Laidlaw first Aussie to top NorAm podium in 20 years
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Karina Schwartznau
After 20 years, Australia is once again on top at the NorAm Cup podium. Harry Laidlaw finished with a total time of 1:58:82 to win the men’s GS at Whiteface Mountain, 0.70 seconds ahead of top North American finisher Riley Seger of Canada. University of New Hampshire’s Patrick Kenney was the top U.S. skier in fifth at the HomeLight Foundation Series.
“The day was good, I was super happy,” said Laidlaw. “After first run I felt like I could attack the line more and approached it like a two run race and brought the confidence from the first run.”
Laidlaw was in second place behind Seger after first run. Following his ACL tear in November of 2020, Laidlaw worked hard to return to racing. Unable to compete in the 2021 season, Laidlaw narrowly missed this year’s Olympic qualifications after participating in the 2018 Games. Knowing he was skiing fast, Laidlaw brought his speed and laid down the fastest second run time by nearly a second.
“I just missed (Olympic) qualification this year by a couple points which hurt a lot because I knew I was skiing fast, but I struggled to handle the pressure as I hadn’t raced for so long,” shared Laidlaw.
After his win today, Laidlaw is the first Australian skier to win a NorAm in a tech event since 2002.
Montana State University’s Seger has been a dominating contender on the NCAA and NorAm tour, winning his last two collegiate GS races and landing two podium finishes in NorAm super-G this year. Also a member of the Canadian Ski Team, Seger finished less than a tenth ahead of Germany’s Anton Grammel.
With the Olympics underway, many national team members who are not participating have navigated to NorAms for competition. Among them include many U.S. collegiate racers who have split their time between school and national team, such as Denver’s Tobias Kogler who finished sixth. Meanwhile, U.S. Ski Team rookie Copper Puckett was the strongest finisher of his team in 13th, the youngest finisher in the top 20.
The men return to Whiteface for a second day of GS racing Wednesday.
RESULTS
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