Jenny Lathrop takes final Mont-Sainte-Anne slalom before heading to Europe

Jenny Lathrop takes final Mont-Sainte-Anne slalom before heading to EuropeMONT-SAINTE-ANNE, QUEBEC Jenny Lathrop had a plane to catch.

Lathrop, a U.S. Ski Team rookie out of Colby College, was rushed off to the Montreal airport just minutes after she secured her first career NorAm victory in the final slalom at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec.

On the strength of strong slalom results on the NorAm and Europa Cup circuits in November and December, Lathrop has earned a crack at several World Cup starts this season, including this weekend’s slalom in Maribor, Slovenia.

While she hasn’t yet found success on the World Cup, Lathrop bested a long list of current World Cup stars with a fourth-place finish in a NorAm slalom at Winter Park, Colorado, on Nov. 30. She also had a top-10 finish in a Europa Cup slalom at St. Sebastian, Austria, in December.

Lathrop’s teammates Sterling Grant and Katharine Hitchcock finished second and third in Friday’s slalom. Hitchcock has been steady throughout the week at Mont-Sainte-Anne, garnering a pair of bronze medals in the slaloms and just missing the podium with a fourth-place finish in Tuesday’s GS.

For Grant, however, the finish was a welcome relief after a frustrating string of recent DNFs. Her Jan. 6 silver medal was only her second finish in her last 10starts.

The U.S. sweep of Friday’s CIBC Coupe NorAm slalom was made possible by Canadian Anna Goodman’s second-run disqualification. Second a day earlier, Goodman won the first run by eight-tenths of a second. In the afternoon, Goodman adeptly attacked a combination that was giving the rest of the field trouble, and she was undoubtedly on pace to win the race before making a mistake that launched her off-course.

Kiley Staples, a J2 racer from Rowmark Ski Academy, was the second-place junior (behind Grant) and finished fourth overall. Staples also had an impressive fifth-place finish in the slalom on Thursday. Along with Ski Racing International’s Laurel Carter, Staples seems to be among the top candidates for the American team at the 2006 World Junior Championships, which will be hosted by Quebec City in early March.

The remainder of the Women’s U.S. B, C and development teams will join Lathrop in Europe this weekend, where they will spend the ensuing month racing Europa Cup, World Cup and FIS events.

WOMEN’S CIBC COUPE NORAM
MONT-SAINTE-ANNE, QUEBEC JAN. 6, 2006

1 (1) LATHROP Jenny T [USA] – SR 0:50.21 0:50.93 1:41.14
2 (12) GRANT Sterling [USA] – J2 0:50.75 0:51.29 1:42.04
3 (7) HITCHCOCK Katharine [USA] – SR 0:51.01 0:51.25 1:42.26
4 (6) STAPLES Kiley [USA] – J1 0:51.15 0:51.19 1:42.34
5 (4) SCRIPTURE Laura [USA] – SR 0:50.96 0:51.47 1:42.43
6 (17) HUGHES Megan [USA] – SR 0:52.22 0:50.37 1:42.59
7 (3) CARTER Laurel [USA] – J2 0:51.18 0:51.52 1:42.70
8 (16) LITTMAN Julia [USA] – SR 0:52.14 0:51.13 1:43.27
9 (15) MARSHALL Chelsea [USA] – J2 0:52.07 0:51.32 1:43.39
10 (30) PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier [CAN] – J2 0:53.79 0:50.07 1:43.8