OWIA/NSWIS athlete Anton Grimus followed up his good form from Friday’s qualifying, by finishing ninth at the Ski Cross World Cup event at Phoenix Park in Korea.
 
After winning his Round of 32 Final, Grimus lined up against three Frenchmen in his Quarter Final, finishing third, in what was always going to be a tough challenge.
 
“No doubt I think they worked together, and so they should, but I had a really good run,” Grimus said.
 
“Ninth overall was a good move forward for me. I adapted well and felt comfortable in front of my skis, so I’m really looking forward to the next event in Arosa now.”
 
The men’s event was taken out by Bastien Midol of France.
 
Fellow OWIA/NSWIS athlete Sami Kennedy-Sim achieved her best result since returning from injury, finishing 14th overall in the Ladies event.

“I know it’s a step in the right direction and I am so ready now for Arosa,” Kennedy-Sim said.
 
The final was a tight affair, with reigning World Champion Andrea Limbacher claiming victory.

IMAGE: Anton Grimus in Korea

Anton Grimus has put in one of his best runs of the season to finish eighth fastest in qualifying on Day one of the Ski Cross World Cup event at Phoenix Park in Korea.
 
The Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA)/New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athlete was able to make a fast start, maintaining the pace throughout, to complete the course in a time of one minute 10.42 seconds.
 
Fellow OWIA/NSWIS athlete Sami Kennedy-Sim has had her best qualifying result since returning from injury, finishing with the 13th fastest time in qualifying this afternoon (Australian time).
 
Today’s results see both Grimus and Kennedy-Sim qualify for the finals, which will be held on Sunday afternoon (Australian time).
 
Following his qualifying run, Grimus couldn’t hide his excitement of the venue that will play host to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Korea.
 
“The track is awesome, the weather has been great and the people are nice, so you can’t ask for much more.”
 
“I had a good day today and really happy with the result,” Grimus said.
 
“I made some good changes during training, and it paid off today. I started off in training with the quickest time, so I was moving straight from the outset today,” Grimus added.
 
Kennedy-Sim also was pleased with her opening day performance.
 
“I was fourth in the top section of the track, and a combination of wind and a mistake, saw me finish in 13th place,” Kennedy-Sim said. 
 
“I am now looking forward to a rest day tomorrow and supporting the Snowboard Cross team, then racing again on Sunday.”

Zali Offord and Louis Muhlen have rounded out Australia’s most successful day at a Winter Games with silver and bronze medals in the Lillehammer 2016 ski cross competition on Hafjell Olympic Slope. Offord, named after famous alpine skier Zali Stegall, now has an Olympic medal of her own after a consistent day of racing saw her push the Swiss gold medallist all the way to the line in the women’s event. 

Just moments after Australia had claimed its third Lillehammer 2016 medal, Muhlen made it four when the alpine specialist was able to pick himself up from a crash and finish third behind clear winner Reece Howden of Canada and silver medallist Xander Vercammen of Belgium.

Fellow Australian Doug Crawford moved into the semi-finals ranked ahead of Muhlen but finished fourth in his semi, before going on to claim sixth overall with a second place finish in the Small Final.

The results follow on from Alex Dickson’s silver medal in the snowboard cross to make Lillehammer 2016 the most successful Winter Games campaign for an Australian Team.

For Offord it was an even more remarkable result considering she was off snow for 15 days after a crash on 29 January left her concussed and her preparation disrupted.

“I can’t believe it, I am over the moon,” said the 17-year-old from Helensburgh, south of Sydney.

“I had a bit of a rough run leading in to Lillehammer 2016 and had a bit of a crash today but it was all good.”

Offord was the fastest out of the gates but just couldn’t hold on for the victory.

“It was a pretty good final. I had the girl at the start and she is a good skier as well, one of the top Swiss girls. It was a really good race, I worked hard and came away with second.”

Muhlen was the only skier from the alpine competition to compete in the ski cross and the gamble certainly paid off.

“It was pretty sick and unexpected.” said Muhlen. “It was my second ski cross event so I didn’t really know what was going on and missed out on one of the training days as well.

“I came in as the underdog and it turned out pretty good.”

With Muhlen’s final being the last on the day he had the chance to be inspired by what had the other Aussies were able to achieve throughout a stellar day for the team.

“It was sick to see. It was good racing and I guessed the track worked for the Aussies. We couldn’t scrape out a gold but we found everything else.” 

Muhlen will now have a day off competition before he races the Giant Slalom on Wednesday in Norway.

Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au

Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA)/New South Wales Institute (NSWIS) of Sport athlete Sami Kennedy-Sim made her return to competitive racing from injury this weekend, at the double header Ski Cross World Cup event in Idre Fjall, Sweden.

After placing 24th on Saturday in the first race, Kennedy-Sim backed up on Sunday finishing third in her Eight Final, which saw her take 19th place overall.

After the two events, Kennedy-Sim said she was just pleased to be back competing.

“It has been tough watching from the sidelines, but I am happy with my return to competition,” Kennedy-Sim said.

“Not getting through the Eight Finals both days feels a bit like a kick to the shins, but I am feeling a bit rusty as I haven’t raced since December,” Kennedy-Sim added.

“My body feels ok after the two competitions and I am still having some issues with my leg, but it would be unrealistic to expect to be pain free just yet.”

Fellow OWIA/NSWIS athlete Anton Grimus qualified through the round of 64 heats for the Eight Finals on both days, eventually taking fourth place in each of his races, therefore missing out on a place in the Quarter Finals, with a 30th and 29th overall placing respectively.

Head Coach Shawn Fleming said the last half of the course in particular was straight with lots of jumps and rollers.

“The racing was very tight and exciting, with the most passing I have ever seen,” Fleming said.

“You needed to be perfect to maximise speed and being first was sometimes a disadvantage, as it was easy for athletes to work the draft and build momentum for the pass,” Fleming added.
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“Anton’s heats were all close action and with passing, but at the end of the day others used the draft and capitalised on a couple mistakes and were able to beat him to the line.”

IMAGE: Sami Kennedy-Sim after returning on snow at the start of the month © Sami Kennedy-Sim Instagram