Solid Southern Hemisphere series wrap up

The final series for the Australia New Zealand Cup completed at Mount Hutt on Sept. 15. Thirteen countries were represented at the finals, demonstrating a keen interest in the opportunity to gain good points in super G, super combined, giant slalom and slalom in one week.
THE FINAL SERIES for the Australia New Zealand Cup completed at Mount Hutt on Sept. 15. Thirteen countries were represented at the finals, demonstrating a keen interest in the opportunity to gain good points in super G, super combined, giant slalom and slalom in one week.
    The winner of the Australia New Zealand Cup for the men was Iceland’s Bjoergvin Bjoergvinsson, and for the women, Slovakia’s Jana Gantnerova. The top Australia New Zealand male was Brenton Fetterplace (AUS) and the top Australia New Zealand female was Janelle Miller (NZE).
    It has been a very successful season for the ANC. The TD for the series, Brian Lynam of Canada, said,  “I have enjoyed a great week at Mount Hutt. The cooperation of the coaches and the work of the volunteers has topped off a good series and it will be great to return to New Zealand in the future.”
    Series sponsors included Apogee and Vist clothing, Ski & Snowboard Australia, Snow Sports NZ and the NZ Community Trust.
    For complete results, click here. For standings, click here.

Birkner siblings tops in South America
    The South American Cup 2007 finished in Termas de Chillan, Chile, recently, with excellent snow conditions, good weather, very high-level competitions and the largest number of racers ever seen in the series. This is what characterized the entire SAC this season, since its beginning in Cerro Castor, Argentina, in early August until the finals, which included a successful super combined. Given the difficult last winter in Europe, in addition to several World Cup teams, many regional teams and clubs chose South America as the destination for their summer training camps and competition. This meant that each SAC race recorded the largest number of racers in the history of the cup.
    Many World Cup athletes competed in this year’s SAC, underlining its importance as the most extensive circuit of speed events among the Continental Cups with four downhill races, three super G races and a super combined. More than 400 racers from 20 different countries participated in the 2007 SAC season, as 14 races were held in all alpine events. The overall trophies were again awarded to the Simari Birkner siblings Maria Belen and Cristian Javier from Argentina, while the Nations Cup went to the strong French team, with Canada in second place and Argentina in third.
    For complete results, click here. For standings, click here.

— Stefano Pirola, Neill Bell and FIS contributed to this report