Inside Edge: Isabella Waters captures second at Western Youth XC Ski Championships
Isabella Waters, 11, competes in the Western Youth XC Ski Championships in Jackson, Wyoming this past weekend. She placed second overall in U12 girls.
(Photo courtesy of VICKI LONGHINI)
Western Youth XC Ski Championship — The Western Youth XC Ski Championship races were hosted this past weekend in Jackson, Wyoming. Nearly 200 kids, ages 8-13, representing clubs from all over the western U.S., gathered for two days of racing.
On Saturday, skiers raced a classic 2K or 3K course, followed by a 2K/3K skate race on Sunday that included a Nordic-cross technical downhill section with several bumps and jumps.
Sandpoint skiers Isabella Waters, 11, and Jonas Benson, 12, competed both days and Jude Benson, 10, raced Sunday only. For all three skiers, this was the biggest and most competitive field they have faced to date.
On Saturday, Jonas skied the 3K classic in 12:35, placing 40th out of 51 U14 boys. Waters skied the 2K course in 7:45, placing second out of 29 U12 girls.
In the Sunday skate race, Jonas skied the 3K in 9:35 to finish 31st in U14 boys. Waters skied the 2K course in 6:32, capturing second out of 28 U12 girls. Jude, skiing up an age group in the U12 boys, finished the 2K race in 7:41 to place 21st out of 41 racers. The event capped a successful season for these junior skiers.
World Championships wrap-up — The World Championships at beautiful Cortina, Italy came to an end, with the U.S. team continuing on into the remainder of the schedule. Paula Moltzan posted her best WC result ever with a fourth place in championship parallel.
Breezy Johnson was fifth in the first downhill at Val di Fassa while Laurenne Ross took 23rd. Bella Wright was the only U.S. racer in the points in the second downhill, placing 14th.
Johnson bounced back from a downhill crash and finished fifth in the super-G. Meanwhile, the tech ladies were at Bansko where Mikaela Shiffrin won her 69th career slalom, followed by a bronze in giant slalom the following day, bringing her podium total to 102. Moltzan was 19th and AJ Hurt secured 22nd in the giant slalom. River Radamus was the only U.S. racer in the men’s giant slalom points at Bansko, finishing 14th.
Potpourri — Check back here next week for results from the three day Masters series being hosted at Schweitzer. Any comments, recommendations or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by email at shep@thesnowschool.com. Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.