Andrea Iori's hat-trick highlights successful FIS Grass Skiing Junior World Championships 2024 in Orlicke Zahori

The scenic slopes of Orlicke Zahori came alive from July 24 to 27, 2024, as the Czech Ski Federation hosted the much-anticipated FIS Grass Skiing Junior World Championships. This annual event, a highlight in the Grass Skiing world, showcased the dedication and expertise of the organizing committee, who ensured everything ran smoothly and provided an excellent racing slope, enabling fair and exciting competitions in favorable weather conditions.

Young athletes from eight nations participated in the event, including Japan, Hungary, and Ukraine, as well as dominant European nations such as Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. In total, 19 girls and 24 boys competed in the races. Italy dominated by winning five gold medals, four for men (all won by the same athlete!), one silver, and two bronze. They were followed by the Czech Republic with two gold medals, six silver, and four bronze, and Austria with one gold medal, two silver, and one bronze.

The Championships began with a Super-G race, fiercely contested by three athletes in the women's category: Nicole Mastalli (ITA) won ahead of two local skiers, Eliska Rejchrtova and Aneta Koryntova (CZE), by only 4 hundredths of a second! In the men's category, the podium was 100% Italian, with Andrea Iori being the fastest, followed by Roberto Cerentin and Michael Bertagno.

The young athletes raced another Super-G to begin the second day of competition, this time counting for the Super Combined and followed by one run of Slalom. Silver medalists from the day before, Eliska Rejchrtova and Aneta Koryntova (CZE), were again very close after the first run (8 hundredths in favor of Aneta). Eliska finally took the lead after the Slalom run, winning the Junior World Champion title ahead of two teammates: Aneta, second, and Lenka Knorova (CZE), third. On the men’s side, Andrea Iori (ITA) added a second Junior World Champion title to his records, winning both the Super-G and the Slalom run. Ales Knor and Vaclav Knor (CZE) won the silver and bronze medals.

The technical events began with the Slalom on Friday. The Czech girls claimed the top spots, with Aneta Koryntova leading after the first run but ultimately defeated by Eliska Rejchrtova by 15 hundredths. Austrian Lara Teynor completed the podium. Andrea Iori (ITA) continued his winning streak, taking the lead from the first run and maintaining it to finish with a lead of 1 second and 32 hundredths over Ales Knor (CZE), second, and Michael Bertagno (ITA), third.

The 2024 Grass Skiing Junior World Championships concluded on Saturday with the Giant Slalom. After an unfortunate performance the previous day (DNF in the second run), Emma Eberhardt (AUT) bounced back to win at the end of two runs ahead of her teammate Lara Teynor, who was fourth in the first run but the fastest in the second. Eliska Rejchrtova (CZE) also recovered from a slow start (5th in the first run) to secure third place, preventing an Austrian sweep by edging out fourth-placed Tina Hetfleisch (AUT). In the men’s category, nobody could stop Andrea Iori’s (ITA) hat-trick as he claimed his fourth Junior World Champion title, being the fastest in both Giant Slalom runs. His teammate Alex Galler, close after the first run (second by 20 hundredths), encountered difficulties in the second run, finishing fourth. Leopold Schoen (AUT), third after the first run, claimed the silver medal, and Alex Knor (CZE) completed the podium by recording the second-best time in the second run.