Australia's Jenny Owens stepped on to the podium for the first time in more than two years when she finished third in today's ski cross World Cup on Blue Mountain, Canada.
In a season that is gathering momentum with each World Cup round, the performance comes just a week after the AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder grabbed fifth place in the Freestyle World Ski Championships in the United States.
Today's final was won by Germany's Anna Woerner, with Swiss skier Fanny Smith picking up second.
It was a top-class field, with Owens finishing ahead of fifth place getter and Canada's newly crowned World Champion, Kelsey Serwa, and the World Cup's current number one Heidi Zacher from Germany, who was back in seventh. Owens added 60 points to her season tally, which has consolidated her place in the world's top 10 rankings with four rounds remaining this season.
The podium finish is the fourth recorded by Owens since joining the World Cup ski cross tour in 2006.
AIS ski cross head coach Matt Lyons said that a pre-race plan of skiing wide paid handsome dividends for Owens.
Lyons anticipated that the track conditions would become more icy and faster towards the end of competition, so he and Owens decided that her best option would be to ski out wide throughout the day.
Lyons' prediction was not anticipated by most other athletes with many of the field falling victim to racing incidents brought on by the challenging icy conditions.
Lyons attributes much of Owen's rejuvenation in recent World Cup rounds to a change of mind set.
"She is enjoying skiing again and just having fun every time she competes, nothing more than that," Lyons explained.
And to give the women's team even more reason to celebrate, 22-year-old Sami Kennedy recorded a career best eighth, the first time she has scored a top 10 in World Cup competition.
Kennedy's encouraging result came from a determined second place in her quarter final but her hopes of joining Owens in the final were dashed when she finished fourth in her semi-final.
Fellow scholarship holder Katya Crema also had reason to smile with a season-equal-best result, placing 13th.
Unfortunately the men's team of Scott Kneller and Anton Grimus were not able to follow in the women's footsteps, finishing the day in 24th and 28th.
Both earned a place in the knock out rounds after recording the 18th and 25th fastest times respectively in qualifying but were unable to advance to the quarter finals when they finished fourth in their heats.
Kneller made an error while leading the four man heat, which put an end to his day.
The men's final was won by Canadian Christopher Delbosco, with World Cup points leader Andreas Matt from Austria in second and Czech Tomas Kraus in third.
The AIS team now has a week's break before heading to Grasgehren, Germany, to train with the home team. Lyons said they will work on head to head speed with the Germans and polish their starting techniques in order to finish the last four races of the season in the best possible way.
In a season that is gathering momentum with each World Cup round, the performance comes just a week after the AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder grabbed fifth place in the Freestyle World Ski Championships in the United States.
Today's final was won by Germany's Anna Woerner, with Swiss skier Fanny Smith picking up second.
It was a top-class field, with Owens finishing ahead of fifth place getter and Canada's newly crowned World Champion, Kelsey Serwa, and the World Cup's current number one Heidi Zacher from Germany, who was back in seventh. Owens added 60 points to her season tally, which has consolidated her place in the world's top 10 rankings with four rounds remaining this season.
The podium finish is the fourth recorded by Owens since joining the World Cup ski cross tour in 2006.
AIS ski cross head coach Matt Lyons said that a pre-race plan of skiing wide paid handsome dividends for Owens.
Lyons anticipated that the track conditions would become more icy and faster towards the end of competition, so he and Owens decided that her best option would be to ski out wide throughout the day.
Lyons' prediction was not anticipated by most other athletes with many of the field falling victim to racing incidents brought on by the challenging icy conditions.
Lyons attributes much of Owen's rejuvenation in recent World Cup rounds to a change of mind set.
"She is enjoying skiing again and just having fun every time she competes, nothing more than that," Lyons explained.
And to give the women's team even more reason to celebrate, 22-year-old Sami Kennedy recorded a career best eighth, the first time she has scored a top 10 in World Cup competition.
Kennedy's encouraging result came from a determined second place in her quarter final but her hopes of joining Owens in the final were dashed when she finished fourth in her semi-final.
Fellow scholarship holder Katya Crema also had reason to smile with a season-equal-best result, placing 13th.
Unfortunately the men's team of Scott Kneller and Anton Grimus were not able to follow in the women's footsteps, finishing the day in 24th and 28th.
Both earned a place in the knock out rounds after recording the 18th and 25th fastest times respectively in qualifying but were unable to advance to the quarter finals when they finished fourth in their heats.
Kneller made an error while leading the four man heat, which put an end to his day.
The men's final was won by Canadian Christopher Delbosco, with World Cup points leader Andreas Matt from Austria in second and Czech Tomas Kraus in third.
The AIS team now has a week's break before heading to Grasgehren, Germany, to train with the home team. Lyons said they will work on head to head speed with the Germans and polish their starting techniques in order to finish the last four races of the season in the best possible way.
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