Junior Worlds: Pirovano cruises to GS gold, Canada wins team event

In strong fashion, Italy’s Laura Pirovano won the giant slalom event of the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships in Are (SWE) on 12th March 2017.

Sitting in second position following the first run, she skied the fastest second leg to secure gold in a combined time of 1:58:38. Silver and bronze went to Austria’s Katharina Liensberger and teammate Chiara Mair, +0.13 and +1.15 seconds off the pace.

Mair jumped from tenth position into bronze, skiing the seventh fastest second leg and benefitting from the fact that a number of  top placed skiers did not finish. These include Kristin Lysdahl (NOR), Jessica Hilzinger, Lucia Rispler (both GER) and Meta Hrovat (SLO) who were sitting in first, third, fourth and eight place respectively.

Meanwhile, the newly crowned Junior World Champion Pirovano took the second medal for Team Italy following Alexander Prast’s silver in downhill. Liensberger and Mair took medal number eight and nine for the Austrian squad which is leading the medal count as well as the Marc Hodler Trophy standings.

“Last year in Sochi (RUS), I was second after the first run and my second run was so bad that I only finished in ninth place. I was so disappointed. Given this, I am extremely happy that I have managed such a great second run. It makes today’s win is all the sweeter”, the thrilled Junior World Champion said.

The 19-year old young gun is a regular on the FIS European Cup where she has taken two wins, one in giant slalom and one in downhill, and four podium results to date.

For full results, click here.

Canada golden in Team Event

In the evening, the Nations Team Event took place with Canada earning its first medal at the Junior Worlds when the team of Ali Nullmeyer, Stefanie Fleckenstein, James Crawford and Jeffrey Read, son of famous Ken Read, earned gold in a thrilling competition.

Canada edged Austria in the last round. Bronze went to surprise medallist Belgium which, in a tight duel, faced off against Germany in the small final.

High-resolution photos are available free of charge and free of copyright restrictions here: http://are2019.zenfolio.com/p636665873#h84f4929d
(Photo credit: Lisa Johansson)