Europeans dominate New Zealand Championship slalom races

The 2017 New Zealand National Championship slalom races were held at Coronet Peak on Thursday after Wednesday’s racing had to be postponed due to inclement weather. Thankfully, organizers were able to get the men’s and women’s slaloms off without a hitch for a packed international field.

The women’s race went to Switzerland’s Bettina Schneeberger with a winning time of 1:39.20 seconds. Second place went to American and University of Denver Pioneer Storm Klomhaus, 1.14 seconds back, and third place went to first-year FIS athlete and New Zealander Alice Robinson, who finished 2.89 seconds off of Schneeberger’s winning time all the way from bib 49.

Robinson also won the NZ GS title in stunning fashion on Monday. Despite her third-place finish, top Kiwi honors on the day gave Robinson the slalom title as well. Not a bad start to what will hopefully be a long, successful career.

“I wasn’t expecting to win the slalom title. I’ve been more focused on training GS,” she told SnowSports NZ. “I’m pretty excited. It’s a good bonus.”

For the men, the podium was dominated by Europeans as Czech World Cup regular Krystof Kryzl took the victory with a time of 1:33.46 seconds, a razor-slim 0.03 seconds ahead of Austria’s Richart Leitgeb in second and 0.21 seconds clear of Germany’s Julian Rauchfuss in third. New Zealand’s Adam Barwood landed in fifth place overall and top Kiwi, giving him back-to-back national slalom titles. Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club’s Benjamin Throm was the fastest American on the day in 13th.

“I’m really happy to keep the title,” said Barwood. “After missing out on the GS on Monday, it’s a bit of a relief. The result should help improve my world ranking as well.”

For complete slalom results click here.