Peter Lange
The US Ski Team dominated the opening Continental Cups SL races in New Zealand. After the first four Australia New Zealand Cup races, four different USST skiers have stood on the top step of every podium.
On August 22nd, three US men completed the first ANC race in Coronet Peak. All three US racers finished within the top 15. USST athlete Isaiah Nelson from the Buck Hill ski team won his first ever Continental Cup SL. Nelson is the reigning Junior World Super-G champion, but throughout his career, he has shown a high level of ability in all events. Therefore, his ANC SL victory was no surprise. Nelson finished one place in front of USST teammate, GMVS athlete and veteran World Cup skier Ben Ritchie who placed 2nd. In addition, Williams College athlete Cooper Iacobelli finished 12th and scored his first ever ANC points.
Notably, the USST women were even more dominant in the first SL of the season. A total of six Americans entered and four finished, all of whom placed in the top ten. USST athlete Katie Hensien from Rowmark Academy and the University of Denver took the gold. She finished in front of her teammates Ava Sunshine Jemison 2nd of Burke Mountain Academy and fellow Burkie Bear Zoe Zimmermann 3rd. The other American to meet the challenge was Alexis Ordway, who skis for RC Elite Racing, finishing a solid 10th.
2nd day of SL racing
The following day in Coronet Peak, Ben Ritchie showed why he had won continental cup races in both Europe and North America. The former Junior World SL champion won, beating Swiss racer Reto Schmidiger and Norwegian Amdahl Andreas Soensterud. Isaiah Nelson, after experiencing challenges on the first run, came back strong with a fast second run time to finish 4th on the day. The two USST athletes were the only Americans to finish the second SL of the series.
Ritchie and Nelson are now sitting first and second in the overall ANC standings.
On day two of the SL series, the USST women stole the show again. This time Zimmermann took the top step and Jemison was second again. USST Ski and Snowboard Club Vail athlete Allie Resnick, who did not finish the first day, finished a strong third. Accordingly, the USST women experienced their second podium sweep of the series.
Zimmerman and Jemison are currently tied on top of the ANC overall standings. Additionally, Hensien is 60 points behind the leaders, in third. Resnick is now 7th in the standings, but SRM expects her to improve her standing significantly if she skis in the GS races later this month..
