Puckett takes second in opening WC ski cross event
Casey Puckett overcame a sluggish start Sunday to finish second and lead three U.S. skiers into the top 20 in a World Cup ski cross won by Czech Tomas Kraus, the reigning world champion.
LES CONTAMINES, France — Casey Puckett overcame a sluggish start Sunday to finish second and lead three U.S. skiers into the top 20 in a World Cup ski cross won by Czech Tomas Kraus, the reigning world champion.
Puckett, a four-time Olympic alpine skier, was followed by Jake Fiala in ninth place, Errol Kerr in 12th, JJ Johnson in 23rd and Cody Smith at 39th. Fiala and Johnson also are former alpine World Cup skiers while Kraus and third-place skier Stanley Hayer raced for the Czech Republic. Kraus has won gold in SX at the last two FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships.
“Casey’s been around so much and been in so many finals that naturally he’s always disappointed if he doesn’t win, but I think he’s really happy with the results. It’s a good way to start into the World Cup with ski cross,” said U.S. coach Tyler Shepherd. “The only time he didn’t win his heat was when he was in the final up against Tomas Kraus and he said that he got out of the start just a little slower than he did the other two heats.”
According to Shepherd, Puckett’s start could have made the difference between first and second place because, “It was very difficult to pass on this course. It was very tight at the top and it had some unique areas for jumps that were difficult, and then the bottom was really fast. They were probably approaching 55 mph, so to do any passing at that speed is very difficult.”
The newest snow sport added to the Olympics, ski cross has been compared with motocross on snow. It’s a highly competitive and sometimes physical race that requires only the strongest athletes, and Sunday’s race was no exception, Shepherd said.
“The level of competition is as high as it is anywhere else. All the usual suspects are here. These guys have all been racing for a long time and the lower-level guys don’t even qualify, so it’s very competitive," Shepherd said. "They build the courses differently over here, and the athletes play a little differently. There’s a little bit rougher play going on. Guys are elbowing each other a little more right out of the start.”
Ophelie David of France won the women’s SX event. No U.S. women competed.
The ski cross World Cup now moves to Flaine, France, for a competition Wednesday.
I’m very optimistic about how the boys will do because they’re all really fired up after getting the first one out of the way," Shepherd said. "The guys have a better feeling of what to expect for the next race, so I think they’re all pretty confident in knowing that they can step it up."
Men's results
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Result | Level | Points |
1 | 2386524 | KRAUS Tomas | 1974 | CZE | 1000.00 | |||
2 | 2526254 | PUCKETT Casey | 1972 | USA | 800.00 | |||
3 | 2526725 | HAYER Stanley | 1973 | CAN | 600.00 | |||
4 | 2484562 | PICCARD Ted | 1978 | FRA | 500.00 | |||
5 | 2455006 | SCHMID Michael | 1984 | SUI | 450.00 | |||
6 | 2447828 | BARR Davey | 1977 | CAN | 400.00 | |||
