JWC Speed Races in the Cradle of Skiing 

World junior Championships Opening ceremony: Photo Credit Helen Olsson

The fastest junior racers on the planet battled low light and a bumpy downhill track on the first day of the 2023 FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships. 

By Helen Olsson

St. Anton, Austria, Jan. 19, 2023 — The women’s downhill race at the 2023 FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships, the weeklong event’s first competition, started inauspiciously today when 20-year-old Ine Haugland of Norway, wearing Bib 1, spun around and crashed into the B nets on the lower part of the St. Anton’s Karl-Schranz course. Dramatically a helicopter airlifted the racer from the mountain. After a 30-minute delay, the race resumed. At press time, Haugland’s status was unknown. 

Lowered Start

Due to windblown snow in the upper part of the course, race officials shortened the downhill course this morning, moving the start down to the reserve start (where the Super G will start tomorrow). The new start took about 15 seconds off the length of the course, compared with the training runs from the previous two days. 

Women’s race

Switzerland’s Stephanie Grob took gold with a slim three-hundredths margin over silver medalist Vicky Bernardi of Italy. Pernille Dyrstad Lydersen of Norway took the bronze (+.35). Two Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team (USST) members raced in the women’s downhill.  Ava Sunshine, who has trained with Burke Mountain Academy, was the top U.S. racer, finishing 8th (+.76), while Lauren Macuga, who trains out of Park City, landed in 10th place (+1.07). 

Macuga raced on the track five days ago during the World Cup Super G in St. Anton. “The bottom part was really rattly, and I got pushed low,” she said after her run.  Having to wait for a lengthy course hold due to injury? “It’s tough mentally. “You already know it’s a dangerous sport, and then seeing that someone is being airlifted out…that’s hard.”

This is the second Junior Worlds for Sunshine (whose full name is Eva Sunshine Jemison, but who races under her two given names). “I’m still working on my downhill,” she said. (Although she did snag a 4th place finish on the second training day.) “I skied the top pretty well but made a couple of tactical errors at the bottom where it was much bumpier than in training,” Sunshine said after her race run.

Competition aside, Macuga and Sunshine are soaking up the atmosphere of this international event. “You hop on the lift, and it could be with a racer from any country,” Macuga said. “Last night, we sat down at dinner with Sweden. It’s fun to meet everyone.” 

Men’s race

In the men’s downhill race, held in the afternoon at St. Anton, Slovenian Aznoh Rok took the top of the podium, France’s Alban Elezi Cannaferina (+.50) took silver, and Switzerland’s Livio Hiltbrand (+.82) took bronze. Five American men raced the downhill. Cooper Puckett (+1.55) was the top finisher, coming in 17th. Hailing from Steamboat Springs, Puckett races for both the USST and Dartmouth. “I think it was pretty clean skiing, but that last mistake on the bottom cost me,” said Puckett, who is at the Junior Worlds for his third time. “I wasn’t going to race the downhill—I was just training it to get up to speed for the Super G,” Puckett said. “But then I won one of the splits yesterday—and I smelled some blood.” 

Other finishes for the U.S.: Jay Poulter came in 28th (+2.21); Finnigan Donley took 29th (+2.26); Justin Bigatel, 35th (+2.98), and Hunter Salani, 38th (+3.20). 

Despite a dusting of fresh snow, the surface stayed nice and hard. However, low light made the downhill additionally challenging for the racers. “It was pretty bumpy, and you couldn’t really see the bumps—the light was really flat,” said Hunter Salani, a 17-year-old racer with Vail Ski & Snowboard Club who’s at Junior Worlds for the first time.

Bigatel, a Park City-based USST athlete who trained at Burke Mountain, is also at Junior Worlds for the first time. “I’m just happy to be here and trying to enjoy the moment,” he said. “All the teams have dinner together, and the vibes are good.”