Mielzynski 14th in Kranjska Gora slalom with season-best result
Erin Mielzynski received a well-timed confidence boost by earning her best result of the 2013/14 World Cup season days before the start of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games when she finished 14th in the Audi FIS World Cup Kranjska Gora slalom on Sunday.
The 23-year-old from Collingwood, Ont., – who in 2012 became the first Canadian since Betsy Clifford in 1971 to win a World Cup slalom race – was sixth after a hard-charging first run, and battled through extremely challenging snow conditions to finish in the top 15 with a two-run combined time of one minute, 51.18 seconds. Teammate Brittany Phelan, of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was 24th (1:52.59).
“I’m really happy with my first run. It’s definitely a confidence builder going into Sochi,” Mielzynski said. “The biggest thing for me is that it felt normal. I’ve been training well this year, but one of the big things I’ve been looking at is minimizing my mistakes and making sure that if I make a mistake it’s less costly. In my first run today I made a few small mistakes, but I was able to keep a good rhythm going, and when I got to the bottom it felt good and like my timing was on.
“I’m definitely disappointed in my second run. I held back, for sure. The snow was so tough that I just didn’t really go for it. But I can take a lot of positives out of today, especially since it was so close between first and 15th place.”
Mielzynski said she will be focusing her time between now and Sochi perfecting her on-snow technique with recent equipment changes.
“I’ve been doing a lot of changes this year testing a few different models of skis. I haven’t had very much time on the model I’ve chosen, so today it was nice to come in and have a solid first run. I really want to get comfortable on this new model of ski and continue to have positive training days so I can stand in the start and have the confidence that my normal skiing will get me to where I want to be.”
“We saw an excellent first run from Erin. It was a world-class run, which was really nice to see,” added Hugues Ansermoz, head coach of Canada’s ladies’ team.
“Even though she backed off a bit in her second run, she had her best result in a while and showed today that she can be right there with the best. It’s a really positive change. I hope she brings that to Sochi.”
Sunday’s slalom followed a string of cancelled training days and a scheduled giant slalom race in Kranjska Gora, where heavy snowfall and warm temperatures plagued the course. Conditions were a factor on Sunday, as Lac-Etchemin, Que.’s Marie-Michèle Gagnon – who has five top-10 slalom results this season and earned her first World Cup victory last month in super combined – struggled to find the right feeling on the snow and did not finish her first run. Elli Terwiel, of Sun Peaks, B.C., did not qualify for the second run.
“In my opinion, today was one of the toughest slaloms in many years, condition-wise. The conditions were very, very difficult,” Ansermoz said. “It has been a wild week here in Kranjska Gora with the conditions; it’s so different than anything we race or train. We have to be able to race in all conditions, but it’s not always easy.”
Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter won Sunday’s slalom in 1:50.17, while powerhouse sisters Marlies (1:50.22) and Bernadette Schild (1:50.32), of Austria, were second and third, respectively.
As the ladies’ alpine team travels to Sochi, Russia, this week to go for gold at the Olympic Winter Games, it will draw on a season’s worth of positive results. Six women will represent Canada at the Games: Mielzynski, Gagnon, Phelan, Terwiel, Marie-Pier Préfontaine, of Saint-Sauveur, Que., and Larisa Yurkiw, from Owen Sound, Ont.
“Going to Sochi, we have to look at the results from the whole season,” Ansermoz said. “We are more or less where we want to be. We have some good outsider shots, and I think we are heading in to Sochi looking good. I think we’ve prepared as well as possible.
“It’s exciting. I think the six women we selected represent the different disciplines well. Part of the goal is to really be performing the best they can, which is what I hope they do at the Games. We will see how high that brings us.”
.jpg)