7 | 2389240 | BASTELICA Simon | 1977 | FRA | 360.00 | |||
8 | 2385263 | KONO Kenji | 1983 td> | JPN | 320.00 | |||
9 | 2526905 | FIALA Jakub | 1975 | USA | 290.00 | |||
10 | 2389628 | GAVAGGIO Enak | 1976 | FRA | 260.00 | |||
11 | 2190772 | TAKIZAWA Hiroomi | 1973 | JPN | 240.00 | |||
12 | 2526957 | KERR Errol | 1986 | USA | 220.00 | |||
13 | 2422026 | LENEL Robin | 1985 | FRA | 200.00 | |||
14 | 2387009 | LEWEN Lars | 1975 | SWE | 180.00 | |||
15 | 2525886 | KOROTKOV Egor | 1986 | RUS | 160.00 | |||
16 | 2526956 | SHESTAKOV Pavel | 1969 | RUS | 150.00 | |||
17 | 2526820 | DELBOSCO Christopher | 1982 | CAN | 140.00 | |||
18 | 2412132 | HAUKKALA Juha | 1978 | FIN | 130.00 | |||
19 | 2526694 | DOI Toshiyuki | 1978 | JPN | 120.00 | |||
20 | 2526844 | RUOPPA Samu | 1989 | FIN | 110.00 | |||
21 | 2484520 | BENNETT Brian | 1980 | CAN | 100.00 | |||
22 | 2451417 | MATT Andreas | 1982 | AUT | 90.00 | |||
23 | 2484376 | GROENVOLD Audun | 1976 | NOR | 80.00 | |||
23 | 2526635 | JOHNSON Justin | 1977 | USA | 80.00 | |||
25 | 2392732 | VON GUNTEN Thomas | 1971 | SUI | 60.00 | |||
26 | 2448410 | NETZER Conradign | 1980 | SUI | 50.00 | |||
27 | 2475182 | VAINIO Juhani | 1980 | FIN | 45.00 | |||
28 | 2484630 | EGGEN Silvio | 1983 | SUI | 40.00 | |||
29 | 2484604 | KOLLER Patrick | 1983 | AUT | 36.00 | |||
30 | 2395739 | AUDERER Wolfgang | 1981 | AUT | 32.00 | |||
31 | 2412714 | SAFAR Zdenek | 1978 | CZE | 28.00 | |||
32 | 2526789 | STICKL Simon | 1987 | GER | 26.00 | |||
33 | 2526897 | DUNCAN David | 1982 | CAN | 24.00 | |||
34 | 2526898 | CULBERT Cam | 1977 | CAN | 22.00 | |||
35 | 2475085 | RUOTSALAINEN Petri | 1980 | FIN | 20.00 | |||
36 | 2412617 | SPALINGER Richard | 1975 | SUI | 19.70 | |||
37 | 2384681 | WALDNER Klaus | 1980 | AUT | 19.40 | |||
38 | 2403402 | MOLLING Karl Heinz | 1972 | ITA | 19.10 | |||
39 | 2526891 | SMITH Cody | 1978 | USA | 18.80 | |||
40 | 2400298 | JOSEFSSON Ted | 1977 | SWE | 18.50 | |||
41 | 2389531 | KUHN Xavier | 1978 | FRA | 18.20 | |||
42 | 2400395 | ELIASSON Tommy | 1980 | SWE | 17.90 | |||
43 | 2392635 | STEFFEN Andreas | 1975 | SUI | 17.60 | |||
44 | 2387591 | IEZZA Massimiliano | 1974 | ITA | 17.30 | |||
45 | 2484602 | LOSS Matteo Valentino | 1982 | ITA | 17.00 | |||
46 | 2526330 | LE GALL Charley | 1989 | FRA | 16.70 | |||
47 | 2485278 | RIENDA Daniel | 1980 | SPA | 16.40 | |||
48 | 2526804 | ROBINSON Craig | 1987 | GBR | 16.10 | |||
49 | 2526556 | KOPRIVA Jakub | 1989 | CZE | 15.80 | |||
50 | 2450835 | MIAILLIER Sylvain | 1986 | FRA | 15.50 | |||
51 | 2386718 | ILJANS Eric | 1969 | SWE | 15.20 | |||
52 | 2526239 | FABRE Olivier | 1983 | FRA | 14.90 | |||
53 | 2526029 | MAIER Frank | 1985 | GER | 14.60 | |||
54 | 2526788 | PUPP Maximilian | 1985 | GER | 14.30 | |||
55 | 2484763 | REKDAL Anders | 1987 | NOR | 14.00 | |||
56 | 2411938 | ZANGERL Thomas | 1983 | AUT | 13.70 | |||
57 | 2412229 | KARHUMAKI Tuomas | 1981 | FIN | 13.40 | |||
58 | 2391471 | MANI Alois | 1983 | SUI | 13.10 | |||
59 | 2484555 | TISCHENDORF Andreas | 1987 | GER | 12.80 | |||
60 | 2526947 | JECL Simon | 1986 | SLO | 12.50 | |||
61 | 2484313 | MORISON Angus | 1980 | GBR | 12.20 | |||
62 | 2385748 | MATSUBARA Ryosuke | 1979 | JPN | 11.90 | |||
