Australian National Skiing Champs – Day 1 Photos & Results

On a fantastic day in the Aussie mountains, very unusual for a major event this year which seem to have been marred by average to nasty weather, the first of a four day race meet was held today deciding the Australian giant slalom title. With a strong field of local and international competitors across men and women the Thredbo World Cup course came to light.

In a very spectacular finish the Women’s title looked set to be defended by Jenny Owens, who now focuses on the skier X event in which she is already qualified for the 2010 Olympics. After leading the first run comfortably it all went horribly wrong in the final run, just shy of the finish line. On the second to last gate Jenny got viciously high sided crashing through the final gate and tumbling across the line. She some how passed the final gate legally, all be it upside down and backwards, however run with crash was still good enough to earn her 4th place. A spectacular effort. Winning the event was National skier X team mate Katya crema who is just back from a 18 month lay off due to a knee injury. Second was Elizabeth Pilate, third Lavinia Chrystal.

Katya Crema, 1st place
While both Jenny and Katya are now focused on the Olympics and skier x event, their credentials in alpine are strong, both were National alpine team members before crossing over to the new sport of skier x. Jenny also represented Australia at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics across a range of Alpine events finishing 9th in the combine.

On the men’s side the event was taken out by Swede Nikilas Rainer from Grant Jampolsky USA and Luke Laidlaw the first Australian in 3rd.

Nikilas Rainer

Luke Laidlaw

The meet continues tomorrow with the National Junior Championships Giant Slalom.

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