NorAm speed titles, World Cup berths decided at Big Mountain

NorAm speed titles, World Cup berths decided at Big MountainAs most of the ski racing community turned to Italy to watch the sport’s premier athletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, the best of North America’s remaining alpiners wrestled for points throughout a series of NorAm super G’s and downhills in Apex, British Columbia, and Big Mountain, Montana.

These were the final NorAm speed events of 2005-06, and at stake were the season’s overall discipline title and runner-up awards, both of which earn racers spots on next year’s World Cup tour.

Apex hosted a pair of men’s and women’s super G’s Feb. 5-8 before heading to Big Mountain for the downhill and super G finales (Feb. 8-16).

U.S. Ski Teamer Megan McJames was the undisputed star of the super G’s at Apex on Feb. 5 and 6, winning both races convincingly and distancing herself from American teammate Caitlin Ciccone in the overall standings. McJames clinched the NorAm super G title on Feb. 8 when she charged to a second-place finish in the first of two super G’s at Big Mountain.

Keely Kelleher was the Feb. 8 winner, and the victory put her in contention to overtake teammate Ciccone in the standings on Feb. 9. Ciccone, though, proved too iron-willed to surpass, and in the season finale she put down her best super G run of the year, finishing second behind World Cup skier Jonna Mendes.

The men’s NorAm/Europa Cup squad rolled into Apex with team member Erik Fisher having just posted career-best Europa Cup results in Veysonnaz, Switzerland. Fisher carried his Euro-momentum off the plane and down the mountain, dominating the field with two consecutive wins and putting himself in prime position to take the overall super G title. When Fisher arrived at Big Mountain, his back-to-back wins in British Columbia proved crucial, as gnarly winds and extreme temperatures forced race organizers to cancel the last super G on Feb. 16.

Without knowing it, Fisher’s Feb. 15 sixth-place finish proved enough to capture the overall super G title, forcing Canada’s Robbie Dixon to settle for second place.

In the first day of downhill racing on Feb. 12, both men and women kicked into their longest boards and flew down Big Mountain’s smooth Ursa Major track.

Mendes won her second NorAm in as many starts, while U.S. C teamer Julia Littman finished third and moved to within striking distance of Canada’s Larisa Yurkiw, who was leading the DH standings and finished 13th on the day.

American Christopher Beckmann raced to second place in the men’s race, sandwiched between race winner Gareth Sine and his Canadian teammate Jeffrey Frisch.

On Feb. 13, the near-perfect weather and conditions that had stamped the previous days were made specious by a snowstorm. A snow seed and bibs 1 and 2 were sent before the women’s race was stopped. The start was then lowered, and the race commenced anew. Racing in the week’s first adverse conditions, Littman and teammate Chelsea Marshall punched together a one-two finish, with Littman claiming the NorAm downhill title and Marshal leaping into third.

The men’s race was postponed until Feb. 14, with the same men who ascended the podium on Feb. 12 doing it once more, but this time with Frisch in the top spot, and Sine and Beckman close behind. Frisch’s victory clinched the NorAm downhill title, and Beckmann took the remaining World Cup spot by finishing second.

See below for a list of the top three men and women in the 2005-06 NorAm super G and downhill standings.

Women’s super G
1. Megan McJames (USST)
2. Caitlin Ciccone (USST)
3. Keely Kelleher (USST)

Women’s downhill
1. Julia Littman (USST)
2. Larisa Yurkiw (CAST)
3. Chelsea Marshall (USST)

Men’s downhill
1. Jeffrey Frisch (CAST)
2. Christopher Beckmann (USST)
3. Kevin Francis (USST)

Men’s super G
1. Erik Fisher (USST)
2. Robbie Dixon (CAST)
3. Gareth Sine (CAST)