Sami Kennedy-Sim is in tenth place on the World Cup standings, at the conclusion of the Ski Cross World Cup double header in Innichen, Italy.

Kennedy-Sim placed seventh in race one on Saturday, after reacing the Small Final where she placed third.

 “I skied really well, putting pressure on my competitors from when the gate dropped,” Kennedy-Sim said.

Although missing out in qualifying for the second event of the Innichen double header by the narrowest of margins, Kennedy-Sim remained positive and is already looking forward to challenging for a podium finish after the Christmas break.

“I am disappointed that I don’t get to try and make the final,however, I am more motivated than ever to capture a podium,” Kennedy-Sim said after her race.

Fellow OWIA/NSWIS athlete Anton Grimus did not make it through qualifying for Race 1, but was back in action on Sunday for the second of the weekends Innichen World Cup events, after qualifying for the finals in 20th position.

In his Eight Final, Grimus made a good start, eventually finishing in third place, therefore missing out on a spot in the Quarter Final, and finishing in 21st position overall.

“I had a good start,” Grimus said. “The speed is there but it’s just frustrating that I haven’t been able to put the results on the board, but I’m confident that I’ll get there.”

Head coach Shawn Fleming was satisfied with the early season form.

“All of the pieces are there, we just need to put them together with no mistakes,” Fleming said. “Anton had a small mistake up top putting him in fourth but made a great pass in the negative turn moving him up to third.”
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“We are happy with the pre-Christmas block, but at the same time feel we really could have left with more,” Fleming added.
The next World Cup event is scheduled for 9th January in Watles, Italy.

Sami Kennedy-Sim has moved up one place overall to 7th in the World Cup standings after Race 1 of the Ski Cross World Cup event in Innichen, Italy on Saturday afternoon (Italian time).

After qualifying for the finals in 14th place, Kennedy-Sim won her Quarter Final to book a spot in the semis, where she finished third, and therefore progressing to the Small Final.

Kennedy-Sim placed third in the final, meaning an overall seventh placing for the OWIA/NSWIS athlete, who was really pleased with her performances.

“I was leading the Small Final and made a mistake that enabled two girls to overtake me, but I skied really well today, putting pressure on my competitors from when the gate dropped,” Kennedy-Sim said.

Although fellow OWIA/NSWIS athlete Anton Grimus did not make it through qualifying for Race 1, he will be back in action on Sunday for Race 2, where he qualified for the finals in 20th position.

Sami Kennedy-Sim narrowly missed out on a spot in tomorrow's finals, finishing 17th and just one place from automatic qualification, but she will be cheering on Grimus tomorrow.
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“I am disappointed that I don’t get to try and make the final tomorrow, however, I am more motivated than ever to capture a podium,” Kennedy-Sim said after her race. “I look forward to cheering on Anton.”

At the second Ski Cross World Cup in Val Thorens in France over the weekend, Sami Kennedy-Sim had to settle for 13th after finishing fourth in her round of 16, missing the semi-finals for the first time this season.

However, Kennedy-Sim’s consistency in making the head-to-head finals cut this season has pleased her support team.

Anna Holmlund stepped up to make it two wins in two tries in the second of back-to-back Audi ski cross World Cup races.

“Not as awesome today,” Sami wrote. “had to settle for 13th. Bring on Italy.”

Fellow OWIA/NSWIS athlete Anton Grimus was knocked out of the competition in the round of 32 finishing in 20th place.

The next round will be in Innichen, Italy, next weekend.

Sami Kennedy-Sim has backed up her sixth place at the opening round of the Ski Cross World Cup last weekend in Austria with a seventh place in Val Thorens in France.

The OWIA/NSWIS athlete produced a series of good races across the day to once again prove that she is within touch of a podium result.

The gold medal went to Sweden’s Anna Holmlund, the defending World Cup champion, with fellow Swede Sandra Naeslund  taking the silver, with third place going to French veteran Ophelie David.

Fellow OWIA athlete, Anton Grimus, finished the day in 21st position in the men’s race, which was won by Canadian skier Christopher Delbosca. Slovenian Filip Flisar took the silver while another Canadian Brady Leman finished with the bronze.

Sami Kennedy-Sim and Anton Grimus will enter this weekend’s Ski Cross World Cup event in Val Thorens, France with confidence, after a positive start to their 2015/16 campaign.

After finishing sixth in Montafon last weekend, Kennedy-Sim is excited about her prospects, particularly after acknowledging some errors she made on the weekend.

