Kildow, Ciccone, Clark, Stiegler rule Coronet Peak GS

Kildow, Ciccone, Clark, Stiegler rule Coronet Peak GS{mosimage}American Lindsey Kildow and men’s top seed Jan Urfer of Switzerland rocketed to giant slalom wins on the first day of the FIS Southern Cup at Coronet Peak, New Zealand, on Tuesday.

The U.S. women’s alpine ski team is training at Coronet Peak this month and entered several top-ranked skiers in the giant slalom to take the first four places.

Kildow, 21, was fastest in both runs and headed off two of her teammates, Caitlin Ciccone and Kirsten Clark, to win the race in a combined time of 1 minute, 53.55 seconds. Ciccone clocked 1:54.47 and Clark finished in 1:54.92. Resi Stiegler was fourth in 1.56.73.

Leading French skier Pauline-Flor Socquet-Clerc, who is training with the New Zealand women’s team, finished fifth in 1:57.04.

Forty-four of 71 competitors completed the two runs, with Hamilton’s Sarah Jarvis the best New Zealander at eighth. Another Kiwi national team member, Janelle Miller, was 12th.

FIS technical delegate Manfred Wolscher of Australia said conditions were excellent for the race, which was set on the homologated course on The Hurdle. He described it as a “challenging course of World Cup standard.”

Urfer won both men’s GS runs to finish in a combined time of 1.52.93. The race was marked by a huge attrition rate in the second run, with only 57 skiers completing the event.

New Zealand representative Ben Griffin, third after the first run, went out of the race on a steep section near the top of the course in the second run.

Swiss skier Ruedi Von Kaenel took second place in 1:54.94 and Ian Poirier of the United States was third in 1:55.04. The first New Zealander was national team member Scott Gange in 13th place.

The second giant slalom was set for Wednesday and slaloms are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Results
Women: Lindsey Kildow (USA) 1.53.55 1, Caitlin Ciccone (USA) 1.54.47 2, Kirsten Clark (USA) 1.54.92 3, Resi Stiegler (USA) 1.56.73 4, Pauline-Flor Socquet-Clerc (France) 1.57.04 5,  Jessica Kelley (USA) 1.57.43 6, Emiko Kiyosawa (Japan) 1.59.23 7, Sarah Jarvis (NZE) 2.00.56 8, Heidi Hillenbrand (USA) 2.01.21 9, Erika Ghent (USA) 2.02.03 10.

Men: Jan Urfer (Switzerland) 1.52.93 1, Ruedi Von Kaenel (Switzerland) 1.54.94 2, Ian Poirier (USA) 1.55.04 3, Errol Kerr (USA) 1.55.12 4, Toshiyuki Doi (Japan) 1.55.30 5, Bobby Poehling 1.55.65 6, Azumi Tajima (Japan) 1.55.78 7, Evan Barrett (USA) 1.55.81 8, Yasuhiko Watanabe (Japan) 1.56.57 9, Bryce Stevens (Australia) 1.57.10, Scott Gange (NZE) 1.57.97 13.