63 | 2526508 | KEIL Uwe | 1988 | GER | 11.60< /td> | |||
64 | 2485155 | UBUKATA Takeo | 1974 | JPN | 11.30 | |||
65 | 2485360 | CERMAK Radek | 1980 | CZE | 11.00 | |||
66 | 2485167 | KARLSTAM Philip | 1989 | SWE | 10.70 | |||
67 | 2484749 | AUER Mirco | 1977 | SUI | 10.40 | |||
68 | 2456461 | SOUKUP Jan | 1980 | CZE | 10.10 | |||
69 | 2485174 | ORLOWSKI Marcin | 1985 | POL | 9.80 | |||
70 | 2485175 | BUSCA Tomas | 1979 | ITA | 9.50 | |||
71 | 2526532 | SIMO Dusan | 1981 | SVK | 9.20 | |||
72 | 2526785 | ZAGORSKI Wojciech | 1985 | POL | 8.90 | |||
73 | 2384390 | WITTNER Markus | 1973 | AUT | 8.60 | |||
74 | 2484607 | LACROIX Didier | 1986 | ITA | 8.30 | |||
75 | 2526137 | FORSLUND Michael | 1986 | SWE | 8.00 | |||
76 | 2485323 | GSTREIN Jochen | 1987 | AUT | 7.70 | |||
77 | 2484322 | FOLEY Thomas | 1979 | IRE |   ; |
7.40 | ||
78 | 2484627 | CATTANEO Luca | 1972 | ITA | 7.10 | |||
79 | 2525885 | BONDAR Alexandr | 1988 | RUS | 0.00 | |||
80 | 2526369 | RUIZ Jose-Jorge | 1974 | SPA | 0.00 | |||
81 | 2485296 | KRUPA Ondrej | 1983 | CZE | 0.00 | |||
82 | 2526533 | WADRZYK Bartlomiej | 1976 | POL | 0.00 | |||
83 | 2485186 | TAKAC Petr | 1987 | CZE | 0.00 | |||
84 | 2526747 | PIBER David | 1989 | SLO | 0.00 | |||
85 | 2525841 | HONCL Cenek | 1989 | CZE | 0.00 | |||
86 | 2526231 | PINTAR Anze | 1979 | SLO | 0.00 |
Did not start: DANILOV Artem (RUS), LEIVA Zamir (CHI)
Did not finish: EBENBICHLER Christoph (AUT), GALLAND Antoine (FRA)
Woomen's results
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Result | Level | Points |
1 | 2394866 | DAVID Ophelie | 1976 | FRA | 1000.00 | |||
2 | 2324342 | BERNTSEN Hedda | 1976 | NOR | 800.00 | |||
3 | 2415721 | BOULANGEAT Meryl | 1986 | FRA | 600.00 | |||
4 | 2484439 | MCIVOR Ashleigh | 1983 | CAN | 500.00 | |||
5 | 2396612 | HUTTARY Karin | 1977 | AUT | 450.00 | |||
6 | 2448604 | MURK Seraina | 1971 | SUI | 400.00 | |||
7 | 2452775 | FUKUSHIMA Noriko | 1979 | JPN | 360.00 | |||
8 | 2526337 | MARSAN Clara | 1989 | FRA | 320.00 | |||
9 | 2526906 | MURRAY Julia | 1988 | CAN | 290.00 | |||
10 | 2444045 | FARIC Sasa | 1984 | SLO | 260.00 | |||
11 | 2386815 | ILJANS Magdalena | 1969 | SWE | 240.00 | |||
12 | 2526015 | OFNER Katrin | 1990 | AUT | 220.00 | |||
13 | 2485085 | OWENS Jenny | 1978 | AUS | 200.00 | |||
14 | 2404469 | SERAIN Emilie | 1984 | SUI | 180.00 | |||
15 | 2387979 | DEMERS Anik | 1972 | CAN | 160.00 | |||
16 | 2446955 | GRAUVOGL Alexandra | 1981 | GER | 150.00 | |||
17 | 2526527 | JENSEN Julie | 1990 | NOR | 140.00 | |||
18 | 2323372 | CREMA Katya | 1988 | AUS | 130.00 | |||
19 | 2484521 | SAITO Akane | 1982 | JPN | 120.00 | |||
20 | 2525966 | YALISHEVA Nadezhda | 1981 | RUS | 110.00 | |||
21 | 2526530 | RIEMEN Karolina | 1988 | POL | 100.00 | |||
22 | 2526531 | KRZYZYNSKA Dagmara | 1981 | POL | 90.00 | |||
23 | 2485279 | DELGADO Rocio | 1977 | SPA | 80.00 | |||
24 | 2484649 | SARSFIELD Emily | 1983 | GBR | 70.00 | |||
25 | 2526819 | SAUVEY Sarah | 1983 | GBR | 0.00 | |||
26 | 2526845 | FORNI Arianna | 1987 | ITA | 0.00 |
Did not start: SITKOVA Jitka (CZE), LILJEGREN Jenny (SWE), REISINGER Sarah (GER), STEFFEN Franziska (SUI)
Did not finish: MUELLER Katrin (SUI), MCFETRIDGE Gillian (CAN)