Canadians Nullmeyer and Brown top Nor-Am Cup

Lake Louise, Panorama BC, Burke Mountain, Stowe Mountain Resort / Spruce Peak, Vail Mountain, Cooper Mountain Resort, Val St-Come, Garceau, Mont Ste-Marie and Sugarloaf, those are the ten venues that hosted the Nor-Am Cup in the 2016/17 season. All ten organisers offered outstanding racing conditions and provided a very professional organisation standard, what allowed the athletes to perform at their highest level.

Good results on the Nor-Am Cup can also be synonym of a personal qualification for next season’s World Cup. Racers who won the Overall ranking are automatically qualified for every single World Cup race and athletes who ranked in first or in second position of a discipline ranking will be qualified for that specific discipline on the World Cup Tour.

After 29 races on the ladies’ side, Canadian Ali Nullmeyer dominated the tech disciplines, participating in every race and collecting six wins and four more podium placements. She finished second of the giant slalom ranking and won the slalom standings. The 19 year-old also performed well in speed, as she claimed three podiums (1x SG, 2x AC) in the fast disciplines. All in all, she amassed enough points to claim the Overall title and ensure her personal qualification for the 2017/18 World Cup season.

In the different disciplines, six other ladies were able to grab their personal qualification. Junior World Champion Alice Merryweather (USA, 1996) won the downhill standings, ahead of Stefanie Fleckenstein (CAN, 97). Nina O’Brien (USA, 97) and Patricia Mangan (USA, 97), who finished respectively and 2nd and 3rd of the Overall standings, are sharing the top spots in the super-g and the alpine combined. Mangan won and O’Brien placed second in the super-g, while both American girls tied for the win in alpine combined. Only Amelia Smart (CAN, 98) was able to grab more points than the Overall winner Nullmeyer in giant slalom, and as last season, the second place of the slalom ranking went to Laurence St-Germain (CAN, 94), right behind Nullmeyer.

The men’s field was topped by Canadian Phil Brown, who was especially strong and constant in the tech disciplines this season. The 25 year-old athlete already ranked second in the Overall standings in 2013 and this year, more regularity enabled him to make that last step to the Overall Cup win. Brown is regularly racing on the World Cup Tour, where he scored points several times already, but still managed to attend 16 (out of 29) Nor-Am races and collect enough points to earn the season win and a personal qualification on the World Cup Tour for next season.

Speed specialist Tyler Werry (CAN, 91) claimed the season ranking in the downhill, as he did in 2015, followed by Broderick Thompson (CAN, 94). The tight super-g standings went to Seger Brodie (CAN, 95), only six points ahead of James Crawford (CAN, 97), who is also third of the Overall ranking. Kipling Weisel (USA, 95) won the alpine combined ranking, right before the runner-up of the Junior World Championships in that discipline, River Radamus (USA, 98). Giant slalom went to Overall winner Phil Brown and Trevor Philp (CAN, 92) finished in second place, as he did in 2012. For his first season on the Nor-Am Tour, David Ketterer (GER, 93) topped the slalom season ranking, ahead of Overall winner Phil Brown. As Ketterer is not starting for a North American nation, the personal qualification for the World Cup went to third placed Hig Roberts (USA, 91).