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Challenging weekend for ski cross squad

23/12/2013

Australia’s ski cross athletes Anton Grimus and Sami Kennedy-Sim were encouraged by qualifying for the finals of the World Cup at Innichen / San Candido, Italy, today.

Grimus was leading the first final when he was muscled out of position and after regaining balance, he gave himself an opportunity to finish in the first two places, which was needed to advance to the next round, when he fought back towards the front of the pack.

Unfortunately Grimus lost further ground when he ran wide on a turn and was unable to recover.

Grimus finished the day in 23rd, behind winner David Duncan from Canada, while Austrian Andreas Matt was second and Germany’s Daniel Bohnacker was third.

The women’s event was won by Swiss skier Katrin Mueller, Canadian Marielle Thompson was second and German Heidi Zacher was third.

Kennedy-Sim was 27th while fellow AIS / NSWIS athletes Katya Crema was 34th and Jenny Owens was 36th.

The fifth squad member, Scott Kneller, did not compete due to suffering concussion and a back injury in training before the qualification session.

Kneller was taken to the Bolzano Trauma Centre in Italy, 270 km from Milan, where he is expected to remain for at least another 24 hours for further observation.

AIS ski cross program head coach Matt Lyons said that he expects Kneller to make a full recovery but he is likely to miss four to six weeks of competition.
Lyons said it was too early to say if the injury would rule Kneller out of the Sochi Olympic Winter Games in Russia in February.

Crema back racing

21/12/2013

Katya Crema at Innichen / San Candido

Ski cross athlete Katya Crema finished in 21st place in the Innichen / San Candido World Cup in Italy, today, confirming that she has recovered from knee soreness which kept her out of the first events of the season.

After qualifying for the finals in 28th place, the AIS / NSWIS skier finished in third place in a knock out final and with only the first two advancing to the quarter finals, the Australian’s day came to an end.

AIS ski cross program head coach Matt Lyons said he was pleased that Crema was competing again and that she will go into tomorrow’s second stage of the double header at Innichen / San Candido with even more confidence, knowing that the injury is behind her.

Fellow AIS / NSWIS athletes Jenny Owens and Sami Kennedy-Sim were unable to qualify for the finals, finishing in 33rd and 36th respectively after the qualification session.

In the men’s draw, Anton Grimus and Scott Kneller were 38th and 44th after the qualification session, with only the fastest 32 progressing to the finals.

The ski cross squad has the opportunity to improve on these results tomorrow.

Today’s women’s event was won by Switzerland’s Fanny Smith, ahead of Canadian Kelsey Serwa and Swede Anna Holmuld in third.

The men’s was won by Canadian David Duncan, followed by Swiss Alex Fiva and another Canadian Brady Leman in the bronze medal place.

Tough day for ski cross squad

14/12/2013

Sami-Kennedy-Sim getting some nice air (second from right) in Val Thorens

Australia’s ski cross squad battled hard in the Val Thorens World Cup in France yesterday, with AIS/NSWIS skiers Jenny Owens, Sami Kennedy-Sim and Scott Kneller qualifying for the finals.

Unfortunately each was unable to advance further than the first round of the knock out finals.

Owens ended the day overall in 18th, Kennedy-Sim in 21st and Kneller in 30th.

Anton Grimus was 35th after his qualification run was affected by weather conditions.

AIS ski cross program head coach Matt Lyons said that the squad was not able to match the required intensity from the podium finishing athletes.

“Sami and Scott had opportunities from the front in their heats but underestimated their competition and allowed a couple of passes that they were not able to rectify and pull back,” Lyons said.
"Jenny was not as good over the first feature as she had been in training and was not able to move from third in her round.”

Katya Crema, who missed the event with knee soreness, hopes to compete for the first time this season when the squad heads to Innichen/San Candido in Italy on December 21 and 22.

Owens best in opening World Cup

6/12/2013

Australia’s ski cross squad has commenced their international campaign, competing in the opening World Cup of the season in Nakiska, Canada. The event took place is extremely cold conditions, which forced the event organisers to only run one of the planned two events at the location.

AIS scholarship holder Jenny Owens gave herself a confidence boosting 16th place, her best result since December 2012.

AIS ski cross program head coach Matt Lyons said that Owens performance “was a pretty good result.”

Fellow AIS skier Sami Kennedy-Sim qualified for the finals but was unable to progress further than the first race, leaving her in
30th place, while in the men’s event AIS athlete Anton Grimus was 19th.

Scott Kneller did not qualify for the finals and Katya Crema missed the event with knee soreness.

Canada’s Marielle Thompson won the women’s race, followed by Swiss Fanny Smith and Frenchwoman Ophelie David picking up the bronze medal.

France’s Jonas Devouassoux took out the men’s, with Switzerland’s Armin Niederer and Canada’s Brady Leman in second and third.

All systems go

3/12/2013

Australia’s ski cross squad has used a “back to basics” approach as the centrepiece of their strategy to prepare for the most important World Cup season in four years, which starts with a double-header in Nakiska, Canada, on December 6 and 7.

While every World Cup series comes with high expectations, this season has added importance for Australian Institute of Sport skiers Scott Kneller, Anton Grimus, Katya Crema, Jenny Owens and Sami Kennedy-Sim given it leads into the Sochi Olympic Winter Games in February.

Not only are World Cup results integral to the Sochi qualification process, which cuts off on January 20, AIS ski cross program head coach Matt Lyons knows that strong results on the tour may also carry through into the sport’s pinnacle event.

Despite the importance of the Olympic Winter Games, Lyons has not changed that much of his squad’s off-season preparation for this season compared with previous years.

“We determined at the outset that we would go back to basics,” Lyons said this week.

“We wanted to focus on the key elements of the sport, which are good skiing, good starts and good physical preparation. Those are the main three elements.

“However, it is worth acknowledging the fact that we are going into an Olympic year and it’s a big year and the challenges are there before us.

“We need to embrace those challenges and basically recognise that this is what we are here for.”

Lyons said that he is confident the squad has achieved almost all of his expectations throughout the off season training.

“We are all feeling like it is time to get going,” he said.

“We have done almost everything I wanted to get done during the preceding six to eight months.

“We tweaked a couple of things and got a lot of skiing in. Everybody is fit and healthy, which is a good start.”

However, Lyons added that he will have to wait until after the first event to gauge the progress of each of his protégés.

“Everybody does all the hard work and everybody does all the training but you never know until you get in that World Cup environment,” he said.

“We’ve had a couple of time trials but it is really difficult to recreate the pressure and intensity required at a World Cup, particularly when you also overlay the qualification pressures.

“We’ve still got seven qualification events before Sochi. We’re definitely far from home and hosed. Everybody still has to perform.

“Although it should be said that we’re not really focused on the Olympics part of our season just yet. It’s a day at a time.”

Officially the freestyle World Cup season started in August with slopestyle and halfpipe events in Cardrona, NZ, but this weekend marks the first stage of the Northern Hemisphere part of the calendar.

Challenging weekend for ski cross squad

Crema back racing

Tough day for ski cross squad

Owens best in opening World Cup

All systems go

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