Canadians top NorAm podium on home snow

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Lexi Hanus

There were only 17 finishers in Wednesday’s women’s NorAm downhill in Lake Louise. Of these competitors, five American women found themselves in the top 10. Lauren Macuga and Alix Wilkinson both secured spots on the podium in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. Ava Jemison, Cheyenne Brown, and Allison Mollin finished in fifth, eighth, and ninth.

There was fresh snow on the course today, not ideal conditions for speed races. Nevertheless, Macuga had a positive report, saying, “Even with the new snow, the course was great and the team at Lake Louise did a great job getting it ready for us and maintaining it through the day. It was a lot of fun and glad I could be part of it. Finally skied the course how I wanted to and skied it in a solid position. Amazing way to start the NorAm speed season.”

On the Canadian side, Stefanie Fleckenstein claimed the top spot of the podium. She also clocked the fastest time in the training run the day before. This is the second time Fleckenstein has won a Lake Louise NorAm downhill race, the first time being in 2016.

RESULTS (W)

The men’s Lake Louise NorAm downhill podium was dominated by Canadians. Teammates Jeffrey Read and Kyle Alexander took first and second place, while Great Britain’s Roy-Alexander Steudle snagged third, 1.57 seconds off of Read.

Jay Poulter was the top American in sixth, finishing 2.98 seconds off Read. Trent Pennington and Spencer Wright also in the top 10, finishing in eighth and ninth place, respectively.

“Today was really challenging up there with the adverse weather conditions forcing a lengthy course hold mid race. Being an outdoor sport, weather is a factor every day you are up on the mountain and today was no different,” Poulter said. “With high winds, low visibility and snowfall, the race organizers were forced to hold the race after eight racers until the visibility cleared up. The hold carried on for about an hour and a half forcing us to try to keep warm and not lose focus. I knew there was nothing I could do about the weather so I just stayed focused on my plan down the course and once things got going again I executed what I wanted to do.”

RESULTS (MEN)