“I am constantly learning and looking forward to more racing in France,” Kennedy-Sim said.

Grimus will also enter this weekend with confidence.

After finishing the qualifiers in 24th place, Grimus put in a good run in his 1/8th final, leading him to qualify for the quarter final, eventually claiming an 11th placing overall.

Head coach Shawn Fleming was pleased with the performances and noted how hungry Kennedy-Sim and Grimus are to go even further.
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Val Thorens is often considered to be the standout venue on the tour, and will no doubt make for spectacular racing.

Qualification gets underway on Thursday (France time), with races set for Friday and Saturday.

Sami Kennedy-Sim and Anton Grimus have started their 2015/16 World Cup campaign with strong results on finals day at the Ski Cross season opener in Montafon, Austria.

After qualifying 12th fastest for today’s finals, Kennedy-Sim didn’t let a yellow flag and subsequent re-run in her quarter final affect her, as she progressed through to the semi-final.

“I am still unsure why there was a yellow flag; I was furious when we got flagged, but instead of being distracted, I got mad and wanted to win even more,” Kennedy-Sim said.

Finishing fourth in her semi, Kennedy-Sim qualified for the small final, and in an even race, finished second and therefore an overall sixth place.

“It was tight racing and I made some errors but am happy to return to the World Cup with a sixth today. I am constantly learning and today the whole team operated smoothly and I am looking forward to more racing next week in France,” Kennedy-Sim said.

After qualifying 24th fastest yesterday, Grimus put in a good run in his 1/8th final to qualify for the quarter final, where he finished third, to claim an overall placing of 11th.

Head coach Shawn Fleming was understandably happy with today’s results.

“We are very pleased. Sixth and eleventh is a great way to start, and the athletes are definitely hungry to go even further,” Fleming said.

Olympic champion, Marielle Thompson took out the ladies final, while in the men’s it was the reigning World Champion, Christopher Delbosco coming out on top.

Women’s World Cup Ski Cross Montafon, Austria      
1.Marielle Thompson (CAN), 2. Anna Holmlund (SWE), 3. Katrin Ofner (AUT), 6. Sami Kennedy-Sim (AUS)

Men’s World Cup Ski Cross, Montafon, Austria
1. Christopher Delbosco (CAN), 2. Brady Leman (CAN), 3. Filip Flisar (SLO),  11. Anton Grimus (AUS)

OWIA/NSWIS athletes Anton Grimus and Sami Kennedy-Sim have made an impressive start to their 2015/16 World Cup campaign, with both reaching the finals.

A field of 62 lined up for the men’s qualifying event, with Grimus finishing 24th in a time of 57.18 seconds, to ensure his pathway through to tonight’s finals (Australian time).

Grimus was pleased with his opening day performance as he looks ahead to the 1/8th finals.

“I qualified, so that’s the major item ticked off the list,” Grimus said.

“I was not as quick in the qualifiers as I had been in the training runs over the last days, so I can take that with me into finals tomorrow,” Grimus added.

Meanwhile, Kennedy-Sim had a great top section and was fifth at the first split, before some small mistakes took away some speed through the finish.

Kennedy-Sim finished 12th fastest overall to ensure her pathway into tonight’s quarter finals.

Head coach Shawn Fleming was proud of the pair’s performance on the first day of the World Cup season.

“We were very pleased with today. Of course there is always room for improvement, but we got both in the finals and that was our objective,” Fleming said.
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Live action of the finals can be seen on Eurosport tonight from 9pm (Australian time).

​OWIA/NSWIS athletes Anton Grimus and Sami Kennedy-Sim begin their 2015/16 World Cup campaign in Montafon, Austria, this weekend.

Both athletes have been fine tuning their preparations in Montafon over the past few days, and head coach Shawn Fleming says they can’t wait for the action to begin.

“We had a great training block over the last five weeks with the Austrian team in Pitztal,” Fleming said. “The weather has been great here for the last days training in Montafon, and the course is in great shape.”

Grimus was thrilled with the opportunity to train with the Austrian team.

“We had multiple tracks to train and plenty of competitors to race against, which was a great lead up to the winter,” Grimus said.
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Grimus also used the opportunities to fine tune his starts.

“My focus has been heavily on the start, and focusing on getting out in front, alongside keeping my gliding and features up to scratch.”

There is plenty of snow on the course and it promises to be a fabulous opening weekend to the season.