her second run.
“It sucks,” said a visibly emotional Phelan. “I can’t be too disappointed though because to finish fifth with how my race ended in the second run is pretty good. I’m racing slalom again, and I’ll just get it done tomorrow.”
Madison Irwin, of Toronto, Ontario, was the only other Canadian athlete to make it to the second run but wasn’t able to complete her race. Julia Roth, of Waterloo, Ontario, straddled the second gate in the first run. Madison McLeish from Canmore, Alberta, was not able to finish her first run.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
2011 FIS Junior World Alpine Ski Championships
Crans-Montana, Switzerland – Feb. 3, 2011
Men’s Combined
Gold: Bostjan Kline, Slovenia, 1:37.34
Silver: Frederic Berhold, Austria, 1:37.38
Bronze: Otmar Striedinger, Austria, 1:37.78
Women’s Slalom
Gold: Jessica Depauli, Austria, 1:40.32
Silver: Anna Swen-Larsson, Sweden, 1:41.22
Bronze: Mikaeal Shiffrin, Vail, CO (Burke Mountain Academy) 1:41.27