Arvidsson and Grenier crowned World Junior Champions on historic day for North Americans

The 2016 World Junior Championships in Sochi, Russia kicked off on Saturday with men’s and women’s downhill action on the slopes of the Rosa Khutor alpine center. Under sunny skies and spring-like conditions, the next generation of American Downhillers managed to make quite an entrance to the world stage.

Erik Arvidsson of the U.S. C Team took the gold medal with a time of 1:11.66 seconds, o.20 seconds ahead of silver medalist Stefan Babinsky of Austria. Frenchman Victor Schuller took the bronze, 0.35 seconds off of Arvidsson’s winning pace.

The California native becomes the fifth American male to capture World Junior downhill gold, joining Ryan Cochran-Siegle (2012), Chris Beckmann (2006), Adam Cole (2002), and Mike Makar (1992). More history was made as three of Arvidsson’s teammates slotted themselves into the top 10 with Sam Morse finishing in fourth, only 0.12 seconds away from a medal, Florian Szwebel in seventh, and Drew Duffy in 10th.

“I’m really psyched and super proud to lead four Americans into the top 10 here at World Juniors in Sochi,” Arvidsson said of his day. “I can’t remember a recent performance like this from our boys. It was pretty incredible to stand there in the leader’s box for a while with some teammates. It was a pretty incredible day and it felt really good to be a part of such a strong American Downhiller team.”

The softer conditions played right into Arvidsson’s skill set, as he grew up skiing at Bear Valley, California, where softer spring-like snow can be found for much of the winter. Arvidsson credits this, as well as his strategic choice to run with bib one, as the keys to his victory.

U.S. assistant coach Justin Johnson says that a result like Saturday’s is not surprising given the group’s closeness and ability to feed off of each other’s energy.

“This group is powerful together, super strong,” Johnson explained. “They work really hard to create an environment where they feed off each other and pick up on each other’s strengths. It’s not a show. These guys really really love each other. The team power we have is unreal. It’ll just keep getting better and better. It’s a real special group and they help each other in every aspect of sports and life. It makes them super strong.”

Now with the weight of being the future of the American speed team squarely on their shoulders, these boys are more than ready for the challenges ahead.

“We’ve been talking a lot about today being the future American Downhillers and it feels really cool to continue on the legacy of Bill Johnson and Tommy Moe and all the boys now,” Arvidsson added. “We look up to everyone in the gym in the summer — like Steve [Nyman], and obviously Bode is everyone’s hero. And skiing for the Squaw Valley Ski Team, Daron Rahlves is someone I’ve looked up to and spent some time with in Tahoe. It’s a pretty special thing.”

On the women’s side, Canada’s Valerie Grenier walked away with the gold medal with a time of 1:13.95 seconds, a slim 0.07 seconds ahead of silver medalist Beatrice Scalvedi of Switzerland. Italian Nicol Delago snagged the bronze, 0.31 seconds off of Grenier. American Breezy Johnson just missed the podium in fourth, 0.43 seconds off the pace.

“I was surprised when I saw that I was first after I crossed the finish line,” Gernier said. “I am not so confident in downhill. Usually, super-G is my favorite discipline, but it felt like a really good run today. The fact that I had the second fastest downhill training time yesterday gave me additional confidence.”

The men are now scheduled to race super G on Sunday, Feb. 28, with the women’s race scheduled to take place on Monday, Feb. 29.

Cover photo from the U.S. Ski Team

Official Men’s Results

Official Women’s Results