Vail skier River Radamus leads team at Junior World Championships super-G
Megan Harrod
It was a big day at FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Feb. 1, as Edwards ski racer River Radamus grabbed the silver medal and Luke Winters, of Gresham, Oregon, snagged the bronze in the super-G race.
Ski & Snowboard Club Vail skier Kyle Negomir, participating in his first Junior World Ski Championships, was also in the top 10, tying for seventh. Marco Odermatt, of Switzerland, took the victory.
Radamus, who will turn 20 on Feb. 12, is a three-time Youth Olympic Games gold medalist who enjoyed his first World Cup start this season at his home venue in Beaver Creek.
CHALLENGING WEATHER
After a heavy amount of snowfall on Thursday, the men had to deal with weather delays but remained focused with their eyes on the prize.
Alpine Development Director Chip Knight said organizers made an impressive effort to get the race off, using snowblowers to move the new snow out of the race track, and snowcats to smooth out the berms on the side of the trail.
Knight was very impressed with the performance of all three athletes.
"River, Luke and Kyle each did a tremendous job with their inspection, adapting to new information from the coaches' course reports, and then executing a revised plan while flowing with the speed and terrain," Knight said. "As with any speed event, it's a team effort among the athletes, coaches and service technicians. The whole group pulled together really well today, and the strong results are a reflection of that operation."
Winters also commended the organizers for prepping the track well despite the challenging weather. "There were parts of the course today that were not easy. Starting second, I had to stick with the plan and ski aggressive, and it worked out. The course was in perfect condition, thanks to all the course workers, after receiving a foot of snow the day before."
'FIRST AND LAST'
Winters, 20, competed at the Junior Worlds for the first time on Thursday.
"Today was definitely one to remember," he said. "This is my first and last time at world juniors, so getting a bronze medal early in the race series is a huge accomplishment for me. Sharing the podium on the world stage like that with your teammate was exciting."
Earlier in the week, California skier A.J. Hurt finished eighth in the giant slalom and Katie Hensien of Rowmark Ski Academy in Washington followed that up with a fourth in slalom. Both athletes made their FIS Ski World Cup debuts in the 2017-18 season.