Switzerland's Abderhalden tops the field at world juniors women's downhill

Switzerland’s Abderhalden tops the field at world juniors women’s downhill{mosimage}LE MASSIF, Quebec After watching North Americans take two of the three steps of the podium in the men’s downhill the day before, the Europeans too their revenge on Friday. Switzerland’s Marianne Abderhalden earned a surprising victory in the March 3 Junior World Championships women’s downhill, and Austria’s 16-year-old Anna Fenninger and France’s Aurélie Revillet completed the podium. Racers from Switzerland, France, Austria, Liechtenstein and Italy took the top six spots.

The top North American finish came from Canada’s Danielle Poleschuk in seventh. The top American finisher was Megan McJames in 19th, followed by Chelsea Marshall in 23rd.

After crashing off a jump in her second training run and tweaking her ankle, Abderhalden wasn’t even sure she would be able to race. But a post-crash visit to the hospital showed nothing seriously wrong with the ankle, and the 19-year-old from Alt St. Johann returned to the Le Massif track ready to give it a go.

Running third, Abderhalden was happy to clear the jump where she crashed on Wednesday. ‘I was very glad today when I skied over the jump without much trouble,” said the German-speaking athlete. “It allowed me to ski the rest of the course with more confidence.’

Still, when she finished, Abderhalden didn’t think her time of time of 1:13.51 would stand up. Abderhalden’s best finish at world juniors a year ago was 19th in super G, and having finished eighth in her only completed training run, Abderhalden had to wait it out as the world’s best junior women took aim at her time.

Fenninger, who leads the overall and GS Europa Cup standings, came close, within .10, but that would be the only hold-your-breath moment for Abderhalden. Third-place Revillet was .67 back.

“I made a mistake on the basketball turn and that costs me a lot, maybe even the win,” said Revillet who remained satisfied with her medal performance after barely missing a medal in downhill at last year’s World Juniors.

Poleschuk, who competed in her first Junior World Championships last winter in Bardonecchia, Italy, was happy to notch herself a top 10.

“Last year, I fell at the World Juniors,” said Poleschuk. “This year, my goal was just to finish and I did it. I skied well because I approached the race with a very relaxed mind set. I didn’t put extra pressure on myself and it paid off.”

Poleschuk was joined by fellow Canadians Shona Rubens and Véronique Archambault-Léger in the top 15.

Rubens, on leave from the World Cup circuit, was hoping for more than her 12th-place finish.

“This is very disappointing for me,” she said. “I had higher hopes for this race. I was thrown off one of the jumps, lost my balance, and got launched into soft snow. I lost most of my speed and wasn’t able to recover.”

Four-event skier Archambault-Léger is competing at her first world juniors after coming back from a knee injury sustained at the end of last season.

American Kiley Staples was 28th and teammate Laurenne Ross finished 32nd.

World juniors racing continues Saturday with the men’s super G at Le Massif
and the women’s slalom at Mont-Sainte-Anne. Both events are set to begin at 10 a.m.

Women’s downhill
Junior World Championships
Le Massif, Quebec
March 3, 2006
1. ABDERHALDEN Marianne [SUI] 1:13.51
2. FENNINGER Anna [AUT] 1:13.61
3. REVILLET Aurelie [FRA]1:14.18
4. DETTLING Andrea [SUI]1:14.26
5. WEIRATHER Tina [LIE]1:14.56
6. BORSOTTI Camilla [ITA]1:14.57
7. POLESCHUK Danielle [CAN]1:14.58
8. BARTHET Anne-Sophie [FRA] 1:14.62
9. BREM Eva-Maria [AUT] 1:14.72
10. ANSELMET Corinne [FRA] 1:14.77

For a link to complete results, click here

EVENTS TO COME
March 4 super G men (Le Massif) & slalom women (Mont-Ste-Anne) 10:00 a.m.
March 5 super G women (Le Massif) & slalom men (Mont-Ste-Anne) 10:00 a.m.
March 6 giant slalom – men (Mont-Ste-Anne) 10:00 a.m.
March 7 giant slalom women (Mont-Ste-Anne) 10:00 a.m.
March 8 @ Nation’s Cup (Le Relais) 12:00

For more information on the Alpine Junior World Championships Centrum
Performance Québec 2006 presented by TELUS, visit www.mjaq2006.ca.

Alpine Canada Alpin contributed to this report