It was Lake Louise at its best — cold and clear — for the first training runs of the 2017-18 Nor-Am downhill races for men and women. The day went off smoothly with 26 women and 82 men making their way down the track. Canada’s Stef Fleckenstein took the top spot in the women’s training run with New Zealand’s Georgia Willinger coming second and Canada’s Roni Remme rounding out the top three. Alberta ski team member’s Zoe Belczyk and Ashleigh Alexander made their way into the top ten placing 8th and 10th respectively.
In the men, Canada’s Sam Mulligan took the top spot with teammate Ben Thomsen coming in a tenth of a second behind him and Austrian Sebastian Arzt coming in at third. Adrien Grabinski was the top Alberta Ski Team athlete placing 22nd on the day.
The word from the athletes is that the downhill course has more turn shape than previous years, slowing down the racers with a more technical set. The hard snow conditions held up very well throughout the race providing a good outlook for the week ahead.
Due to some potentially warm weather coming in later this week the coaches have decided to move up the Nor-Am downhills to tomorrow for both men and women. This change in plans means today will be the only training all the athletes will get before race day.
Womens Top 10 Results
| 1 | 8 | FLECKENSTEIN Stefanie | CAN | U21 | 01:22.00 | 01:22.00 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 9 | WILLINGER Georgia | NZL | U21 | 01:22.09 | 01:22.09 | +0.09 |
| 3 | 7 | REMME Roni | CAN | SR | 01:22.34 | 01:22.34 | +0.34 |
| 4 | 12 | LEBEL Maureen | USA | U21 | 01:22.69 | 01:22.69 | +0.69 |
| 5 | 22 | SMITH Sierra | CAN | U18 | 01:23.21 | 01:23.21 | +1.21 |
| 6 | 13 | WRIGHT Isabella | USA | U21 | 01:24.05 | 01:24.05 | +2.05 |
| 7 | 11 | VILANOVA Marina | CAN | U21 | 01:24.06 | 01:24.06 | +2.06 |
| 8 | 4 | BELCZYK Zoe | CAN | U21 | 01:24.16 | 01:24.16 | +2.16 |
| 9 | 14 | DENDA Kayo | JPN | SR | 01:24.79 | 01:24.79 | +2.79 |
| 10 | 24 | ALEXANDER Ashleigh | CAN | U18 | 01:25.14 | 01:25.14 | +3.14 |
Men’s Top Ten Results
| 1 | 2 | MULLIGAN Sam | CAN | U21 | 01:17.36 | 01:17.36 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 30 | THOMSEN Benjamin | CAN | SR | 01:17.46 | 01:17.46 | +0.10 |
| 3 | 19 | ARZT Sebastian | AUT | SR | 01:17.78 | 01:17.78 | +0.42 |
| 4 | 13 | SEGER Brodie | CAN | SR | 01:18.20 | 01:18.20 | +0.84 |
| 5 | 10 | CRAWFORD James | CAN | U21 | 01:18.20 | 01:18.20 | +0.84 |
| 6 | 24 | KRENN Christoph | AUT | SR | 01:18.21 | 01:18.21 | +0.85 |
| 7 | 9 | MORSE Sam | USA | SR | 01:18.22 | 01:18.22 | +0.86 |
| 8 | 12 | KOELL Alexander | SWE | SR | 01:18.28 | 01:18.28 | +0.92 |
| 9 | 8 | READ Jeffrey | CAN | U21 | 01:18.30 | 01:18.30 | +0.94 |
| 10 | 5 | WEISEL Kipling | USA | SR | 01:18.38 | 01:18.38 | +1.02 |
Women’s AST Results
Zoe Belczyk – 8th
Ashleigh Alexander – 10th
Abby Harrison – 22nd
Claire Timmermann – DNF
Men’s AST Results
Adrien Grabinski – 22nd
Liam Wallace – 34th
Andre Wilson – 36th
Jamie Casselman – 62nd
Sam Wall – 63rd
Kelvin Cochrane – 65th
Ryan Webster – 67th
Marcus Holm – 73rd
Dawson Hill – 74th
Carson Cook – DNF
Official Results: https://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/event-details.html?event_id=41895&cal_suchsector=AL
Live timing: http://www.alpinecanadalive.org/
On hill updates: Follow @albertaskiteam on instagram
White Circus - Weiß Zirkus - Cirque Blanc 