Harry Laidlaw has competed in the World Cup giant slalom event at the Palisades ski resort in Lake Tahoe, USA, finishing in 49th place.

Laidlaw finished the fist run in a time of 1:11.35, 2.92 seconds behind Marco Odermatt of Switzerland in first place, missing out on the top-30 required for the second run.

The event was won by Marco Schwarz of Austria, with Odermatt in second and Rasmus Windingstad of Norway in third.

VIS skier Doug Crawford has taken part in the second World Championships of his career, finishing in 25th place in Bakuriani, Georgia.

The 24-year-old missed out on advancing to the 32-man final after qualifying in 35th place, completing his run in a time of 1:24.01, 3.7 seconds behind the fastest qualifier, Satoshi Furuno of Japan.

The men's event was won by Italian Simone Deromedis, with Sanda Naeslund of Sweden extending her amazing winning streak of 14 months with gold in the women's event.

2022 Olympian Bree Walker has completed her 2022-2023 international competition season in style, with podium performances in the Europe Cup two-woman events with brakewoman Sarah Blizzard in Winterberg, Germany.

In the first event, Walker and Blizzard finished in a time of 58.87, putting them in second place, just 0.1 seconds behind event winners Margot Boch and Carla Senechal of France.

Later that day the QAS slider and Blizzard competed in the second race on the Winterberg track, this time finishing with a time of 58.51 seconds, 0.32 seconds behind Boch who won both events.

Blizzard also competed in the monobob, piloting herself to a seventh place finish.

It was another successful season for Walker, highlighted by:

Monobob

• Two World Cup podium's (Silver and Bronze)
• Fourth place at the World Championships
• Three Europe Cup gold medals

Two-Woman - Bree Walker & Sarah Blizzard

• Personal best fifth place World Cup finish
  
• Two Europe Cup podiums in Winterberg
  

Australian Ice Dance couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan have finished eighth at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Colorado Springs, USA, matching their previous best result at the event.

Competing in the opening rhythm dance, the couple scored 60.71 points and ranked ninth, with a fall impacting their score.

The couple had a much improved final free dance performance, recording a career best score of 101.98 points, the seventh best of all competitors.

With a total combined score from both combined programs of 162.69 points, the final ranking for the couple was eighth place, finishing behind event winners Madison Chock and Evan Bates of America with a score 220.81.

Also in action for Australia at the Four Continents was India Nette and Eron Westwood who finished in 11th in the ice dance, Vlada Vasilev who placed 18th in the women's singles, and Darian Kapitch who also placed 18th in the men's singles.

The ISU 2023 World Figure Skating Championships will be held in Saitama, Japan, from March 20–26.

2022 Olympian Brendan Corey has continued his excellent season, equalling his previous personal best in the 1000m at the same location last season, with a fifth place finish at Dordrecht in The Netherlands.

Competing in the first 1000m distance event, Corey made a great start winning his rounds in the preliminaries and heats. In the quarter-finals, Corey finished in second to advance to the semi-final.

In the semi-final, Corey had a great skate to break the Australian record for 1000m with a time of 1:23.741 , finishing in third to reach his third A-Final of the season.

In the final, Corey had another strong skate, but was unable to land on the podium missing out by less than half a second.

Corey also competed in a second 1000m distance event in Dordrecht, finishing 19th.

"With three A-Finals this season, I feel like I have made a huge step forward from last season," said the 26-year-old.

Other Australian's in action in Dordrecht included:

Men
Keanu Blunden 35th (500m), 39th (1000m #1)
Lucas Wareham 46th (500m), 44th 1500m)
Ihan Yoo 44th (1000m #2), 25th (1500m)
5000m Relay Team 13th

Women
Hyo Jin Kim 29th (500m), 26th (1500m)

The World Cup season is now complete for the short track athletes, with the World Championships to take place from March 10-12 in Seoul, Korea.

 

Bree Walker has continued her success on the Igls track in Innsbruck, Austria, with a silver medal performance at her final  IBSF World Cup monobob event of the season.

The podium performance is the QAS athlete's second for the season at the World Cup level, following her bronze medal last month in Altenberg, Germany, and the fifth time Walker has medalled on the Igls track.

Walker made a strong start recording the third fastest time in the opening run in 54.71 seconds. In the second and final run, the 2022 Olympian improved to finish with a time of 54.68 seconds which was the second fastest of the round.

Her two-run combined time of 1:49.38 was just 0.18 seconds behind event winner Lisa Buckwitz of Germany, with Canadian Cynthia Appiah rounding out the podium 0.04 seconds behind Walker in third.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better way to round out my World Cup season with the second place here in Igls,” said the 30-year-old from Queensland.

