Update from Spain: World Cup Championships
The 2013 World Cup Championships are underway in Espot, Spain and team members Madi McKinstry, Zoë Taylor, Tanner Visnick, Cory Snyder, Charlie Dresen and Tommy Gogolen are competing March 11-17th. Coach Ty Upson is also with the team. The World Cup Championships are held every two years. In 2015, the United States will host in Colorado. These World Cup Championships include the Classic, the Sprint Parallel (with a qualifying round), the Team Sprint Parallel and the Sprint.
The first event, held March 12th, was the Classic. During inspection, Taylor fell after the jump and sprained her ankle. She was not able to compete in the race and decided to not race in the Sprint Parallel qualifier. She is planning to compete in the remaining events, provided she is feeling healthy. McKinstry finished 9th in the Classic. For the men, Visnick posted his career best World Cup result, placing 13th. Synder, Dresen and Gogolen were stacked in 23rd, 24th and 25th places, respectively.
Winning the Classic was Amelie Reymond (SUI), who took second overall in the regular World Cup season. In second place, Sigrid Rykhus (NOR) and in third, Lisa Englund (SWE). The three podium finishers are the top three women in this year’s World Cup standings. For the men, Tobias Mueller (GER) took the gold. Mueller took bronze in the Cup standings for the season. Bastien Dyer (SUI) claimed silver and the overall World Cup winner, Mattias Wagenius (SWE) placed third.
In the Sprint Parallel qualifying round, Gogolen posted his career best and was the lone American to advance to the finals. He placed 6th. The finals were to be held on Thursday but were postponed a day due to high winds. On Friday, Gogolen was racing head to head against Olle Collberg from Sweden in the first round of the event. Gogolen reported that he was skiing solid and keeping pace with Collberg until the rap. Gogoglen fell in the rap and didn’t advance to the next round. Winning his second event of the Championships was Mueller with Chris Lau (FRA) in second and Wagenius placing third. For the women, the 2013 World Cup Champion, Rykhus won with Reymond in second. Englund finished third.
The third race is the Team Sprint Parallel with each nation posting two men and one women for the competiton. The US team will go against the Swiss in the first round.
USTSA is trying to update results as quickly as possible but note that complete results aren’t always available immediately after each race. Be sure to follow us on Facebook for more coverage, including feedback from racers.