Alpine Junior Worlds: Merryweather and Morse golden in downhill

U.S. athletes Alice Merryweather and Sam Morse raced to downhill gold at the opening competitions of the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships in Are (SWE) on 8th March 2017.

While most eyes were on Austrians Nina Ortlieb and Dajana Dengscherz who led the training runs in the previous days, Merryweather stormed to gold with bib number 18. She outpaced second placed Katja Grossmann (SUI) and third placed Wolrd Cup regular Kira Weidle (GER) by 0.02 and 0.41 seconds respectively.

“I nailed it today. This was certainly my best run in three days. I was a bit hesitant in my training runs but this morning, I felt ready for this challenge. It’s just amazing to win,” the happy gold medallist said. She competed at her last Junior World Championships.

Merryweather has had a strong season on the North-American Cup tour with seven podium placements of which one was a super-G victory in Panorama (CAN).

For full results, click here.

In the men’s event, Merryweather’s teammate Sam Morse took his first big victory on the international stage.

“To have this success early on takes the weight off my shoulders for the upcoming competitions. I have been working hard towards this and it now pays off. Overall, it was a great day for the U.S. team. It seems we really show up for big race days. In training we are a bit remote but on race days we are ready to roll”, he smiled.

Italy’s Alexander Prast cruised to silver, 0.38 seconds off the pace. And for the bronze medal, it all looked as if James Crawford (CAN) would win until Austria’s Raphael Haaser raced into third place with bib number 50, 0.50 seconds behind the winner.

For full results, click here.

Action continues with the ladies' and men's super-G on 9th March.

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