“I really enjoy sliding here, It’s easy to make it down this track, but sometimes hard to make it down fast because the slightest mistake can cost you so much time, so that provides a great challenge.”

“I’m also very happy to be improving on my results from race to race. The competition in monobob this year has really levelled up which makes for fierce racing, which is always fun.”

“It’s been a big transition season for me. My new coach Pierre Lueders has helped me take my driving to a whole new level, which has been such an exciting process.”

Walker will now join up with Sarah Blizzard to compete in the two-woman Europe Cup race in Winterberg, Germany, on February 18.

2018 Olympian Harry Laidlaw will head into the 2023 FIS Alpine World Championships full of confidence, after recording his first ever European Cup podium in Folgaria, Italy.

The podium is the first ever Australian giant slalom European Cup medal, and the first of any kind since Jono Brauer finished first in January 2006 competing in slalom. 

Competing in two Europa Cup giant slalom's in the Italian resort, Laidlaw achieved his podium performance in the first race with a silver medal in the two run time of 1:53.90, 1.15 seconds behind event winner George Steffey of America. Also in action for Australia was Louis Muhlen-Schulte in 52nd and Hugh McAdam who did not qualify for the second run.

In the second race, Laidlaw finished in eighth, with McAdam not qualifying for the second run, and Muhlen-Schulte not able to complete his second run.

The results see Laidlaw move up to be ranked fourth on the European Cup giant slalom standings.

Later this week Laidlaw, Muhlen-Schulte and McAdam will compete in the parallel, giant slalom and slalom events at the World Championships in Courchevel and Meribel, France.

2022 Olympian Brendan Corey has achieved another World Cup personal best in the 1500m distance, this time finishing in sixth place in Dresden, Germany.

Corey has had a great season so far in the longest distance, and continued his great form to reach his second A-Final of the season.

In the A-Final, Corey finished in sixth place, improving on his eighth place finish earlier in the season in Almaty, Kazakhstan.Corey also competed in the 500m, finishing in 29th place, just missing out on advancing to the next round after finishing second in his repechage quarter final heat.

Reflecting on his performances in Germany, Corey commented:

"That was my best finish so far, and I am absolutely chuffed about my performance yesterday."

"In the semi-final there was a lot of bumping and grinding in that race, but I managed to get through and barely make it across the line in second, as out of the final turn my blade poked into the ice and I stumbled."

"I am happy to take part in finals, it's such a great experience and I hope to see more of those in the future."

"Overall I am pretty happy with my best finish so far. In the 500m I had a bit of touch luck, but that's Short Track."
Also competing for Australia:
Keanu Blunden 58th (1000m), 48th (1500m #2)
Lucas Wareham 50th (500m), 47th 1500m #1)
Hyo Jin Kim 36th (500m), 28th (1500m #1)
The next round of the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup tour will take place next weekend in Dordrecht, Netherlands, on February 10-12.

Article courtesy of Snow Australia

The 47th FIS Alpine Ski World Championships start on Monday with a small but determined Australian contingent ready to hit the French resorts of Courchevel and Meribel.

Triple-Olympian Greta Small will start her campaign on day one in the alpine combined event, and race the speed events over the course of the opening week.

Going into her fifth World Championships, the 27-year-old has lost none of her passion despite first racing the event as a teenager.

“It has given me a chance to reflect on what I’ve achieved,” said Small. “Going to my first World Championships at just 17 years old and now, ten years later I’m still here chasing my dreams.

“I remember how excited and proud I was to race in Schladming 2013, and I’m going to bring that same energy into Meribel 2023.”

Going into his third World Championships, Harry Laidlaw will be looking to continue the form he has shown already this season.

Currently ranked inside the top five on the Europa Cup standings, Laidlaw is knocking on the door of World Cup points having missed the top 30 by just 0.21s in Schladming last week.

Joining Laidlaw in the men’s technical races is Beijing Olympian Louis Muhlen-Shulte who has also earned some encouraging results on the highly-competitive slalom World Cup circuit.

“This is my first World Championships, so I am very excited about that,” said the 24-year-old. “I have made a lot of changes and progress in my slalom skiing and I am sorting out a few things on the GS side.

“I feel that competing in Beijing at the Olympics in 2022 definitely gives me more experience to draw from, as well as all the World Cup events I have competed in this season.

“I am constantly gaining more knowledge and a better understanding of how to do my best on any given day.”
The FIS Alpine World Championships run from Monday 6 to Sunday 19 February. Predominantly, the women’s events will be held in Meribel and the men’s at Courchevel, with both venues sharing the parallel events.

Click here for the World Championships schedule and results

Download the FIS App for live timing throughout the event